Leadership in the Indian Army

Major General V.K. Singh graduated from the National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla in May 1964. He passed out from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, in June 1965 and was commissioned into the Corps of Signals. In his career spanning thirty-seven years in the Indian Army, he held several important posts, including that of chief signal officer of the Western Command. He also raised the signal regiment of the Indian Army’s first mechanized division in 1982.
General Singh is an alumnus of the Staff College, Wellington; the College of Defence Management, Secunderabad; and the National Defence College, New Delhi. He served as an instructor at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, the Army War College and the Staff College. He retired from active service in June 2002.
Among his varied interests are adventure sports, military history and journalism. A keen rallyist, General Singh has participated in three Himalayan Car Rallies (1982–84). A regular contributor to magazines, newspapers and journals, many of his short stories and poems were published in the Illustrated Weekly, Filmfare, Femina and Eve’s Weekly in the seventies and eighties. In later years he took to professional writing and has authored nine books.

Unlike traditional biographies of combat leaders, which focus primarily on military operations or regimental histories, in this book Major General V.K. Singh concentrates on personal accounts, anecdotes and reminiscences in order to highlight these leaders’ personalities, and to draw out the human face behind the military facade. Through the stories of these twelve military leaders, the book also throws new light on several historical events and the role of political leaders during India’s fight for independence and the partitioning of the subcontinent. He gives an overview of India’s military history after independence, including major operations, and describes many hitherto unknown or little-known incidents concerning smaller operations like Nathu La in 1967 and Goa in 1962.
Written records tend to glorify the actions of battalions as well as individuals, Singh says, magnifying achievements while suppressing the mistakes and glossing over failures. Leadership in the Indian Army provides a truer picture of the strength of character and convictions of each of these leaders. A must-read for anyone interested in India’s military history.