Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Narender Singh Ahlawat, SC, SM was an 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- ...

. He was awarded the

Sena Medal The Sena Medal is awarded to members of the Indian army, of all ranks, "for such individual acts of exceptional devotion to duty or courage as have special significance for the Army." Awards may be made posthumously and a bar is authorized for s ...

for his gallantry in the Battle of Shakargarh in the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...

, and posthumously awarded the

Shaurya Chakra The Shaurya Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice while not engaged in direct action with the enemy. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, sometimes posthumously ...

for his actions in counterinsurgency operations in

Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...

in 1974.

Early life

Narender Singh was born in

Dighal Dighal is a village in Beri ''tehsil'' in Jhajjar district of Haryana state in north India. It falls under the Rohtak Division. It is the largest village in terms of population in a single ''panchayat'' in Haryana. The people of the village belo ...

village of

Jhajjar district Jhajjar district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Carved out of Rohtak district on 15 July 1997 and with its headquarters in Jhajjar, it lies from Delhi and had developed into an important industrial center. Othe ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

to Major Ran Singh and Nehali Devi. His grandfather, Chaudhary Sohan Singh Ahlawat, a prominent name in the village and who fought with the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He had five brothers and two sisters. Two of his brothers, Lt. Colonel Ramphal and Colonel Mohinder Singh Ahlawat, served in the Indian army, and one, Nafe Singh Ahlawat, retired as a District and Sessions Judge, after serving in the Haryana judiciary. Another of his brothers Ved Singh Ahlawat served as the

Deputy inspector general of police A Deputy Inspector General of Police (abbreviated as DIG) is a high-ranking official position in Police in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. India Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) is a rank i ...

(DIG) in the

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is India's border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 war on 1 December 1 ...

, and his youngest brother, Sh Virender Singh, was an officer in the

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). Delhi Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India. In 2015, sanctioned strength of Delhi ...

Education

Narender first attended King George School, and later graduated from

DAV College, Chandigarh DAV College is a co-educational college in Chandigarh, India. It was founded in 1958. Affiliated to the Panjab University, Chandigarh. The college offers various courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level. It is situated in Sector 10, Ch ...

Military career

Following the tradition of the family, he joined the Indian army, and was commissioned into 15

The Grenadiers The Grenadiers is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army, formerly part of the Bombay Army and later the pre-independence British Indian Army, when the regiment was known as the 4th Bombay Grenadiers. It has distinguished itself during the tw ...

of the

as a second lieutenant. He rose to the rank of captain.

1971 Indo Pak War

Capt N S Ahlawat being awarded Sena Medal by Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw in year 1972

Immediately after becoming commissioned as a second lieutenant, he was deployed in the

and showed highest level of gallantry in the Battle of Shakargarh. For his bravery in the war he was awarded

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

Sam Manekshaw Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw (3 April 1914 – 27 June 2008), widely known as Sam Manekshaw and Sam Bahadur ("Sam the Brave"), was the Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of ...

. His citation as published on 9 March 1974 in the official Gazette of India reads as under: "83. Second Lieutenant NARENDER SINGH AHLAWAT (EC-25103) The Grenadiers. On the 8th December 1971. Second Lieutenant Narender Singh Ahlawat was assigned the task of destroying a medium machine gun bunker in the Shakargarh Sector. He led his patrol with courage and captured the machine gun inflicting casualties on the enemy. In the action, Second Lieutenant Narender Singh Ahlawat displayed leadership and devotion to duty."

1974 Nagaland Counter Insurgency

His Citation reads as: "8. Captain NARENDER SINGH AHLAWAT (IC 25103), SM GRENADIERS (Posthumous) (Effective date of the award-28th November, 1974) On the 28th November, 1974, during an operation against hostiles Captain Narender Singh Ahlawat of an infantry regiment, was assigned the task of establishing two stops, while the main column was conducting a search. Captain Ahlawat accomplished the task and took charge of one of the stops while the other was being looked after by a Non Commissioned Officer. The Non Commissioned Officer saw some hostiles at a distance of 300 yards from his stop, and ordered his Light Machine Gun group to open fire. This took the hostiles by surprise, who ran in disarray. Some of them ran towards the stop of Captain Ahlawat who immediately lifted his stop to intercept the hostiles. Some of the hostiles rushed into the

nullah A nullah or nala ( Hindustani or "nallah" in Punjabi) is an 'arm of the sea', stream, or watercourse, a steep narrow valley. Like the wadi of the Arabs, the nullah is characteristic of mountainous or hilly country where there is little rainfall ...

. Captain Ahlawat came face to face with two hostiles whom he made to surrender. In the meantime, another hostile fired from the nullah at one of his stop members. The officer immediately engaged that hostile but in the meanwhile he got a burst in his chest. Though seriously wounded, he continued to engage that hostile and kept on instructing his stops to chase the other fleeing hostiles. He simultaneously apprised the searching column commander of the situation and then lay dead. In this action, Captain Narender Singh Ahlawat, displayed gallantry, devotion to duty and leadership of a High Order." For his gallant act and supreme sacrifice he was posthumously awarded the Shaurya Chakra .

Early life

Education

Military career

1971 Indo Pak War

1974 Nagaland Counter Insurgency

References

See also