On the night of March 11th, 1944, Burma, Naik Nand Singh and his platoon from the 11th Sikh Regiment were tasked with capturing a fortified Japanese position at all costs.

On the night of March 11th, 1944, Burma, Naik Nand Singh and his platoon from the 11th Sikh Regiment were tasked with capturing a fortified Japanese position at all costs.

He led his section up a very steep knife-edged ridge under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire and although he was shot in the thigh, he rushed ahead of his section and took out the first enemy trench with his bayonet.

He then crawled forward, alone under heavy fire and though wounded again in the face and shoulder by a grenade which burst one yard in front of him, he took the second trench; once again with his bayonet.

When all his section had been either killed or wounded, Naik Nand Singh dragged himself out of the trench and captured a third trench, killing all the occupants with his bayonet.

His courage and determination allowed the remainder of his unit to capture the remainder of the position.

For his actions, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Tragically, he was killed in 1947 during another heroic attack on a bunker complex while fighting in the Indo-Pakistan War. He managed to kill 5 soldiers with his bayonet before he was shot in the chest by an MG.

The Pakistanis recognised Singh because of his VC ribbon. His body was taken, tied spreadeagled on a truck and paraded through city streets with a loudspeaker proclaiming that this would be the fate of every Indian VC. The soldier’s body was later thrown into a garbage dump, and was never recovered.