MILITARY
HISTORY RESEARCH FOUNDATION (MHRF)
Roots: MHRF is a brainchild of two veterans, both
fond of reading and writing, both exponents of military history of the IA and both
with seven tenures each in J&K. Having noticed numerous gaps in our own
military history as well as inaccuracies in the existing literature, we decided
to embark on a journey that now occupies the centre stage in our post-retirement
lives.
Germination: Conceived and
initiated in 2019, the idea had its own share of prenatal and perinatal
complications. And yet the moment the first sprig was spotted, all the trouble
stood forgotten forever.
Nurturing: Money doesn’t
grow on plants but such plants need money to sustain and prosper. With external
assistance neither available nor sought, own corpuses were used to set the ball
rolling and that is how it stands today. We intend remaining organic during the
years to come.
Our Mission: To support tangible
serious research work in the field of Military History as it pertains to IA,
its notable leaders and campaigns. To start with, our focus remains on
post-independence era and is open to expansions as and when so required.
First Fruits: We have had
some good fruiting seasons during the second year of existence. Details as under:
-
(a) Over past two years, we have been able
to compile a very detailed work on 1947-48 Conflict. With the kind of
material that we were able to gather {including many never seen before pictures
from the first-hand sources (read War Veterans) who are well into their 90s and
have already travelled to far lands like Canada}, we were able to bring out a
five-book series on the conflict. We can proudly vouch for the fact that our
work has covered some very significant gaps in the literature (e.g., the role
of J&K State Forces, developments in Naushera-Mirpur-Poonch belt before and
after the arrival of the IA, happenings in the Kishanganga Valley and highlands
of Himalayas). We have also been able to pin-point and correct the inaccuracies
as recorded in mainstream literature, including some very popular books by the
Officers who were there but for the reasons best known to them, had narrated
some tales that had no factual bases. Slender was the Thread, e.g., despite
all its popularity, was found to be inaccurate in more than one way.
(b) With the Golden Jubilee of the 1971
War being celebrated throughout the ongoing year, we were able to reach out
to about 100 War Veterans (from all three Services) and extract some wonderful first-hand
tales and anecdotes from them. At the face of it, the series of four books
(Remembered Glory (RG), RG Vols 2,3 and 4) may appear to be not too serious a
historical work but that is where lies the beauty of the compilation. Many first-hand
accounts, in addition to being unheard before, also challenge the popular
versions whether these may relate to the famous Battle of Laungewala or sinking
of PNS Ghazi. Our idea behind the series was based on the belief that at such advance
stages of their earthly existence as also so many decades post the event, our
esteemed Veterans won’t like to sugar-coat or falsify the facts. The products vindicate
our thought process. Incidentally, the Vol 4 is exclusively about the
operations by our Special Forces. Further, we were able to reach out to a Mukti
Bahini veteran and were able to publish his narration.
Promising Buds: There are
many more buds that would ripen soon. A sample is as under:-
(a) ‘Last Man, Last Round’ is a detailed account of action between 22 and
27 October 1947, along Jhelum Valley Road. The author, Maj Gen Goverdhan Singh
Jamwal, AVSM, was a young officer in the State Forces during the conflict and later
retired as a General Officer from the IA. The book covers macro issues starting
from 1930s to enable the readers to grasp the overall situation before
narrowing down to some hardcore action between Garhi and Baramulla. The story
has never been told in so many details ever before.
(b) An account of Meghna River Crossing by
the leading Company Commander of the leading battalion has some rare
transcriptions from the audios of Lt Gen Sagat Singh, Air Marshal Chandan Singh
and still rarer, the interrogation details of Lt Gen Niazi.
(c) An exclusive biography of Col Chewang
Rinchin, MVC**, SM, authored by his daughter.
(d) A biography of Lt Gen Sagat Singh.
(e) A book on Speeches of Mujib Rahman.
Support: We look for support
from the fraternity in general and MT Dte and ARTRAC in particular. We are
confident that some of our books would finally be made part of the official
study curriculum in the IA. Since we don’t seek financial assistance, we do
expect support by way of patronisation. Once such books are procured by our
libraries, it helps us in a big way.
Grafting: To help military
authors and their family members publish their work (read to prevent
exploitation), we have also created a small publishing entity, Sabre &
Quill Publishers. We encourage military authors to write on any relevant
subject and get published with no financial liability (no investment; no
commitment to buy a certain number of copies and so on). We also offer 15% flat
royalty to our authors who are most welcome to walk into our office and see the
progress of sales in a real time. During its short existence since coming into
the being, some very interesting books have been/are being brought out by S&Q
Publishers.
Our
Logo: Represents a soldier-scholar
The Duo: Brig
Rajendra Singh, SM, FRGS (rajendraadventure3@gmail.com)
& Col Ajay K Raina, SM (ajaykrraina@gmail.com)
Contact: mhresearchfoundation@gmail.com
