Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Ajit Anil "Jik" Rudra

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(20 October 1896 – 3 November 1993) was an Indian military officer who served as General Officer Commanding, Southern Command of the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

Early life and education

Born in Delhi to the famous educationist

S. K. Rudra Susil Kumar Rudra (7 January 1861 – 29 June 1925) was an Indian educationalist and associate of Mahatma Gandhi and C F Andrews who served as the first Indian principal of St Stephen's College, Delhi. Early life and family Rudra was a second ...

and Priyobala Singha, he was educated at St. Stephen's College, Delhi and at

Trinity College, Kandy Trinity College, Kandy, is an independent private school for boys in Kandy Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1872 by British Anglican missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, modelled on Public School (United Kingdom), British Public school tradi ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. He thereafter went on to attend

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Marriage

Jik married Edith Lall on 16th November 1923 at

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

Cathedral.

Military career

With the out break of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Rudra enlisted in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

leaving Cambridge to join the University and Public School Brigade and took part in the

Battle of Mons A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and fo ...

. Having not been qualified for a commission he joined the 2nd Battalion of the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

and took part in the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

having been one of the 80 odd survivors of the charge of the 500 Fusiliers. He went on to become a sergeant and was wounded. In 1918, he was selected for 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 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 Officers (KCIOs) at the Daly College in

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

. His batchmates included Kodandera M. Cariappa, who later went on to become a

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered a ...

of the

. On 1 December 1919, Rudra was commissioned into the

28th Punjabis The 28th Punjabis were an infantry regiment in the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1857, as the 20th Regiment of Punjab Infantry. It was designated as the 28th Punjabis in 1903 and became 4th Battalion 15th Punjab Regiment in 1922. In 1947, i ...

as a temporary second lieutenant in the British Indian Army, and was posted in 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. Promoted to temporary lieutenant on 1 December 1920, 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. Rudra was promoted to captain on 17 October 1927; he was promoted to major on 27 March 1939. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he took part in the Arakan Campaign 1942–43. During this period, he was promoted to acting lieutenant-colonel on 15 June 1943 and to temporary lieutenant-colonel on 14 September 1943. In 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Rudra was transferred to the General Staff at

GHQ India GHQ may refer to: * Garhwa railway station, in Jharkhand, India * General Health Questionnaire * General headquarters, or, specifically: ** General Headquarters (Pakistan Army) ** Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers was the title held by ...

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

Claude Auchinleck Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, (21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), was a British Army commander during the Second World War. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he rose to become Command ...

, and was promoted to acting colonel on 3 April 1945. He was further promoted to temporary colonel on 3 October 1945 and to acting brigadier on 27 March 1946. In June 1946, Rudra was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(Military Division) in the British government's Birthday Honours List. The following month, on 17 July 1946, by then a temporary brigadier and Director of Morale, GHQ, he was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel. 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

. He was subsequently promoted to acting major-general and given command of a division, with promotion to substantive major-general on 1 January 1950. During the Annexation of Hyderabad he led a field force that attacked from

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

. He was appointed General Officer Commanding, Southern Command and retired in 1959. He died in 1993 at the age of 97 after prolonged illness.

References

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

Early life and education

Marriage

Military career

Further reading

References