Zorawar Chand Bakhshi

Military career

World War II

Bakshi was commissioned into the Baloch Regiment of the British Indian Army in 1943. Later he also did a course at Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS), UK. His first major battle was against the Japanese in Burma in World War II, where he earned a Mention in Despatches for overcoming a heavily fortified Japanese position. After the liberation of Burma, he participated in the operations to liberate Malaysia from Japanese control, earning a fast-track promotion to the rank of a Major for his role.

Post-Independence

Upon the Partition of India in 1947, Bakshi was transferred to the 5th Gorkha Rifles regiment of the Indian Army. In the Indo Pakistani War of 1947-1948, he was awarded a Vir Chakra for his bravery in July 1948. Soon afterward he was awarded the MacGregor Medal in 1949. In 1951, he was selected to attend the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington.

In the victorious Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Bakshi was instrumental in the capture of the Haji Pir Pass from the Pakistani Forces, for which he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra. The citation for the Maha Vir Chakra reads as follows:

Gazette Notification: 9 Pres/66,1-1-66

Operation: 1965 May - Ablaze Date of Award: 05 Aug 1965

CITATION

Brigadier Zorawar Chand Bakshi (IC-1510), Vr.C.,

5th Bn., The Gorkha Rifles

Brigadier Zorawar Chand Bakshi was Commander of a Brigade which operated from the Tannmarg and Patan area in Jammu and Kashmir and later in the area of the Uri-Poonch bulge, from 5th August 1965 till the ceasefire on 23rd September 1965.

Brigadier Bakshi was given the difficult task of capturing Basali, Haji Pir Pass and Kahuta. Haji Pir is at a height of nearly 9000 feet and its capture was vital for the Uri-Poonch link-up. The road connecting Uri and Poonch via Haji Pir, had deteriorated due to disuse and at some places it had disintegrated. There was no direct route for an approach to Haji Pir except over the mountain ranges of Sank and Ledwali Gali on the west and Badori, Kuthnardi Gali and Kiran feature on the east. From Siliikot where his Brigade Headquarters was based, Haji Pir was at a distance of fourteen miles with strongly defended enemy positions forward of it and flanking it.

All along the route, Brigadier Bakshi remained foremost. As soon as an objective was captured, he was there personally, to guide and help in the reorganisation. Many a time, though enemy shelling was intense and continuous, he remained in the forefront without caring for his personal convenience or safety. After the capture of Haji Pir, he moved forward his tactical Headquarter immediately, though he knew that the enemy would most certainly counter-attack it viciously.

Throughout this operation, Brigadier Zorawar Chand Bakshi displayed a high standard of planning and tactical skill, combined with outstanding leadership, determination and camaraderie in sharing the hardships of his troops, which are in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.

In the early 1960s he led his battalion in a United Nations Operation to undo the secession of the province of Katanga from Congo, in the process earning a Vishisht Seva Medal. In 1969–1970, he led successful counter-insurgency operations in pockets of North East India, and was promoted to major-general on 23 November 1970. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 he was instrumental in the capture of territory in what is now referred to as the crucial Chicken-Neck Sector, for which he was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal. On 7 September 1974, he was appointed Military Secretary with the rank of lieutenant-general. On 15 December 1976, he was granted an extension of service past his statutory retirement age to 1 January 1979.

He was popularly known as "Zoru" in the Indian Army.

Military awards and decorations

Dates of rank