General JN Chaudhuri

General J.N. Chaudhuri, OBE

COAS, 19 Nov 1962 - 07 June 1966

Armoured Corps, 16 CAV and 7 LC

General Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri assumed charge of the Indian Army, as the 6th Chief of Army Staff, on 19 November 1962. He received his early education at St. Xavier's College in Calcutta and later at Highgate School in London. Obtaining a nomination to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1926, he was commissioned into the Indian Army in 1928 and subsequently joined the 7th Light Cavalry. In 1940, he went overseas with the 5th Indian Division and saw service in Sudan, Eritrea, Abyssinia and the western deserts of Africa.

General Chaudhuri rose from the rank of Captain to Lieutenant Colonel within two years and was present at the capitulation of the Italian Forces in Italian-controlled East Africa. For his services he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and was thrice Mentioned in Dispatches. Recalled to India, he was appointed Senior Instructor at the British Staff College in Quetta (in present day Pakistan) and in 1941 led a regiment of the Indian Armoured Corps on a trek of 3,000 miles to join the fighting in Burma. The regiment, which then went on to lead the allied march to Rangoon, won great renown for its part in the fighting.

In 1946, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier in Malaya (a part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula) and in the same year was selected to command the Indian Victory Contingent to London. Following a course at the Imperial Defence College at England in 1947, he returned to India and was appointed Director of Military Operations & Intelligence at Army Headquarters in New Delhi.

Following Operation Polo in 1948, he became the Governor of Hyderabad State where he also functioned as Chancellor of Osmania University and Chairman of Deccan Airways. 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 1962, he was promoted to the rank of General and took over as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). A facet of his talents and interests was demonstrated during his term as COAS, where he founded and was first president of the Delhi Symphony Society - an organization designed to promote Western music in New Delhi.

General Chaudhuri retired on 07 June 1966, after completing 38 years of distinguished 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. Six weeks after his retirement from the Indian Army, he was appointed as the Indian High Commissioner to Canada on 19 July 1966. He was married and had two children. In addition to being a distinguished military man, he displayed notable talent as a writer and literary critic. He wrote two books on military themes and was the Military Correspondent and a literary reviewer for one of India's leading newspapers.