Sam Manekshaw
Rank Component Date of rank
Second Lieutenant British Indian Army 4 February 1934
Lieutenant British Indian Army 4 May 1936
Captain British Indian Army July 1940 ( acting ) 1 August 1940 ( temporary ) 20 February 1941 ( war-substantive ) 4 February 1942 ( substantive )
Major British Indian Army 7 August 1940 ( acting ) 20 February 1941 ( temporary ) 4 February 1947 ( substantive )
Lieutenant Colonel British Indian Army 30 October 1944 ( local ) 5 May 1946 ( acting )
Major Indian Army 15 August 1947
Colonel Indian Army 1948 ( acting )
Brigadier Indian Army 1948 ( acting )
Lieutenant-Colonel Indian Army 26 January 1950 ( substantive ; recommissioning and change in insignia )
Colonel Indian Army 4 February 1952
Brigadier Indian Army 26 February 1950 ( acting ) 4 February 1957 ( substantive )
Major General Indian Army 20 December 1957 ( acting ) 1 March 1959 ( substantive )
Lieutenant General Indian Army 2 December 1962 ( acting ) 20 July 1963 ( substantive )
General ( COAS ) Indian Army 8 June 1969
Field Marshal Indian Army 1 January 1973
Dates of rank
Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, MC (3 April 1914 - 27 June 2008), widely known as Sam Manekshaw and Sam Bahadur (Sam the Brave), was the Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and the first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the rank of field marshal. His military career spanned four decades and five wars, beginning with service in the British Indian Army in World War II. Manekshaw joined the first intake of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun in 1932. He was commissioned into the 4th Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment. In World War II, he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry. Following the partition of India in 1947, he was reassigned to the 8th Gorkha Rifles. Manekshaw was seconded to a planning role during the 1947 Indo-Pakistani War and the Hyderabad crisis, and as a result, he never commanded an infantry battalion. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier while serving at the Military Operations Directorate. He became commander of 167 Infantry Brigade in 1952 and served in this position until 1954 when he took over as the Director of Military Training at Army Headquarters. After completing the higher command course at the Imperial Defence College, he was appointed General Officer Commanding the 26th Infantry Division. He also served as the Commandant of the Defence Services Staff College. In 1961, Manekshaw made derogatory comments about the political leadership which allowed his opponents to label him as unpatriotic, and he was charged with sedition.