Subedar Joginder Singh : An Essay

Subedar Joginder Singh

Unit : 1 Sikh

An army cannot fight well in the absence of supplies, that is, it needs clothing, guns, ammunition and food. If an army is not provided adequate supplies, its defeat is almost certain. Somewhat of this situation was faced by the Indians in 1962 India-China war. At this time, Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India, who believed that China would never attack India, so he did not prepare his army well, and its consequences were disastrous.

Despite lacking supplies, the Indians proved their bravery par excellence. They established highest standards of bravery in the battlefield while facing a much stronger, well-supplied and well-reinforced enemy.

On 9 September, 1962, 7 Infantry Brigade was ordered to occupy Namka Chu which the Chinese had occupied and fortified it well. The attacking Indians lacked training, arms, ammunition, equipment, clothing, and even food. In Chinese retaliation, this brigade had to suffer a huge loss, and lost about half of its men.

However, the Indians fought well with whatever they had. A part of this brigade was 1 Sikh, which was armed with .303 rifles in which bullets had to be loaded one by one, while the enemy possessed automatic guns. At one post, Subedar Joginder Singh led his platoon to take on the strong Chinese army, but soon he was out of ammunition. At this, displaying extraordinary courage, his soldiers attached bayonets on their rifles and jumped out of their bunkers to launch a direct physical attack with their battle call "Jo bole so Nihal, Sat Sri Akal". The enemy was bewildered to see these turbaned soldiers attacking in the open. How long could they sustain their attack on the powerful army? Despite lacking ammunition, they caused huge damage to the enemy, before most of them laid down their lives while the remaining were badly injured.

Subedar Joginder Singh too was badly injured in the fighting, he was taken prisoner by the Chinese, but he did not survive long. For his inspiring leadership and glorious bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the highest bravery medal of India.