General Thimmaiah Memorial Museum is located at Madikeri in Kodugu district of Karnataka state. The museum is located at Mahadevpet, 1 km from Madikerinagar, about 255 km from Bangalore and 118 km from Mysore. And it is about 135 km away from Mangalore.
Thimmaiah was the only Indian to command an infantry unit in combat during World War II and is considered the most distinguished combat officer ever produced by the Indian Army. After the Korean War, a memorial museum built in memory of General Thimmaiah, who headed the United Nations Unit for the Repatriation of Prisoners of War. The museum was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on 6 February 2021 at 3.15 pm.
General Thimmaiah’s own mansion, ‘Sunny Side’, has been converted into a beautiful war museum. Spread over 2.6 acres of land in Madikerinagar, the war memorial houses various ancient weapons and war relics, including a cannon and a decommissioned MiG-21 fighter jet. Vas Museum Timings: Open from 10 AM to 6 PM.
As you enter the premises of the General Thimmaiah Memorial Museum, you will notice the famous battle tank ‘Himat’ strategically placed at the entrance. It was one of the battle tanks used by the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War in 1971 and was donated to the museum by the Army Training Centre, Pune.
Here you will find amazing artworks depicting the bravery of Indian infantry on the battlefield. The museum has a collection of various art and books of the Indian Armed Forces and military uniforms and articles used by General Thimayya One of the main attractions of the General Thimayya Memorial Museum is the 50 to 60 year old collection of arms and ammunition.
Light and medium mission guns, self-loading rifles, rocket launchers, 32 mm and Point 38 rifles, 7.62 barrel rifles and 303 barrel rifles can be found here. Previously used by Indian Army soldiers in many operations.
But one weapon that stands out a lot is the famous Bofors gun, all the weapons you see in the museum have been restored using state-of-the-art techniques and their parts have been reassembled by experienced restorers. Most of the weapons were donated by the current Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat.
Biography of General Thimmaiah
General Thimmaiah was born on March 31, 1906 in Madikeri, Kodagu district to Sri Subbaiah Thimmaiah and Seethamma. Affectionately called Timmy by his colleagues, he served as the Indian Army Chief from 1926 to 1961. He had many successful missions including his time as the commander of the 19th Infantry Division in Jammu and Kashmir in 1948. He was instrumental in driving the Pakistani army out of Kashmir.
Neena Thimmaiah is the wife of General Thimmaiah. Neena had moved to Quetta with General Thimmaiah after her marriage in 1935. A devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck Quetta, killing around. She has done a lot of philanthropic work to help families affected by calamities. She was later awarded the prestigious ‘Kaiser-e-Hind’ award for her social work.
Died on 18 December 1965, after retiring from the army.