Operation Polo, The code name of the Hyderabad Police Action

The State of Hyderabad comprised most of the Deccan Plateau. Having risen from the ruins of the Mughal Empire it like many other states was a Hindu majority state with a Muslim ruler called the Nizam. Established in the 18th century by Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jha, it came under British protection as per the Subsidiary Alliance of Wellesley. In 1947 the Nizam of Hyderabad was Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, a man of vast wealth. Dreaming of an independent state he sought Dominion status from the British only to rebuffed by Lord Mountbatten. The Indian Government was averse to a forced takeover and agreed to conclude a Standstill Agreement. It was hoped that this would open negotiations and the eventual peaceful accession of the state. However this only emboldened the Razakars a militant organization led by Kasim Razvi. Helped by the manipulations of the Nizam and his men, the Razakars aided by the communists let loose an orgy of violence,

THE INITIAL SKIRMISHES

The Razakars went on a recruiting spree including many from outside the state. There was an orgy of political murders and Hindu villages were razed. By the spring of 1948, they become bold enough to raid the Union territory. On September 6th, a police post near Chillakallu village came under heavy fire from Razakar units. A squadron of Poona Horse and a company of 2/5 Gorkha Rifles were sent to investigate. They too came under fire. The tanks then chased the Razakars to Kodar, in Hyderabad territory. Here they were opposed by the armoured cars of 1 Hyderabad Lancers. In a brief action the Poona Horse destroyed one armoured car and forced the surrender of the state garrison at Kodar. Since the trouble began the Razakars had attacked about 70 villages in the state, 150 attacks outside the state, killing, raping and looting. The Nizam was given a last warning to rein in the Razakars.

LAST DITCH EFFORTS

The Nizam instead continued to insist that the conditions were normal and that his own troops were capable of maintaining law and order. Then hoping to get the UN to intervene, a delegation of his advisors left for UN headquarters via Karachi. This raised the possibility of the same power politics that plagued the case of Jammu & Kashmir. It was time for decisive action. The first plans for a military operation were outlined by Lieutenant General E N Goddard, GOC-in-C Southern Army Command. This envisaged the capture of Hyderabad the state capital with a dual thrust by 1st Armoured Division, from Vijayawada in the East a distance of 250 km and Sholapur in the West, a distance of 300 km while small units will pin down the Nizam forces on the border.

The ORDER OF BATTLE

Hyderabad had a large army, with a tradition of hiring mercenary forces. This included Arabs, Rohillas, Pathans and Uttar Pradesh Muslims. The State Army consisted of 3 armoured regiments, a horsed cavalry regiment, 11 infantry battalions and artillery. There were supplemented by irregular units with a horse cavalry, four infantry battalions (Saraf-i-Khas, Paigah, Arab and Refugee) and a garrison battalion for a total of 22,000 men. Finally there were the Home Guards and Razakars. They were commanded by Major General El Edroos - an Arab.

The Razakars totalled about 200,000 although only 25% were armed with modern small arms and the rest with muzzle loaders and swords. The final plan for Operation Polo was based on the Goddard Plan. It envisaged two major thrusts: a western thrust through the Sholapur-Hyderabad axis and an eastern thrust along the Vijaywada-Hyderabad axis. Smaller thrust were to be made from the South to protect the railway lines of communications and from the North in the Jalna area.

The Indian Task force, commanded by Major General J N Chaudhuri (later General and Chief of Army Staff) for the thrust from Sholapur, consisted of four operational groups:

Strike Force comprising a mix of fast moving infantry, cavalry and light artillery

Smash Force consisting of predominantly armoured units and artillery

Kill Force composed of infantry and engineering units

Vir Force which comprised infantry, anti-tank and engineering units.

The Battle raged for 100 hours and thereafter Hyderbad(Andhra) Acceded to India.