Bot at 12:29, 2 November 2022

2022-11-02T12:29:13Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[Major General]]
| name = Ajit Rudra অজিত রুদ্র
| office = General Officer Commanding, Southern Command
| term_start =
| term_end =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| birth_date ={{Birth date|df=yes|1896|10|20}}
| birth_place = 
| death_date ={{Death date and age|df=yes|1993|11|3|1896|10|20}}
| allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}} (1914–1918) {{flag|British India}} (1918–947) {{flag|India}} (1947-1959)
| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}} {{army|British India}} {{army|India}}
| serviceyears = 1914 - 1959
| rank = [[File:Major General of the Indian Army.svg|20px]][[Major General]]
| servicenumber = 
| unit = [[Royal Fusiliers]] [[Punjab Regiment (India)|Punjab Regiment]]
| commands = [[File:IA Southern Command.svg|20px]] GOC-in-C Southern Command
|battles=[[World War I]]
*[[Battle of Mons]]
*[[Battle of the Somme]]
[[Third Afghan War]]
 [[World War II]]
*[[Burma Campaign]]
**[[Arakan Campaign 1942-43]]
[[Annexation of Hyderabad]]
|awards=[[Order of the British Empire]]
}}

[[Major General]] '''Ajit Anil "Jik" Rudra''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (20 October 1896 – 3 November 1993) was an Indian military officer who served as [[General Officer Commanding]], [[Southern Command (India)|Southern Command]] of the [[Indian Army]].<ref>[https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/perched-on-their-pinnacles-of-triumph/ Perched On Their Pinnacles Of Triumph]</ref>

==Early life and education==
Born in Delhi to the famous educationist [[S. K. Rudra]] and Priyobala Singha, he was educated at [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi]] and at [[Trinity College, Kandy]] in [[Ceylon]]. He thereafter went on to attend [[University of Cambridge]].

==Marriage==
Jik married Edith Lall on 16th November 1923 at [[Lahore]] Cathedral.<ref>Palit, page 135.</ref>

==Military career==
With the out break of [[World War I]], Rudra enlisted in the [[British Army]] leaving Cambridge to join the [[Public Schools Battalions|University and Public School Brigade]] and took part in the [[Battle of Mons]]. Having not been qualified for a commission he joined the 2nd Battalion of the [[Royal Fusiliers]] and took part in the [[Battle of the Somme]] having been one of the 80 odd survivors of the charge of the 500 Fusiliers.<ref>[http://ase.tufts.edu/chemistry/kumar/ssc/html/sschis.html St. Stephen's College]</ref> He went on to become a sergeant and was wounded. In 1918, he was selected for [[Officers' Training Corps|OTC]] at Inns of court but was not able to complete it as the war ended. Having been declined a commission, he requested to be discharged from the Army. The war office instead sent him to India.

After World War I concluded in 1918, the Indian politicians raised a demand to grant Indians the [[King's Commissioned Indian Officer|King's Commission]]. After strict screening, Rudra was selected for the first batch that underwent rigorous pre-commission training. In 1919, he joined the first batch of the [[King's Commissioned Indian Officer]]s (KCIOs) at [[Daly College|the Daly College]] in [[Indore]]. His batchmates included [[Kodandera M. Cariappa]], who later went on to become a [[Field Marshal]] of the [[Indian Army]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Field Marshal KM Kariappa Memorial Lectures, 1995-2000|date=2001|publisher=Lancer Publishers|isbn=9788170621195|page=94|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eux31FCNj8MC}}</ref>

On 1 December 1919, Rudra was commissioned into the [[28th Punjabis]] as a temporary second lieutenant in the [[British Indian Army]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32118 |date=9 November 1920 |page=10863 |nolink=y}}</ref> and was posted in [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]]; seven months later, on 17 July 1920, he was appointed to a permanent commission as a second lieutenant, with seniority from the date of his temporary commission.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32775 |date=8 December 1922 |page=8723 |nolink=y}}</ref> Promoted to temporary lieutenant on 1 December 1920,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32494 |date=21 October 1921 |page=8293 |nolink=y}}</ref> he took part in the [[Third Afghan War]] and served in the North-West Frontier, Baluchistan, Waziristan and Peshawar, receiving promotion to the substantive rank of lieutenant on 17 July 1921.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32834 |date=15 June 1923 |page=4212 |nolink=y}}</ref>

Rudra was promoted to captain on 17 October 1927;<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33367 |date=16 March 1928 |page=1935 |nolink=y}}</ref> he was promoted to major on 27 March 1939.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34651 |date=4 August 1939 |page=5407 |nolink=y}}</ref> During [[World War II]], he took part in the [[Arakan Campaign 1942–43]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reed|first1=Stanley|author-link1=Stanley Reed (British politician)|title=The Indian And Pakistan Year Book And Who's Who 1950|date=1950|publisher=[[The Times Group|Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd.]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206/page/n787 753]|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206|access-date=5 March 2018}}</ref> During this period, he was promoted to acting lieutenant-colonel on 15 June 1943 and to temporary lieutenant-colonel on 14 September 1943.<ref name="Indian_Army_List_45">{{cite book|pages=129|title=Indian Army List for October 1945 (Part I)|publisher=Government of India Press|year=1945}}</ref>

In 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Rudra was transferred to the [[General Staff]] at [[India Command|GHQ India]] by [[General]] [[Claude Auchinleck]], and was promoted to acting colonel on 3 April 1945.<ref name="Indian_Army_List_45"/> He was further promoted to temporary colonel on 3 October 1945 and to acting brigadier on 27 March 1946.<ref name="Quarterly_Army_List">{{cite book|pages=220q–r|title=The Quarterly Army List: December 1946 (Part I)|publisher=HM Stationery Office|year=1946}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=2509a–c|title=The Quarterly Army List: December 1946 (Part I)|publisher=HM Stationery Office|year=1946}}</ref> In June 1946, Rudra was appointed an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (Military Division) in the British government's Birthday Honours List.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37598 |supp=y|page=2771|date=4 June 1946}}</ref> The following month, on 17 July 1946, by then a temporary brigadier and Director of Morale, GHQ,<ref name="Indian_Army_List_46">{{cite book|pages=1622|title=Indian Army List for October 1946|publisher=Government of India Press|year=1946}}</ref> he was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37747 |supp=|page=4946|date=4 October 1946}}</ref> In 1948, the year after India gained its independence, Brigadier Rudra was serving as the Military Secretary at GHQ and was instrumental in the formation of the post independence [[Indian Army]]. He was subsequently promoted to acting major-general and given command of a division, with promotion to substantive major-general on 1 January 1950.<ref>{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=70 |date=24 June 1950 |publisher=The Gazette of India}}</ref> During the [[Annexation of Hyderabad]] he led a field force that attacked from [[Vijayawada]]. He was appointed [[General Officer Commanding]], [[Southern Command (India)|Southern Command]] and retired in 1959.

He died in 1993 at the age of 97 after prolonged illness.

==Further reading==
* Palit, Major General D.K. (1997). ''Major General A.A. Rudra, His Service in Three Armies and Two World Wars'', New Delhi: Reliance Publishing House

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudra, Ajit Anil}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Indian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Indian generals]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:Royal Fusiliers soldiers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Afghan War]]

Ajit Rudra - Revision history

Bot at 12:29, 2 November 2022