Rajinder Singh (brigadier)

Brigadier Rajinder Singh Jamwal, MVC (14 June 1899 – 26/27 October 1947), also remembered as the Saviour of Kashmir, was an officer in the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces who died fighting during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948. Brigadier Rajinder Singh and his men successfully delayed the forward movement of a much larger contingent of Pakistani regulars and tribal raiders towards Srinagar until the Indian Army arrived.

Brigadier

Rajinder Singh

MVC (posthumous)
Born14 June 1899[1]
Bagoona,Jammu
Died26/27 October 1947 (aged 48)
Boniyar
Buried
Found dead with nails inserted in his hands by pak military and mercenaries Kabalis
Allegiance India
Service/branchJammu and Kashmir State Forces
Years of service1921–1947
Rank Brigadier
Service numberIC-4525[2]
UnitJ&K State Forces
Battles/wars
Awards Maha Vir Chakra
Children5 daughters[1]

On 30 December 1949, he became independent India's first recipient of the Maha Vir Chakra, India’s second highest military decoration, when he was awarded the honour posthumously by the then Army Chief Field Marshall K.M. Cariappa. Over the years there have been calls that Brigadier Rajinder Singh should have been awarded with India's highest military decoration, the Param Vir Chakra.

Early life

Rajinder Singh was born on 14 June 1899 in Bagoona village (now Rajinderpura, Samba district) in a military Dogra family.[3][4][5][6] His ancestor General Baj Singh had died serving under Maharaja Gulab Singh. His grandfather Hamir Singh and father Subedar Lakha Singh were both war veterans. Rajinder Singh was brought up by an uncle, Lt. Colonel Govind Singh, since he was a small child. Singh passed out from Prince of Wales College (now GGM Science College) in Jammu in 1921.[7][8]

Military career

Rajinder Singh was commissioned on 14 June 1921, in to the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces as a Second Lieutenant. On 25 September 1947, he took over charge as Chief of Army Staff of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces from Major General H. L. Scott.[7][9][10]

Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948

In September 1947, Pakistan started making preparations for raids into Kashmir, with the aim of capturing Srinagar. On the night of October 21/22, a large number of Pakistani regulars and tribal irregulars gathered near Muzzafarabad.[7] They were successful in instigating the Muslim soldiers of the 4th J&K Battalion of Maharaja Hari Singh's army that was based in the town. The Muslim soldiers rebelled, killing the officer in charge and all the other all Dogra soldiers at the base.[7][11] This left the 180 km route to Srinagar unguarded, however instead of moving on towards Srinagar, the raiders from Pakistan raided Muzaffarabad. News of the raid only reached the Maharaja the next day. On 22 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh gave his Chief of Army Staff, Brigadier Rajinder Singh, the order to defend the state until Indian troops arrived, that he should fight till death in doing so, "save the state till the last man and the last bullet".[7][11] Karan Singh was present in the room when Hari Singh gave Brigadier Rajinder Singh the command and remembers the incident, brigadier also suggested that maharaja should leave the summer capital srinagar and go to winter capital jammu as its not safer here and on midnight he left for hari palace jammu

."[7][9]

Lt. Gen. L.P. Sen writes in his 1969 book Slender Was The Thread: Kashmir Confrontation 1947-48: "Available to him [Brigadier Rajinder Singh] in Badami Bagh Cantonment was a total of 1,850 officers and men of the Jammu & Kashmir State Forces of whom 500 were Poonchie Muslims. In view of what had taken place, he may have lost faith in the latter and decided not to put their loyalty to the test."[9] With 150-260[lower-alpha 1] men and officers from Badami Bagh cantonment and nearby establishments, equipped with out-dated weapons (though some accounts add that the Brigadier had two 3-inch mortars and MMGs),[14] and using private vehicles, Brigadier Rajinder left Sringar at 6:30 pm and reached Uri at 2 am on 23 October 1947. Brigadier Rajinder Singh moved on with a small platoon, and after fighting raiders in Garhi, he soon realized that his force was greatly outnumbered against the raiders who also had superior weapons.[7]

On 23 October, Hari Singh sent a command to Brigadier Rajinder Singh through Captain Jwala Singh, "Brigadier Rajinder Singh is commanded to hold the enemy at Uri at all costs and to the last man. Reinforcement is sent with Capt Jwala Singh...". On 24 October Captain Jwala Singh arrived with a small number of reinforcements, numbering less than 100 men. Brigadier Rajinder Singh ordered the destruction of bridges to slow down the raiders. However Rajinder Singh's men had to fall further back to Mahura for another defensive position, reaching Mahura at 10 pm. The defense at Mahura held when the enemy decided to resume the attack on the morning of 25 October. Rajinder Singh, also ordered men to blow up the bridges upstream but before the bridges could be destroyed, some raiders had already crossed over. Rajinder Singh once again ordered his men to fall back, moving them to Rampur, where defensive positions were created throughout the night. On the morning of the 26th the enemy launched another attack. The defence held effectively again, and the raiders movement was again halted. At dusk Brigadier Singh ordered a withdrawal towards Baramulla. At 1 am on 27 October the retreating vehicles were attacked at Diwan Mandir, Boniyar,[15] and the convoy halted. The Brigadier's driver was soon killed so the Brigadier drove himself; however soon after he was also mortally wounded. The Brigadier ordered his men to continue ahead with the planned defensive strategy, and leave him where he was. Nothing more was heard of Brigadier Rajinder Singh. His men continued the fight until the next day, but nearly all were killed soon after. However the delay the Brigadier and his men caused the raiders, a delay of nearly 4 days, was enough for diplomatic decisions to be taken and for the Indian Army to arrive brigadier fought with his men for 4 days with little or no food and less potent weapons with low amunation he fought valiantly and scummed to his injuries and later a barbaric act by Pakistani army they took nails and put in his body hands they were so afraid of him he was a hero and died a hero the pride of jammu all of the srinagar is saved by him it is because of him jammu and kashmir is still a part of INDIA [7][14][12][16]

Maha Vir Chakra

On 30 December 1949, for his act of gallantry in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajinder Singh was posthumously awarded India's first Maha Vir Chakra. His wife, Ram Dei, received the medal from Army Chief Field Marshall K.M. Cariappa.[7] The citation reads:

Immediately after the partition of the Indian Sub continent in 1947, thousands of raiders assisted by Pakistani regulars invaded the State of Jammu & Kashmir all along its border. The Jammu & Kashmir State Forces, stretched along a 550-mile long border deployed in penn-packets with limited arms, ammunition and supplies, without road communications, and heavily-outnumbered, fought tenaciously holding on to their positions. Kohla-Domel garrison fell to the invaders on 22 October 1947. The fate of the Valley as of the whole State hung precariously on a slender thread.

Brigadier Rajender Singh, Chief of Military Staff, took over the command of a relief column and proceeded to check the raiders. Another column with all available troops (nearly 100) was despatched on 23 Oct 1947 to join Brigadier Rajender Singh with orders from Maharaja Hari Singh, C-in-C as follows:- "Brigadier Rajender Singh is commanded to hold the enemy at Uri at all costs and to the last man. Reinforcement is sent with Capt Jwala Singh ......."

Brigadier Rajender Singh and his band of soldiers carried out the orders of the Maharaja to the letter and spirit. Fighting bravely for every inch of land, they delayed enemy advance by two crucial days during which important decisions were taken. The Indian Army joined the fight and the J&K State was thus saved for India by Brigadier Rajender Singh. He made the supreme sacrifice of his life on 26 October 1947 valiantly fighting the Pakistani raiders in Uri-Rampur sector.

— Gazette Notification: 2 Pres 50, 26.1.50[17]

Legacy

For his rearguard last-stand actions, Brigadier Rajinder Singh is remembered as the "Saviour of Kashmir".[18][19][20] V.P. Menon, an Indian civil servant, had said of Brigadier Rajinder:[21][22]

"He and his colleagues will live in history like gallant Leonidas and his 300 men who held the Persian invaders at Thermopylae. It was but appropriate that when the Maha Vira Chakra decoration was instituted the first award should have been given (posthumously) to this heroic soldier."

Brigadier Rajinder's native hometown of Bagoona has been renamed as Rajinderpura. A park and market place in Bagoona have also been named after Singh, called the "Brigadier Rajinder Singh Memorial Park" and "Rajinder Bazar" respectively.[23][24] Both Brigadier Rajinder's birthday, 14 June, and day of martyrdom, 26 October, are celebrated.[25][26] Locals honour Rajinder Singh's birth anniversary every year in his hometown.[27][28][29] On 26 October 2018, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Army paid tributes at 'Brigadier Rajinder Singh Chowk' in Jammu.[30] University of Jammu has an auditorium named after the Brigadier,[31] while two schools in Samba district are also named after the Brigadier.[32]

Sainik Samachar reported that on 24 October 2018 a bust of Brigadier Rajindra Singh, presented by his family, was unveiled at the Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar. Also at Badami Bagh Cantonment is the Rajindra Villa, now the Signal Regiment Officers' Mess.[33] The entrance of the cantonment is also named after Rajinder Singh.[34] Sainik Samachar also reported that the family visited Boniyar to pay homage at the Memorial where Brigadier Rajindra Singh died fighting.[33] Over the years there have been calls to posthumously honour the Brigadier with India's highest gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra.[35][36][37] In 1999, at the Rajinder Singh Pura Memorial, George Fernandes, the then Minister of Defence, had said "I am in agreement [...] that he should have been given PVC".[38]

Notes
  1. Various sources give different figures between 150 and 260 men: only about 150 men;[7] 150 men;[12] around 200 soldiers;[9] 200;[13] 260 men.[14]

References
  1. Brig Rajendra Singh, MVC @ TWDI. Twdi.in. Retrieved on 27 November 2018.
  2. Chakravorty, B. (1995). Stories of Heroism: PVC & MVC Winners. History Division, Ministry of Defence, Government of India: Allied Publishers. p. 288. ISBN 978-81-7023-516-3.
  3. Jamwal, Ayushman (15 August 2016). "The 1947 War Hero Who Sacrificed His Life For Kashmir". TheQuint. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  4. Service, Tribune News. "Brig Rajinder Singh among greatest Dogra warriors: MLC". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  5. "First war hero of Independent India: Brig Rajinder Singh". State Times. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  6. "Dogra honor demeaned - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir". www.earlytimes.in. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  7. Chib, S. S. (8 December 2001). "The valiant Dogra who saved the 'paradise on earth'". The Tribune India. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  8. "Brig Rajinder Singh among greatest Dogra warriors: MLC". Tribune India. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  9. Singh, Digvijaya (24 October 2018). "Brig. Rajinder Singh – The Man Who Saved Kashmir In The 1947 War". Himalayan Sentinel. Retrieved 22 August 2020. Lt. Gen. L.P. Sen writes about Brigadier Rajinder Singh in his book Slender Was The Thread (Kashmir Confrontation 1947-48): "Available to him in Badami Bagh Cantonment was a total of 1,850 officers and men of the Jammu & Kashmir State Forces of whom 500 were Poonchie Muslims. In view of what had taken place, he may have lost faith in the latter and decided not to put their loyalty to the test."
  10. Prasad, Shankar (2005). The Gallant Dogras: An Illustrated History of the Dogra Regiment. Lancer Publishers. p. 95. ISBN 978-81-7062-268-0.
  11. Jamwal, Ayushman Singh (29 October 2017). "Brigadier Rajinder Singh:India's Unsung War Hero". CNN-News18. Retrieved 21 August 2020. ...independent India’s first war hero, my great granduncle – Brigadier Rajinder Singh...
  12. Cardozo, Major General Ian (31 December 2003). "1947-48 War in Jammu and Kashmir, Battle for the Valley". Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle. Roli Books Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5194-029-6.
  13. Baines, Richard; Keyte, Brian (1987). A Slender Thread: An Anthology of Short Shories. Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind Education Centre. p. 37.
  14. Singh, Jasbir (25 April 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. 14–16. ISBN 978-93-82573-58-6.
  15. Sen, L. P. (11 August 2019). "In 1947, Gandhi told Lt Gen Sen that wars were inhuman, but to fight for Kashmir with all means". ThePrint. Retrieved 22 August 2020. That position was held by the Chief of Staff, who, unfortunately, had been killed at Diwan Mandir.
  16. Chakravorty, B. (1987). Stories of Heroism. Historical Section, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-81-230-2594-0. At Uri, the Jammu and Kashmir troops, under Brig. Rajendra Singh, fought bravely against the invaders, but had to retreat towards Baramula as they ran short of ammunition. The Brigadier and his soldiers perished almost to the last man, fighting gallantly against the superior force of the enemy. He and his handful of men thus held up thousands of enemy raiders for four most valuable days and were instrumental in saving the Kashmir Valley from pillage and plunder.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  17. "Brig Rajendra Singh, MVC". The War Decorated India & Trust. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  18. "Saviour of Kashmir remembered". Tribuneindia News Service. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  19. "Jammu remember 'Saviour of Kashmir', Brig Rajinder Singh". United News of India (UNI). 26 October 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  20. Joshi, Col NN (16–31 December 2015). "Rich Tributes Paid to Saviour of Kashmir". Sainik Samachar. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  21. "The four eventful days that decided the fate of Kashmir - Raid on Kashmir (last week of 1947)". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  22. Lal, Dr Makkhan (4 July 2018). "Kashmir, Nehru's Idealism and Article 370". VIF India. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  23. "Saviour of Kashmir's birth anniversary celebrated at Bagoona". Scoop News. Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  24. "BJP paid rich triubets to Brigadier Rajinder Singh on his 114th birth anniversary". Scoop News. Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  25. "119th birth anniversary of Brig Rajinder Singh celebrated". Northlines. Samba. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  26. "Rich tributes paid to Brigadier Rajinder Singh". Northlines. Jammu Tawi. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  27. "Brig Rajinder Singh's supreme sacrifice kept J&K united with India: Manjit". State Times. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  28. "JKFFA pays tributes to Brig Rajinder Singh on his birth anniversary". Early Times. Jammu and Kashmir. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  29. "Tributes paid to 1947 hero Brigadier-Rajinder Singh". The Statesman. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  30. "J-K govt Army pay tributes to Brig Rajinder Singh". The Week. PTI. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2020.CS1 maint: others (link)
  31. "IIPA organizes 17th Veeranna Aivalli Memorial Debate". Kashmir Images Newspaper. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  32. "Brigadier Rajinder Singh remembered". State Times. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  33. "Bust of Late Brigadier Rajinder Singh, MVC, Unveiled". Sainik Samachar. 1–15 November 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  34. "Army pays tributes to Brig Rajinder Singh". Greater Kashmir. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  35. "Announce "Param Vir Chakra" for Brig Rajender Singh: NPP". Daily Excelsior. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  36. "JKNPP demands Param Vir Chakra for Brig Rajendra Singh". India Today. PTI. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2020.CS1 maint: others (link)
  37. Saxena, Hori Lal (1975). The Tragedy of Kashmir. Nationalist Publishers. p. 520.
  38. "Brig Rajinder Singh Jayanti to be celebrated on June 14th". The Northern Herald. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2020.

Further reading
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