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Gurbachan Singh Salaria
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Captain
Gurbachan Singh Salaria
PVC
Born
(1935-11-29)29 November 1935
Shakargarh, British India (presently in Pakistan)
Died
5 December 1961(1961-12-05) (aged 26)
KIA at Elizabethville, Katanga, Congo
Allegiance
Republic of India
Service/branch
Indian Army
Years of service
1957–1961
Rank
Captain
Service number
IC-8947[1]
Unit
3/1 Gorkha Rifles
Battles/wars
Congo Crisis
Awards
Param Vir Chakra
Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria, PVC (29 November 1935 – 5 December 1961), an Indian Army officer, and receipient of the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest wartime military award. Singh was an alumni of King George's Royal Military College the National Defence Academy. He was commissioned into the Indian Army through Indian Military Academy on 5 June 1957.
In December 1961, Salaria was part of the India troops deployed to Congo as part of United Nations Peace Keeping Operations. On 5 December, Salaria's battalion was tasked to clear a roadblock held by two armored cars along with 150 gendarmes, on the way to Elizabethville Airport. As per the plan, Salaria along with his men were to block the way to retreat. Soon his rocket launcher team attacked and destroyed the enemy's armoured cars. This unforeseen move confused the gendarmerie, and Salaria felt it would be best to attack before they reorganize. Though his troops were extremely outnumbered, he charged towards the enemy, and killed 40 enemy men in a Kukhri assault. During the course of attack, he was shot by two bullets at his neck, and eventually succumbed to his injuries.
Rest of gendarmerie fled in utter confusion leaving the dead and the injured behind. This is helped the main battalion to easily take over the enemy force, and clear the roadblock. For his duty and courage, and disregard of his own safety in face of the enemy, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra.
Contents
[hide]
1 Early life
2 Military career
2.1 Congo Crisis
2.2 Param Vir Chakra
3 Other honours
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
Early life[edit]
Gurbachan Singh Salaria was born on 29 November 1935, in Janwal, a village near Shakargarh, British India (now Pakistan). He was the second of five children of Munshi Ram and Dhan Devi.[2] Earlier his father had been drafted in the Dogra Squadron of the Hodson's Horse in the British Indian Army. Salaria was motivated to join the army at a very young age listening to the tales of his father and his regiment.[3]
As a result of the partition, the family moved to the Indian side and settled in Jangal village of Gurdaspur district. Salaria joined the local village school and later in 1946, he got admitted in King George's Royal Military College (KGRMC) in Bangalore. In August 1947, he was transferred to KGRMC in Jallandhar.[3] After passing out from KGRMC, he joined the Joint Services Wing of the National Defence Academy (NDA). Upon graduation from NDA in 1956, he subsequently passed out of the Indian Military Academy on 9 June 1957.[4][5]
Military career[edit]
Salaria was initially commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of 3 Gorkha Rifles, but was later transferred to the 3rd Battalion of 1 Gorkha Rifles in March 1960.[4]
Congo Crisis[edit]
In June 1960, after the Belgians quit Congo, a civil war situation developed in that country. The Belgians started intervening in the province of Katanga, followed by Kasai Province. Due to the mutiny in Congolese Army, the government was unable to deter the Belgian conquest. Soon the Congo government requested to United Nations (UN) for help, and on 14 July 1960 the help was sanctioned. Between March–June 1961, under the command of Brigadier K. A. S. Raja, India contributed a brigade of around 3000 men to the UN. 99 Infantry Brigade group.[6]
After failed reconciliation between the parties, on 24 November, the UN Security Council approved the resolution for use to force to immediately resolve the conflict and establish peace in the region.[a] As a response two senior UN officers were taken hostages, but were later released. After murdering his driver, Major Ajit Singh from 1 Gorkha Rifles was also taken a hostage. Roadblocks were erected by the enemy forces to prevent communications between the UN detachments and thus isolating them from each other. As a result, it would be easy to take down the detachments one by one.[8]
On 5 December 1961, 3rd Battalion of 1 Gorkha Rifles was tasked to clear a roadblock on the way to Elizabethville Airport at a strategic roundabout. The block was held by two armored cars along with 150 gendarmes. The plan was, the first attack to be made by the Charlie Company, led Major Govind Sharma. Captain Salaria with a platoon from the Aplha Company was close from the airport road, block the way to retreat, and to attack if required. The rest of Alpha Company was kept in reserve. Midday was chose to execute the plan.[9]
Captain Salaria along with his troops reached the specified location along with armoured personnel carriers.[10] They were positioned at around 1,500 yards (1,400 m) from enemy.[11] Soon his rocket launcher team was able to get to close to the enemy's armoured cars and destroy them. Due to the unforeseen move, the gendarmerie got confused and disorganized. Salaria felt that it was the best time to attack before the troops reorganize. Though his troops were extremely outnumbered to the enemy's with about 4:25 ratio, he charged towards the enemy engaging a hand-to-hand Kukhri assault, and shouting the war cry of Gorkhas Ayo Gorkhali (English: The Gorkhas have arrived). Salaria along with his men killed 40 enemy soldiers before he was shot by two bullets at his neck. Eventually Salaria collapsed on the last line of trenches and was succumbed to his injuries.[10]
The close engagement with the Indian troops, and losing about half of their strength, the gendarmerie fled in utter confusion leaving the dead and the injured behind. This helped the main battalion to easily take over the enemy force, and clear the roadblock and prevented rebels from encircling the UN Headquarters in Elisabethville. For his duty and courage, and disregard of his own safety in face of the enemy, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra.[5][10]
Param Vir Chakra[edit]
For gallantry actions on 5 December 1961, Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria was awarded the Param Vir Chakra. The citation read:
On 5 December 1961, 3/1 Gorkha Rifles was ordered to clear a roadblock established by the gendarmerie at a strategic roundabout at Elizabethville , Katanga . The plan was that one company with 2 Swedish armoured cars would attack the position frontally and Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria with two sections of Gorkhas and two Swedish armoured personnel carriers would advance towards this roadblock from the airfield to act as a cutting-off force. Captain Salaria with his small force arrived at a distance of 1500 yards from the roadblock at approximately 1312 hours on 5 December 1961 and came under heavy automatic and small-arms fire from an undetected enemy position dug in on his right flank. The enemy also had two armoured cars and about 90 men opposing Captain Salaria’s small force. Captain Salaria appreciating that he had run into a subsidiary roadblock and ambush and that this enemy force might reinforce the strategic roundabout and thus jeopardise the main operation, decided to remove this opposition. He led a charge with bayonets, khukris, and grenades supported by a rocket launcher. In this gallant engagement, Captain Salaria killed 40 of the enemy and knocked out the two armoured cars. This unexpected bold action completely demoralised the enemy who fled despite their numerical superiority and protected positions. Captain Salaria was wounded in his neck by a burst of automatic fire but continued to fight till he collapsed due to profuse bleeding. Captain Salaria’s gallant action prevented any enemy movement of the enemy force towards the main battle scene and thus contributed very largely to the success of the main battalion’s action at the roundabout and prevented the encirclement of UN Headquarters in Elizabethville. Captain Salaria subsequently died of his wounds.
—  Gazette of India No.8—Press/62, (Cardozo 2003, p. 185–186)
Other honours[edit]
In the 1980s, the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), a Government of India enterprise under the aegis of the Ministry of Shipping, named fifteen of its crude oil tankers in honour of the PVC recipients. The tanker MT Capt. Gurbachan Singh Salaria, PVC was delivered to SCI on 26 October 1984, and served for 25 years before being phased out.[12]
See also[edit]
Bangalore Military School
Chail Military School
Joginder Singh Sahnan
Notes[edit]
Footnotes
Jump up ^ United Nations Security Council Resolution 169, adopted on November 24, 1961.[7]
Citations
Jump up ^ Chakravorty 1995, p. 69.
Jump up ^ Rawat 2014, p. 70.
^ Jump up to: a b Cardozo 2003, p. 187.
^ Jump up to: a b Cardozo 2003, p. 188.
^ Jump up to: a b "Param Vir Chakra winners since 1950". The Times of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
Jump up ^ Cardozo 2003, p. 182.
Jump up ^ "UN Resolution 169" (PDF). United Nations Documents. United Nations. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
Jump up ^ Cardozo 2003, p. 183.
Jump up ^ Cardozo 2003, p. 184.
^ Jump up to: a b c Cardozo 2003, p. 185.
Jump up ^ Reddy 2007, p. 35.
Jump up ^ "Salaria, IMO 8224157". Baltic Shipping Services. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
References[edit]
Rawat, Rachna Bisht (2014), The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories, Penguin Books India Private Limited, ISBN 978-01-4342-235-8
Chakravorty, B.C. (1995), Stories of Heroism: PVC & MVC Winners, New Delhi: Allied Publishers, ISBN 978-81-7023-516-3
Reddy, Kittu (2007), Bravest of the Brave: Heroes of the Indian Army, New Delhi: Prabhat Prakashan, ISBN 978-81-87100-00-3
Cardozo, Major General Ian (retd.) (2003), Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle, New Delhi: Roli Books, ISBN 978-81-7436-262-9
[hide]
v
t
e
Param Vir Chakra recipients
Somnath Sharma (1947)
Jadunath Singh (1948)
Rama Raghoba Rane (1948)
Piru Singh Shekhawat (1948)
Karam Singh (1948)
Gurbachan Singh Salaria (1961)
Dhan Singh Thapa (1962)
Joginder Singh Sahnan (1962)
Shaitan Singh (1962)
Abdul Hamid (1965)
Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore (1965)
Albert Ekka (1971)
Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon (1971)
Arun Khetarpal (1971)
Hoshiar Singh (1971)
Bana Singh (1987)
Ramaswamy Parameshwaran (1987)
Manoj Kumar Pandey (1999)
Yogendra Singh Yadav (1999)
Sanjay Kumar (1999)
Vikram Batra (1999)
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