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| A tribute to the saviour of Kashmir | | | Col J P Singh | 10/25/2019 10:18:02 PM |
| Brig Rajinder Singh was born on 14th June 1899 in Bagoona village of Samba district, re-named Rajinderpura. After graduation from the Prince of Wales College Jammu in 1921, he was commissioned in the J&K State Force in June 1921. He became Brigadier in May 1942, Commanded Jammu Brigade, Kashmir Brigade and took over as Chief of Staff of J&K State Force from Maj Gen HL Scot, a British officer on deputation to J&K, on Sep 24, 1947. His father was Subedar Lakha Singh, who also served his motherland.
J&K was attacked by Pakistan on 21st October 1947. That time Jammu & Kashmir was an independent State and its State Forces was to fight and push back thousands of Pakistani raiders all along its borders. The small troop with limited ammunitions sans any road communication, they fought the raiders tenaciously. Kohla-Domel garrison fell to the invaders the following day. Brig Singh, the Chief of Staff, took upon himself to lead a column of 100 odd Dogra soldiers to fight the invaders in the farthest battle-field. Maharaja Hari Singh had to negotiate military help from India to defend his State. Hence Brig Rajinder singh had to hold off the invaders till Indian Army arrived after 4 days. He defended and saved the Uri-Rampur Sector with a small Dogra Contingent of State Force, but not without making a supreme sacrifice of his life in the line of duty.
On 21 October 1947, Pakistani forces marched into Jammu and Kashmir to take control of the state by military action, hoping that the dominant Muslim community would support them. They entered Kashmir via Baramulla and targeted Christians, Sikhs and Kashmiri Pandits. They committed rape, murder and arson in a bid to purge the land.
Under siege, on 22 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh commanded Brig Rajinder Singh to defend the state 'till the last Man and the last Round'. Dr Karan Singh remembers the day the order was given. He says, "It was a worrying situation. Brig Rajinder Singh was given an order by my father and he just saluted and walked away, never to come back." Following C-in-C's order,
Brig Rajinder Singh collected as many men and officers from the Badami Bagh Cantonment and proceeded immediately towards Uri. He could collect only about 100 men plus. Since there was shortage of petrol (Pakistan had blocked all supplies to Kashmir) and no vehicle was readily available, Brig Rajinder Singh mustered some private buses and trucks and left Srinagar in the evening of 22 October 1947. The rain, slippery roads and old vehicles slowed their movement. The group reached Uri at 2 am on October 23, 1947. Leaving a Platoon at Uri Nallah, he proceeded to Garhi. At Garhi a fierce battle was fought. In the first phase, heavy casualties were inflicted on the enemy. By virtue of their numbers and far superior weapons, the enemy ultimately had the upper hand. The Brig sahib realised that to halt the invading raiders, it would be better to withdraw to Uri and hold a defensive position. The raiders, however, entered Uri and committed atrocities on the inhabitants, not sparing even the children and the women. The small defensive force could hardly come to the rescue of the helpless people. The Brig Sahib then went to Baramulla to communicate the happenings to his AHQ and asked reinforcements. Brig Faquir Singh at the AHQ promised to send 70-80 men.
In Srinagar, Maharaja finding the situation getting out of hand took over command of the Army Head Quarters at Srinagar. He sent a written 'operation order' to Brig Rajinder Singh through Capt Jwala Singh on October 23, 1947. The wording of the 'historic operation order' was; "Brig 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. If Brig Rajinder Singh is not contacted, Capt Jwala Singh is commanded to hold the enemy at all costs and to the last man. He will do his best to contact Brig Rajinder Singh".
Capt Jwala Singh reached Uri at 3 am on October 24 with a small contingent of reinforcement and handed over the Maharaja's operation order to Brig Rajinder Singh. Finding the situation quite precarious and the defending force quite small in comparison to the swarming invaders, the Chief of Staff ordered Capt Nasib Singh to blow up the steel girder bridge over the Uri River. This act led to a wide yawning gap on the far side of the bridge, sufficient to halt the march of the enemy for quite some time. Firing ensued from both banks. The enemy suffered heavy casualties and withdrew. After about a couple of hours, the enemy launched another massive attack and the invaders seemed to be everywhere. The defensive force fell back to Mahura for another defensive position. The Brig Rajinder Singh and his men reached Mahura at 10 PM.
The enemy resumed attack at 7 AM on October 25. The defense was so effective that the invaders sent some columns to cross the Jhelum upstream on footbridges to attack the defenses from the rear. Brig Rajinder Singh, sensing the move, asked Capt Jwala Singh to move upstream and blow up the bridges. The task was completed by 4.30 PM but by then some enemy troops had already crossed over to this side. Again the Brig moved to Rampur to put up a defence near the Pathar ruins. Trenches were hastily dug and the troops could not rest throughout the night as they had to dig waist-deep bunkers.
On 26th October morning the enemy firing started from all sides. The defence was, once again, so effective that throughout the day raiders could not launch an assault. Then they planned to put up roadblocks to block even the tactical retreat. In the evening He ordered a withdrawal to Seri bridge, West of Baramulla to put another halt to the enemy move. As He and his men fought, on 26 October, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the 'Instrument of Accession' joining the Union of India.
When retreating vehicles moved at 1 AM on 27th October 1947, enemy opened fire again from all sides. The first roadblock was cleared without any loss of life but at the second one near Dewan Mandir Buniyar, the leading driver was hit by enemy bullet and martyred. The convoy halted. When Capt Jwala Singh got down to clear the block, he found that the drivers of the first three vehicles had also been martyred. Somehow he managed to get these three vehicles pushed aside and made rest of the vehicle move on but the Brig Rajinder Singh was in none of them. Capt Jwala Singh decided to retreat to Baramulla. In fact at the second road block the Brigadier Sahib's driver had been killed and then Brig Rajinder Singh himself took control of the steering and was No 2 in the small convoy. In no time he was also mortally wounded in the right leg from the MMG fire, thus denting his plan of planned withdrawal. He ordered his men to put him under the culvert with a revolver since he had promised his ruler that the enemy would advance only over his dead body and ordered them to swiftly and safely move to the planned defensive position to check the movement of the enemy towards Srinagar. Thereafter nothing more was heard of Chief of Staff of the State Forces who always placed duty and country before self. It was at about 2 AM on 27th October 1947 that he laid down his life to prevent Pakistan from capturing J&K militarily and making us Pakistanis. Today we enjoy freedom and happiness because of Brig Rajinder Singh.
For the people of Jammu, Brig Rajinder Singh is known as the 'Immortal Dogra' and for Kashmiris, ' the Saviour of Kashmir'. His supreme sacrifice continues to be an inspiration for people across Jammu as result of which almost every household has one/two serving soldiers in the armed forces, many of them serving on the LoC and the Kashmir valley fighting against militants. For his command, leadership and bravery, Brig Rajinder Singh was awarded Maha Vir Chakra by the then Chief of the Army Staff, equivalent to martyr's status prior accession, Gen K.M. Carriappa on 30th December 1949 who later became Field Marshall. George Fernandes, the then Raksha Mantri, inaugurating Brig Rajinder Singh Memorial on his centenary in his village announced that Brig Sahib deserved minimum PVC and assured to award it soon. But soon after his assurances he had to resign. Oflate Maj Gen Goverdhan Singh Jamwal, AVSM, President JKESSL has taken up the case of upgradation of MVC to PVC with Raksha Mantri Raj Nath Singh. It needs public support throguh social media. May I appeal the public to kindly support award of PVC to the Saviour of Kashmir. |
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