*Major General Vinay K. Singh, **(V, Signals), military historian and author*
Lucknow-origin Maj Gen VK Singh is a career soldier who was commissioned into the Corps of Signals in 1965. He is an alumnus of the Staff College, Wellington, the College of Defence Management, Secunderabad and the National Defence College, Delhi. He raised the signal regiment of the Indian Army’s first mechanised division, in 1982. During his career spanning 37 years in the army, he has done several important appointments, the last one being the Chief Signal Officer of the Western Army. He retired from the army in June 2002. He also did a stint in the Cabinet Secretariat, (RAW), from November 2000 to June 2004. General Singh, who now lives in Gurugram near Delhi, has been my encyclopaedia on the subject of Operation Vijay. As chairman, Corps of Signals History Cell, he compiled, among others, the *History of the Corps of Signals,* a task that was started by Brigadier Terrence Barreto (of Raia, Salcete). In 2014, General Singh wrote its* Volume III *(that covered the period 1947-72) and included the 1961 military action in Goa. This seminal work introduced greater detail to what has been included in the book, *Goa, 1961*. Whenever I was in doubt or had a question, I turned to the good General and he never failed to graciously oblige. As a military historian of repute, General Singh is obviously a deeply knowledgeable person. But that is one thing. Sharing info with a person one has never met (but after ascertaining credentials through an exchange of emails) is quite another. Experience has taught me that this quality is the hallmark of a great person. General Singh penned a bestseller titled, *Leadership in the Indian Army: Biographies of Twelve Soldiers* published in New Delhi by Sage India in 2005. I have a copy of its Ninth Printing of the year 2012. The General was kind enough to freely permit the quoting of his work from his excellent books, which are a must for any student of India’s military history. A man of varied interests – from adventure sports to journalism to military history – he has participated in the Himalayan Car Rally, contributed to mastheads like the Illustrated Weekly of India, Filmfare, Femina and Eve’s Weekly and authored nine books so far. These are: *Through – Saga of the Corps of Signals (*2001); *Leadership in the Indian Army - Biographies of Twelve Soldiers* (2005); *History of the Corps of Signals, Volume II (* 2006); *India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)* in 2007; *Contribution of the Armed Forces to the Freedom Movement in India *(2009); *History of the Corps of Signals, Volume III (*2014); *Signals in the 1962 War *(2022);* The Contribution of the Jubbulpore Mutiny to India's Freedom (*2022*)*; and the ninth, *Protocol and Etiquette in India* is presently under print. === AN ERRATUM & PRE-CONCLUSION NOTES These introductions of my book endorsers go to a large number of people. And elicit such a volume of comment that it is difficult to handle in a single day. But the email and whatsapp chats also produce positive results. One revealed an error I made describing Major General Ian Cardozo yesterday. From the way I wrote, it appeared that men of the 4th Battalion of 5 Gorkha Rifles launched the *khukri* attack at Sylhet. The attack was in fact at an earlier battle in Atgram or perhaps in Ghazipur that the unit had just fought. 4/5 GR had fought spectacular battles at Atgram and Ghazipur, not slept four days, were granted rest by the brigade commander, and moved to the rear areas. Just then the IV Corps Commander, Lt General Sagat Singh, asked one of his three divisional commanders, Maj Gen KV Krishna Rao, GOC 8 Mountain Division (later COAS) which unit of his division could be deployed in the task of leapfrogging and seizing Sylhet. Apparently, GOC 57 Mountain Division Maj Gen Benjamin Gonsalves (of Cana, Benaulim) in charge of the Agartala sector was being readied for the race on Dacca. General Krishna Rao said that 4/5 GR was "the best battalion in [his] Division. It has great pride and ... [its men] are prepared to make any sacrifice." The unit was quickly recalled, heli-landed in Sylhet and (then) Major Cardozo who was attending a course at the Defence Services Staff College in Tamil Nadu was ordered to urgently join the unit. The rest, as they say, is history. Yesterday, a veteran of the Indian Navy gave me updates on then (1961) Major ‘Mini’ Mohite (Goa) and his younger brother Captain Shahji Mohite (Daman) and the contacts of a family member. This naval veteran belongs to the alumni of St. Paul’s, Belgaum (as did the Mohite brothers) which gave many armed forces officers to India. The Jesuits (‘soldiers of God’ or ‘of Christ’) produced many soldiers for the country, particularly at its Mumbai institutions, St. Stanislaus and St. Xavier’s. (*Goa, 1961* tells you about the Moira, Goa origin Colonel Peter Mendonca’s elite 17 Parachute Field Regiment officer Prakash Rao Jesus mailing a Christmas card to Vassalo e Silva in the run-up to the invasion, with a scribbled note ‘See you on my birthday, Jesus. PS: I have Peter with me’ and picking American-made Pak Patton tanks ‘like cherries’ in the 1965 war … such that Pak soldiers yelled into their radio sets, ‘their man in command is called Jesus Christ!’ and an online media portal titling the story, ‘How Jesus Fought for India’!) With the fourth of the five book endorsers spoken about today, tomorrow’s piece with conclude this mini series. Trust you’ve enjoyed it! -- *** Please be polite and on-topic in your posts. *** --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Goa Book Club" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to goa-book-club+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-book-club/CAGoMsADzVf3SWn3k_%3DMvdfyEuUEW7T%2BXt-RJHBgxZddzEei7cQ%40mail.gmail.com.
