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{{Short description|American G.I.}} | {{Short description|American G.I.}} | ||
{{orphan|date=April | {{orphan|date=April 2022}} | ||
'''Russell K. Haight Jr.''' was an American [[G.I. (military)|G.I.]] who had served as a U.S. Army Air Force sergeant during [[World War II]]. After the war, he became "famous" by serving as a mercenary commander of the rebel forces of [[ | '''Russell K. Haight Jr.''' was an American [[G.I. (military)|G.I.]] who had served as a U.S. Army Air Force sergeant during [[World War II]]. After the war, he became "famous" by serving as a mercenary commander of the rebel forces of [[Pakistan-occupied Kashmir]] for a few months in 1947.<ref name=nytimes/> His testimony about Pakistan's involvement in the hostilities was cited in the [[UN mediation of the Kashmir dispute|United Nations debates]] on the Kashmir dispute.<ref name=Menon/> | ||
==Army career== | ==Army career== | ||
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In [[Rawalpindi]], then the hotbed of the [[First Kashmir War]] raging in 1947, Haight ran into the British correspondent Bill Sydney Smith of the ''[[Daily Express]]'', who suggested to him that he could utilise his expertise in commanding the Pakistani tribal raiders engaged in the Kashmir War. Haight was sold on the idea.<ref>{{harvnb|Trumbull|1956|p=93}}: "The correspondent suggested that the raiders could use such an experienced soldier, and why didn't Haight apply to the Pakistanis for a commission? Haight thought it over and decided it was a good idea."</ref>{{efn|The correspondent too evidently benefited from the enterprise, who was able to run by-lines like, "Brigadier Russell Haight, the American soldier of fortune fighting with the tribesmen in Kashmir".{{sfn|Trumbull|1956|p=93}}}} | In [[Rawalpindi]], then the hotbed of the [[First Kashmir War]] raging in 1947, Haight ran into the British correspondent Bill Sydney Smith of the ''[[Daily Express]]'', who suggested to him that he could utilise his expertise in commanding the Pakistani tribal raiders engaged in the Kashmir War. Haight was sold on the idea.<ref>{{harvnb|Trumbull|1956|p=93}}: "The correspondent suggested that the raiders could use such an experienced soldier, and why didn't Haight apply to the Pakistanis for a commission? Haight thought it over and decided it was a good idea."</ref>{{efn|The correspondent too evidently benefited from the enterprise, who was able to run by-lines like, "Brigadier Russell Haight, the American soldier of fortune fighting with the tribesmen in Kashmir".{{sfn|Trumbull|1956|p=93}}}} | ||
He signed up with the [[ | He signed up with the [[Pakistan-occupied Kashmir]] provisional government, then based in Rawalpindi. He was given a commission as a captain and sent to the [[Historical Poonch District|Poonch]] front. After he criticised the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir commanders there for their "boy scout tactics", the government apparently promoted him to the rank of a "brigadier general".<ref name=nytimes/>{{efn|The Pakistan-occupied Kashmir commanders' demands to one up each other led to numerous new ranks being invented.}} He later claimed to have commanded 8,000 troops.<ref name=LIFE> | ||
''[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lVIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42&dq=russell+haight+kashmir&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjR5Ii86sDrAhXCSRUIHfMuB8sQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=russell%20haight%20kashmir&f=false LIFE]'', 16 February 1948, p.42. | ''[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lVIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42&dq=russell+haight+kashmir&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjR5Ii86sDrAhXCSRUIHfMuB8sQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=russell%20haight%20kashmir&f=false LIFE]'', 16 February 1948, p.42. | ||
</ref> According a ''[[New York Times]]'' report by Robert Trumbull, Haight was able to successfully discharge his command by playing on the vanity of the tribesmen and exploiting their tribal rivalries.<ref name=nytimes/> | </ref> According to a ''[[New York Times]]'' report by Robert Trumbull, Haight was able to successfully discharge his command by playing on the vanity of the tribesmen and exploiting their tribal rivalries.<ref name=nytimes/> | ||
By the end of 1947, Haight's engagement with the Kashmir War was over. While he claimed to have quit because of inadequate resources, scuffles with some of the fighters from [[Dir (princely state)|Dir]] had played a role. The fighters are said to have attempted to steal Haight's truck and some captured guns, and he ended up killing a couple of them in the ensuing firefight. Trumbull states that, he was effectively a fugitive by the time he left Pakistan. He took a flight to the US with only $2.00 in his pocket.<ref name=nytimes> | By the end of 1947, Haight's engagement with the Kashmir War was over. While he claimed to have quit because of inadequate resources, scuffles with some of the fighters from [[Dir (princely state)|Dir]] had played a role. The fighters are said to have attempted to steal Haight's truck and some captured guns, and he ended up killing a couple of them in the ensuing firefight. Trumbull states that, he was effectively a fugitive by the time he left Pakistan. He took a flight to the US with only $2.00 in his pocket.<ref name=nytimes> | ||
{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/01/29/archives/exgi-kashmir-leader-reveals-he-quit-after-murder-attempts-haight.html |title=Ex-GI, Kashmir Leader, Reveals He Quit After Murder Attempts |last=Trumbull |first=Robert |date=19 January 1948 |work=The New York Times |page=20}} | {{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/01/29/archives/exgi-kashmir-leader-reveals-he-quit-after-murder-attempts-haight.html |title=Ex-GI, Kashmir Leader, Reveals He Quit After Murder Attempts |last=Trumbull |first=Robert |date=19 January 1948 |work=The New York Times |page=20}} | ||
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{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Ranbir |title=Major Defence Operations Since 1947 |publisher=Prabhat Prakashan |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-88322-67-1 |pages=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzo9wyl0AK0C }} | {{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Ranbir |title=Major Defence Operations Since 1947 |publisher=Prabhat Prakashan |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-88322-67-1 |pages=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzo9wyl0AK0C }} | ||
</ref> | </ref> | ||
According to journalist [[G. K. Reddy]], then a PR official in the | According to journalist [[G. K. Reddy]], then a PR official in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir government, Russell K. Haight was "a senior officer of the [[Office of Strategic Services|US Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS)".<ref name=Karanjia/>{{efn|The OSS was the intelligence agency of the US during World War II. It was the precursor to the modern [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].}} He is said to have operated in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under the code name '[[General Tariq]]'.<ref name=Karanjia>{{Cite book|last=Karanjia |first=R. K. |chapter=G. K. with Blitz |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219756|title=Capital Witness: Selected Writings of G. K. Reddy|date=1991|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=8 1-7023-3 16-X|editor-last=Bhagyalakshmi|editor-first=J.|location=New Delhi|pages=xxii}}</ref>{{efn|'General Tariq' was the code name assigned to the chief commander of all the rebel forces and raiders operating on behalf of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as per the [[Operation Gulmarg]] plan.<ref>* {{citation |last=Singh |first=Sm Jasbir |title=Roar of the Tiger – Illustrated History of Operations in Kashmir by 4th Battalion The Kumaon Regt in 1965 War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mcXVjswUrcC&pg=PA129 |date=2013 |publisher=Vij Books India Pvt Ltd |isbn=978-93-82652-03-8 |pages=129–}}</ref> Both Colonel [[Akbar Khan (Pakistani general)|Akbar Khan]] and Colonel Sher Khan later used the title while commanding the rebellion.}} | ||
Haight estimated that there were 15,000 tribal fighters in Kashmir, and a similar number on the move ("coming and going on dispersed along the border"). There were also said to be a fair number of Pakistani officers on leave involved in the war.{{sfnp|Whitehead|2007|p=197 (Chaptter 10)}} Robert Trumbull narrated: | Haight estimated that there were 15,000 tribal fighters in Kashmir, and a similar number on the move ("coming and going on dispersed along the border"). There were also said to be a fair number of Pakistani officers on leave involved in the war.{{sfnp|Whitehead|2007|p=197 (Chaptter 10)}} Robert Trumbull narrated: | ||
{{ | {{blockquote|Although he insisted that the Kashmir fighting broke out in rebellion against atrocities committed upon Moslems by the Hindu Maharajah’s Dogra troops, Mr Haight characterized the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Provisional Government ... as 'Pakistan puppets'. He also deeply implicated high Pakistan Government officials, notably the Premier of the North-West Frontier Province.{{sfnp|Whitehead|2007|p=197 (Chapter 10)}}}} | ||
== Later career == | == Later career == | ||
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* {{citation |last=Whitehead |first=Andrew |title=A Mission in Kashmir |url=http://www.andrewwhitehead.net/full-text-a-mission-in-kashmir.html |year=2007 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-670-08127-1}} | * {{citation |last=Whitehead |first=Andrew |title=A Mission in Kashmir |url=http://www.andrewwhitehead.net/full-text-a-mission-in-kashmir.html |year=2007 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-670-08127-1}} | ||
{{Authority control}} | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haight, Russel K.}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Haight, Russel K.}} | ||
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] | [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] | ||
[[Category:Living people]] | [[Category:Living people]] | ||
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]] | [[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Pakistan-occupied Kashmir]] | ||
[[Category:People of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]] | [[Category:People of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]] | ||
Latest revision as of 02:42, 2 May 2022
Russell K. Haight Jr. was an American G.I. who had served as a U.S. Army Air Force sergeant during World War II. After the war, he became "famous" by serving as a mercenary commander of the rebel forces of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for a few months in 1947.[1] His testimony about Pakistan's involvement in the hostilities was cited in the United Nations debates on the Kashmir dispute.[2]
Army career[edit | edit source]
By his own account, Haight served in three armies during the World War II. He first served with the Canadians, then switched to the British and participated in the commando raid on Dieppe. Finally, he joined the American Army after the US joined the war.[3]
After the war, Haight went to Afghanistan and worked as a surveyor for the American construction company Morrison–Knudsen, which was engaged in building roads there. After having a fall from a cliff, he left the job, and was intending to head back to the US with various stops in Pakistan and India along the way.[3]
Kashmir War[edit | edit source]
In Rawalpindi, then the hotbed of the First Kashmir War raging in 1947, Haight ran into the British correspondent Bill Sydney Smith of the Daily Express, who suggested to him that he could utilise his expertise in commanding the Pakistani tribal raiders engaged in the Kashmir War. Haight was sold on the idea.[4]< [lower-alpha 1]
He signed up with the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir provisional government, then based in Rawalpindi. He was given a commission as a captain and sent to the Poonch front. After he criticised the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir commanders there for their "boy scout tactics", the government apparently promoted him to the rank of a "brigadier general".[1]< [lower-alpha 2] He later claimed to have commanded 8,000 troops.[6] According to a New York Times report by Robert Trumbull, Haight was able to successfully discharge his command by playing on the vanity of the tribesmen and exploiting their tribal rivalries.[1] By the end of 1947, Haight's engagement with the Kashmir War was over. While he claimed to have quit because of inadequate resources, scuffles with some of the fighters from Dir had played a role. The fighters are said to have attempted to steal Haight's truck and some captured guns, and he ended up killing a couple of them in the ensuing firefight. Trumbull states that, he was effectively a fugitive by the time he left Pakistan. He took a flight to the US with only $2.00 in his pocket.[1][7][2]
According to a Soviet writer, I. Andronov, Haight was "actively assisted by several resident agents of the British Intelligence Service and top-flight British representatives in India and Pakistan".[8][9] According to journalist G. K. Reddy, then a PR official in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir government, Russell K. Haight was "a senior officer of the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS)".[10]< [lower-alpha 3] He is said to have operated in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under the code name 'General Tariq'.[10]< [lower-alpha 4]
Haight estimated that there were 15,000 tribal fighters in Kashmir, and a similar number on the move ("coming and going on dispersed along the border"). There were also said to be a fair number of Pakistani officers on leave involved in the war.[12] Robert Trumbull narrated:
Although he insisted that the Kashmir fighting broke out in rebellion against atrocities committed upon Moslems by the Hindu Maharajah’s Dogra troops, Mr Haight characterized the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Provisional Government ... as 'Pakistan puppets'. He also deeply implicated high Pakistan Government officials, notably the Premier of the North-West Frontier Province.[13]
Later career[edit | edit source]
After returning from South Asia, Haight went back to the US Army. He served in Korea, Germany, Bolivia and Vietnam, and retired from U.S. army in 1967 as a sergeant-major. He had seven rows of decorations and ribbons and numerous injuries from the various theatres in which he fought.[14]
See also[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ The correspondent too evidently benefited from the enterprise, who was able to run by-lines like, "Brigadier Russell Haight, the American soldier of fortune fighting with the tribesmen in Kashmir".[5]
- ↑ The Pakistan-occupied Kashmir commanders' demands to one up each other led to numerous new ranks being invented.
- ↑ The OSS was the intelligence agency of the US during World War II. It was the precursor to the modern CIA.
- ↑ 'General Tariq' was the code name assigned to the chief commander of all the rebel forces and raiders operating on behalf of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as per the Operation Gulmarg plan.[11] Both Colonel Akbar Khan and Colonel Sher Khan later used the title while commanding the rebellion.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Trumbull, Robert (19 January 1948). "Ex-GI, Kashmir Leader, Reveals He Quit After Murder Attempts". The New York Times. p. 20.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Russel K. Haight Jr., a former American soldier who served for two months in the “Azad” Kashmir Army, gave a secret interview to the New York Times correspondent, Robert Trumbull, in Lahore and stated that Pakistan had provided petrol. The following is the report:..." Krishna Menon on Kashmir - Speeches at United Nations - Page 46 http://www.geocities.ws/enugareddy/krishnamenon/Krishna_Menon_on_Kashmir_-_I_-_January_1957.pdf
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Trumbull 1956, p. 92.
- ↑ Trumbull 1956, p. 93: "The correspondent suggested that the raiders could use such an experienced soldier, and why didn't Haight apply to the Pakistanis for a commission? Haight thought it over and decided it was a good idea."
- ↑ Trumbull 1956, p. 93.
- ↑ LIFE, 16 February 1948, p.42.
- ↑ Schaffer, Howard B. (2009-09-01). The Limits of Influence: America's Role in Kashmir. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0815703709.
- ↑ Kulkarni, V. B. (1973), India and Pakistan: A Historical Survey of Hindu-Muslim Relations, Jaico Publishing House, p. 441
- ↑ Singh, Ranbir (2005). Major Defence Operations Since 1947. Prabhat Prakashan. p. 28. ISBN 978-81-88322-67-1.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Karanjia, R. K. (1991). "G. K. with Blitz". In Bhagyalakshmi, J. (ed.). Capital Witness: Selected Writings of G. K. Reddy. New Delhi: Allied Publishers. pp. xxii. ISBN 8 1-7023-3 16-X.
- ↑ * Singh, Sm Jasbir (2013), Roar of the Tiger – Illustrated History of Operations in Kashmir by 4th Battalion The Kumaon Regt in 1965 War, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, pp. 129–, ISBN 978-93-82652-03-8
- ↑ Whitehead (2007), p. 197 (Chaptter 10).
- ↑ Whitehead (2007), p. 197 (Chapter 10).
- ↑ The Hallmark, United States Army Security Agency, November 1972, p. 15
Bibliography[edit | edit source]
- Trumbull, Robert (1956), As I See India, W. Sloane Associates
- Whitehead, Andrew (2007), A Mission in Kashmir, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-670-08127-1