50 Fun Facts About Indian Army

Which Swiss-born woman, who married an Indian Army officer in 1932, designed the Param Vir Chakra medal?

Savitri Khanolkar, born Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros in Neuchâtel, also designed the Ashok Chakra and Kirti Chakra, and the very first PVC went to her daughter's brother-in-law.

Which African country's £100,000 gift, thanking Indian troops for its liberation, helped fund the NDA at Khadakwasla?

Sudan's gift reached Viceroy Linlithgow in 1941, which is why the academy's headquarters at Khadakwasla is called the Sudan Block, opened by Sudan's ambassador in 1959.

Which cricketer, an honorary lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army's 106 Para, qualified as a paratrooper in 2015?

M. S. Dhoni was given the honorary rank in 2011 and completed five jumps at Agra; he has said that as a child he wanted to be a soldier, not a cricketer.

Which Mahabharata archer gives his name to India's home-built main battle tank, which entered service in 2004?

Arjun tanks first went to the 43rd Armoured Regiment, and in 2010 desert trials the Arjun reportedly out-shot the Army's Russian-designed T-90s.

Which two rivers, one Indian and one Russian, are fused in the name of the BrahMos cruise missile?

Brahmaputra and Moskva are the rivers behind the portmanteau, a supersonic cruise missile built by an Indian–Russian joint venture and fielded by Army regiments.

Which 1997 J. P. Dutta film, starring Sunny Deol, dramatised 120 Punjab Regiment soldiers holding Longewala in 1971?

Border cast Sunny Deol as Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri of 23 Punjab; the Army and Air Force lent real vehicles, weapons and uniforms to the production.

On which date does India mark Army Day, the anniversary of Cariappa replacing Roy Bucher as commander-in-chief in 1949?

15 January 1949 gave the Army its first Indian commander-in-chief; in 2023 the parade left Delhi's Cariappa Parade Ground for Bengaluru for the first time.

Which 1972 pact, signed by Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, turned the ceasefire line into the Line of Control?

The Simla Agreement bound both sides not to alter the line unilaterally; though dated 2 July 1972, it was actually signed at 00:40 on the morning of 3 July.

Which 18 Grenadiers soldier, decorated for Tiger Hill at 19, is the youngest recipient of the Param Vir Chakra?

Yogendra Singh Yadav joined the Army at 16 and was in the Ghatak platoon that took Tiger Hill on 4 July 1999; Manoj Bajpayee played him in 'LOC Kargil'.

Which 2021 film, titled after Captain Vikram Batra's wireless code name, casts Sidharth Malhotra as Batra and his twin?

Shershaah means 'Lion King'; Kiara Advani plays Dimple Cheema, who never married after Batra's death in the Kargil war, and the film won a National Film Award.

In which country did Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria earn the only Param Vir Chakra given for UN peacekeeping, in 1961?

Congo's Katanga secession drew a large UN force; Salaria, of 3/1 Gorkha Rifles, was also the first graduate of the National Defence Academy to win the PVC.

In which war did the 60th Parachute Field Ambulance serve from 1950, earning the name 'Angels in Brown Berets'?

The Korean War was answered by India with a medical unit rather than troops; the 60th PFA also treated North Korean prisoners and won citations from US and South Korean chiefs.

In which Soviet city did Shastri and Ayub Khan sign the 1966 pact ending the 1965 war, hours before Shastri died?

Tashkent's talks, moderated by Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin, had both armies agree to pull back to their pre-August lines; Shastri's sudden death there bred decades of conspiracy theories.

Which slogan did Prime Minister Shastri give at Urwa, near Allahabad, on 19 October 1965, during the war with Pakistan?

'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' hails the soldier and the farmer together, pairing the war effort with Shastri's food-security push that created the Food Corporation of India.

Which lieutenant general, India's eastern commander, took the surrender of some 90,000 Pakistani troops at Dhaka?

Jagjit Singh Aurora attended with his wife Bhagwant Kaur, and the photograph of A. A. K. Niazi bowed over his signature became the war's defining image.

On which date do India and Bangladesh both mark Vijay Diwas, the anniversary of the 1971 surrender at Dhaka?

16 December 1971 closed a war of under two weeks and is Bangladesh's Victory Day as well; the surrender spot in Dhaka is now the Swadhinata Stambha monument.

On which date does India mark Kargil Vijay Diwas, the day fighting ceased once the Dras sub-sector was cleared in 1999?

26 July 1999 ended a conflict India codenamed Operation Vijay, and a 15 kg national flag is hoisted at the Kargil War Memorial on the anniversary.

In which mountain range does the Siachen Glacier lie, where Indian troops have held posts since April 1984?

Karakoram's Siachen is 76 km long, the range's longest glacier, and lies just beyond NJ9842, the point where the Line of Control ends.

Which operation, launched on 13 April 1984, put Indian troops on Siachen four days ahead of a planned Pakistani move?

Meghdoot pre-empted Pakistan's Operation Ababeel, whose advance parties were due on the Saltoro Ridge by 17 April; Indian intelligence had picked up the plan and rehearsed with an exercise called Walnut Cracker.

Which naib subedar of 8 JAK LI earned the Param Vir Chakra on the Siachen Glacier in June 1987?

Bana Singh's objective, which Pakistan had named for Jinnah, was renamed Bana Top in his honour; he retired as a subedar major and honorary captain.

Which major of 4 Kumaon became the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, for Badgam near Srinagar on 3 November 1947?

Somnath Sharma's award was gazetted only in June 1950, and his body was identified by his pistol holster and pages of the Bhagavad Gita in his chest pocket.

Four replicas of which weapon of Indra are embossed around the state emblem on the Param Vir Chakra's bronze face?

The vajra, Indra's thunderbolt, also appears in the award's rules: a second PVC would bring a bar to the medal plus a gift of a replica vajra.

Which 4 Grenadiers soldier, a posthumous PVC from Asal Uttar in 1965, was honoured on a ₹3 India Post stamp in 2000?

Abdul Hamid's grave near Cheema village in Punjab's Tarn Taran district is now a memorial with a captured Patton tank, and neighbouring Asal Uttar holds a fair in his memory every 9 September.

Which major's 13 Kumaon company held Rezang La in Ladakh on 18 November 1962, bringing him a posthumous PVC?

Shaitan Singh's body was brought to Jodhpur and cremated with military honours; Abhay Deol's 2021 series '1962: The War in the Hills' dramatised the stand.

Which Poona Horse officer, commissioned in June 1971, won a posthumous PVC six months later in his tank 'Famagusta'?

Arun Khetarpal's tank was captured by Pakistan and eventually returned to India, and the Indian Military Academy's auditorium now bears his name.

In which year was Sam Manekshaw made India's first field marshal, after a six-month extension as Army chief?

1973's promotion came on 1 January, 'in recognition of outstanding services to the Armed Forces and the nation'; Cariappa followed 13 years later.

Which regiment took in Manekshaw after his battalion went to Pakistan at Partition, and dubbed him 'Sam Bahadur'?

8 Gorkha Rifles made him colonel of the regiment in 1955, and 'Sam Bahadur' became the title of Vicky Kaushal's 2023 biopic.

Which British decoration did Major General Cowan award Manekshaw on the spot after seeing him wounded in Burma in 1942?

The Military Cross was awarded by David Tennant Cowan of the 17th Infantry Division while watching the battle; Manekshaw recovered to command the Army three decades later.

Which British general opened the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun in 1932 with the speech that became its credo?

Philip Chetwode's line 'the safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time' is carved in oak at the hall that bears his name.

What is the Indian Military Academy's first batch called, having produced army chiefs of India, Pakistan and Burma?

The Pioneers graduated in December 1934 and included Manekshaw, Muhammad Musa and Smith Dun; the course had begun with 40 cadets on 1 October 1932.

Which regiment did Cariappa raise in 1949 as the Indian Army's first 'all-India, all-class' infantry?

The Brigade of the Guards took the senior battalions of the Punjab Regiment, Grenadiers and Rajputana Rifles in 1949, with 1 Rajput joining a year later.

Which counter-insurgency force, raised in 1990 from regular soldiers on deputation, serves mainly in Jammu and Kashmir?

Rashtriya Rifles began with six battalions, three of them in Punjab, and by 2005 was projected to reach 66 battalions of 1,150 men each.

Which unit, raised by Stringer Lawrence in 1758 from coastal sepoy companies, is the Indian Army's oldest infantry?

The Madras Regiment's 9th Battalion is the oldest in the Army, and its war cry 'Veera Madrassi, adi kollu, adi kollu' means 'brave Madrassi, hit and kill'.

Which Indian Army unit marks 12 September as Battle Honours Day, for 21 men who held a Samana Range post in 1897?

The Sikh Regiment's forebears, the 36th Sikhs, made the stand at Saragarhi; all 21 received the Indian Order of Merit, and memorial gurdwaras were built at Amritsar and Firozpur.

Which regiment, re-raised in 1948, kept Rai and Limbu men who refused to follow the 7th and 10th Gurkhas to Britain?

11 Gorkha Rifles was the first regiment raised by independent India, with centres at Palampur and Mumbai, and chose not to inherit the honours of its 1918 namesake.

Which post did General Bipin Rawat fill first in 2020, doubling as secretary of the new Department of Military Affairs?

Chief of Defence Staff also serves as permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, whose chair had previously rotated among the three service chiefs by seniority.

Which city's Officers Training Academy, founded in 1963, trained the Indian Army's first women officers in 1992?

Chennai's academy at Alandur began its first women's course on 21 September 1992, and a second academy opened at Gaya in 2011.

Which neighbouring country's men fill Indian Army units under a 1947 tripartite pact that sent Britain four regiments?

Nepal's recruits make up the six regiments that stayed with India against four that went to Britain, and the pact requires the same basic pay in both armies.

Which award went posthumously to Brigadier Mohammad Usman, the 'Lion of Nowshera', whose funeral Nehru attended in 1948?

Maha Vir Chakra was Usman's award; he is buried in the Okhla cemetery beside the Jamia Millia Islamia campus in Delhi.

Which Mizoram town hosts CIJWS, the Army's jungle warfare school whose motto is 'Fight the guerrilla like a guerrilla'?

The school was set up in 1967, a year into the Mizo National Front uprising, and moved to Vairengte in 1970, where the same hills gave its instructors a live counter-insurgency laboratory.

Which song, written for Subhas Chandra Bose's INA in 1942, is now the Indian Army's regimental quick march?

Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja was composed by Ram Singh Thakuri to Vanshidhar Shukla's words, and its title urges the marcher to 'keep stepping forward'.

How many commands, including the Army Training Command, made up the Indian Army's top-level structure as of 2025?

Seven commands, each led by a lieutenant general, split as six geographic ones — Northern, Eastern, Western, Central, Southern and South Western — plus the training command.

On which island did General K. S. Thimayya die in 1965 while commanding its UN peacekeeping force?

Cyprus issued a commemorative stamp for Thimayya in 1966 and renamed the main east–west road through Larnaca after him.

Which Indian general was the first force commander of UNPROFOR, the UN's mission in the former Yugoslavia, in 1992?

Satish Nambiar later sat on the UN's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, and India gave him the Padma Bhushan in 2009.

Into which community, also that of the Tatas and the Godrejs, was Sam Manekshaw born at Amritsar in 1914?

Parsi parents Hormizd, a doctor, and Hilla raised Manekshaw, who went on to become the first Indian Army officer to hold five-star rank.

Which operation flew Indian paratroopers to the Maldives in 1988, nine hours after Maumoon Gayoom's appeal for help?

Cactus put troops on Hulhule airstrip nine hours after the appeal, against a coup attempt by Tamil PLOTE mercenaries who had reached Malé by sea.

What is the last step called that Indian Military Academy cadets take into the academy's hall at the passing-out parade?

Antim Pag means 'final step', and with it gentleman cadets become officers; the old cap-flinging celebration that followed has given way to celebratory push-ups.

In which West African country did Indian troops lead Operation Khukri in 2000, relieving UN peacekeepers at Kailahun?

Sierra Leone's mission, UNAMSIL, saw Indian, Ghanaian, British and Nigerian units break a two-month rebel siege of 223 troops of 5/8 Gorkha Rifles at Kailahun.

Which motto do the Indian Army and the National Defence Academy, the world's first tri-service academy, both carry?

Seva Paramo Dharma means 'service before self', or literally that service is the highest duty, and the academy that shares it opened at Khadakwasla near Pune in 1955.

Which unit, raised by Warren Hastings in 1773 from 50 troopers, heads the Indian Army's order of precedence?

President's Bodyguard troopers are also trained paratroopers expected to lead airborne assaults as pathfinders, between escort duties at Rashtrapati Bhavan.