An army general looks back on the conflict of 1948

Commanded by Destiny: A General's Rise from Soldier to Statesman: By General S.M. Shrinagesh, Penguin Random House India, 328 pages, ₹699.

- S.M. Shrinagesh

Early in May 1948, the Jammu and Kashmir Force was divided into two. One was located in the Southern Sector and the other in the Valley. Sporadic fighting continued for some time, without tangible results on either side. In order to regain the initiative, Lt Gen. (later Gen.) K.M. Cariappa, who had taken over as army commander, Western Command, felt it necessary, because of the larger forces involved, to put these two sectors under one commander, responsible to him directly. In September 1948, I was selected for this task and named corps commander, V Corps, which consisted of 26 Infantry Division under late Maj. Gen. Atma Singh with headquarters at Jammu, 19th Infantry Division under Maj. Gen (the late Gen.) K.S. Thimayya with headquarters at Srinagar and an independent sub-area under Brig. (later Maj. Gen.) Jai Singh for securing the Lines of Communication (L of C).