Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Kanwar Bahadur Singh, (5 August 1910 – 8 May 2007) was a senior officer in The Kumaon Regiment of

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 ...

Early life and education

Bahadur Singh was born in the Thikana of Palaitha in the princely state of

Kotah Kota (), previously known as ''Kotah'', is the third-largest city of the western Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located about south of the state capital, Jaipur, on the banks of Chambal River. As of 2024, with a population of over 1.5 mill ...

on 5 August 1910, the son of Major-General

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Onkar Singh, KCIE, a minister for the state of Kotah. He attended the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (

RIMC The Rashtriya Indian Military College (abbreviated RIMC; formerly known as Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College) () is a military school for boys situated in Doon Valley, Dehradun in India. The RIMC is a feeder institution for the Nation ...

) from August 1923 to 26 August 1929. During his time at the college, he became Section Commander for Kitchener Section and Cadet Captain. Following his education at RIMC, he gained entrance to the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

. He would join Sandhurst as the top student from India.

Military career

Upon graduation from Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on the Unattached List for appointment to the Indian Army on 27 August 1931. He was attached to the 2nd battalion, Highland Light Infantry which was stationed in India for a year before being appointed to the Indian Army and posted to the 4th battalion, 19th Hyderabad Regiment. He was promoted to Captain on 1 January 1939. His battalion participated in the ill-fated

Malayan Campaign The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allies of World War II, Allied and Axis powers, Axis forces in British Malaya, Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the World War ...

. Following their defeat in the

Battle of Singapore The fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore, took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of Japan captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. S ...

, he was taken prisoner and spent the remainder of the war in a Japanese internment camp. On 9 May 1946, in recognition of gallant and distinguished services as a prisoner of war, he was appointed a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. He opted for the Indian Army on partition in 1947 and rose up the ranks to serve as GOC-in-C for Central Command from 1962 to 1966 before retiring as a Lieutenant-General. He was Colonel of the

Kumaon Regiment The Kumaon Regiment is one of the oldest infantry regiments of the Indian Army. The regiment traces its origins to the 18th century and has fought in every major campaign of the British Indian Army and the Indian Army, including the two world war ...

from 16 May 1961 to 15 May 1971.

Later life

After retiring from the army, Lt. Gen. K. Bahadur Singh was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh from 16 May 1967 to 24 January 1971. He was married to Rajendra Kumari of Barwani and had five children, a son (Kr Jaivir Singh Palaitha) and 4 daughters (Jyostna, Jaya, Padmini & Durga). He died in May 2007 at the age of 97.

Dates of rank

Campaign medals

* War Medal 1939-1945 * Pacific Star *

Notes

References

*Mishra, S., & Singh, B. (1997). ''Where Gallantry is Tradition: Saga of Rastriya Indian Military College''. Allied Publishers.
State of Himachal Pradesh Web Site

Notes

External links

Archiver.rootsweb.comHpvidhansabha.nic.in

Indian Army

Bharat Rakshak: The Consortium of Indian Military Websites
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Kanwar Bahadur British Indian Army officers Indian Army personnel of World War II Indian prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Japan Indian generals Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Commandants of National Defence College, India People from Rajasthan Rajasthani people Rashtriya Indian Military College alumni Governors of Himachal Pradesh Military personnel from Rajasthan 2007 deaths 1910 births Indian Members of the Order of the British Empire