Tipu Sultan

 Tipu Sultan was born as Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu on November 10, 1750 in Devanahalli, present-day Bangalore. He was born to Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa and Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore. Tipu Sultan succeeded his father in 1782. The 18th century ruler is popularly known as the Tiger of Mysore and Tipu Sahib.

Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu,[5] 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799),[1][6] also known as the Tiger of Mysore,[7] was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.[8][9][10] He introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including a new coinage system and calendar,[11] and a new land revenue system, which initiated the growth of the Mysore silk industry.[12] He expanded the iron-cased Mysorean rockets and commissioned the military manual Fathul Mujahidin. He deployed the rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, including the Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Srirangapatna, but the British took over the fort.[13]

Tipu Sultan

Badshah

Nasib-ud-Daulah

Mir Fateh Ali Bahadur Tipu

TipuSultanPic.jpg

Sultan of Mysore

Reign

10 December 1782 – 4 May 1799

Coronation

29 December 1782

Predecessor

Hyder Ali

Successor

Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (as Wodeyar ruler)

Born

1 December 1751[1][2]

Devanahalli, present-day Bangalore, Karnataka

Died

4 May 1799 (aged 47)[2]

Srirangapatna, present-day Mandya, Karnataka

Burial

Srirangapatna, present-day Mandya, Karnataka

12°24′36″N 76°42′50″E

Spouse

Khadija Zaman Begum and 2 or 3 others

Issue

Shezada Hyder Ali, Ghulam Muhammad Sultan Sahib and many others

Names

Badshah Nasib-ud-Daulah Sultan Mir Fateh Ali Bahadur Saheb Tipu

House

Mysore

Father

Hyder Ali

Mother

Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa

Religion

Sunni Islam[3][4]

Tipu Sultan and his father used their French-trained army in alliance with the French in their struggle with the British,[14] and in Mysore's struggles with other surrounding powers, against the Marathas, Sira, and rulers of Malabar, Kodagu, Bednore, Carnatic, and Travancore. Tipu's father, Hyder Ali, had risen to power and Tipu succeeded him as the ruler of Mysore upon his father's death in 1782. He won important victories against the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War. He negotiated the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore with them after his father died from cancer in December 1782 during the Second Anglo-Mysore War.

Tipu's conflicts with his neighbours included the Maratha–Mysore War, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Gajendragad.[15] The treaty required that Tipu Sultan pay 4.8 million rupees as a one-time war cost to the Marathas, and an annual tribute of 1.2 million rupees, in addition to returning all the territory captured by Hyder Ali.[16][17]

Tipu remained an implacable enemy of the British East India Company, sparking conflict with his attack on British-allied Travancore in 1789. In the Third Anglo-Mysore War, he was forced into the Treaty of Seringapatam, losing a number of previously conquered territories, including Malabar and Mangalore. He sent emissaries to foreign states, including the Ottoman Empire, Afghanistan, and France, in an attempt to rally opposition to the British.

In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, a combined force of British East India Company troops, supported by the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad defeated Tipu. He was killed on 4 May 1799 while defending his stronghold of Seringapatam.

Naik Digendra kumar

 Digendra  Kumar MVC, SM is a former soldier of the 2nd battalion of the Rajputana Rifles regiment of the Indian army. He was awarded the Mahavir Chakra on 15 August 1999, for his acts of bravery in the Kargil War. He retired from the army on 31 July 2005. 

Born: 3 July 1969 (age 53 years)

Awards: Maha Vir Chakra

Service/branch: Indian Army

Years of service: 1985 - 2005.

Kumar was born into the Jat family of Farswal clan to Shivdan Singh and lived in the village of Jhalara, Tehsil Neem-Ka-Thana, in the Sikar District in Rajasthan, India. His mother's name was Rajkaur. Shivdan Singh was a strong follower of Arya Samaj. Digendra Kumar joined the Indian Army and was badly wounded in Indo-Pakistani War of 1999.[1]: 21  Kumar has a daughter (Samita) and two sons (Japender and Mahaveer). Mahaveer studied in Sanskar School Jaipur and is a national basketball player. Japender studies in Delhi Technological University (formerly DCE). Samita is a national Kabaddi player..

Career

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Kumar joined the 2nd Battalion of the Rajputana Rifles on 3 September 1985. After training was complete, his battalion was posted to Kashmir.[2] In 1987 he was selected for the Indian Peace Keeping Force and took part in Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka.

Operation Pawan

Edit

Operation Pawan was the code name assigned to operations by the Indian Peace Keeping Force to take control of Jaffna from the LTTE in late 1987.[3] Kumar and his group were assigned to patrol dominant areas in Tamil. Five Tamil militants fired and killed five soldiers from Kumar's squad. In return, Kumar and the remaining soldiers of his squad followed the militants into the house of an MLA. However, the MLA opposed the action, and in the ensuing firefight the MLA, along with the five Tamil militants, was killed. This caused some controversy, and Kumar was penalised and remanded.[1]: 31 

Meanwhile, 36 soldiers of the 10th Parachute Regiment were captured and held by the LTTE. Lt. Gen. A.S. Kalkat assigned the task of freeing them to Kumar. Kumar took with him 50 kg ammunition and some biscuits and sailed up the river. Kumar saved the soldiers (who had been held in the forest for 72 hours), destroyed an important ammunition depot, and killed 39 militants.[1]: 43 

Kargil war

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Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir

Major Vivek Gupta, of the 2nd Battalion of the Rajputana Rifles and his company were given the task of recapturing Point 4590 on Tololing Hill in the Dras sector.[1]: 59  The objective was to capture the enemy post, located at high altitude (15,000 feet).

Kumar commanded the Light Machine Gun Group during his company's assault. Besides Kumar, the commando team included Major Vivek Gupta, Subedar Bhanwar Lal Bhakar, Subedar Surendra Singh Rathor, Lance Naik Jasvir Singh, Naik Surendra, Naik Chaman Singh Tewatia, Lans Naik Bachchan Singh, CMH Jashvir Singh, and Havaldar Sultan Singh Narwar.[1]: 51 

The Pakistani army had made 11 bunkers on the Tololing hilltop. Kumar was to target the first and the last bunkers. The other commandos were to target the remaining 9 bunkers.[1]: 51 

On 13 June 1999, while nearing its objective, the Assault Group came under enemy fire and took casualties. Subedar Bhanwar Lal Bhakar, Lance Naik Jasvir Singh, Naik Surendra, and Naik Chaman Singh were all killed. Major Vivek Gupta himself was killed by a bullet wound to the head.[1]: 54  Although Kumar was hit by a bullet in his left arm, he kept firing on the enemy with his light machine gun. His fire facilitated his men's advancement, allowing them to physically assault the enemy position and clear the area after a hand-to-hand fight. He was responsible for killing 48 Pakistani soldiers single-handedly and received total 18 bullets on his body armour.

Leunient Balwan singh

 After completing his senior secondary education from Sainik School, Karnal, Singh joined University College, Rohtak and following graduation entered the Officers Training Academy (OTA) Chennai. In March 1999, he received a short-service commission in the 18 Grenadiers, with the service number SS-37691

Kargil War and capture of Tiger Hill

With just four months of service when the Kargil War broke out, Singh was tasked to lead his Ghatak platoon in an attempt to capture Tiger Hill during the eponymous battle. Before leading his troops into action, Singh vowed "Tiger Hill pe Tiranga fahrake ayenge, chahe kuchh bhi ho jaye." ("We will hoist the Tricolour atop Tiger Hill, come what may.")^[1]

For his inspirational leadership and courage in successfully capturing the peak, Singh was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra by President K. R. Narayan on Independence Day 1999.^[3] The official citation for the decoration reads as follows:^[2][3]

LIEUTENANT BALWAN SINGH (SS-37691), 18 GRENADIERS

On 03 July 1999 Lieutenant Balwan Singh with his Ghatak platoon was tasked to assault the 'Tiger Hill Top' from the North Eastern direction as part of a multi pronged attack. The route to the objective situated at a height of 16,500 feet was snowbound and interspersed with crevasses and sheer falls. The officer, with just three months service, set about his task with single-minded determination. The team led and exhorted by him, moved for over twelve hours along a very difficult and precarious route and under intense artillery shelling to reach the designated spur.

This move took the enemy by complete surprise as his team used cliff assault mountaineering equipment to reach the top with stealth. On seeing the Ghataks, the enemy panicked and in a desperate firefight attempted to repulse the Ghataks. In the ensuing firefight, Lieutenant Balwan Singh was himself seriously injured. However his resolve to finish the enemy remained unshaken. He refused to be evacuated and unmindful of his injury, moved swiftly to encircle the enemy and engaged them in close combat and single handedly killed four enemy soldiers. The remaining enemy personnel opted to flee rather than face the fury of the fierce officer. His inspirational leadership, conspicuous courage and bravery were instrumental in the capture of Tiger Hill, which was operationally one of the most important objectives in the Drass sector.

Subsequent career

After the conflict, Singh was granted a regular commission with the service number IC-56218. In 2001, he participated in the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). He was promoted to captain on 6 November 2003 and to major on 6 November 2005.^[4][5] He was an instructor in the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, and has also served as Group Testing Officer at the Services