Insight Bureau: When Acharya Ramchandra Shukla was grappling with the challenge of determining the timing of Hindi literature, he first marked the poetic attraction to heroism as the trend of the period. What is more fascinating than the complexity of understanding the origin of this tendency is to know that long-term slavery not only empowered the Indian mind, but also proved Indian valor on many fronts of time and circumstance.
Today, when we are celebrating the nectar festival of freedom, these tales of bravery are filling us with renewed excitement and inspiration. From the first rebellion against the British rule to the present era, the Indian Army has created many successful cantos of bravery and sacrifice.
The immortal soldier whose name begins this saga of sacrifice in independent India is Major Somnath Sharma. He was the commander of the Delta Company of the 4th Battalion of the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army.
During the first conflict between India and Pakistan in 1947, Major Somnath was posted in a patrolling company in Budgam district of central Kashmir. During this, about 700 Pakistani soldiers attacked. Pakistani troops had heavy mortars and automatic machine guns. There were very few soldiers in the company of Major Somnath as compared to the enemy forces.
Despite this, his battalion, surrounded on three sides, continued to fight with the enemies. Seeing the loss of the soldiers of his battalion in the attack of Pakistan, Major Somnath himself came forward and started taking the front against the enemy and also asked his battalion to fight with full valor against the enemies.
The situation was that while Major Somnath fought the Pakistani army with his soldiers, the soldiers who came in hundreds had to face them. During this conflict, a mortar shell fired by Pakistan fell near Major Somnath, in which he was martyred.
Before his martyrdom, Major Somnath had told his companions that the enemy is only 50 meters away from us and we will have to fight till the last bullet left and the last soldier. It is also a coincidence that Major Somnath, who sacrificed his life for the defense of Kashmir, the honor of India, was also born on January 31, 1923 in Jammu.
His father’s name was Amarnath Sharma. His father was a doctor in the army and had retired from the post of Director General of the Army Medical Service. It is clear that the fearless passion for the defense of the country was involved in his upbringing.
His early education continued at different places where his father was posted. Since childhood, he was interested in different sports including athletics. He did his higher education from Sherwood College, Nainital and Prince of Wales Rail Academy, Dehradun.
Major Somnath started his military career on 22 February 1942 when he joined the 4th Kumaon Regiment as a commissioned officer. While thwarting the nefarious designs of the enemies, the country has not forgotten their martyrdom given on the front itself.
For his great sacrifice, the Government of India posthumously awarded him the first Param Vir Chakra.