Rajendra Singh (Brigadier)

Brig Rajendra Singh, MVC was an officer in the Indian Army. He was the first recipient of Maha Vir Chakra in independent India, when he was awarded the honor posthumously by the then Army Chief Field Marshall K.M. Carriappa.

The citation for the Maha Vir Chakra awarded to him reads:

Gazette Notification:2 Pres 50, 26.1.50

Operation: 1948 Polo - Hyderabad Date of Award: 1948

Citation: 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 Rajinder 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 Rajinder Singh with orders from Maharaja Hari Singh, C-in-C as follows:- "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 ......."

Brigadier Rajinder 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 Rajinder Singh. He made the supreme sacrifice of his life on the night of 26-27 October 1947 valiantly fighting the Pakistani raiders in Uri-Rampur sector.