On this day 50 years ago, the Indian Army won a spectacular victory over Pakistan under the brilliant leadership of Chief of Army Staff General Sam Manekshaw.
The General was promoted to Field Marshal after the war and is an Indian icon.
Two people who knew him closely were his grandsons Jehan Manekshaw and Raoul Sam Daruwala.
"There was something right and good about what he did during his time in the Army. Soldiers have not forgotten that," says Jehan Manekshaw, head of The Drama School in Mumbai.
"He was a professional soldier. He told the politicians of the day that if the war was to be won, they would have to listen to him.
"Soldiers talk about his leadership, integrity, courage and professionalism as a soldier. These were the values that Sam wanted the army to have and not be corrupted by external agencies and politics," he tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
Image: Then Indian Army chief General Sam Manekshaw with troops during the 1971 War. Photograph: Kind courtesy Major General B N B M Prasad and DPR Photo Division Archives
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