Captain Vikram Batra of 13 J&K Rifles, is known as the hero of the Kargil war.He was instrumental in recapturing Peak 5140, which is located at an altitude of 17,000 feet. During this mission, Batra was seriously injured but still managed to kill three enemy soldiers in close combat. After capturing Peak 5140, he went on yet another difficult mission to recapture Peak 4875 on July 7, 1999.Pakistani forces were sitting above the peak at 16,000 feet and the climb gradient was 80 degrees.He saved his fellow soldier but was killed while clearing enemy positions. Batra’s last words were “Jai Mata Di.”
Major General Ian Cardozo, who has many achievements to his name, will always be known for his immense courage in the 1971 war with Pakistan. He was, at the time, a young major with 5 Gorkha Rifles. During the war, he stepped on a landmine and severely injured his leg. When even the doctor could not cut his leg, Cardozo asked for a khukri (the Gorkha knife) and cut his own leg off, saying, “Now go and bury it!”.. Through sheer willpower and determination, he continued to perform his duties as a soldier and became the first disabled officer in the Indian Army to command an infantry battalion and a brigade.
During the Indo-Pakistan war of 1947/48, Brigadier Usman repulsed a fierce attack on Naushera and Jhangar, two highly strategic locations in Jammu and Kashmir, and was named by his fellow soldiers ‘The Lion of Naushera.’After the Battle of Naushera, where the Pakistanis suffered heavy casualties at his hands, the same country that had courted him to become the chief of the army, now went ahead and placed prize money of Rs. 50,000 on his head.This inspiring and exemplary officer of the Indian Army died on July 3, 1948, defending Jhangar. His last words were, “I am dying but let not the territory we were fighting for fall to the enemy.”He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously for his great courage and leadership.
This brave soldier has the high honour of being the youngest recipient of the Param Vir Chakra. He received this award at the age of 19 for his actions on July 4,1999, during the Kargil war. He volunteered for the task of capturing three strategic bunkers on Tiger Hill, which were situated at the top of a vertical, snow-covered, 16,500 feet high cliff face.Yadav was hit by three bullets in his groin and shoulder. Despite being severely injured, Yadav kept climbing and finished the remaining 60 feet to reach the top of the cliff.By the time the rest of the Indian platoon arrived, Yadav had already neutralised the enemy attack. This gave Indian soldiers the upper hand and they managed to accomplish one of the toughest missions of the Kargil war – the capture of Tiger Hill.
A hero of the 1962 Indo-China war, Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat of the 4th Garhwal Rifles Infantry Regiment is the only soldier in the history of the Indian Army who has risen through the ranks after his death. He was ‘promoted’ to the rank of Major General 40 years after his death, and is still believed to ‘command’ troops guarding India’s eastern frontiers with China.Rawat was helped by two Monpa tribal girls named Sela and Nura. The trio set up weapons at separate points and maintained a volume of fire to make the Chinese believe they were facing a huge battalion. Rawat successfully managed to fool them for three days.At this point, Rawat chose to shoot himself rather than be captured by the Chinese forces.The post that Rawat held to repulse the Chinese troops has been renamed Jaswant Garh in recognition of his courage. Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously.
2nd Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal of the 17 Poona Horse regiment is yet another braveheart who died too young at the age of 21. He died in the Battle of Basantar during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, where his brave actions earned him the Param Vir Chakra posthumously. Khetarpal showed immense courage and strong will when Pakistani armour, which was superior in strength, counterattacked at Jarpal, in the Shakargarh sector, in December, 1971. Though Khetarpal was in a different squadron, he rushed to help, moving towards the enemy, overrunning the defences with his tanks, and capturing Pakistani infantry and weapons.He fought courageously and destroyed enemy tank. But then his own tank received another hit, which resulted in the death of this courageous officer.
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This brave soldier of Fourth Kumaon regiment sacrificed his life at the young age of 24. With his hand already in plaster from an injury sustained in a hockey game, Sharma insisted on being with his company in combat when they were airlifted to Srinagar on October 30, 1947 to fight Pakistani invaders.On November 3, when Sharma’s company was on a patrol of Badgam village, it was approached by a tribal lashkar of 700 raiders from the direction of Gulmarg.Realising that Srinagar and the airport would be vulnerable if they abandoned the battle at this point, Sharma ran from post to post, encouraging his men to fight in the face of an enemy that outnumbered them seven to one. Sharma, with his left hand in plaster, took to filling the magazines for the men operating light machine guns. While he was busy fighting, a mortar shell exploded on the ammunition near him, killing him instantly.Major Somnath Sharma was the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra.
Naik Jadu Nath Singh, the fourth recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, fought in Jammu and Kashmir in the Indo-Pak war of 1947/48. His presence of mind and bravery saved his post, not just once but thrice, from the enemy. On the crucial day of February 6, 1948, Singh was in command of a forward post at Taindhar. Nine men garrisoned the post.The Pakistanis launched their attack in successive waves to take this post. With four wounded men, he re-organised his force to face another onslaught. He did not give in despite being outnumbered.When all his men, himself included, were wounded, he took over the Bren gun from the wounded gunner and continued to fight. The enemy were now on the walls of the post but Singh’s fire was so devastating that the post was saved for a second time.Every one in his post was dead by now. The Pakistanis came in again for a third attack. Wounded and alone, Sharma charged out of his post with his sten gun firing, surprising the enemy and forcing it to flee back in confusion again. But two bullets caught Sharma in the head and chest and this gallant soldier died instantly.
Karam Singh was the first non-posthumous Param Vir Chakra awardee. He is also the only Indian to win the highest medals of both the British and Indian governments.Karam Singh is best known for his courage on 13 October, 1948, when Pakistan decided to launch a brigade attack to retake Richhmar Gali in Kashmir.He was left with just one choice – to fight the enemy with whatever little army and weapons he had. The attacks had left Karam Singh severely injured but nothing could deter his spirit. He refused to evacuate the post even when the enemy got very close. When enemy soldiers came even closer, Karam Singh jumped out of his trench and stabbed two intruders to death. His brave act demoralised the enemy so much that they broke off the attack.
Parameswaran is yet another braveheart who died at the age of 41 in 1987, in India’s Sri Lanka operations. He was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, posthumously.It was late night when Parameswaran was returning from search operations in Sri Lanka, when his column was suddenly attacked by a group of militants. He did not panic and showed great presence of mind by encircling the enemy from the rear and surprising them with an unexpected attack. During the hand-to-hand combat, a militant shot him in the chest. Undaunted, Major Parameswaran snatched the rifle from the militant and shot him dead.Barely able to stand now, he continued giving orders to his men and inspired them to fight till his last breath. The Indians managed to kill five militants and recovered three rifles and two rocket launchers from the militants.
During the 1999 Kargil war, he led his troop to capture the Jubar top. During this, Pakistan continued to fire on his men. Demonstrating an act of bravery, he went ahead of his troop and fired a lot of bullets. He was wounded by bullets on the leg and shoulder.As a part of Operation Vijay, he was asked to clear the enemy positions amidst heavy shooting. Bravely striking the 1st enemy position, he killed 2 enemies and destroyed the 2nd position by killing 2 more. While clearing 3rd, bullets injured his shoulder and legs. Undaunted, he continued to lead the assault on the 4th, which he destroyed with a grenade. At the end, a bullet penetrated his forehead.His daredevil act led to the capture of Khalubar.
After knowing about the infiltration of a group of terrorists in Jammu Kashmir on 20 August 2011, Lieutenant Navdeep Singh gauged the likely route of the terrorists and planned to lay an ambush at the appropriate spot. When the terrorists were spotted, an exchange of intense fire ensued.Leading from the front, the officer eliminated 3 terrorists at close range. On seeing another terrorist approaching their position, with utter disregard to his personal safety, the officer swiftly changed his firing position and he got hit by a bullet on his head. He nevertheless managed to eliminate the 4th terrorist. Further displaying utmost bravery and comradeship, he pulled an injured fellow soldier to safety and kept firing till he became unconscious due to excessive blood loss.He was posthumously conferred the highest peacetime gallantry award of India, the ‘Ashoka Chakra’ by President of India on the 63rd Republic Day.
When a civil war-like situation developed in Congo after the Belgians quit the country, the United Nations opted for military intervention to retrieve the situation in which India contributed by sending an army of around 3000 men to the UN Force.Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria, who was commissioned in the 1 Gorkha Rifles in June 1957, prevented the enemy from going to the roundabout, saving the UN Headquarters in Elizabethville from encirclement. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra for his extraordinary leadership and devotion to duty.
Major Thapa was commissioned at the 8 Gorkha Rifles in August 1949.The Sirijap Valley in the north of the Pangong Lake, Ladakh, was considered important for the defence of Chushul Airfield. The 1/8 Gorkha Rifles had outposts there to thwart th enemy from encroaching. Sirijap-1 – one of these posts – was held by a platoon of D Company under the command of Major Thapa when the Chinese attacked India in October 1962. Major Thapa revolted the attack and the enemy had to pay heavy losses.
During the 1965 Indo-Pak War, 4 Indian Division was entrusted with the responsibility of capturing Pak territory East of Ichhogil Canal and containing possible enemy attack on Kasur-Khem Karan axis.The enemy tanks had penetrated the forward company positions. Hamid was commanding a recoilless gun detachment and knocked out two enemy tanks, following which the enemy brought down their concentrated machine gun and shot high explosive fire at him. Even though he was badly wounded and bleeding profusely, he didn’t care about himself and kept firing.
During the 1971 operations, Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was with No. 18 Flying Bullets Squadron flying the Folland Gnat fighter-based in Srinagar. He, along with his colleagues, fought successive waves of intruding Pakistani aircraft with fearlessness.Srinagar Airfield was attacked by a wave of six enemy Sabre aircraft in December 1971. Sekhon took off and immediately engaged a pair of the attacking Sabres. He succeeded in damaging two of the enemy aircrafts, but his own aircraft crashed and he was killed. He was awarded for his heroism and supreme gallantry.
Rifleman Sanjay Kumar was posted with 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and led the scout of a team tasked to capture Area Flat Top of Point 4875 in the Mushkoh Valley held by Pakistani-backed militants in 1999. He crawled alone up the ledge towards the enemy bunker through a storm of fire not giving two hoots about his own safety.Even though he was bleeding profusely from bullet wounds, he picked up the enemy machine gun and crawled further towards the second enemy bunker and killed three enemy soldiers. He was awarded the Param Vir Chakra for his display of bravery.
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