Ajit Rudra: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix  = [[Major General]]

| office        = General Officer Commanding, Southern Command  

| term_start    =   

| birth_place  = <!--[[Kolhapur]], [[Maharastra]]-->

| death_date    ={{Death date and age|df=yes|1993|11|3|1896|10|20}}

| serviceyears  = 1914  - 1959

| rank          = [[File:Major General of the Indian Army.svg|20px]][[Major General]]

| servicenumber = <!-- Do not use data from primary sources such as service records -->

| commands      = [[File:IA Southern Command.svg|20px]] GOC-in-C Southern Command

|battles=[[World War I]]

*[[Battle of the Somme]]

[[Third Afghan War]]

*[[Burma Campaign]]

**[[Arakan Campaign 1942-43]]

==Early life and education==

Born in Delhi to the famous educationist [[S. K. Rudra]] and Priyobala Singha, he was educated at [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi]] and at [[Trinity College, Kandy]] in [[Ceylon]]. He thereafter went on to attend [[University of Cambridge]].

==Military career==

On 1 December 1919, Rudra was commissioned into the [[28th Punjabis]] as a temporary second lieutenant in the [[British Indian Army]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32118 |date=9 November 1920 |page=10863 |nolink=y}}</ref>  and was posted in [[Mandatory Palestine|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.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32775 |date=8 December 1922 |page=8723 |nolink=y}}</ref> Promoted to temporary lieutenant on 1 December 1920,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32494 |date=21 October 1921 |page=8293 |nolink=y}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32834 |date=15 June 1923 |page=4212 |nolink=y}}</ref>

In 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Rudra was transferred to the [[General Staff]] at [[India Command|GHQ India]] by [[General]] [[Claude Auchinleck]], and was promoted to acting colonel on 3 April 1945.<ref name="Indian_Army_List_45"/> He was further promoted to temporary colonel on 3 October 1945 and to acting brigadier on 27 March 1946.<ref name="Quarterly_Army_List">{{cite book|pages=220q–r|title=The Quarterly Army List: December 1946 (Part I)|publisher=HM Stationery Office|year=1946}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=2509a–c|title=The Quarterly Army List: December 1946 (Part I)|publisher=HM Stationery Office|year=1946}}</ref> In June 1946, Rudra was appointed an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (Military Division) in the British government's Birthday Honours List.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37598 |supp=y|page=2771|date=4 June 1946}}</ref> The following month, on 17 July 1946, by then a temporary brigadier and Director of Morale, GHQ,<ref name="Indian_Army_List_46">{{cite book|pages=1622|title=Indian Army List for October 1946|publisher=Government of India Press|year=1946}}</ref> he was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37747 |supp=|page=4946|date=4 October 1946}}</ref> 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 [[Indian Army]]. He was subsequently promoted to acting major-general and given command of a division, with promotion to substantive major-general on 1 January 1950.<ref>{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=70 |date=24 June 1950 |publisher=The Gazette of India}}</ref> During the [[Annexation of Hyderabad]] he led a field force that attacked from [[Vijayawada]].  He was appointed [[General Officer Commanding]], [[Southern Command (India)|Southern Command]] and retired in 1959.

==References==

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Royal Fusiliers soldiers]]

[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]