BENGALURU: Popular Jewish American financier, philanthropist and political consultant Bernard Mannes Baruch, had once said that there are five sinews of war – men, money, materials, maintenance (food) and morale. The Army Service Corps (ASC) reaches the materials and maintenance to the fighting soldiers.
Manifestation of ASC
The motto of the ASC is ‘Service is our creed.’ The members of the Corps were given equal status as their comrades who fight in the fronts. The ASC was instituted under the British India as a Commissariat Department. Various departments were later combined to form Supply and Transport Corps. The Corps added its troops and services and, as part of that, developed the Animal Transportation System too.
After its contribution during the First World War, the Corps was conferred with a permanent status and thus became an integral part of the Armed Forces. In 1923, the Corps was renamed the Indian Army Service Corps.
More than a decade later, in 1935, the British royalty honoured the performance of the organisation by permitting the prefix Royal. Thus, it came to be known as Royal Indian Army Service Corps. The Corps got its present name Army Service Corps in 1950.
The ASC completed 255 years of its service last year. Surrounded by century-old trees, the campus that was established in 1947 on Old Airport Road, has a couple of buildings that date back at least 120 years.
The ASC Museum
This building was built in 1892 by the British. Initially, it was used as a club and liquor bar for the British sergeants and, later, it housed the education department of the ASC Centre South. The ASC Museum came up when the ASC College was shifted from Bareilly to the ASC Centre (South) Bangalore in 1999.
As you enter the museum, to your right, you may notice the stone inscription that reads Sergeants Institute and Liquor Bar 1892. The museum has been divided into different sections – Corps history, pre-independence, shahid gallery, post independence gallery, sports and adventure, gallantry awards, harmonics, reunion, archives and transport harbour.
This treasure trove has more than 1,214 artefacts and exhibits. The idea to set up an ASC museum that acts as a visual record of the history and traditions of the Corps was first mooted in 1952. The proposal was finally accepted by the army headquarters, thanks to the efforts of Maj Gen GS Gill, the then DST who was impressed by the maintenance of RASC museum in England. In 1965, the museum was first established at ASC School, Bareilly.
The museum is canopied by a banyan tree and peepal trees. Lt Col Shiv Prakash, curator of the museum says, “There’s a reason behind choosing these trees. They were picked for their long lifespans. Also, in Hindu mythology, these trees are considered holy and hence no one would cut them down. The decorative trees such as the Ashoka and bamboo were added later.”
Footprints and Milestones
The footprints and milestones in the lawn of the museum trace the journey of the Corps for more than two centuries. It tells of how the Corps started by walking barefoot to marching in sandals, in hob-nailed ammo boots and to the present DMS boots. The imprints of the feet laid on the stones from Barielly are arranged in a semicircle, along with the milestones inscribed with names of places of historical importance to the Corps – where expeditions and wars were staged, starting from 1838.
The paintings on the exterior walls of the building by the artiste Arul Raj shows the uniforms of the corps that changed over the years.
Transport Harbour
This mini museum displays various vintage transportation systems. The Dakota and Chevroler are juxtaposed against the reconstruction of a photograph – of supplies being loaded in Kashmir. The aircraft Dakota was used mainly for air-despatch deliveries, the Corps packed and dropped the despatches. A model of the micro light aircraft tells a story of Maj HJ Singh (now Maj Gen) who took off in an attempt to fly from Srinagar to Kanyakumari, in this new Eagle micro light aircraft in 1984. It took him 42 days to complete his journey.
Centre Headquarters
Constructed in 1865, the building CW 37 (after Lord Cornwallis) was used as the Centre Head Quarters office of British Artillery Mounted Regiment, which moved to the Middle East during the Second World War. In 1947, ASC Centre (South) was established and the building functioned as the main headquarters of the ASC Centre (South). Earlier, the centre commandment office was on the first floor and then it was shifted to the ground floor, after renovation.
After the shift of ASC School from Bareilly to Bengaluru in 1999, the building was temporarily used as the headquarters for ASC Centre and College and the college was later shifted to a new block, Kakul block, after its inauguration in 2003. The building CW 37 presently headquarters the 2 ASC Training Centre.
Quarter Guard
The inscription on the Quarter Guard reads 1869, the year it was built. As the name suggests, the quarters was built for the on-duty guard. The building is also used for the ceremonies such as flag hoisting. The guards work on a rotation basis. A right wing was added to the building, following its British colonial architecture. Though the buildings have been renovated, the basic features of the colonial architecture – high ceilings, teak roof and semicircle arch lintel – have been retained. These heritage buildings have been maintained with the efforts of Lt Gen SPS Katewa, Ati Visisht Seva Medal and Maj Gen N S Rajpurohit, Visisht Seva Medal.