Brig Desmond Hayde MVC

Brigadier Desmond Hayde MVC was born on 28 November 1928 in England UK. He was of Anglo-Indian descent and his father worked in the Indian Railways. He was educated up to Senior Cambridge at Asansol and Bangalore. He joined IMA in Dehradun on 20th Jan 1947 and was commissioned into The Jat Regiment on 12th Sep 1948.

Desmond Hayde was got married to Sheela and the couple had three sons Walter, Michael and Norman. One of whom joined the Indian Army and retired as a lieutenant colonel.

Indo-Pakistan War : 1965

Lieutenant Colonel Hayde was the Commanding Officer of the 3 JAT in the Western Sector, during 1965 Operations. On 6 September 1965, his Battalion captured the West bank of the lchhogil Canal in Pakistan.

As part of Operation Riddle, 3 Jat was initially ordered to breach the Ichhogil Canal, which ran for 8 kilometres inside Pakistan. The western side  was lined with Pakistani concrete pillboxes that had overlapping arcs of fire. The Dograi township on the eastern bank of the Canal near the Grand Trunk road was captured by 3 Jat by 1100 hours on 6 September 1965. By 1200 hours on 6 September 1965, 3 Jat had captured the Batapore and Attokeawan locaties on the west bank of the Canal despite stiff enemy opposition. It was for this action that Lt. Col. Hayde was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra. However, the battalion had to fall back as the other units detailed to support them in the offensive could not reach them in time due to a miscommunication. 3 Jat stood their ground alone until they were ordered to withdraw by brigade headquarters. 

3 Jat then had to wait 2 weeks in defence at Santpura village in Pakistan before they were given orders to take Dograi, a town in the immediate vicinity of Lahore. By this time, the Pakistan Army had heavily fortified the town. On the night of 21 September 1965, during the impending attack on Dograi, Hayde made two demands of his men:

• Ek bhi aadmi pichhe nahin hatega! (Not a single man will turn back!)
• Zinda ya murda, Dograi mein milna hai! (Dead or alive, we have to meet in Dograi.)

3 Jat then marched 8 kilometres from their trenches to Dograi, where the Pakistan Army had entrenched itself. The Pakistani force consisted of 2 infantry battalions supported by a tank squadron. Hayde warned his men against retreating by saying “Even if all of you run away, I shall continue to stand on the battlefield alone”. The battalion engaged in close quarter combat, and eventually captured Dograi. However, 86 troops of 3 Jat were killed. The Pakistani casualties were close to 300.

Hayde is also perhaps the only soldier to be painted by the famed M. F. Husain on the battlefield. It was during an address to his battalion later on 29 October in the same year that Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gave India one of its best known slogans: “Jai Jawan! Jai Kisan!” (“Victory to the soldiers! Victory to the peasants!”). They fought with guns, grenades, bayonets and bare hands, clearing every gulley, street, house and pill box (a concrete above-the-ground bunker) in an assault so courageous that it found its way into Haryanvi folklore. For his personal courage and exemplary leadership, Lieutenant Colonel Hayde was awarded the Mahavir Chakra, the second highest honour in battle.

Life After Retirement

Hayde spent 30 years in the Indian Army before retiring as a brigadier in 1978. He then moved to Kotdwar in Uttarkhand, his wife’s hometown. He set up the ex-servicemen league in Kotdwar and readily helped former members of the Jat Regiment. He donated some land upon which a school (now named Hayde Heritage Academy) was built in Kotdwar. He also adopted many stray dogs.

Brigadier Desmond Hayde, after leading a fulfilling 86 years of life, breathed his last due to skin cancer on 25th September 2013 in Kotdwar. He was buried alongside his wife in Bareilly Cantonmeant, near The Jat Regiment Centre.