User:DAVINDER S GILL/sandbox

Chand Singh Gill was born in 1920 in Dhudike, Punjab (Faridkot District at that time, now Moga) to Jwala Singh and Maha Kaur. His exact date of birth is not known. He was the younger of two children, and had one older brother Lachman Singh. It is said that Chand Singh’s father was also an only child. Chand Singh came from a generation of Jatt Sikh farmers.

Chand Singh did his schooling in Dhudike, but this is not confirmed. The exact details of his upbringing are not known. One narrative states Jwala Singh left his family of a wife and young children and became a wandering monk. Thus, it is possible Chand Singh grew up without a father figure in his life.

On 19th December 1936, at the age of 16, Chand Singh enrolled in the British Army in Sialkot as a Sepoy in the 3rd battalion of the 16th Punjab Regiment. His regimental badge number was 11004.

Almost immediately after being drafted, Chand Singh was dispatched to Waziristan, North West Frontier to fight in his first combat. The Waziristan campaign 1936–1939 comprised a number of operations conducted in Waziristan by British and Indian forces against the fiercely independent tribesmen that inhabited this region.

These operations were conducted in 1936–1939, when operations were undertaken against followers of the Pashtun nationalist Mirzali Khan, also known by the British as the "Faqir of Ipi", a religious and political agitator who was spreading anti-British sentiment in the region and undermining the prestige of the Indian government in Waziristan at the time.

For his courage and bravery demonstrated during the Waziristan Campaign, Chand Singh was awarded the India General Services medal No. 1486 with clasp NWF 1936-37.

Later in his military career, Chand Singh earned an Indian Army Certificate of Education (Third Class) in an examination held on 28th August 1939 in Karachi under the authority of His Excellency, Commander-in-Chief of India. Chand Singh qualified as a driver of MT - Mechanised Transport. The Certificate No. 14869/G.S./MT-2 was signed by Major Jackson, the Commanding Officer of the 3rd battalion 16th Punjab Regiment. It mentioned that Chand Singh excelled in Map Reading.

Chand Singh was promoted to the rank of Havildar.

On 7th March 1941, at age 21, Chand Singh embarked on a ship from Bombay and was dispatched by the British Army to Malaya to fight the Japanese forces who were about to invade Malaya and Singapore during the Second World War. He disembarked at Malaya in 17 March 1941 most likely at the western port of Penang along the Straits of Malacca.

In Malaya, Chand Singh was a soldier in Column 271 of the 3rd battalion 16th Punjab Regiment. He was assigned to fight the Japanese in Operation Krohcol led by Lt.Col Henry Dawson Moorhead. The Operation was named Krohcol as it was operating from the town of Kroh at the Perak-Thailand border and 'col' is short for column (meaning battle group).

Three ad hoc columns were put together to harass and delay the Japanese advance from their beachheads at Songkhla and Pattani. Krohcol was the most important of the three.

Krohcol was tasked with the destruction of the feature known as the Ledge. Destruction of the Ledge would effectively block the road from Pattani thereby ensuring the security of 11th Indian Infantry Division's line of communication and retreat.

For the Japanese capture of the Ledge would allow them access to the rear areas of the 11th Indian Division, either forcing the British to retreat from Perak and Kedah or if they were fast enough they could even cut the 11th Indian Division off entirely.

Nearly two-thirds of the soldiers in column 271 were killed in action by the Japanese. Chand Singh survived but was captured by the Japanese and helped as a prisoner of war in Serawak Island, Malaya.

Formation of Indian National Army and Chand Singh’s role in Special Services Group (SSG).....