WHY JANUARY 15 AS ARMY DAY

Several nations of the world hold an annual Armed Forces Day to recognize, venerate, and honor their military forces.After a successful political campaign based on a very unique and distinctive methodology called “ahimsa” or non-violence India threw off the colonial yoke and set in motion the decline and demise of the British Empire. For a young nation with no colonial ambitions, and, therefore, no militaristic traditions, she inherited a very young military hierarchy as yet untested with the higher direction of warfare but confronted almost immediately on the attainment of Independence with an invasion in Jammu and Kashmir intended to undermine the principles of Accession enshrined in the Independence Act by which Pakistan was created.

 As a consequence of this circumstance British officers continued to preside over the top military posts in both countries leaving behind a legacy that has continued to haunt both nascent countries to this day. Five months after the UN mandated ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir the Government of India replaced the last British Commander-in-Chief in India Gen F R R Bucher with the first Indian to have been selected in the first batch for training for the Kings Commissioned Indian Officer (KCIO) at the UK Imperial War College. K. M. Cariappa held the rank of Lt General and the post of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, and he planned the recapture of the Zojila Pass and Dras and Kargil which enabled the Indian Army to push the Pakistani invaders back. A biography describes his role as being instrumental in turning an Imperial Army into a National Army. That is why the date of his appointment — 15 January 1949 — is celebrated as Army Day.