Died Sela Pass Rank Brigadier | Allegiance India Battles/wars 1962 Sino-Indian War | |
Brigadier Hoshiar Singh IOM, IDSM, Croix De Guerre was the commander of the Indian 62 Brigade stationed at Sela Pass. Brigadier Singh was killed in action, along with a few Indian troops during the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Brigadier Hoshiar Singh was commended for his bravery in the war. He was born in a Jat family in Village Sankhol, Bahadurgarh, Haryana. His village has produced numerous brave army officers since then.
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Details of the battle
During the Sino-Indian War in 1962, Hoshiar Singh was in charge of the defence of Sela Pass of this region with a brigade of Indian Army consisting of soldiers from battalions of various regiments, including1 SIKH, 2 Sikh LI, 4 Sikh LI and also soldiers from Garhwal Rifles. In the Kameng division of the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now Arunachal Pradesh, the general officer commanding (GOC) of Fourth Division, the once heavily decorated Major-General A. S. Pathania, losing his nerve, ordered the division to withdraw. Even so, Brigadier Hoshiar Singh, commanding his men atop Sela, refused to withdraw. He showed valour and courage to die fighting the enemy rather than retreat. He argued he was adequately equipped and fully prepared to take on the Chinese. He was however forced to leave on pain of being court-martialled, and was ambushed and killed by the Chinese.
Death
Brig. Hoshiar Singh was killed in action fighting for the Indian Army in the NEFA region in 1962 when his party was ambushed by invading Chinese soldiers while commanding the defence of the Sela Pass.