Maj. General Thimmayya, GOC Kashmir Division, greets Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru during his visit to the Divisional Headquarters, Srinagar, on May 15, 1948. At right is Sheikh Abdulla.— PHOTO: THE HINDU ARCHIVESThe birth anniversary of General Kodendera Subbayya Thimayya will be observed by the Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa-General K.S. Thimayya Forum in Kodagu on Saturday.
Mr. Thimayya, popularly called as “Timmy”, was appointed the sixth Chief of Army Staff of the country on May 7, 1957. He retired on May 7, 1961. Born in Madikeri on March 31, 1906, the General served as the Commander of the United Nation Forces in Cyprus in 1964 until his death in December 1965. The Republic of Cyprus honoured him by issuing a commemorative stamp in his memory in 1966.The Government of India had conferred Padma Bhushan on General Thimayya for his outstanding service to the nation. General Thimayya's heroics were many. A statement provided to The Hindu by Major Biddanda A. Nanjappa (retd.), convenor of the forum, on the invasion by tribesmen in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, quoting the late General said: “When the tanks entered Zoji La, the soaring walls echoed and re-echoed the roar of the motors, magnifying the sound many times. This lost part of the world had never heard anything like it. The tanks shot out the enemy high pickets while our infantry mopped up the slopes. The tanks could not blast out the deeply dug enemy bunkers, but the unexpected sight and sounds of the armour terrorised the tribesmen. They fled in panic. Our planes caught them in the open, and before nightfall the Zoji La was ours.”
Timmy was promoted to the rank of Major General in September 1947 and his assignment was dealing with the exodus and intake of refugees.
His next appointment was command of the 19th Infantry Division in Jammu and Kashmir where he succeeded in driving the raiders and the Pakistan Army out of the Kashmir Valley.
Timmy served as the Commandant of the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. He was selected by the United Nations to head the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission in Korea.
He was promoted to the rank of General Officer Commanding, Southern Command in January 1953. He took over the reins of the Indian Army on May 7, 1957.
Sunny Side currently houses the Kodagu Regional Transport Office. The forum members met the Transport Commissioner Shyam Bhat and Principal Secretary, Transport, P.B. Ramamurthy to seek permission to celebrate the event at Sunny Side. Major Nanjappa said.
Courtesy:-The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/article3265151.ece
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