Of the four recipients of the Param Vir Chakra in the 1971 India-Pakistan War, Col Hoshiar Singh Dahiya was the only living awardee of the nation’s highest wartime honour

Of the four recipients of the Param Vir Chakra in the 1971 India-Pakistan War, Col Hoshiar Singh Dahiya, known to be a tough taskmaster but also one who knew the art of motivating troops, was the only living awardee of the nation’s highest wartime honour.

Then a Major with 3 Grenadiers in the Shakargarh sector, he moved fearlessly from trench to trench under heavy shelling and tank fire despite being wounded, motivating his men to fight and repel repeated enemy assaults with heavy casualties inflicted on the enemy.

“He was a go-getter who did not relent and did not believe in losing,” Maj Gen Naveen Airy (retd), who served under Colonel Dahiya when the latter was commanding his battalion, told The Tribune. “When he was the Commanding Officer, the battalion never lost any professional competition,” he added.

Maj General Airy said the most outstanding aspect of his personality was that he understood the psyche of a soldier well and that the soldiers, whom he pushed hard to train, respected him.

In fact, Maj General Airy’s father, Lt Gen VP Airy, had been Colonel Dahiya’s Commanding Officer in the Battle of Basantar during the war and had been decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra.

“I remember my father telling me that Colonel Dahiya was wounded in the battle but refused to leave the battlefield. My father had forced the injured officer to be evacuated. Even when wounded, he asked two soldiers to assist him in moving from trench to trench to inspire them and keep control on the situation,” Maj General Airy said.

During the battle, Colonel Dahiya had captured a well-fortified Pakistani position and later held back several counter attacks, during which he was wounded in shelling. On December 15, 1971, his battalion was tasked to establish a bridgehead across the Basantar in the Shakargarh sector. Then Major Dahiya was commanding a forward deployed company and was ordered to capture the enemy locality of Jarpal.

This was a well-fortified position. During the assault, his company came under intense shelling and crossfire from enemy medium machine guns. Undeterred, he led the charge and captured the objective after a fierce hand-to-hand combat.

The enemy staged three counterattacks the next day. Unmindful of the heavy enemy fire, he motivated his men to stand fast and fight. Inspired by his courage and dauntless leadership, his company repulsed all attacks, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy.

On December 17, the enemy launched another attack with a battalion supported by heavy artillery fire. An enemy shell landed near a medium machine-gun post, injuring the crew and rendering it inoperative. Realising the importance of the machine-gun, he rushed to the pit and though seriously wounded himself, manned the weapon inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. The enemy retreated, leaving behind 85 dead, including their commanding officer and three other officers.

“Throughout this operation, Major Dahiya displayed gallantry, indomitable fighting spirit and leadership in the highest traditions of the Army,” the citation for his award reads.

“After the war, the battalion came to be known as the ‘Triumphant Third’. Once standards have been set, there is no space to compromise and the expectations from a highly decorated unit increase manifold,” Col JS Dillion (retd) who also served under Colonel Dahiya in 3 Grenadiers, told The Tribune. “It is Colonel Dahiya’s legacy and personal example that continue to motivate the battalion to strive for excellence,” he added.

Colonel Dahiya hailed from Sisana village in Haryana’s Sonepat district and was commissioned into the Grenadiers in June 1963. In the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, as a Lieutenant, he had also seen action in the Rajasthan sector, for which he was mentioned-in-despatches for gallantry.

After serving as an instructor at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, he commanded 3 Grenadiers and later had a stint at the National Defence Academy. He hung up his boots in 1988 and settled in Jaipur, where he passed away 10 years later at the age of 62.