Russell K. Haight Jr.

Sergeant major Russell King Haight Jr.
Born	25 January 1922 Mount Kisco, New York, United States
Died	13 May 2006 Norman, Oklahoma
Buried	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	Canada   United Kingdom   United States Azad Kashmir
Service / branch	Canadian Army   British Army   United States Army   United States Air Force Azad Kashmir Regular Force
Years of service	1939-1967
Rank	Sergeant major
Battles / wars	World War II Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 Korean War Vietnam War
Awards	Purple Heart Bronze Star

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 Azad 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]

Personal life

Haight was born in Mount Kisco, New York on 25 January 1922. At the age of 17, he joined the Canadian Army and was stationed in England, where he had married Doris Wright of West Hartlepool, in 1943. ^[3]

Army career

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. ^[4]

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. ^[4]

Kashmir War

Towards the end of 1947, the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces garrisoned in Poonch were besieged from all sides, and the Indian Army forces based in Naushera were also under severe attack.

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. ^{[5] [lower-alpha 1]}

He signed up with the Azad 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 Azad 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. ^[7] 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] [8] [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". ^{[9] [10]} According to journalist G. K. Reddy, then a PR official in the Azad Kashmir government, Russell K. Haight was "a senior officer of the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS)". ^{[11] [lower-alpha 3]} He is said to have operated in Azad Kashmir under the code name 'General Tariq'. ^{[11] [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. ^[13] 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 Azad Kashmir Provisional Government ... as 'Pakistan puppets'. He also deeply implicated high Pakistan Government officials, notably the Premier of the North-West Frontier Province. ^[14]

Later career

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. ^[15]

See also

• Kashmir Conflict

Notes

1. 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". ^[6]
2. The Azad Kashmir commanders' demands to one up each other led to numerous new ranks being invented.
3. The OSS was the intelligence agency of the US during World War II. It was the precursor to the modern CIA.
4. 'General Tariq' was the code name assigned to the chief commander of all the rebel forces and raiders operating on behalf of Azad Kashmir, as per the Operation Gulmarg plan. ^[12] Both Colonel Akbar Khan and Colonel Sher Khan later used the title while commanding the rebellion.

References

1. Trumbull, Robert (19 January 1948). "Ex-GI, Kashmir Leader, Reveals He Quit After Murder Attempts". The New York Times. p. 20.
2. "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. "Remembering the life of Russell Haight". The Norman Transcript.
4. Trumbull 1956, p. 92.
5. 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."
6. Trumbull 1956, p. 93.
7. LIFE , 16 February 1948, p.42.
8. Schaffer, Howard B. (1 September 2009). The Limits of Influence: America's Role in Kashmir. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN   978-0815703709.
9. Kulkarni, V. B. (1973), India and Pakistan: A Historical Survey of Hindu-Muslim Relations, Jaico Publishing House, p. 441
10. Singh, Ranbir (2005). Major Defence Operations Since 1947. Prabhat Prakashan. p. 28. ISBN   978-81-88322-67-1.
11. 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.
12. • 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
13. Whitehead (2007), p. 197 (Chaptter 10).
14. Whitehead (2007), p. 197 (Chapter 10).
15. The Hallmark, United States Army Security Agency, November 1972, p. 15

Bibliography

• Trumbull, Robert (1956), As I See India, W. Sloane Associates
• Whitehead, Andrew (2007), A Mission in Kashmir, Penguin, ISBN   978-0-670-08127-1