Lt Col J. R. Chitnis, commanding 1/3 Gorkha Rifles, was fatally wounded leading bayonet charges after an ambush in the Naga Hills on 14 June 1956.
Ambush on the Zunhebeto Road
On 14 June 1956, Lieutenant Colonel Jagannath Raoji Chitnis, commanding officer of 1/3 Gorkha Rifles, was travelling from Mokokchung towards Zunhebeto in the Naga Hills with the battalion's pay chest. Subedar Major Nain Singh was with him, in a convoy of eight jeeps with a platoon as escort.
Near the 21st kilometre, about 100 armed insurgents opened fire and cut off three jeeps. Chitnis stopped the other five, regrouped the men and led an advance under covering fire, though wounded in the leg.
He led a bayonet attack that killed one insurgent and wounded another. He then led a second charge at a light machine gun post and was critically wounded in the stomach.
He went on directing the platoon after falling close to the bunkers, and died in the action. Profiles record that his men destroyed the camp and that 20 insurgents were killed.
Commissioned in 1942
Chitnis, service number IC-3472, was commissioned on 12 April 1942 after training at the Officers Training School, Bangalore. One profile gives his birth as 20 August 1918 at Satara, Maharashtra; the portal lists his domicile as Madras. His posthumous award is dated 26 January 1957.
What the citation recorded
The official citation could not be read for this article. An archived entry on the Defence Ministry's portal carries a single line naming the award and giving the place as Hyderabad, which conflicts with every account of his death in the Naga Hills. Secondary profiles describe leadership under fire in an ambush on 14 June 1956, with bayonet attacks made after he was wounded. This is a summary, not the official wording.
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