Military Wiki
General
Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri
OBE
Chief of Army Staff (India)

In office
20 November 1962 – 7 June 1966
Preceded by General PN Thapar
Succeeded by General PP Kumaramangalam
High Commissioner to Canada

In office
July 1966 – August 1969
Preceded by B. K. Acharya
Succeeded by A.B. Bhadkamkar
Military Governor of Hyderabad State

In office
1948–1949
Personal details
Born (1908-06-10)June 10, 1908
Died April 6, 1983(1983-04-06) (aged 74)
Military service
Nickname(s) Muchhu
Allegiance British Raj Red Ensign British India
Flag of India India
Service/branch Flag of Imperial India British Indian Army
Flag of Indian Army Indian Army
Years of service Feb 1928 - Jun 1966
Rank General of the Indian ArmyGeneral
Unit 16 Light Cavalry
Commands Flag COAS India Chief of Army Staff
Colonel Commandant of the Electrical & Mechanical Engineers
Chief of the General Staff
Adjutant General, Army HQ
1st Armoured Division
Director of Military Operations and Intelligence
Brigadier-in-Charge(Administration) of Malaya Command
Battles/wars Operation Polo
Awards IND Padma Vibhushan BARPadma Vibhushan
Order of the British Empire (Military) RibbonOrder of the British Empire
Op Polo Surrender

Major General Syed Ahmed El Edroos (at right) offers his surrender of the Hyderabad State Forces to Major General (later General and Army Chief) J. N. Chaudhuri at Secunderabad.

General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, OBE (10 June 1908 – 6 April 1983) was an Indian four-star General who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. After his retirement from the Indian Army, he served as the Indian High Commissioner to Canada from 19 July 1966 until August 1969.[1]

Biography[]

Born in a Bengali family, on 10 June 1908, studied at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta of the University of Calcutta in the city of Kolkata, Highgate School in London, and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. At Sandhurst, he got his nickname "Muchhu" (owing to his rich mustachios).

He was commissioned from Sandhurst onto the Unattached List, Indian Army 2 February 1928. Returning to India, he was attached to the 1st battalion North Staffordshire Regiment from 19 March 1928. He was accepted for the Indian Army and joined the 7th Light Cavalry on 19 March 1929. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 2 May 1930. In 1934, he attended the course at the Equitation School, Saugor. Promoted to the rank of Captain on 2 February 1937, he attended the Staff course at Command and Staff College, Quetta from December 1939 to June 1940.

In 1940, he went overseas on the staff of the 5th Infantry Division and saw service in Sudan, Eritrea, Abyssinia and the western deserts of Africa. For his services, he was Mentioned in Dispatches (London Gazette 26/12/41) distinguished services in the Middle East Feb to July 1941 (Captain, Indian Armoured Corps) and was awarded the OBE (London Gazette 18/2/43 for gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East May to Oct 1942 - Lieutenant Colonel, Indian Armoured Corps). Recalled to India, he was appointed as the Senior Instructor at the Command and Staff College, Quetta as a GSO-I in 1943.

In August 1944, he was transferred to the 16th Light Cavalry. Gen. Chaudhuri commanded this unit from September 1944 to October 1945 in Burma for which he was twice more Mentioned in Dispatches, (London Gazette 9/5/46 for gallant and distinguished services in Burma (Temporary Lt-Col 16th Light Cavalry) and London Gazette 17/9/46 for gallant and distinguished services in Burma (Temporary Lt-Col, Indian Armoured Corps). At the end of the Burma campaign, he saw service in French IndoChina with his regiment in Java, Indonesia. He was then Promoted to substantive Major on 2 February 1945

In 1946, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier, in Charge of Administration in British Malaya and in the same year was selected to command the Indian Victory Contingent to London. Following a course at the Imperial Defence College in London in 1947, he returned to India and was appointed Director of Military Operations & Intelligence at Army Headquarters in New Delhi in November 1947. Chaudhuri worked with Major General Mohite to complete military evacuation from Pakistan. He had to organise the Kashmir war effort up to May 1948, when he was succeeded by the then Brig. Sam Manekshaw as DMO and Chand Narayan Das as Director of Military Intelligence. In February 1948, he was promoted to Major General and became the officiating Chief of the General Staff. In May 1948, he took over command of the 1st Armoured Division which played a major role in the 1948 Hyderabad Operations. Following Operation Polo in 1948, he was appointed as the Military Governor of Hyderabad State. In the years following, he occupied important military posts and led an Indian Military Delegation to China. In 1949, he was appointed as the first Colonel Commandant of the Electrical & Mechanical Engineers. In January 1952, he was appointed as the Adjutant General, Army HQ and in January 1953, he again took over as the Chief of the General Staff. On 19 November 1962, he was promoted to full General and took over as the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS). Gen. J N Chaudhuri retired on 7 June 1966, after completing 38 years of military service. For his services to the nation, he was presented with the Padma Vibhushan - India's second highest civilian honour — by the President of India.

Family background[]

Chaudhuri hailed from a distinguished Bengali family that has produced many renowned lawyers and writers. His family were the Zamindars of Haripur and the family was known as Chaudhuris of Haripur in the province of Bengal, British India. His grandfather was a landlord of Chatmohar Upazila of Pabna district of present-day Bangladesh. Noted writer Pramatha Chaudhuri, who married a niece of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, was his uncle. His mother Pramila was the daughter of Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, who was the first president of the Indian National Congress. He was also related to Barrister Kumud Nath Chaudhuri and Raisahib Babu Narendra Krishna Talukdar, Zamindar of Maligacha and honorary first class magistrate for Pabna District, Rajshahi.He wrote two books on military matters and served as a literary reviewer for a leading Indian daily The Statesman. He was the first Indian army chief to write an autobiography in 1979. He loved Western music and founded and was first president of the Delhi Symphony Society, an organization that promoted Western music. He retired in 1966 after 38 years of military service. Subsequently, he served as the Indian High Commissioner to Canada. Chaudhuri was married and had two children. He died on 6 April 1983.

Gen. J N Chaudhuri's father's six elder brothers, were all distinguished in their own right. Sir Asutosh Chaudhuri, Jogesh Chaudhuri, Kumudnath Chaudhuri, Pramathanath Chaudhuri, Capt. Manmathanath Chaudhuri and Dr. Suhridnath Chaudhuri. All the Chaudhuri wives belonged to the elite and aristocratic families of Bengal. J N Chaudhuri's cousin was Devikarani Rai Roerickh, 'First lady of Indian cinema', daughter of Capt. M N Chaudhuri.

J N Chaudhuri married Karuna Chattopadhyay and had two sons.

Awards and Decorations[]

IND Padma Vibhushan BAR Order of the British Empire (Military) Ribbon
Padma Vibhushan
Order of British Empire

See also[]

References[]

  • London Gazette (various dates)
  • Indian Army List (various dates)
  • Pradeep P. Barua, Gentlemen of the Raj: The Indian Army Officer Corps, 1817-1949

External links[]

Military offices
Preceded by
Pran Nath Thapar
Chief of Army Staff
1962–1966
Succeeded by
Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam


All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri and the edit history here.