brigadier sher khan

1. Fwd: Brigadier Sher Khan
BRIGADIER SHER KHAN MILITARY CROSS

5. Bio of a fine officer by a Pakistan army officer
and historian. My comments in red. For those
interested in military history.
AS RECEIVED FROM MY DEAREST FRIEND
DR HAMID HUSSAIN IN USA.
………………………………………………………
…..
December 17, 2016
Dear Sir;
What a lovely write up. Opened up so many
avenues and brought many memories of a
bygone era when officers were officers as well
as gentlemen. Could not stop adding my two
cents on different areas that you touched on.
My comments in red in bold.
Warm Regards,
Hamid

6. Brigadier Sher Khan, MC
6th
Royal Battalion (Scinde), 13th
Frontier
Force Rifles
By Maj Gen Syed Ali Hamid (Retired)

8. Within two years of being formed,the
fledgling Pakistan Army was stunned by the
loss of two brilliant officers who were flying
together to Karachi. Major General Iftikhar Khan
(ex 3rd
Cavalry), was being groomed as the first
Pakistani C-in-C. After relinquishing command
of 10th
Division in Lahore, he was en route to
London to attend the course at the Royal
College of Defence Studies. Brigadier Sher
Khan (ex 6/13th
FFR), who had recently been
approved for promotion to Major General was
heading for Washington. Neither of them had
yet been allotted Pakistan Army numbers and
both perished in an air crash on 12 December
1949.

10. The death of Brigadier Sher Khan must
have been a tragic blow to his father, Subedar
Major Khanezaman Khan. The Subedar had
fought in France during the First World War with
the 4th
Battalion, 12th
Frontier Force Rifles, and
having witnessed the progress in Europe, he
decided that his son must be educated
abroad. (4/12 FFR (Charwinjah) didn't fight in
western theatre as a battalion. Three PIFFER
battalions; 57th
, 58th
and 59th
FFR fought in
western theatre. In view of industrial scale
carnage and large scale thinning of ranks,
drafts from different battalions were sent to
replace heavy casualties. He may have gone
with a draft. Brigadier Zahid Zaman thinks
his medals are with the battalion.
Charwinja's records may shed some light
about his service in great war.) Consequently
he financed Sher Khan to be commissioned
from Royal Military College at Sandhurst. It
involved substantial expenditure since parents
had to bear half the cost of obtaining a
commission. Sher Khan passed out in 1932 and
as his father's regiment had not yet been
'Indianized', he was posted to 6/13th
FFR at

11. Poona. (There are two aspects of
Indianization of regiments. First is
designation of one battalion/regiment for
Indianization and newly commissioned
Indian officers posted to these
battalions/regiments. In 1922, the first batch
of regiments/battalions marked for
Indianization included 7 Light Cavalry, 16
Cavalry, 2/1 Madras Pioneers, 2/1 Punjab
Regiment, 5/5 Marhatta Light Infantry, 1/7
Rajput Regiment 4/19 Hyderabad Regiment
and newly commissioned Indian officers
were mainly posted to these battalions.
Second aspect is appointment of an Indian
officer to an individual regiment/battalion
where he may be the only Indian officer or
just one or two and not whole lot. The
process saw a rapid pace during Second
World War. 4/12 FFR and 6/13 FFR belong to
the latter category and Indianization started
little later. K.P. Dhalgalkar was the first
Indian officer posted to 4/12 FFR in 1932
(later he switched to 3rd
Cavalry). He was
followed by Mian Hayauddin nick named
Ganga to 4/12 FFR. V.D. Jayal a batch senior

12. to Sher Khan was the first Indian officer
posted to 6/13 FFR. Sher Khan and his
course mate Nazir Ahmad followed Jayal.
Later, Bikram Singh, Akbar Khan of 1951
conspiracy fame and Pran Nath Narang
joined 6/13 FFR. Narang was killed in action
in Second World War when serving with 2/13
FFR.) Unlike the cavalry regiments that were
Indianized, some of the infantry battalions like
the 6/13th
were from the elite. In 1921 while it
was numbered as 59th
Scinde Rifles it was
made a "Royal" battalion and now forms part of
the Pakistan Army as 1st
Battalion The Frontier
Force Regiment (Garbar Unath). (Battalion
was always up to some mischief hence nick
named Garbar Unnath. During an attack on
enemy in Second World War, Subedar of
Sikh company told his men "Guru de saun,
Unnath di kassam, char jao". The equivalent
of Garbar Unnath in cavalry is nick name of
'problem horse' for 5th
Probyn's Horse).
Nazir Ahmad who was one of the early Major
Generals of the Pakistan Army was also
commissioned into 6/13th
but got involved in the
Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case.The other Muslim

13. officers who were commissioned in the same
batch were Adam Khan (Joined 2/1 Punjab
Regiment), a Paktoon from the Babori tribe
who was superseded when General Musa
became C-in-C; and (Tommy) Massaud Khan
who joined 7th
Light Cavalry and commanded
11th
Cavalry during the First Kashmir War. (The
batch commissioned on 01 September 1932
from Sandhurst also included K. M. Sheikh
who joined 4/12 FFR. He became Lt. General
and was close confidant of Ayub Khan.)
Sher Khan was promoted
lieutenant in 1934 and his baptism of fire came
two years later during the Waziristan Campaign
of 1936-39. Also baptized was Lieutenant
Muhammad Musa who was commissioned into
the 6/13th
in 1935 and ultimately became the C-

14. in-C of the Pakistan Army. The battalion was
commanded by Dudley Russel MC, nicknamed
'Pasha' because of his bushy black mustache,
swagger stick and confident manner (Russell
Pasha was a highly decorated officer with
DSO and MC. He was originally from 3/19
Hyderabad Regiment where he served a
long stint. He was transferred to 6/13 FFR in
1935). 6/13th
FFR formed part of the column
known as Razcol, which marched out of
Razmak into the Khaisora Valley. The first three
days passed without incidence, but on the
fourth day the column came under fire while
traversing a narrow valley about 16 km short of
the objective of Bichhe Kashkai. Intense fighting
ensued as it had to fight its way through to the
village to link up with the Bannu Brigade.
However since the supply situation became
desperate and casualties mounted, both the
columns had to withdraw to Mir Ali with the
picquets and rearguard heavily engaged on
numerous occasions. (This action occurred in
November 1936. Two brigades suffered one
hundred and seven casualties. Scouts
suffered twenty six. In addition to Sher Khan

15. and Musa, Akbar Khan (later Major General),
Muhammad Yusuf (later Major General) and
Mohindar Singh Chopra (later Major
General) were also baptized in Waziristan.
Akbar later won his well deserved DSO in
Burma when serving with 14/13 FFR. Thanks
to indomitable Wazirs and Mahsuds, many a
DSOs, MCs and IOMs were won by equally
brave Indian army soldiers. Scouts did
some heavy lifting in Waziristan in 1936-37
operations. They won one MC, one IOM and
two IDSMs in 1936. Legendry Tochi Scouts
Subedar Mir Hamza 'Miri'; a Jowaki Afridi
won IOM. Miri's family connection with
scouts and killer instincts is another story
for bedtime.
In 1946, Major General (R) Mohindar
Singh Chopra commanded 1 Assam
Regiment; the very battalion from the
command of which our own Field Marshal
Ayub Khan was sacked for tactical timidity.
Chopra visited his old battalion 6/13 FFR in
1988. He saw the Jullundhar Brigade
trophy; a memory of Ist Manchester's (now
Duke of Lancaster's Regiment of British

16. army), 47th
Sikhs (now 5th
Sikh of Indian
army) and 6/13th
FFR (now 1 FF of Pakistan
army) when they fought together in Great
War. He decided to revive Jullunhdar
Brigade memory by starting the association.
In 1989, representatives of three battalions
met in England. 6/13th
FFR was represented
by second generation officer CO Lt. Colonel
Sadaqat Ali Shah son of MG Syed Shaukat
Ali Shah who was also commissioned in
6/13 FFR, Adjutant Captain Nadir Khan and
Subedar Major Bashir Ahmad.)
Promotions in the army were slow and it
took six years for Sher Khan to become a
captain in 1940. By now the battalion was
based at Secunderabad and was placed under
the 5th
Indian Division which was formed at the
same station in May 1940. The first officer to
arrive at the new divisional headquarters was
the G.S.O.1, Colonel F. W. Messervy, who
hurried there from command of the
13th
Lancers. Messervy subsequently
commanded Gazelle Force and an infantry
brigade in East Africa, the 4th
Indian Division in
North Africa, the British 7th
Armoured Division in

17. the Battle of Ghazala, a corps in Burma and
finally the Pakistan Army at Independence. He
was known as the 'Bearded Man' because he
tended not to shave in battle.
In September 1940, the division was shipped
overseas to contest the Italian occupation of
Sudan and Eretria, and was joined by the
4th
Indian Division which had already won its
laurels in Wavell's campaign in North Africa.
The culmination of the campaign in East Africa
was the famous battle at Karen which the
Italian's stubbornly defended. It was one of the
few occasions on which they really fought with
tenacity and fervor particularly the regular
troops such as Savoia Grenadiers, Alpini, and
Bersaglieri, who were proud of their resistance.

18. Ultimately the
Italians were forced to withdraw to Asmara and
were pursued by the 5th
Indian Division along a
difficult road carved out of the hillsides that was
mined and blocked at a number of places.
Continuous harassing fire by the Italian artillery
caused much destruction and the road was
often jammed by casualties in men and
vehicles.
On 30th
Mar 1941, as the advance
approached defile 3 kms short of the village of
Ad Taclesan, 6/13th
FFR came under intense
artillery fire. As a temporary Major, Sher Khan
was the adjutant and the battalion headquarters
was located near Kilometer 49. It was here that
he earned his Military Cross (MC). His citation
records:

19. During this, intense shelling T/Major MOHD
SHER KHAN, himself supervised the removal
of wounded personnel, ammunition, and stores
to a safer place. In doing this, he exposed
himself with complete disregard of his own
safety for several hours. This task was
rendered all the more difficult by the heavy pall
of smoke and dust in the area. By his action, he
undoubtedly saved the lives of several persons
and prevented the enemy's artillery from
destroying the Battalion reserve of ammunition.
According to the citation, this wasn't the first
time that Sher Khan had placed his life at risk
under intense shelling. It records that:
During the battle of Cheren(Keren), this
officer as Adjutant of his Battalion was
frequently under heavy shellfire. He invariably
organized and supervised the work of Battalion
Headquarters with coolness and diligence.

20. The officer was recommended for a DSO but
awarded a MC.The Intelligence Officer; Anant
Singh Pathania was also awarded an
MC. (Another paltan mate from 6/11th
FFR
V.D. Jayal (later Brigadier) won DSO. After
partition, Pathania joined 1/5th
Gorkha Rifles
which he proudly commanded. Most PIFFER
officers who went to India joined Gorkha
battalions. Pathania retired at Major General
rank. ) His relative had been Subedar Major of
the battalion in France during the First World
War. When all the officers were killed during an
attack, he took command of the remnants. (6/13
FFR suffered heavy casualties in Great War
in western theatre and probably highest
number of casualty rate as far as British

21. officer are concerned. Battalion landed in
France with 13 British officers, 18 Indian
officers and 810 other ranks. A year later,
no British officers, 4 Indian officers and 75
ORs remained of the original contingent.
Ten British officers were killed including
their CO Lt. Colonel P. C. Elliott-Lockhart;
originally from Guides and 19 wounded.
The only officer not wounded was Captain
Inskip who was shell shocked and not
present. Subedar Major Prabhat Chand of
6/13th
FFR was probably the first Indian who
was awarded Military Cross (MC) for his
conduct and battalion command when all
British officers became casualty. He was
uncle of Anant Singh Pathania's wife.
Battalion used to have a tradition where
Subedar Major would parade off the
battalion on ceremonial occasions
remembering Prabhat Chand's bravery. I
don't know if they still practice it. The only
similar example that I recall is that of
31st
Foot (now Queens Surrey Regiment).
Sergeant Bernard McCabe put regimental
colors at Sikh ramparts exposing him to the

22. onslaught. Now on Sobraon Day, sergeants
parade to officer's mess where regimental
color is handed to them to be kept in
Sergeant's mess for a day.) Two months after
the action at Milestone 49, Sher Khan passed
on the duties of adjutant to Kashmir Singh
Katoch (who would earn his MC in Italy), and
proceeded to Quetta to attend the Staff
Course. (Kashmir Singh Katoch was a fine
officer. In the battle of Mont Casino, Pathan
company of 6/13th
FFR was severely mauled
by well placed machine gun nests. Katoch
led his Dogra company to clear many
machine gun nests to avenge the deaths of
his Pathan comrades. He was Corps
Commander of XV Corps during 1965 Indo-
Pakistan war. His parent battalion now
called 1 FF commanded by Lt. Colonel
Shabbir Ali Khan was fighting against Indian
army in Khem Karan sector. In the battle of
Gothic Line 6/13th
FFR – now I FF and
1/5th
Marhatta Light Infantry- now I MLI were
fighting together. Both battalions were held
by German machine guns. They fought with
utmost bravery to overcome the obstacle

23. and shared in the glory. Namdeo Jadao of
1/5 MLI and Ali Haider of 6/13 FFR won well
deserved Victoria Crosses (VC) for their
proud battalions.)
While Sher Khan
was at the Staff College, his younger brother,
Bahadur Sher obtained an emergency
commission from the Indian Military Academy at
Dera Dun in Dec 1941. He followed Sher Khan
into the 6/13th
FFR and two years later in
December 1943 while commanding a company
in the assault across the River Moro in Italy, he
was also awarded a MC. (In 1971 war, then Lt.
General Bahadur Sher and Lt. General Gul
Hassan declined to go to East Pakistan.
After their refusal Lt. General A. A. K. Niazi
was sent to East Pakistan and the rest as

24. they say is history.) By this time, Sher Khan
was serving as brigade major of the Kohat
Brigade. In February 1945, he was promoted to
command 16/13th
Frontier Force Rifles which
placed him amongst the first Indian officers to
command battalions. The battalion was a
wartime raising and was with the Wana Brigade
since 1943. In early1946, Sher Khan brought
the battalion to Wah near Rawalpindi, where it
was disbanded and he was promoted to an
acting brigadier and given command of an
infantry brigade. (1947, 6/13th
FFR was in
Cawnpore. It said goodbye to Sikh and
Dogra comrades who had proudly served
the battalion and came to Pakistan.
Battalion received two Punjabi Muslim (PM)
companies of 7/2 Punjab Regiment. Later, it
exchanged one PM company for a Pathan
company with 2/14th
Punjab Regiment. In
September 1947, Bakhtiar Rana (later Lt.
General) was appointed the first native CO
of the battalion.) At Independence, Sher Khan
was appointed as the first Director of Military
Intelligence (DMI) by Gen Messervy who was
aware of his professional capabilities since the

25. two had served in the 5th
Indian Division in East
Africa.
Sher Khan held the post of DMI for six
months and then appointed as Director Military
Operations (DMO). In both these key posts he
was closely involved in the Kashmir Operations
whose main driving force was Brig Akbar
Khan,DSO (code name Gen Tariq), who was a
fellow regiment officer and had been
commissioned into 6/13th
FFR a year after Sher
Khan. A special cell under the DMO had been
established for the control and conduct of the
operations at Rawalpindi. It was located outside
GHQ and Gen Gracey who was now the C-in-
C, used to visit it in civilian clothes to be briefed
by Brigadier Sher Khan. Following
Independence, officers were rapidly promoted
and by the end of 1948, Sher Khan was
approved for the rank of Major General. He was
replaced by Brigadier Gulzar Ahmad and
detailed to tour the US. On return from his tour,
Sher Khan was to take over command of
7th
Division. (U.S. Military Attaché considered
Sher Khan as 'best mind' in Pakistan army
and with a 'balanced personality'. He was of

26. the view that after Iftikhar Khan's tenure,
Sher Khan may succeed him as C-in-C). In
early 1948, the Defence
Secretary, Iskander Ali Mirza along with Iftikhar
Khan had visited Washington in an effort to
obtain military assistance. (This visit was in
June 1949. It was military purchasing
commission consisting of Secretary
Defence Iskandar Mirza, 10 Division GOC
MG Iftikhar Khan, Military Finance Advisor
Ghulam Abbas, Ordnance officer Lt. Colonel
Saif ur Rahman and Major Faruqi.) In all
likelihood, Sher Khan's trip was a follow up of
this earlier visit. An evening before leaving
Rawalpindi he talked Iftikhar Khan out of going
by train to Karachi and instead joining him on
the PakAir flight from Lahore. Founded in 1948,
Pak Air was a forerunner of the Pakistan
International Airlines and its safety record was

27. poor. It had already lost two aircrafts; one at
Basra and the other near Vehariin Southern
Punjab just 16 days prior to the crash in which
all 21 passengers and crew had perished.
The flight to Karachi was aboard a
Douglas DC-3 with the Registration Number
AP-ADI. The aircraft was a built in 1941 and
probably flewa large number of missions during
the Second World War from airfields in Bengal
and Orissa to China over the 'hump'. At the end
of the war many aircrafts were sold to private
companies at throw-away prices. It departed
late on a four hours evening flight and 30
nautical miles short of Karachi, collided with the
Karo Jabal Hills near Jungshahiat an elevation
of about 1185ft above mean sea level.
According to the crash report, the probable
cause was: "An error of navigation on the part
of the pilot in that the aircraft was not as near to
Karachi Airport as he reported it to be in his last
"position report", which had it been correct,
would have placed the aircraft past the last
range of hills." All 26 passengers and crew
perished and two days later, under instructions
from the Ministry of Defence, Pak Air

28. suspended all their services for an indefinite
period of time.
Major General Iftikhar was buried in the
family graveyard in Faisalabad and the body of
Brigadier Sher Khan was flown to Peshawar
where it was received by his father, Major
General Ayub Khan (then serving as Adjutant
General) and Brigadier (Later Lt.
General) Habibullah Khan Khattak (nick
named Bibo then commanding
100th
Peshawar Brigade. I'm unable to locate
a historic picture of your archives that you
sent a while ago. It is body of Brigadier Sher
Khan at Peshawar airport followed by Ayub
Khan and Habibullah Khan. Your father
Shahid Hamid took over 100th
Brigade from
Bibo in June 1950. With undercurrents of
conspiracy in late 1950s, your father took
over Kohat 101 Brigade in October
1950). Following Sher Khan's death, his
promotion to Major General was certified by the
government and his widow drew the pension
entitled to this rank. He left behind a son and
three daughters one of whom married Reza
Kuli, the son of Lt. General Habibullah (If I

29. recall correctly Reza was sword of honor
winner at Air Force academy at Risalpur. He
was destined to go far possibly air chief.
However, Bibo now running a huge
business enterprise chose him to run
business and he left air force early. Bibo
wanted Ali Quli to get the top slot that he
had missed when Musa was selected C-in-C
in 1958. Four decades later in 1998, Ali Quli
was the senior most lieutenant general
when General Jahangir Karamat faded
away. Ali Quli had similar fate like his father
when Nawaz Sharif selected General Pervez
Musshrraf as army chief superseding Ali
Quli.) and the other married Javed Burki, the
son of Lt. General Wajid Ali Burki. (Wajid was
from Indian Medical Service commissioned
in August 1927. In Pakistan army, special
numbers were allotted to senior medical
officers. Senior most was Lt. General S.M.A.
Faruki with number PA - 100001 and Wajid
was given PA – 100002. He was part of the
inner group around Ayub Khan after 1958
coup. Ayub Khan's son married
Habibullah's daughter.)

30. Author's Analysis of the Air CrashReport
The standard letdown procedure at Karachi
Airport was to approach the directional beacon
located close to the main runwayat 2500ft
before descending and aligning for landing. In
his last report which was only 30 nautical miles
from the airport, the height stated by the pilot
was 2500ft i.e. exactly the height required for
the letdown procedure. The report states that "It
is apparent, however, that the pilot continued to
descend further after having reported last at
2500ft at 21.47 PST in contravention of the
'standard letdown procedure at Karachi Airport'
which he was practicing."
The report presumes that the decent was a
deliberate act by the pilot in violation the
procedure. However that may not have been
so. What if some technical problem had
suddenly developed in the aircraft after the last
report due to which it made a sudden decent
and crashed at 1185ft? On this possibility the
report is silent. If one now factors in the
secondary cause of the Pak Air flight that
disintegrated and crashed in flames near Vehari

31. just 16 days earlier, it lends credibility to the
chances of a technical failure. The secondary
cause was"…….a generally low standard of
maintenance due to lack of tools, spares,
adequate lighting, hurried workmanship, and
inexperience in lower staff grades". Pak Air did
not have its own maintenance facilities. The
Government of Pakistan along with Orient
Airways and Pak Air had formed Pakistan
Aviation Ltd, to handle the maintenance of
aircrafts for all three entities and the standard
and facilities were rudimentary.
According to Brig Zahid Zaman, the family
used to mention that some important
documents that were being carried by Brigadier
Sher Khan were recovered short of the site of
the accident. This could imply that the
passengers were aware that the DC-3 was
going to crash and the documents were
jettisoned from the aircraft. Karachi control
tower received no call of MAYDAY, but in those
days aircrafts were not equipped with VHF
radio sets and HF transmissions had problems
in reception. A call may have been made but
not received. (Sher Khan's son Aftab Ahmad

32. Khan was at top of merit list at PMA and
sent to Sandhurst. Thus becoming member
of a small group of father and son duo
attending Sandhurst. He was inducted in
civil service by Ayub Khan and left army at
the rank of Captain. Retired as Federal
Secretary.)
Acknowledgements: I want to thank
SushilTalwar for providing me the bio data and
citation of Brig Sher Khan, and answering my
numerous queries related to his career. My
thanks to Brig Zahid Zaman, a nephew of Sher
Khan, for photographs of the brigadier and
details of his life. The operations of 6/13th
FFR
in Eretria have been extracted from 'Ball of
Fire,the 5th
Indian Division in the Second World
War'. I would also like to thank my old friend
IjazHaqwho has a life time of experience flying
for PIA and Emirates, for helping me analyze
the crash reports.