IS HISTORY REALLY BUNK?

 

IS HISTORY REALLY BUNK?

“History is bunk”

- Henry Ford

Henry Ford is said to have made this famous comment in 1916. Ironically, Ford later created history himself, when he conceived the assembly line system that revolutionised not only automobile production but almost every other industry in the World. Today, like his other famous quote “People can have the Model T in any colour - so long as it's black”, these remarks are quoted only in jest by almost everyone, with one exception - the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army. For some unfathomable reason, we signallers seem to take Henry Ford’s comments as gospel truth and consider our own history as nothing but junk. 

The third volume of the History of the Corps of Signals covering the period 1947 t0 1972, was released on 15 February 2015. Actually, it had already been ‘released’ during the Centenary celebrations in Jabalpur in 2011, but could not be made available to units or veterans because MI clearance had still not been obtained. But that is another story that will come later. The point at issue is that out of 800 copies that were finally printed, only seven – yes seven - have been bought by veterans. This is strange, as there are thousands of veterans – officers, JCOs and Other Ranks- who took part in the operations in J&K in 1947-48, in Goa in 1961, and against Pakistan in 1965 and 1971 that have been extensively covered in the book. In fact, the name of almost every officer who was serving during these operations has been mentioned in the book. Is it not odd that none of them wants to read about what he has done, let alone his unit and the Corps as a whole?

At the time of Independence, the number of officers in the Corps was 293, which included 26 British officers who agreed to serve in India for some time. By 1972, the strength of officers had gone up to about 1800. The strength of JCOs had increased from 337 to 2562 and of OR from 11145 to 65890. In other words, there were almost 70,000 signallers serving in the Corps in 1972. Assuming that at least half of them are still alive, there should be around 35,000 living veterans who took part in the 1971 war. Why are they not interested in reading about their own role in the only war which resulted in a conclusive victory and the creation of a new nation – Bangla Desh. This is a conundrum that I have been unable to solve.  

            I will now dwell for a while on the history of the Corps History. In Volume II, which covered the period 1939 to 1947, an appendix titled “History of the History” describes the travails and tribulations the book went through before it saw the light of day in 1975. A brief synopsis is given below.

Though the Corps formally came into existence in 1911, it was only in 1953 that the SO-in-C, Brigadier CHI Akehurst, took the first step in recording its history, when he informed everyone that “It is intended to undertake the preparation of the Corps History covering the period from the early days of signalling in INDIA (Approx 1850) up to the constitutional changes in 1947.” Lt Col M Cohen, the Corps Monographer, produced a monograph before he left for England in 1954. Cohen’s monograph covers a period of about a hundred years, and is in fact a brief history of the Corps from the earliest times. The appointment of Corps Monographer lapsed in December 1954, and was never revived. By this time all Royal Signals officers, including Brigadier Akehurst, had returned to England.

 

The history of the Corps History might have ended at this point, were it not for Brigadier Tery Barreto, who voluntarily had begun collecting material in 1951, when he was at the Staff College, and continued his efforts during his subsequent tenures at Delhi, Poona, Simla and Mhow, from where he retired as Commandant School of Signals in 1965.  Though Brigadier Barreto had begun working on the Corps History project, on his own initiative, in the early fifties, it was only in 1957 that the Corps Committee formally requested him to undertake the assignment, and he became the official Corps Historian.

 

            Unfortunately, Brigadier Barreto had to seek premature retirement in June 1965, due to certain reasons that have been briefly mentioned in Volume III. By that time he had not only completed the draft of Volume I, but had also collected a considerable amount of material for the subsequent ones. Before he retired, he handed over all the material collected by him painstakingly over the previous ten years. Strange as it may seem, the project went into limbo after his departure, with the Corps not being able to get it printed until 1975, ten years after its completion by Brigadier Barreto. The book was a verbatim reproduction of the original draft, except for three changes. The title was changed from ‘HISTORY OF THE INDIAN SIGNAL CORPS’ to ‘THE HISTORY OF THE CORPS OF SIGNALS’; no credit was given to Brigadier Barreto for his efforts, and the Compiler’s Note (Preface) written by the author was omitted. The reasons for these changes are not difficult to fathom, but it was an unjust reward to Tery Barreto for his labours, extending over almost 15 years.

 

Let us now turn to Volume II, which was to cover the period from 1939 onwards. In 1967, the Corps Committee decided to publish Volumes I and II, and gave the responsibility to Lt Col GY Sowani, who waited for four years before expressing his inability to complete the task. In 1971 Major KS Kapur agreed to write Volume II and all available material from Mhow and Jabalpur was transported to Delhi and handed over to him. However, he also gave up due to ill health and in 1972, the task was entrusted to Brigadier KD Bhargava, the ISTT, even though he was reluctant to take it on. In 1973 the available material was again carted to Jabalpur and handed over to the ISTT. Lt Col JC Dhamija, who was working under the ISTT, now became the Corps Historian and began working on the project in 1973. However, there was no progress in the matter.  

 

After the publication of Volume I in 1975 Brigadier Surjit Singh, the ISTT, approached Brigadier Barreto in 1976 and requested him to assist in compilation of the Volumes II and III. Considering the manner in which he had been treated in the past, Brigadier Barreto was reluctant to take on the assignment. However, he finally agreed to do so, provided he was given staff support in Nagpur, where he was located. He also laid down certain other conditions, which unfortunately were not met, and the proposal was dropped.

 

 In February 1976 the mantle of Corps Historian fell on Lt Col Colonel SK Behl, who had just retired. Two years later, another retired officer, Col PN Luthra, who was based in Delhi, was assigned the task. The Corps History Cell, and all the material, was again moved from Jabalpur to Delhi. In 1982, Maj Gen J Mayadas, who had also retired, agreed to write the Corps History and was designated the Corps Historian.

At this stage, there was a strange development. The Corps Committee decided that the Corps History would be compiled in one volume, with a synopsis of the existing Volume 1 forming Chapter I of the proposed Corps History, which would cover the period up to 1981. In less than a year Maj Gen Mayadas also begged off on health grounds. Brigadier SP Sethi, who was then posted in Army HQ, was appointed the new Corps Historian in 1983. He recommended that the Corps History should be compiled for the period up to 1965 only, with the existing Volume 1 constituting the first three chapters. He also recommended that the task of writing the Corps History should be entrusted to a serving officer, which was approved by the Corps Committee.

 In 1983, a serving officer, Colonel VA Subramanyam, was entrusted with this task of compiling the Corps History. He was allotted an office room in Signals Enclave, with a team of officers to assist him, as well as secretarial facilities. This was the first time a deliberate effort was made towards writing the Corps History, with adequate resources being provided by the Corps. (Brigadier Barretto had worked on the project in his spare time, with no additional resources). By now the parameters of the assignment had undergone several changes. Instead of being compiled as Volume II, covering the period 1939 to 1947 as originally planned, the proposed history would cover the entire history of the Corps, from the earliest times to the present day. Since it was intended to release the book during the Diamond Jubilee of the Corps in February 1986, Col Subramanyam was asked to produce only a ‘concise’ history of the Corps, as mentioned in the Foreword and the Preface of the book, which was published in 1986 with the title ‘THE SIGNALS – A HISTORY OF THE CORPS OF SIGNALS’. 

While working on the coffee table book titled ‘THROUGH – Saga of the Corps of Signals’ which was published in February 2001, I had written to the SO-in-C regarding he need to bring out Volume II of the Corps History, which was long overdue. (At that time, I was not aware of the ups and downs in the ‘history’ of the Corps History, as given in the earlier paragraphs). As I should have expected, I was asked to take on this task in 2001. The dimensions of the project became clear only when I started working on it. By the end of 2001, the Corps History Team Office (CHTO) was set up in Signals Enclave along with the support staff and office equipment. Since I was then posted in the Cabinet Secretariat (RAW), I was able to visit the CHTO only on weekends. It was only after June 2004 when I finally retired that I was able to work full time on the project, which was completed towards the end of 2005.  Volume II covering the period 1939-47 was published in February 2006.

Ideally, work on Volume III should have commenced immediately after the publication of Volume II.   However, it was only in mid- 2007 that I was asked to undertake the project. Though insignificant when compared to the interval of over thirty years between the publication of the previous two volumes, this gap resulted in some additional delay. The CHTO that had been functioning since 2001 was wound up in 2006; the manpower and equipment had been redistributed to units; and the reference material returned to Jabalpur and Mhow. Consequently, it was only towards the end of 2007 that the cell was established and work started in earnest on the project. The draft of Volume III was completed by end of 2010 and one copy was formally released during the Centenary celebrations at Jabalpur in February 2011.

I was looking forward to a respite after almost ten years of work on the two Corps History projects, but this was not to be. The previous two volumes had been published by the Corps of Signals Association, while Volume III was published by the Signals Directorate. Unlike the previous two volumes that covered the period before Independence, Volume III covered the period from 1947-72. When the book was submitted to MI Directorate for clearance, they forwarded it to the MO Directorate, since major operations conducted in 1947-48, 1962, 1965 and 1971 had been covered, as well as relatively minor operations such as the police action in Hyderabad in 1948, the liberation of Goa in 1961, the skirmish at Nathu La in 1967 and so on. Since military records after 1961 have still not been officially de-classified, several objections were raised by the MO with regard to the accounts of these operations. After almost four years of nerve racking delay, during which the manuscript travelled up and down several times, each time with new observations, deletions and amendments, the book was finally cleared only towards the end of 2014, with the caveat that the entire chapter on the Sino-Indian war of 1962 will be removed; all references to the Mukti Bahini during the 1971 war would be deleted; names of tactical features including trig heights and local names would not be mentioned; there would be no derogatory references to units and personalities, and several others.

Naturally, I was incensed at this ostrich-like head-in-the sand attitude of the authorities, as the official histories of the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars had been written by the History Division of the Ministry of Defence and were available on the net. In fact, a printed book titled “The Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 – A History” had also been published in 2011. This was a verbatim copy of the book uploaded on the Internet and the copyright was with the Ministry of Defence. It quoted classified military records including war diaries, after action reports etc. I showed this book as well the downloaded copies of 1962 and  1971 war  to all and sundry but is did not cut much ice.  On a personal level, I even met the then COAS – he was my namesake, but I had never met him before - but it was too late. We had no choice except to publish the book with all the deletions and amendments directed by MO and MI Directorate. More than me, the veterans who took part in the 1962 war, many of whom are still living and have authored books about their experiences, were severely disappointed.

The frustration was further aggravated when I discovered that very few people were interested in reading the book. Of course, copies were distributed to all Signals establishments and units, keeping some for sale to veterans. It was discovered that the few veterans who purchased copies were those who had given significant inputs and whose role in various operations had been covered in detail. The others just did not seem to be interested. Perhaps the price of Rs. 940 fixed by Signals Directorate was too high, compared to the previous volumes. The cost of Volume I was Rs. 300 and that of Volume II was Rs. 525 for veterans, a higher figure being charged from units. I think a similar equation would have encouraged more veterans to buy personal copies.

One cannot inculcate esprit-de-corps by forcing people to read the history of the Corps. However, I recall an excellent suggestion that was made by one of our senior veterans when the Coffee Table Book titled “Through – Saga of the Corps of Signals” was published in 2001. It is now customary to present accoutrements to young officers commissioned into Signals when they pass pout from IMA. Instead of accoutrements, why not give each one a set of the three volumes of the Corps History? Another idea is to have a quiz competition on the Corps history, on the lines of KBC, for those attending the YO’s course. Two teams comprising men and women officers can compete against each other. The event can be held in the auditorium, with officers and families being invited.  It is certain to generate a lot of interest and instil esprit-de-corps.

As it stands, work on the next volume has still to commence, since no suitable person has been found to undertake the task. I understand some veterans with a flair for writing have been approached but nobody has accepted the assignment. This is not surprising, considering that nobody would like to toil for several years writing a book that no one is going to read. Of course, the author should get some pecuniary benefit also. If he is still serving, he is usually given an honorarium. If the author is a veteran, he can negotiate his remuneration before signing a contract. I feel that if one has a lot of free time and literary inclinations, it is worth taking up the job. More than the financial reward, he will get the recognition and appreciation of his peers; in addition, he will have the satisfaction of knowing that he made a significant contribution to his parent Corps.

 

Maj Gen VK Singh