General
Maharaj
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...
Shri
Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific.
The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanese, ...
Rajendrasinhji Jadeja (15 June 1899 – 1 January 1964), also known as K.S. Rajendrasinhji, was the first
Chief of Army Staff 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- ...
, and the second
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n, after Field Marshal
K. M. Cariappa, to become Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.
Personal life
Rajendrasinhji was born on 15 June 1899, at Sarodar in the
Kathiawar
Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it is ...
region of what is now the western
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n state of
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
. The family belonged to the ruling
Yaduvanshi Rajput
Yaduvanshi is a term used for describing various Rajput clans. Prominent among them are Bhatis, Jadejas, Sammas and Chudasamas.
Several inscriptions links the Chudasamas to Yadavas of the legendary Lunar dynasty. According to these, Chuda ...
dynasty of
Nawanagar State
Nawanagar was an Indian princely state in the historical Halar region, located on the southern shores of the Gulf of Kutch. It was ruled by the Jadeja Rajput dynasty and became the part of newly formed India. The city is now known as Jamnagar. ...
(now
Jamnagar
Jamnagar () is a city located on the western coast of India in the state of Gujarat of Saurashtra (region), Saurashtra region. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jamnagar district and the fifth largest city in Gujarat. The city lies ...
),
K.S. Ranjitsinhji, uncle of
K.S.Duleepsinhji, two
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
ing luminaries produced by that family. In 1928, Rajendrasinh wed Maya Kunwarba. The couple became the parents of three children. His son,
Sukhdevsinhji, married the daughter of the ruler of Masuda, Rajkumari Vijaylakshmi Masuda. His youngest daughter was married to the Raja Sahib of the erstwhile princely state of
Khairagarh
Khairagarh is a city in Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai district. Formerly, it was the part of Rajnandgaon district.
History
Khairagarh State was a feudatory state of the former Central Provinces of British India. Pandadah (8 kilometer from ...
in then
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
(present day
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...
), she was an
MP of the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
and a popular leader in her constituency.
Career
Rajendrasinhji attended
Rajkumar College, Rajkot, then at
Malvern College. Having resolved upon pursuing a military career, he joined the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...
. In 1921, he was commissioned as a
Second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
onto the Unattached List for the Indian Army. He spent a year attached to the 3rd battalion the
King's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...
and then joined the Indian Army and was posted to the
2nd Royal Lancers. As a
King's Commissioned Indian Officer A King commissioned Indian officer (KCIO) was an Indian officer of the British Indian Army who held a full King's commission after training in the United Kingdom, either at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst for infantry officers, Woolwich for ...
, he held various ranks and offices in 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 ...
and served with distinction during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
General Rajendrasinhji became the first Indian to be deputed to serve as Military Attaché to
Washington DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
in 1945–46.
Second World War
In 1941, Rajendrasinhji was sent to the
Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre
The Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre was a major theatre of operations during the Second World War. The vast size of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected naval, land, and air campaigns fought for control of the Medi ...
as a squadron commander of the 2nd Lancers. In April 1941, his
brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division.
Br ...
, the
3rd Indian Motor Brigade
The 3rd Indian Motor Brigade was formed in 1940 by the Indian Army during World War II. In 1941, the brigade was surrounded at Mechili by Axis forces during Operation Sonnenblume and suffered many casualties breaking out of the encirclement. On ...
, was surrounded at
Mechili
Mechili ( ar, المخيلي) is a small village in Cyrenaica, Libya and the site of a former Turkish fort. It is nearly east of Benghazi and west of Timimi.
Geography
Because of its location in the desert, Mechili suffered in the past from is ...
by numerically superior Axis forces. Being encircled, the allied forces were left with no option but to hazard a headlong foray through the enemy forces, into the desert. Rajendrasinhji's squadron took the rearguard position during this operation. While the vanguard suffered much loss of life by a German tank attack, Ranjitsinhji's squadron was not seriously impacted. He led his squadron in a charge through the enemy ranks, and they gained respite in the safety of some nearby hills. The squadron essayed further action on the enemy forces after nightfall and achieved considerable success; indeed, it returned to base with sixty prisoners of war.
For his courageous leadership and determined action, Rajendrasinhji was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...
(DSO) in 1941. He was the first Indian to be honoured with this decoration during the Second World War.
Returning to India in October 1942, Rajendrasinhji was appointed commandant of 2 Royal Lancers in 1943.
In May 1945, he was appointed the army's Deputy Director of Public Relations and posted to Washington, with a further appointment as military attache there from June.
He was promoted to brigadier in September 1946 and assigned to command the Piska sub-area. He was then appointed the first Indian director of the Indian Armoured Corps, and shortly before Independence was promoted acting
Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
on 30 July 1947.
In India
The
Partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
in 1947 caused an upheaval in both the security situation and the dynamics of the Indian army. The partition meant the division of the Indian army, which was concurrently called upon to deal with several critical security situations arising from the partition of the country and the anticipated integration of the
princely states
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...
. Also during this period, British officers who held most of the senior ranks in the Indian army were gradually disengaged, being replaced with Indian officers. During this critical period, Rajendrasinhji was called upon to shoulder many onerous responsibilities and received rapid promotion in rank commensurately. As a new major-general, he was appointed to command the Delhi sub-area after Independence in August 1947, serving until 1948 as
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the redesignated
Delhi and East Punjab Command (1947–48).
He was promoted acting
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
on 16 January 1948 and appointed GOC-in-C
Eastern Command.
He was then appointed GOC-in-C
Southern Command (1948–53), following the retirement of
Lt. General E. N. Goddard.
Operation Polo
Operation Polo was the code name of the Hyderabad "police action" in September 1948, by the then newly independent Dominion of India against Hyderabad State. It was a military operation in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the Nizam-rule ...
, which resulted in the integration of
Hyderabad State
Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and t ...
with India, was executed during his term in office as GOC-in-C (South).
As the senior-most serving officer in the army, Gen. Rajendrasinhji was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army on 14 January 1953, following the retirement of
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
(later
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 ...
)
K. M. Cariappa. Rajendrasinhji received the rank of General on the same day. With effect from 1 April 1955, the
President of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
was constitutionally designated the Commander-in-chief of the
Indian Armed Forces
The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...
. Rajendrasinhji then became the first head of the Indian army to be designated
Chief of Army Staff. He held that office until his retirement from service on 14 May 1955 and was succeeded by
Gen. S.M. Srinagesh.
Death
General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji died on 1 January 1964, aged 65 years.
Awards and decorations
Others
*Order of Yugoslavia Army Class I
Dates of rank
Notes
References
Who was the first Indian Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army ? First Indian Chief of Army Staff ?
Bibliography
*
External links
*
* List of Rajputs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajendrasinhji Jadeja
1899 births
1964 deaths
Chiefs of Army Staff (India)
British Indian Army officers
Indian Army personnel of World War II
Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Officers of the Legion of Merit
People from Gujarat
Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
People from Jamnagar
Indian royalty
Indian Hindus
People educated at Malvern College
Indian generals
Indian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Indian military attachés