Namdeo Jadhav,

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 ...

, VC (18 November 1921 – 2 August 1984) was an

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recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to

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and Commonwealth forces.

Details

Jadhav was 23 years old, and a Sepoy in the 1st Battalion,

5th Mahratta Light Infantry The 5th Mahratta Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1922, when the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. The regiment fought in World Wa ...

in the

Indian Army during World War II The Indian Army during World War II, a British force also referred to as the British Indian Army, began the war, in 1939, numbering just under 200,000 men.Sumner, p.25 By the end of the war, it had become the largest volunteer army in history, ...

when the following deed took place during the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy for which he was awarded the VC. On 9 April 1945 at the

Senio River The Senio is a river of Romagna in Italy, the final right-sided tributary of the river Reno. The source of the river is in the province of Florence in the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano mountains. The river flows northeast into the province of Ravenna ...

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, when a small party were almost wiped out in an assault on the east floodbank of the river, Sepoy Namdeo Jadhav carried two wounded men under heavy fire through deep water, up a steep bank and through a mine belt to safety. Then, determined to avenge his dead comrades, he eliminated three enemy machine-gun posts. Finally, climbing on top of the bank he shouted the Maratha war cry and waved the remaining companies across. He not only saved many lives but enabled the battalion to secure the bridgehead and ultimately to crush all enemy resistance in the area. The citation reads: To commemorate his act of exceptional bravery a bust has been placed at the Aundh military station in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

. Adv Mr J.S.Savant, Bombay President, Maratha Recruitment Board, felicitated him for Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Further information

He later reached the rank of

havildar Havildar or havaldar ( Hindustani: or (Devanagari), (Perso-Arabic)) is a rank in the Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese armies, equivalent to sergeant. It is not used in cavalry units, where the equivalent is daffadar. Like a British sergeant, ...

. On 9 April 2017 the Mayor of Lugo di Romagna Davide Ranalli unveiled a Memorial dedicated to VC Namdeo Jadhav upon the Senio River eastern bank in the vicinity of San Potito. The ceremony was attended by Brigadier Yogi Sheoran, Defence Wing Attaché of the Indian Embassy in Rome.

References

External links

Namdeo Jadhav
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jadhav, Namdeo 1921 births 1984 deaths Indian World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross British Indian Army soldiers Indian Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from Mumbai Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal