General Eberbach & General Maula Bakhsh by Waseem Altaf General Hans Eberbach, one of the ablest yet a lesser known tank commander of the German Army lost both his parents at 12, remained a ward of his late father’s firm and then joined the army as an officer cadet. He fought the First World War when he was severely wounded and lost his nose which was partially rebuilt. However, for extraordinary courage and acts of bravery, he earned the Iron Cross. During World War II, he fought in most campaigns, better trained than anyone else he helped crush Poland in five weeks and overran France in six, assisted in the destruction of the Belgian army and helped push the British Expeditionary Force back into the sea in 1940. He built the fourth Panzer Division and then led it on the Eastern Front where it became the most decorated formation in the German Army. With a single under strength army, he was given the task to repel Montgomery’s entire Army Group and preventing it from breaking out into the interior of France. Highly respected by both friend and foe he did beat back the great allied offensive-just as he had done the time before that and the time before that and the time before that. He won the oak leaves to his Knights Cross for his application of mind and metal during various campaigns. He was held POW at the end of the war, and on release devoted rest of his life to charities. The American fourth Armored Division designated Eberbach, their antagonist on the invasion front an honorary soldier of their Division. During his last days, he had no property of his own and spent his last months in a retirement home. He died in 1992 at the age of 96. Lt. General Maula Bakhsh joined the army in early 70’s when the 90000 POW’s were being repatriated from Indian jails. However, as an officer, he fully enjoyed life; the tea breaks, mess nights and the bar at the mess; the golf and polo, tombola and swimming, squash and tennis were all wonderful. Lahore cantonment and the city around were luxurious but Kotli was dull and drab. Later, he was posted to Bahawalpur which had its own fascination where the palaces of the Nawabs were converted into formation headquarters. Life in the city limits was great but boring when you have to go to the desert for the exercise. Since there was no armed conflict with the enemy, time was being spent peacefully, until in July 1977 the adversary became visible. The battalion was then part of 111 brigade which was ordered to assume control of the Federal Capital Territory and take the Prime Minister (PM) into ‘safe custody.’ Soon the PM was shifted to Murree. Later, while he was head of a military court, he summarily tried and awarded severe punishments to several ‘enemies’ of the state. There were journalists, student and labor leaders, and ‘perverts’ from the middle class; trying to destabilize the ‘Islamic’ State of his beloved leader. Although he never had the opportunity to engage in active combat until his retirement as a three star general, yet the institution duly rewarded him. Three commercial plots of 200 sq. yards each at DHA Lahore and two at DHA Karachi; two residential plots of 2000 sq. yards each at DHA Lahore and Karachi plus a palatial house in the generals’ colony in Rawalpindi Cantonment. In addition, he was allotted two squares of irrigated land near Bahawalpur. After retirement, he was appointed Vice Chancellor of a reputed university as he had taught armored warfare at the staff college. And since he had learned ‘politics and statesmanship’ during his career, he was later made Governor of a province. After the elections and installation of a civilian set up, he was relieved. However, since during this period he had learned lot of diplomacy, plus had right connections in the General Headquarters, he was ‘honored’ with ambassadorship of a western European country. On completion of his tenure, he came back to Pakistan and since with that much experience he was a full- fledged intellectual, he deemed it fit to appear on the media and lecture on national and international affairs with consummate ease. When he died as a ‘great soldier’ he had done everything in life except soldiering.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:47:59 +0000
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