Gurbachan Singh Salaria

Early life

He was born in Gurdaspur, Punjab. He started his education at the famous Chail Military School, Chail,Shimla Hills(erstwhile King George School, Bangalore (more popularly known as King George Royal Indian Military College [KGRIMC], Chail) before moving to King George School, Jalandhar (now known as Chail Military School). He joined the 9th batch of National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla. He was in 'Bravo' squadron. His cadet number was 1317.

Military career

Commissioned in the 1st Gorkha Rifles (the Malaun Regiment) on 9 June 1957, he was posted to the third battalion of the Regiment. In 1961, Salaria was posted abroad with his battalion in Katanga.

After the Belgians quit Congo, a civil war situation developed in that country. When the United Nations decided upon military intervention to retrieve the situation, India contributed a brigade of around 3000 men to the U.N. force. In November 1961, the U.N. Security Council decided to put a stop to the hostile activities of the Katangese troops in Congo. This greatly angered Tshombe, Katanga's secessionist leader, and he intensified his 'hate the UN' campaign. The result was more violence against UN personnel.

On 5 December 1961, a 3/1 GR Company supported by 3-inch mortar attacked a road-block, established by the Katangese troops, between HQ Katanga command and the Elizabethville airfield at a strategic roundabout. The enemy roadblock was destroyed and the Gorkhas established a UN roadblock there. When Captain Salaria, with his platoon, tried to link up with the Gorkha Company to reinforce the roadblock, he met strong opposition in the old airfield area. The enemy held the area strongly with two armoured cars and 90 men and brought down heavy automatic and small arms fire on his force from a dug-in position on the right flank. Undeterred by the superior enemy strength and firepower, Salaria decided to take the enemy, head-on, to achieve the objective. The Gorkhas then charged the enemy with bayonets, khukris and hand-grenades. A rocket launcher supported them in the attack. In this sharp encounter, Captain Salaria and his men killed 40 of the enemy and knocked out two enemy cars. His bold action completely demoralised the enemy who fled despite numerical superiority and well-fortified positions. In the engagement, Captain Salaria was wounded in the neck by a burst of enemy automatic fire. Ignoring the injury, he continued to fight till he collapsed due to excessive bleeding, dying subsequently of his wounds.

Captain Salaria's actions prevented the Katangese rebels from encircling the UN Headquarters in Elisabethville. His leadership, courage, unflinching devotion to duty and disregard for personal safety were in the best traditions of the Indian Army and for which Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria was posthumously awarded the highest wartime medal, Param Vir Chakra.

Citation

The Param Vir Chakra citation on the Official Indian Army Website reads as follows:

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 sustained a neck wound from automatic gunfire yet continued to engage in combat until he collapsed from severe blood loss. His valiant efforts significantly halted the advancement of enemy forces toward the central battlefield, substantially aiding the success of the main battalion's operations at the roundabout and preventing the encirclement of the UN Headquarters in Elizabethville. Captain Salaria later succumbed to his injuries.

Other honours

The Shipping Corporation of India Ltd (SCI), a Government of India Public Sector Enterprise under the aegis of Ministry of Shipping, named fifteen of her Crude Oil Tankers in honour of the Param Vir Chakra recipients. The crude oil tanker named MT "Capt. Gurbachan Singh Salaria, PVC" was delivered to SCI on 26 October 1984. Due to the MARPOL Convention on single hull tankers, SCI phased out all her fifteen PVC series crude tankers on completion of their economic age of 25 years.