Army history: What India’s first Param Vir Chakra recipient Som Nath Sharma did in Kashmir in 1947

Major Som Nath Sharma commanded a company of the 4 Kumaon Regiment at Badgam on November 3, 1947. His mission was to block a large raider attack aimed at capturing Srinagar’s airfield. The airfield was vital because Indian troops were arriving by aircraft to defend Kashmir.

Sharma’s injured hand was in plaster, but he continued directing his men. His company was surrounded and heavily outnumbered by about 700 raiders. He sent Brigadier LP Sen a final message: “The enemy are only fifty yards from us. We are heavily outnumbered. I shall not withdraw and will fight to the last man.”

Sharma died defending the position. His company’s fierce resistance inflicted heavy casualties and broke the attackers’ momentum. The Royal Indian Air Force then struck the raider columns, using Sen’s cut-out map for guidance. The airfield remained in Indian hands, and Sharma received the Param Vir Chakra posthumously.

The Param Vir Chakra, or PVC, is India’s highest military gallantry award. It recognizes the most conspicuous bravery or self-sacrifice in the presence of the enemy. The award is given for courage of an exceptional level, especially when a service member knowingly faces overwhelming danger.

Major Som Nath Sharma was awarded the PVC posthumously for his stand at Badgam. His company defended the Srinagar airfield against an estimated 700 raiders. Although his hand was fractured and in plaster, Sharma directed the battle and declared that he would fight to the last man. He died holding the position.

His award was historically significant because he was India’s first PVC recipient. The decoration was instituted after independence and applied retrospectively to the 1947 conflict. Sharma’s recognition established a lasting national symbol of battlefield courage during India’s first war after independence. The article itself identifies his award as the MVC, while established historical records identify it as the PVC.

Major Som Nath Sharma’s company was outnumbered by an estimated 700 raiders at Badgam. The article describes the force as small, surrounded, and facing an overwhelming attack. This numerical imbalance made the company’s decision to hold its ground especially dangerous.

The raiders were aiming directly at the Srinagar airfield. Sharma’s men fought while under intense fire, even though their position was being encircled. Sharma himself had a fractured hand strapped in plaster, yet he remained at the centre of the fighting and continued directing his soldiers.

The company could not defeat the raiders through numbers. Its key advantage was time and resistance. By holding on and inflicting heavy casualties, the soldiers disrupted the assault long enough for the Royal Indian Air Force to intervene. The air attack then shattered the raider columns, helping keep the airfield under Indian control.

Sharma and his men prevented the raiders from quickly overrunning the position at Badgam. Their stand blocked the direct thrust toward the Srinagar airfield, which the attackers considered their single most important objective. Holding there kept the defence from collapsing immediately.

The company was surrounded and facing about 700 raiders. Sharma refused to withdraw despite his fractured hand and the danger to his men. His final message promised resistance to the last man. The company’s ferocious fighting caused heavy casualties and broke the enemy’s will to continue the attack.

That delay created the opportunity for the Royal Indian Air Force to intervene. Guided by Brigadier LP Sen’s cut-out map, the aircraft struck the raider columns and shattered their advance. The airfield was saved. Sharma died in the action, but his decision to hold the position helped protect the air bridge that was bringing Indian troops into Kashmir.

Control of the Srinagar airfield mattered because it connected India’s military response with the threatened valley. On October 27, Indian aircraft carried the first detachment of the 1st Sikh Regiment from Palam to Srinagar. That airlift placed troops at the centre of the emergency quickly.

The danger was immediate. When Lieutenant Colonel Dewan Ranjit Rai landed, he learned that raiders had reached Baramulla, only miles from the airfield. Days later, another attack aimed directly at the airfield. Major Som Nath Sharma’s company stood in the raiders’ path at Badgam while the airfield faced capture.

Keeping the airfield secure allowed the Royal Indian Air Force to continue intervening and allowed Indian troops to arrive. The article calls it the “single most important objective.” Its survival helped prevent the raiders from taking Srinagar and gave India the operational access needed to defend the city and wider Kashmir.

After British rule ended in 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state rather than a directly governed British province. Its political future therefore depended on the ruler’s decision about accession. The territory was strategically important, and both new countries sought influence over it.

The article describes the immediate crisis through the arrival of raiders near Baramulla and Srinagar. India responded by flying the 1st Sikh Regiment into Srinagar on October 27. The fighting at Badgam followed, as raiders tried to seize the airfield and advance into the city.

The result was a contested territory and the 1947 Kashmir War. India’s ability to hold Srinagar depended on the airfield, rapid troop movements, and battlefield resistance. More broadly, the crisis showed how decisions made during the end of British rule could determine sovereignty, while armed action could turn an unresolved political choice into a wider conflict. This explanation uses established historical context beyond the article’s brief account.

Princely states were semi-autonomous territories ruled by hereditary monarchs under British paramountcy. Their rulers controlled internal administration, while Britain handled key external matters. When British rule ended, that political arrangement disappeared, and each state had to determine its future relationship with India or Pakistan.

A ruler’s accession decision could transfer legal and political authority to one dominion. In Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh was the ruler during the 1947 crisis. The territory became disputed as armed raiders advanced and India flew troops into Srinagar. The article also explains that Britain had earlier created the state after defeating the Sikh Empire and selling the territory to Raja Gulab Singh.

Accession did not automatically make every outcome peaceful. Geography, population, strategic interests, and military action could challenge or complicate a ruler’s decision. In Jammu and Kashmir, the accession crisis became a war over territory and control. This broader explanation uses established historical knowledge beyond the article’s direct discussion.