History of Pakistan Army

Maj Gen Malik Sher Bahadur served as 6th DG lSl from 1955 to 1957, Deputy Chief of Staff from 1957 to 1959, Adjutant General from 1959 to 1962, and 8th Chief of General Staff from 1962 to 1966.

"Sher Bahadur, Malik; Major General (Retd); Chairman Board of Directors Associated Cement (Government of West Pakistan); born village Lawa, Tehsil Talagang, District Campbellpur 4th April, 1911; belongs to a respectable Qutab Shahi Awan family of Tehsil Talagang; ancestors settled in this area since several generations ;

Major General Malik Sher Bahadur joined Indian Army as a cadet in the year 1933 and educated at Dehradun; he was commissioned in the Indian Army in the year 1936; saw active service in World War II and visited far eastern front; took part in the Kashmir operations where his services were mentioned in despatches during 1947; worked as Chief of the General Staff of Pakistan Army during Indo-Pakistan War and was awarded Sitarai Pakistan for his brilliant services;

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*In 1948, the last British unit to leave Pakistan was at Keamari dockyard Karachi. It was 2nd Battalion , The Blackwatch Regiment.* Mustafa Kamal Akbar was present there with his father, PA 43 Brig Abidali Akbar Khan ( late) , 5/5 & 3/5 Maratha Light Infantry , 2/ 16 Punjab ( now 14 Punjab ) & 7/16 Punjab ( now 19 Punjab ).

*Note 😘 The 2nd Battalion was deployed to India in 1945 and arrived at Cherat Cantonment, thirty-four miles from Peshawar, on 15 August 1947, when India and Pakistan became independent.

In February 1946, the Black Watch was deployed to suppress the Royal Indian Navy mutiny at Karachi. On 26 February 1948, the battalion became the last British Army unit to leave Pakistan, boarding a transport ship at Karachi, after a formal parade through the streets with the salute taken by the first Governor General of Pakistan , Quaid - e - Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah .

_With Courtesy : Lt Gen Mustafa Kamal Akbar ( late ) , AMC , ex Surgeon General ( five generations in the army )._
Zahid Mumtaz
 
Another blast from the past.
Baluch Reunion Dinner-1964.
Sitting, from left to right, Maj Gen A O Mitha (founder of SSG), President Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan and Lt Gen Abdul Hamid Khan.

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*Siege of Tobruk to Battle of Chawinda : PA 1720 Maj Yusaf Ali Khan (1917–1997) 18th Cavalry, Central India Horse ( CIH ) , 6 Lancers, 25 Cavalry & 33TDU (Tank Delivery Unit)*

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PA 1720 (IC 1467) Major Yusaf Ali Khan was born on 14 March 1917 into the martial Kaim Khani (KK) Rajput clan. He enlisted in the Indian Army in 1935 and was posted to the 18th Cavalry, which later took part in the defence of Tobruk during the Second World War under the 9th Australian Division, commanded by Lt Gen Sir Leslie Morshead.

During the campaign, Yusaf served as the unit’s Intelligence NCO and was once entrusted to drive General Morshead through minefields at night. His remarkable sense of direction and calm under pressure so impressed the General that he personally commended Yusaf to the unit’s commanding officer.

"Lt Gen Sir Leslie Morshead was regarded as Australia’s greatest soldier after Blamey. His victories over Gen Erwin Rommel at Tobruk and El Alamein in World War II were decisive and helped alter the course of the war.(Reference: “Morshead: Hero of Tobruk and El Alamein” by David L. Coombes.).

On 16 September 1942, Yusaf was promoted to Junior Commissioned Officer and posted to Syria. He later attended the Tank Gunnery Course at the British School of Armour, Cairo, where his outstanding performance earned him a Viceroy’s Commission. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on 9 June 1945 and subsequently posted to the Central India Horse , then serving in Greece.

Maj Yusaf was a life member of the “Rats of Tobruk Association” in Australia, an honour shared by all those who defended the fortress of Tobruk during the siege.
At the time of Independence in 1947, he was serving with the 6 Lancers (Duke of Connaught’s Own), stationed at Kohat. He later joined the newly raised 25 Cavalry on 9 June 1962, and being Staff College qualified, he held a Grade-2 staff appointment in an armoured division. He served under PA 136 Maj Gen ( Lt Gen ) Shahabzada Yaqub Khan (18th Cavalry & 11 Cavalry , 3 Punjab & 6 Lancers )—a wartime comrade from North Africa, where both had served in the 18th Cavalry squadron deployed at Tobruk during the first siege.

In the group photograph mentioned below, the tallest officer (marked with a red dot) in the front row is Raja Ghaziuddin Hyder (PA 470, Brigadier, later 19 Lancers). He later served as Battalion Commander at PMA and Commander 5 Armoured Brigade in 1961–62. Notably, Brig R. G. Hyder and Maj Gen Zawar Singh (later 7th Light Cavalry) had served together in CIH during the Italian and Greek campaigns.

During the 1965 Indo–Pakistan War, Maj Yusaf rejoined the Army as a reservist and took part in the Battle of Chawinda, where he commanded a squadron of the 33 TDU . He retired in 1966 and thereafter managed the Kaim Khani Hostel in Hyderabad.

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British soldiers practicing with Maxim guns, Changla Gali, Galiyat, Abbottabad - 1911.

The British saw Abbottabad as a strategically important garrison town.
 
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Army officers lifting up their boss
 
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Afridi officer and sepoys of the Khyber Pass, 1893. Jamrud fort in the background.

Photo by Frederick Bremner.

Caption: 'This Corps forms part of the Frontier Police. It does not belong to the Regular Army'.
 
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Khyber Pass, 1922.

Photo by Lowell Thomas or Harry A. Chase. Captioned as 'Dara Adam Khel valley' but appears to be Khyber Pass. Source is Harvard Digital Collections.
 

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