Major Somnath Sharma : An Essay

Major Somnath Sharma

Unit : 4 Kumaon

In 1947, soon after independence, Pakistan cast its greedy glances on Jammu and Kashmir, and sent its soldiers in the garb of tribals to occupy as much part of the state as possible. To beat back the Pakistanis, India sent its army from Delhi and Ambala. One of these forces included the D Company of 4 Kumaon Regiment, commanded by Major Somnath Sharma.

Just prior to airlift to Srinagar, Somnath was taking physical exercise in which he fractured his hand, so he was advised not to participate in the war; but he said, "How can I rest in Delhi when my men are going to war?" Despite his fractured hand, he became the first officer to land at Srinagar.

His D Company was deployed in Badgam to check the advance of the invaders. Somnath had only 90 soldiers under his command. At noon, he saw that just outside the village, several people gathered near a canal. Somanth thought that they were villagers, but they were in fact Pakistani soldiers who were dressed like local villagers.

These Pakistanis entered the village and launched an attack on the D Company from there. With this, Somnath ordered his soldiers to retaliate. He found that the enemy was in a great number and was armed with mortars, guns, rifles and other large guns. The invaders were attacking them fiercely, but the Indian soldiers had to be careful as the women and children in the village could be killed in their firing.

The D Company repulsed an attack from the invaders, who returned to attack in a larger number. Several of the Indian soldiers were getting hit and killed in the attack, but they were fighting bravely and inflicting a major loss on the enemy, piling up corpses of the enemy soldiers. Seeing the large number of enemies, Somnath called for reinforcement from the Brigade Headquarters.

Somnath established ground signals for the Indian Air Force to attack the enemy, while his soldiers were taking better of the enemy. With the increasing number of his soldiers laying down their lives, the number of Indian soldiers was dwindling rapidly, while the enemy was still strong. When he saw that his men were facing shortage of men to load the machineguns, he himself helped them do so despite his injured hand. About this time, a shell fell near him claiming his life.

In this battle, Major Somnath Sharma made the supreme sacrifice along with 21 more of his men, while another 26 were wounded. In this comparison, the enemy lost more than 300 men.

For displaying the rare courage, Major Somanth Sharma was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously. He became the first person to get this award.