W/O Major General Rajinder Singh ‘Sparrow’ – The legend people have forgotten!
Major General Rajinder Singh MVC** (3 October 1911 – 15 May 1994) was an Indian Army officer and a two time member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament. He was nicknamed ‘Sparrow’. He is credited as the man with the most spectacular success against Pakistan. The man was responsible for destroying the largest number of Pakistani Patton tanks. He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra twice in his career. In this article, we are going to talk about this forgotten legend!
MILITARY CAREER
He served in the ranks of the British Indian Army from 3 October 1932 to 31 January 1938. He attended the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, and was commissioned onto the Unattached List, British Indian Army on 1 February 1938. He spent the next year attached to The King’s Regiment (Liverpool), a British Army regiment, stationed on the North West Frontier(now Khyber Pakhtunwa, Pakistan).He was then admitted to the Indian Army and joined the 7th Light Cavalry on 24 February 1939. He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 April 1939, and served during World War II. He was promoted temporary captain and acting major on 16 April 1942, to war-substantive captain and temporary major on 9 January 1943 and to substantive captain on 31 January 1945.
After independence, he joined the Indian Army and commanded the 7th Light Cavalry from September 1947 to May 1949. He was promoted to colonel on 30 January 1957 and held the appointment of regimental colonel of the 7th Light Cavalry from July 1959 to July 1969.
STORY BEHIND THE NICKNAME ‘SPARROW’
A foreign war correspondent covering the battle said to Rajinder Singh, “You are an Eagle!”. Rajinder Singh replied, “Not Eagle, I am just a Sparrow”. He was called ‘Sparrow’ since then.
 |
FIRST MAHA VIR CHAKRA
In the Indo-Pak War of 1947-48, the Indian Army had to assault and capture Zoji La, Dras and Kargil district in Ladakh codenamed as Operation Bison. At that time, Rajinder Singh was serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 7th Light Cavalry regiment. When nobody could’ve even imagined that the tanks could be deployed at high altitudes, Rajinder Singh led the Indian tanks on the Zoli La and cleared the road to Ladakh during the Kashmir Operation in 1948. He was awarded Mahavir Chakra for his role in that action.
SECOND MAHA VIR CHAKRA
In 1965, infiltration by a large number of militants and attack by Pakistan in Akhnur sector led to a general war between the two countries. The 1 Armoured Division under command of Major General Rajinder Singh Sparrow was assigned the task of capture of Phillora and Pagiwal in the Sialkot sector. The enemy had two regiments of armour in the area. The attack on 11 September resulted in the biggest tank battle since the Second World War. Lt. Col. Tarapore, commanding officer, 17 Horse, displayed outstanding leadership and was awarded PVC(Read more about him here). Sixty nine Pakistani tanks were destroyed against nine of our own. Phillora was cleared by 16 September. Major General Sparrow had led his formation to win against a better equipped and numerically superior enemy. He was awarded the MVC again.
