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 ...

Zorawar Chand 'Zoru' Bakshi

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

MVC MVC may refer to: Science and technology * Maximum-value composite procedure, an imaging procedure * Multivariable calculus, a concept in mathematics * Multivariable control, a concept in process engineering * Mechanical vapor compression, a desal ...

, VrC, VSM (21 October 1921 or 2 January 1921As given in the pre-Independence ''Indian Army List''. – 24 May 2018) was a

General Officer A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

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- ...

, most widely known as one of the commanders of

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

(Operation Ablaze). He also has the distinction of being "India's most decorated General".

Family and early life

Bakshi was born to Bahadur Bakshi Lal Chand Lav, a decorated soldier 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 ...

who held the

OBI #REDIRECT Obi {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous title ...

. He was a

Punjabi Hindu Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. While Punjabi Hindus are mostly found in the Indian state of Punjab today, many have ancestry from the greater Punjab regio ...

who belonged to the Lav clan of

Mohyal Brahmin Mohyal Brahmins (or Potohari Brahmins) are an Indian sub-caste of Saraswat Brahmins from the Punjab region, who are sometimes referred to as 'Warrior Brahmins'. Mohyal Brahmins were the ancient and one of the first Hindu rulers of Punjab and Afg ...

s and was a native of village

Gulyana Gulyana (Urdu: , Potohari Punjabi: ) is a town in the Gujar Khan Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Gulyana is also chief town of Union Council Gulyana which is an administrative subdivision of the Tehsil. It is ...

in the Gurjarkhan Tehsil of

Rawalpindi District Rawalpindi District ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a district located in the northernmost part of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Parts of the district form part of the Islamabad Rawalpindi metropolitan area. Rawalpindi city is the district capi ...

, within the Punjab Province of

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 ...

. As with many other non-Muslims of that region, his family had to shift to the newly-created

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...

after 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: ...

. Prior to the partition, he graduated from

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

's Gordon College in 1942 after which he joined the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

Military career

World War II

Bakshi was commissioned into the

Baloch Regiment The Baloch Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Pakistan Army. The modern regiment was formed in May 1956 by the merger of 8th Punjab and Bahawalpur Regiments with the Baluch Regiment. Since then, further raisings have brought the strength of ...

of the

in 1943. Later he also did a course at

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

(RCDS), UK. His first major battle was against the Japanese in Burma in World War II, where he earned a

Mention in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

for overcoming a heavily fortified Japanese position. After the liberation of Burma, he participated in the operations to liberate Malaysia from Japanese control, earning a fast-track promotion to the rank of a Major for his role.

Post-Independence

Upon the

in 1947, Bakshi was transferred to the

5th Gorkha Rifles 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), also abbreviated as 5 GR(FF) is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army comprising Gurkha soldiers of Nepalese origin. It was formed in 1858 as part of the British Indian Army. The regiment's battalions serve ...

regiment of the Indian Army. In the Indo Pakistani War of 1947-1948, he was awarded a

Vir Chakra Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋ iː ɾ a tʃ a kɾa) is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy on the battlefield and is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards a ...

for his bravery in July 1948. Soon afterward he was awarded the

MacGregor Medal The MacGregor Medal (also referred to as the MacGregor Memorial Medal) is awarded for valuable military intelligence through reconnaissance, exploration, survey or other similar activities of national importance. Awardees have included Survey o ...

in 1949. In 1951, he was selected to attend the

Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , pres ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. In the

, Bakshi was instrumental in the capture of the Haji Pir Pass from the Pakistani Forces, for which 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 ...

. The citation for the

reads as follows: In the early 1960s he led his battalion in a United Nations Operation to undo the secession of the province of Katanga from Congo, in the process earning a

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize exc ...

. In 1969–1970, he led successful counter-insurgency operations in pockets of

North East India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

, and was promoted to major-general on 23 November 1970. During 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 ...

he was instrumental in the capture of territory in what is now referred to as the crucial '' Chicken-Neck Sector'', for which he was awarded the

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

. On 7 September 1974, he was appointed Military Secretary with the rank of lieutenant-general. On 15 December 1976, he was granted an extension of service past his statutory retirement age to 1 January 1979. He is popularly known as "Zoru" in the Indian Army.

Military Awards and Decorations

Dates of rank

References

Notes

External links

Article referring to Bakshi's role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakhshi, Zorawar Chand 1921 births 2018 deaths British Indian Army officers Recipients of the Maha Vir Chakra Indian people Indian generals Recipients of the Vir Chakra Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Punjabi people Punjabi Hindus People from Rawalpindi District Government Gordon College alumni Military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 People of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 Recipients of the MacGregor Medal