Military Digest | 80 years of action at Meiktila which won a Victoria Cross for Lt Karamjeet Singh Judge

Lt Judge was born on May 15, 1923. He was the younger son of the princely state Kapurthala’s police chief in Punjab. Young Karamjeet was studying in Lahore when he opted to join the Indian Army and was selected for training at the Officer Training School in Bangalore.

Commissioned into the 15th Punjab Regiment, he was posted to the 4th Battalion of the Regiment (now 12 Punjab, Pakistan Army) a little before the Battle of Meiktila in Burma. The Burma Star Association gives a detailed account of the action in which Lt Judge was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.

His citation, as quoted by the Burma Star Association says that on March 18, 1945, a Company of 4/15 Punjab was ordered to capture the Cotton Mill area on the outskirts of Myingyan. Judge was a platoon commander in the battalion at the time. In addition to numerous bunkers and stiff enemy resistance, almost 200 enemy shells fell around the tanks and infantry during the attack.

“The ground over which the operation took place was very broken and in parts was unsuitable for tanks. Except for the first two hours of this operation, Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge’s platoon was leading in the attack, and up to the last moment Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge dominated the entire battlefield by his numerous and successive acts of superb gallantry,” the citation says.

It says time and again the infantry were held up by heavy medium machine-gun and small-arms fire from bunkers not seen by the tanks. “On every such occasion Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge, without hesitation and with a complete disregard for his own personal safety, coolly went forward through heavy fire to recall the tanks by means of the house telephone. Cover around the tanks was non-existent, but Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge remained completely regardless not only of the heavy small arms fire directed at him, but also of the extremely heavy shelling directed at the tanks. Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge succeeded in recalling the tanks to deal with bunkers which he personally indicated to the tanks, thus allowing the infantry to advance,” adds the citation.

Personally leading the charges against the bunkers, he managed to clear 10 enemy bunkers. “On one occasion, while he was going into the attack, two Japanese soldiers suddenly rushed at him with fixed bayonets. At a distance of only 10 yards he killed both,” says the citation. Lt Judge sustained fatal injuries while helping tanks clear more bunkers in the battle.

“In three previous and similar actions this young officer had already proved himself an outstanding leader of matchless courage. In this, his last action, Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge gave a superb example of inspiring leadership and outstanding courage,” the citation for the award of Victoria Cross says.

The epitaph on World War 2 Kohima War Memorial says: “When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.”

But today the memories of these brave soldiers are being erased by their own successors in uniform. The name of Meiktila Company in the Indian Military Academy (IMA), commemorating the epic battle, is being changed in a misplaced sense of history.