“Order of the Red Star” Gallantry award of Soviet Union to two JCOs of RIASC
“Order of the Red Star” Gallantry award of Soviet Union WW 2, to two JCOs
Gallantry Awards from Russian Federation (USSR) to Foreigners like British and Soldiers of Indian Origin, is very rare to come by. Such an issue did come by, in Second World War period.
The road traversed by Havildar Gajendra Singh Chand and his comrades in-arms of the Royal Indian Army Supply Corps, in 1942- 44 for supplying war materials to Soviet forces at the Caucasus front, must have been a very arduous and more dangerous. The 3,000 mile long road to the Caucasus, across burning desert and barren land, through 7,000 feet high mountain passes and low river beds passed through places where the temperatures varied from 130°F to 40° below Freezing point. It formed the vital supply link between India and the Soviet Union. From Peshwar to Tabriz, on the Iran Soviet border, this road was “India’s outstretched hand to Russia, bringing it vast resources to within a week’s road journey of Russia’s outlier frontier”
(The Bombay Chronicle Weekly of August 13, 1944 published photographs of the two heroes and an article Soviet Honours for First Indian Soldiers;; A Bulletin of the Information Service of the Government of India, Indian Information dated September 1, 1944, about awarding Ceremony at Soviet Embassy in Teheran).
The gallantry/bravery awards were bestowed on the following Officers and other ranks of British Indian Army.
Order of the Red Star for the following two July 1944.
1. Havildar Gajendra Singh Chand. Royal Indian Army Supply Corps (RIASC) Of village Baraloo, Tehsil Shor, District Almora, United Provinces. (after return to India, lived at Shor Valley, Pithoragarh, UP)
Hav. Gajendra Singh Chand
2. Subedar Narayan Rao Nikkam, Royal Indian Army Supply Corps (RIASC) of village Nerala Hathi , Kankanhalli, Dist. Bangalore. Mysore(after returning to India, lived at Coonoor, Tamil Nadu)
Order of the Red Star. Order of Kutuzov 3rd Class.
Order of Kutuzov. 3rd Class. to Captain. Ram Singh.
Order of the Patriotic War, I class to: Subedar. Pritha Singh Kurung. (Should be Gurung)
Order of Nevsky to: Lt. Col. W. R. B. Williams
(Sorry, Information on the above three Officers is not available at the moment.)
(1) Thakur Gajendra Singh was born in 1916, during the First World War, in the village Badalu. He studied in Pithoragarh and Dehradun. In 1933 he enlisted as a sepoy in the Royal Indian Army Supply Corps.
In 1942, his unit was posted in Basra and subsequently they set up headquarters in Khanikin. He was assigned breakdown duty by his Company Commander and was responsible for looking after the disabled vehicles of their supply convoy. Their main task at Khanikin was to reach supplies to the Russian soldiers fighting the German invaders in the south of Russia. From Khanikin to Tabriz via Hamadan was three days of arduous journey on six-ton trucks. Their officers told them how important it was that the supplies reach their Allies, the Russians, who were keeping the enemy from marching towards India. They worked day and night, not bothering about the dangers lurking behind every hillock, every tree, every corner and kept up the supplies of military hardware, ammunition, rations and other material. In thei heart of hearts they knew that this ammunition and these rations were as vital for the defence of India, as it was for the defence of the Soviet Union. They knew that the enemy they were fighting was ruthless. They were the enemies of mankind. This realisation gave them additional strength.
“In 1943, during one of these trips, I was wounded. While we were unloading war supplies in the dark, someone thrust a bayonet in my left thigh. I was taken to a military hospital in Basra where the doctors suggested that I should be sent to India for treatment and rest. I flatly refused to leave my unit and told my C.O. that I did not want to go to India but would like to go back to my duty as soon as I was fit to travel again. My C.O. was pleased by my devotion to duty and agreed to keep me at Basra till I recovered. I stayed in the hospital for twenty- four days, after which I resumed duty. “Everyone in my unit, including my C.O., was surprised at my refusal to avail myself of the opportunity to go back to my country, for everyone loves his life and it is normal to want to go back to one’s own country after such a long time. I knew that at that stage of the war each soldier was valuable for defeating the fascist enemy and at that critical stage I did not want to leave my comrades in the unit. Our unit continued supplying these war materials to our Russian counterparts for almost a year and a half, i.e., till the middle of 1943. Then our unit was transferred to Italy.”
“I received the news when our unit was posted in Italy. It was in July 1944 that my C.O. informed me of this. Though I received six decorations and medals during my career in the army I never felt so thrilled as when I heard that the Soviet Government had awarded me and Subedar N. R. Nikkam, the Order of the Red Star... I was thrilled again when I received your letter saying you wished to meet me. I am grateful to you personally and to H. E. the Ambassador of the USSR. V. F. Maltsev, for remembering me on this occasion and inviting me to attend the reception to be held on 9 May, 1975, at the Embassy of the USSR. I consider it an honour and I will be there.”
Gajendra Singhs name and photo are kept in Russian Armed Forces Museum. In 1975, for the 30th Anniversary of the Allied Victory, Gajendra Singh was specially invited by Russia and all arrangements made for him to take part in the Victory Parade in Moscow.,
(2)
“On
February 2, 1976” wrote A.S.Moorthy, “I found myself sitting
with Narayana
Rao Nikkam,
now a grand old man,who had moved from Mysore State, to his cosy home in Coo
noor, listening closely
as he reminisced about his past, about events of more than three
decades ago. It was difficult for him to recapture all the details of
those long and hazardous treks in far away Persia. But he vividly
remembered the glittering ceremony in Teheran, at which Soviet
decorations were presented to the officers and men of the RIASC. He
treasured every detail of it. He showed me an old faded photograph of
the presentation ceremony in which he is seen shaking hands with the
Soviet Ambassador M. Maximov: and also a clipping from the Mail of
Madras, yellowed with age, carrying the news of the Teheran function
under the heading. Russia Honours the
Gallant Indian
Soldiers in Carrying Supplies .
“Nikkam was conscious that in reaching those supplies to the beleaguered Red Army on the Caucasian Front, he was not only carrying out his duty as a soldier but also serving the cause of the defence of his motherland, for that army was the only effective barrier between it and the rapacious Hitlerite hordes who had their greedy eyes on the vast natural resources of India. Nikkam’s wrinkled face was suffused with light — a glow from the past — as he recalled his association with the Soviet armymen whom he used to meet in Tabriz. He spoke about them with warmth as one speaks about one’s comrades-in-arms. His eyes lit up when he recalled the role of Soviet women in the war. ‘They did not lag behind the men in serving the country even at the front. Women, donning military uniforms, were at work at the transit point in Tabriz. Very few Russians spoke English; despite the language barrier, however, close bonds of mutual understanding, of sympathy and solidarity in the common cause of struggle against the most brutal enemy of mankind, did develop between the Red Army men and men of the RIASC. From the limited association I had with the Soviet army men and women at the transit points I can say that they were very hospitable and generous people, with an implacable hatred for the invaders,' he said. "As a soldier hero, Mr. Nikkam, what do you think of war? I asked him. Won't you like a man to prove his worth in the thick of a battle just as you did?” “Throwing up his hands in a gesture of horror, he exclaimed: ‘Oh my God! Let there be no war. There must not be any!’ He spoke holding his two grandchildren in a tight embrace, and words came from the depth of his heart: ‘Why should there be any war? Can’t men and women prove their mettle in peaceful construction? War is barbarous. I don’t want our young men to experience the horrors of war’.”
In all, over 5,000 tons of vital war materials per month have been sent from India to Russia during the past six months along the East Persia route, the age-old caravan track now converted into a modern motor highway. Russia has received quantities of gunny bags, tossa canvas, jute ropes, tea, pepper, tin, wolfram and silk. Two special consignments consisted of 1,000 tons of nickel and 1,000 tons of harvest yarn, both of which reached Russia in record time. The harvest yarn was made to a very exacting specification by the Calcutta Jute Mills. It had to reach before the Russian harvest began and the average timing from Calcutta to the handing-over point was 28 days. Tin, mercury, wolfram and silk were flown from China to Assam in American aircraft, and railed to Zahidan for transport by truck. Hundreds of lorries have been used to reach the consignments to our Allies in the north, and the road surface from Zahidan right up to the Russian border has been kept in excellent repair
Order of the Patriotic War I Class. Order of Nevsky
(all information from Web pages in the internet)
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