Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle

Major General Ian Cardozo

Description

This is the story of men under fire, of the courageous Indian soldier inspired by his officers. While war is an extension of the politics of a nation, it ultimately falls to the lot of the soldier to face combat on the ground. Schooled in the culture of 'Service before Self', soldiers of the Indian Army take their challenges head-on, turning adversity into opportunity, overcoming impossible situations with a smile. While some of their deeds of valour are rewarded, many more need to be remembered. What makes these men the way they are? This book helps us understand better the Indian soldier and his degree of commitment to the Indian Army, and to the nation that he serves.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Param Vir
• Award
• Military
• Infantry
• Army
• History
• War
• Kargil
• Indian

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 31 décembre 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789351940296
• Langue: English

Extrait

PARAM VIR
Major General Ian Cardozo was born in Mumbai and studied at St Xavier’s School and College. In July 1954, he joined the Joint Services Wing which later became the National Defence Academy. Here he was the first cadet to win the gold medal for being the best all-round cadet, and the silver medal for being first in order of merit. He was commissioned at the Indian Military Academy into the 1st Battalion the Fifth Gorkha Rifles (FF) in 1958 and was one of the first officers to be awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry on a patrol in NEFA in 1960. Wounded in the battle of Sylhet in Bangladesh in 1971, he overcame the handicap of losing a leg and became the first officer to be approved for command of an Infantry Battalion. He retired in 1993 from his appointment as Chief of Staff of a Corps in the East.
Author of The Sinking of INS-Khukri: Survivor’s Stories , he has worked with the Spastics Society of Northern India. At present he is working for persons with disability as Chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India and is the Vice President of the War Wounded Foundation.

OTHER TITLE OF MAJ. GEN. IAN CARDOZO
The Sinking of INS Khukri-Survivor's Stories
OTHER LOTUS TITLES
Ajit Bhattacharjea
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah: Tragic Hero of Kashmir
Anil Dharker
Icons: Men & Women Who Shaped Today’s India
Aitzaz Ahsan
The Indus Saga: The Making of Pakistan
Alam Srinivas & TR Vivek
IPL: The Inside Story
Amarinder Singh
The Last Sunset: The Rise & Fall of the Lahore Durbar
Amir Mir
The True Face of Jehadis:

Inside Pakistan’s Terror Networks
Ashok Mitra
The Starkness of It
H.L.O. Garrett
The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar
Hussain Zaidi
Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of Mumbai Mafia
Kiran Maitra
Marxism in India: From Decline to Debacle
M.B. Naqvi
Pakistan at Knife’s Edge
M.J. Akbar
Byline
M.J. Akbar
Blood Brothers: A Family Saga
Madhu Trehan
Tehelka as Metaphor
Masood Hyder
October Coup: A Memoir of the Struggle for Hyderabad
Nayantara Sahgal (ed.)
Before Freedom: Nehru’s Letters to His Sister
Nilima Lambah
A Life Across Three Continents
Peter Church
Added Value: The Life Stories of Indian Business Leaders
Salman Akhtar
Book of Emotions
Sharmishta Gooptu
Revisiting 1857: Myth, Memory, History
and Boria Majumdar (eds)
Shashi Joshi
The Last Durbar
Shashi Tharoor &
Shadows Across the Playing Field
Shaharyar M. Khan
Shrabani Basu
Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan
Shyam Bhatia
Goodbye Shahzadi: A Political Biography
Vir Sanghvi
Men of Steel: Indian Business Leaders in Candid Conversations


FORTHCOMING TITLES
Alam Srinivas
Women Icons
Monisha Rajesh
Around India in 80 Trains



Lotus Collection
©Ian Cardozo 2003
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published in hardback, 2003 Second edition in hardback, 2003 Third edition in hardback, 2005 This paperback edition first published in 2008 Second edition in paperback, 2009 Third impression, 2012 The Lotus Collection An imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. M-75, G.K. II Market New Delhi 110 048 Phone: ++91 (011) 4068 2000 Fax: ++91 (011) 2921 7185 E-mail: [e-mail]; Website: rolibooks.com Also at Banglore, Chennai & Mumbai
Cover Design: Sneha Pamneja
ISBN: 978-81-7436-262-9

CONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Preface
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I THE WAR IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR 1947–1948
CHAPTER II THE SINO-INDIAN WAR 1962
CHAPTER III THE INDO-PAKISTAN WAR 1965
CHAPTER IV THE INDO- PAKISTAN WAR 1971
CHAPTER V THE KARGIL WAR MAY–JULY 1999
CHAPTER VI UN PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS AND WAR AT SIACHEN
CONCLUSION
ANNEXURE I : Param Vir Chakra
ANNEXURE II: Sardar Patel’s Letter to the Prime Minister 7 November 1950
ANNEXURE III: Miscellaneous Details About the PVC
ANNEXURE IV: Equating British and Indian Highest Awards for Gallantry in the Field
ANNEXURE V: List of PVC Awardees
ANNEXURE VI: Indian Recipients of the Victoria Cross
ANNEXURE VII: The Story of Subedar Kishenbir Nagarkoti IOM
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF COMMONLY USED ABBREVIATIONS

Dedicated to The Unknown Soldier

Acknowledgements
I am very indebted to the following persons, organisations, and institutions for the help I have received in putting together this story of the Param Vir Chakra and the men who won it. Without their contribution, this book could not have been written. These include authors of books, regimental histories, search engines on the Internet, articles in newspapers and magazines, letters from officers and friends of the awardees, interviews with those who were part of some of the campaigns and battles, and persons, military and civil, whose advice has been invaluable.
To Commanding Officers of battalions and Commandants of Regimental Centres who took time off from their busy schedules, I offer my special thanks and also to civilian persons of Bharat Rakshak and Google.com who have taken so much trouble to put together accounts of a military nature including information on the Param Vir Chakra. Listed below are sources of information which have helped in putting together this story, and whose help I wish to acknowledge.
Commandants of Regimental Centres and Commanding Officers of Units
For citations, photographs, accounts of battles, and personal narratives of the Param Vir Chakra awardees:
Brigadier P.K. Saxena, Commandant Kumaon Regimental Centre
Brigadier Vijay Aga, Commandant HQ Bombay Engineering Group and Centre
Brigadier Kamal Sood, Commandant 14 Gorkha Training Centre
Colonel T.P.S. Gill, Officiating Commandant Sikh Regimental Centre
Colonel S.S. Ghosh, Deputy Commandant Brigade of the Guards Regimental Centre
Colonel Jasbir Singh and Colonel Y.K. Joshi, VrC, Commanding Officers of 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles
Colonel R.V. Kanetkar, Commandant the Poona Horse
Colonel Satish Dua, Commanding Officer 8 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry
Colonel P.D. Hallur, Commanding Officer 8 Mahar
Colonel Mam Raj Singh, SM, Commanding Officer 5 Mahar.
Colonel Lalit Kumar Rai, VrC, and Lieutenant Colonel A. Asthana, Commanding Officers 1/11Gorkha Rifles
Colonel Vijay Pal, Commanding Officer 6 Rajputana Rifles
Colonel Devendra Kapoor, Commanding Officer 4 Guards
Colonel Anurag Gupta, Commanding Officer 4 Mechanized Infantry, (1 Sikh)
Major Gautam Kalita, Officiating Commanding Officer, 14 Guards
Colonel A.R. Samuel, Commanding Officer 3 Mechanized Infantry, (1/8 Gorkha Rifles)
Colonel B.B. Patnaik, Commanding Officer, 3 Grenadiers
Lieutenant Colonel Ashok Kumar, Second-in-Command, 4 Grenadiers
Lieutenant Colonel Sanjeev Bhatti, SM, SC, Grenadiers Regimental Centre
Contributions from other Officers/Sources
Lieutenant General R.S. Khalon PVSM, VSM, AVSM
Lieutenant General Surendranath Sharma, PVSM, AVSM, Corps of Engineers
Lieutenant General Y.K. Mehta, AVSM, Commandant Indian Military Academy
Major Ashok Nath, Stockholm, Sweden
Major General N.S. Pathania, VSM, General Officer Commanding 25 Infantry Division
Major General Farad Bhatti
Military Secretaries Branch, Army Headquarters
Mrs Gopal Rao
Air Vice-Marshal S.S. Malhotra
Mr Pushpinder Singh
Squadron Leader Rana Chinna
Brigadier Satish Kumar Issar, VSM, the Kumaon Regiment
Group Captain A.K. Sachdev, Research Fellow, Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis
Lieutenant Colonel N.J. George, Adjutant, Indian Military Academy
Lieutenant Colonel Dhan Singh Thapa, PVC, 1/8 Gorkha Rifles
Major K.S. Mehra, Adjutant, Kumaon Regimental Centre
Lieutenant General Y. Tomar, PVSM, the Grenadier Regiment
Lieutenant General Ved Airy, PVSM, MVC, the Grenadier Regiment
Captain Gautam Rajrishi, Adjutant, Kumaon Regimental Centre
Air Commodore R.V. Phadke, Senior Fellow, Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis
Havildar Yogender Singh Yadav, PVC, 18 Grenadiers
Mr Sunil Rawat, HRD Executive
Mrs Gayatri Ramachandran
Mrs Shobita Asthana
Mr R. P. Nailwal
The Gurkha Museum, Winchester U.K.
The 5 th Royal Gurkha Rifles Association (Frontier Force ) U.K.

I would like to thank Roli Books, my publishers for commissioning me to do this book. I have always desired to bring the Army closer to the citizens of India. My publishers provided me with that opportunity.
Last but not least I would like to thank my wife Priscilla for her encouragement, understanding and patience during the last two years when this book took over our lives.

Preface
A true soldier does not argue as he marches, how success is going to be ultimately achieved. But he is confident that if he only plays his humble part well, somehow or other the battle will be won. It is in that spirit that every one of us should act. It is not given to us to know the future. But it is given to every one of us to know how to do our own part well.
– Mahatma Gandhi
T he Param Vir Chakra was instituted in January 1950, approximately two and a half years after India became independent. During the last fifty-two years, twenty-one individua