General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Bipin Chandra Joshi,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

AVSM Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime ...

, ADC (5 December 1935 – 19 November 1994) was the 16th

Chief of Army Staff Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

(COAS) of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. He is the only Chief of the Indian Army to die in office, and until the 2021 death of General

Bipin Rawat Bipin Rawat (16 March 1958 – 8 December 2021) was an Indian military officer who was a Four-star rank, four-star General (India), general of the Indian Army. He served as the first Chief of Defence Staff (India), Chief of Defence Staff (CDS ...

in a helicopter crash, the only full general and serving

Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee The Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) is an administrative forum of the senior-most military leaders of the Indian Armed Forces, which advises the Government of India on all military and strategic matters deemed privy to military coordination, ...

to have died in office.

Early life

Joshi was born in a

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Kumaoni

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

family. He was the first Army Chief from

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

(Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand was a part of erstwhile Uttar Pradesh).

Career

*Commissioned 4 December 1954 into

2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) The 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) is one of the oldest and most highly decorated armoured regiments of the Indian Army. The regiment was formed by the amalgamation of two of the oldest regiments of the Bengal Army – the 2nd Royal Lancers (Gar ...

Indian Army Armoured Corps The Indian Army Armoured Corps is one of the combat arms of the Indian Army. Tracing its origins from the first regiment formed in 1776, the present corps was formed in 1947 from two-thirds of the personnel and assets of the British Indian Army' ...

. *Commanded an

armoured regiment Armoured regiments are units provided by the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army. History The first armoured regiments - known at the time as "tank battalions" - were formed in the First World War, first in the Machine Gun Corps and later a ...

the 64th Cavalry in the Western Sector during the 1971 Indo-Pak operations. He also commanded an Independent Armoured Brigade and an Infantry Division. *Military Advisor in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

from May 1973 to October 1976 *Staff officer in the UN Force in Gaza *Brigadier General Staff in a Corps Headquarters *Commanded a Corps in the Eastern Sector *General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command. *Additional Director General of Perspective Planning (ADG PP) & Director General Military Operations (DGMO) at the Army Headquarters *Three tenures as an instructor in the

Armoured Corps An armoured corps (also mechanized corps or tank corps) is a specialized military organization whose role is to conduct armoured warfare. The units belonging to an armoured corps include military staff, and are equipped with tanks and other arm ...

Centre and School,

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impre ...

*Directed Staff in the College of Combat,

Mhow Mhow, officially Dr. Ambedkar Nagar, is a town in the Indore district in Madhya Pradesh state of India. It is located south-west of Indore city, towards Mumbai on the old -Agra Mumbai Road. It is the birthplace of Babasaheb B. R. Ambedkar . ...

*Established the

Army Institute of Technology Army Institute of Technology is an engineering college located in Pune, Maharashtra, India. It is affiliated to the Savitribai Phule Pune University. Only wards of army personnel are admitted in this institute. AIT is operated by the Army Welfar ...

in Pune (Engineering College), Maharashtra in August 1994 for the wards of defence personnel, either in service or retired. Joshi also became

Colonel of the regiment Colonel (Col) is a rank of the British Army and Royal Marines, ranking below Brigadier (United Kingdom), brigadier, and above Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom), lieutenant colonel. British colonels are not usually field commanders; typically ...

of the 64 Cavalry and 44 Armd Regt.

Medals

Joshi has been a recipient of the

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime D ...

for distinguished service of the most exceptional order.

Death

Joshi died of a cardiac arrest in New Delhi Military Hospital on 18 November 1994. He was due to retire in 1995. He was the first Chief of Indian Army who died in harness.

General Bipin Rawat Bipin Rawat (16 March 1958 – 8 December 2021) was an Indian military officer who was a four-star general of the Indian Army. He served as the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Indian Armed Forces from January 2020 until his death ...

, former Chief and the serving Chief of Defence Staff, also died in a tragic helicopter crash in December 2021 whilst landing at the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington. General Joshi’s untimely death changed the entire line of succession for the post of Chief of Army Staff, which is typically decided on the basis of seniority. As a result, Lt. Gen. Shankar Roy Chowdhary was promoted to full general and appointed as the 17th Chief of Army Staff.

Legacy

The Gen. B. C. Joshi Army Public School was established in 1993 in

Pithoragarh Pithoragarh ( Kumaoni: ''Pithor'garh'') is a Himalayan town with a Municipal corporation in Pithoragarh district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the largest hill town in Uttarakhand. Etymology "The district is named after its hea ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

in his honour.

Honours and decorations

Dates of rank

References

External links

* Book titled ''Man, culture, and society in the Kumaun Himalayas: General B. C. Joshi commemoration volume'' () - includes brief articles on General B. C. Joshi * https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/19/obituaries/gen-bipin-chandra-joshi-indian-army-chief-59.html * http://www.timescontent.com/tss/showcase/preview-buy/29780/News/General-Bipin-Chandra-Joshi.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Joshi, Bipin Chandra 1935 births 1994 deaths Kumaoni people Military personnel from Uttarakhand People from Pithoragarh Chiefs of Army Staff (India) Indian generals Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Defence Services Staff College alumni 20th-century generals 20th-century Indian military personnel