Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Patrick Oswald Dunn (29 May 1911 – 16 September 1977) was an

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

general. He commanded the I Corps during the Indo-Pak War of 1965 for which he was awarded the third-highest award of India - the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

Personal life

Dunn was an

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

. Dunn took a law degree from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He was married to Bonny, who passed away in the early 1970s.

Career

Pre-Independence

He was commissioned in the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

on 15 July 1938 from the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

, Dehradun. As was customary, on 10 August 1938 he was attached to a battalion of a regular

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

regiment, the 2nd

Worcestershire Regiment The Worcestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment in the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot and the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot. The regiment ...

, for a period of one year prior to his official appointment to the Indian Army. He served in 7/10 Baluch during the

Burma Campaign The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of British rule in Burma, Burma as part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. It primarily involved forces of the Allies of World War II, Allies (mainly from ...

. He was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

during his time in Burma. Dunn attended

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which ...

in 1945, and commanded a Gorkha battalion from November 1946.

Post Independence

As 10 Baluch was allocated to the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

following Indian independence and Partition, he transferred to the

3rd Gorkha Rifles The 3rd Gorkha Rifles or Third Gorkha Rifles, abbreviated as 3 GR is an Indian Army infantry regiment. It was originally a Gurkha Gorkha regiments (India), regiment of the British Indian Army formed in 1815. This regiment recruit mainly Magars an ...

, and became officiating commander of an infantry brigade in January 1949. On 20 August 1955, Dunn, now an acting colonel, was given command of an infantry brigade. He was appointed Commandant of the Infantry School on 16 September 1959.

General officer

In September 1961, he was promoted to the acting rank of major general and appointed Chief of Staff, Southern Command, with Lt Gen Jayanto Nath Chaudhari, OBE, as GOC of the Command. In this capacity, he was involved in the Indian Army's

annexation of Goa The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the India, Republic of India annexed the Portuguese State of India, the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu, starting with the armed action carried out by the Indian Armed ...

, in December that year. Over the 1960s, he served as the Colonel of the Regiment for the

. He succeeded Maj Gen Yadunath Singh, and was himself succeeded by Lt Gen Sagat Singh. On 17 December 1962, he was given command of an infantry division. In January 1964, he was appointed Deputy Chief of General Staff (DCGS), serving for one year until the post was abolished on 15 January 1965. He was then appointed Director of Staff Duties (DSD) from that date until April 1965, when he commanded troops in the

Rann of Kutch The Rann of Kutch is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. It is located mostly in the Kutch district of the Indian state of Gujarat, with a minor portion extending into the Sindh province of Pakistan. ...

following Pakistan's

Operation Desert Hawk Operation Desert Hawk was the codename of a military operation planned and executed by the Pakistan Army in the Rann of Kutch area, the disputed area which was under Indian control from the long-standing status quo. The boundary of Rann of Kutc ...

. At the end of May, Dunn was appointed GOC of the newly raised I Corps, which he commanded during the conflict between India and Pakistan that August. He was awarded the

for his service, and voluntarily retired from the Army on 19 May 1967, after nearly 29 years of service.

Dates of rank

Notes

References

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1960–69 1911 births 1977 deaths British Indian Army officers Indian Army personnel of World War II People of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indian generals Indian Army personnel Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in civil service Commandants of Infantry School, Mhow Indian alumni of Staff College, Camberley 10th Baluch Regiment officers Indian Military Academy alumni Anglo-Indian people