Brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...
Mohammad Usman
MVC (15 July 1912 – 3 July 1948) was the highest ranking officer of the
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
killed in action during the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. As a
Muslim, Usman became a symbol of India's inclusive secularism.
At the time of the
partition of India he with many other Muslim officers declined to move to the
Pakistan Army and continued to serve with the Indian Army.
He was killed in July 1948 while fighting Pakistani soldiers and militia in
Jammu and Kashmir.
["Tributes paid to Brigadier Usman"](_blank)
''The Hindu'', 5 July 2004. He was later awarded the second highest Indian military decoration for gallantry in the face of enemy, the
Maha Vir Chakra
The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) () is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the B ...
.
Birth and Education
Mohammad Usman was born in Bibipur, now Mau, Uttar Pradesh, in the
Azamgarh district
Azamgarh district is one of the three districts of Azamgarh division in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Etymology
The district is named after its headquarters town, Azamgarh. Azam, a son of Vikramajit, founded the town in 1665. Vikramajit ...
,
United Provinces,
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
on 15 July 1912
[Army commemorates birth centenary of Brig Usman](_blank)
''Business Standard'', 3 July 2012. to Jamilun Bibi and Mohammad Farooq Khunambir. Usman and his younger brothers, Subhan and Gufran, were educated at Harish Chandra Bhai School,
Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
. At the age of 12, he had jumped into a well to rescue a drowning child.
Usman later made up his mind to join the Army, and despite the limited opportunities for Indians to get commissioned ranks and despite intense competition, he succeeded in gaining admission to the prestigious
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS). He entered RMAS in 1932, was commissioned as a
Second Lieutenant and appointed to the Unattached List for the Indian Army on 1 February 1934. He was attached in India to the 1st battalion of the
Cameronians on 12 March 1934 for a year.
Military career
At the end of his year with the Cameronians, on 19 March 1935, he was appointed to the Indian Army and posted to the 5th battalion of the
10th Baluch Regiment
The 10th Baluch or Baluch Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. After independence, it was transferred to the Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was amalgamated with the 8th Punjab and Bahawalpur Regiments. During more ...
(5/10 Baluch). Later in the year he saw active service on the
North-West Frontier of India during the
Mohmand campaign of 1935. He qualified as a 1st class interpreter in
in November 1935.
Usman was promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
on 30 April 1936 and
Captain on 31 August 1941. From February to July 1942, he attended the
Indian Army Staff College at
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...
. By April 1944, he was a temporary
Major. He served in
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
and was
mentioned in dispatches as a temporary Major in the London Gazette 25 September 1945. He commanded the 14th battalion of the 10th Baluch Regiment (14/10 Baluch) from April 1945 to April 1946.
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
In 1947 Pakistan sent tribal irregulars into the princely state of
Jammu and Kashmir in an attempt to capture it and accede it to Pakistan. Usman, then commanding the 77th Parachute Brigade, was sent to command the
50th Parachute Brigade, which was deployed at
Jhangar in December 1947.
On 25 December 1947, with the odds stacked heavily against the brigade, Pakistani forces captured Jhangar. Located at the junction of roads coming from
Mirpur and
Kotli, Jhangar was of strategic importance. On that day Usman took a vow to recapture Jhangar – a feat he accomplished three months later, but at the cost of his own life.
[About Battle of Naushera]
Naushera Defence Academy, retrieved 23 March 2019.
![Order of the day by Brigadier M Usman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Order_of_the_day_by_Brigadier_M_Usman.jpg)
In January–February 1948 Usman repulsed fierce attacks on
Nowshera and Jhangar, both highly strategic locations in Jammu and Kashmir. During the defence of Nowshera against overwhelming odds and numbers, Indian forces inflicted around 2000 casualties on the Pakistanis (about 1000 dead and 1000 wounded) while Indian forces suffered only 33 dead and 102 wounded. His defence earned him the nickname Lion of Nowshera. Pakistani forces then announced a sum of Rs 50,000 as a prize for his head. Unaffected by praise and congratulations, Usman continued to sleep on a mat laid on the floor as he had vowed that he would not sleep on a bed till he recaptured Jhangar, from where he had had to withdraw in late 1947.
The enemy was eventually driven from the area, and Jhangar was recaptured. Pakistan brought its regular forces into the fray in May 1948. Jhangar was once again subjected to heavy artillery bombardment, and many determined attacks were launched on Jhangar by the Pakistan Army. However, Usman frustrated all their attempts to recapture it. It was during this defence of Jhangar that Usman was martyred on 3 July 1948, by an enemy 25-pounder shell. He was 12 days short of his 36th birthday. His last words were "I am dying but let not the territory we were fighting for fall for the enemy". For his inspiring leadership and great courage, he was awarded the
Maha Vir Chakra
The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) () is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the B ...
posthumously.
Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
and his Cabinet colleagues attended the funeral of Usman — "the highest ranking military commander till date" to lay down his life in the battlefield. He was given a state funeral of a martyr.
[
Vinay Kumar]
Leading from the front
The Hindu, 19 August 2012.
An Indian journalist,
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (7 June 1914 – 1 June 1987) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist in Urdu, Hindi and English. He won four National Film Awards in India. Internationally, his films won the Palme d'Or (Golden ...
, wrote about his death, "a precious life, of imagination and unswerving patriotism, has fallen a victim to communal fanaticism. Brigadier Usman's brave example will be an abiding source of inspiration for Free India".
[Abbas, K. A., "Will Kashmir vote for India", ''Current'', 26 October 1949]
Memorial
![Tomb of Mohammad Usman 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Tomb_of_Mohammad_Usman_02.jpg)
Usman is buried in the Okhla cemetery near the
Jamia Millia Islamia campus in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
. Film directors Upender Sood and Ranjan Kumar Singh produced a film on Brigadier Usman's life.
[
]
In 2020, photos of the grave's defaced headstone were widely circulated and triggered outrage on social media. This led several Army veterans to condemn the dishonour done to his memory, ultimately leading the Army to initiate the restoration of the vandalised grave.
His birth centenary was celebrated in 2012 by the Indian Army at Jhangar,
Jammu and Kashmir.
A Paramotor Expedition was organized by Gorkha Training Centre in the memory of Brigadier Usman.
Paramotor expedition to mark birth centenary of Brigadier Mohammad Usman
The Times of India, 1 July 2012.
See also
* Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948, or the First Kashmir War, was a war fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four Indo-Pakistani wars that was fought between th ...
* List of recipients of Maha Vir Chakra
* Battle of Nowshera
The Battle of Nowshera ( ps, د نوښار جګړه; pa, ਨੌਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਦੀ ਲੜਾਈ) was fought in Nowshera in March 1823 between the Yusufzai Afghans, supported by the Peshawar sardars, alongside Azim Khan Barakzai, the Afgha ...
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usman, Mohammad
1948 deaths
Indian military personnel killed in action
20th-century Indian Muslims
Recipients of the Maha Vir Chakra
People from Azamgarh district
1912 births
People from Uttar Pradesh
British Indian Army officers
Indian Army personnel of World War II