Naik Narbahadur Thapa of 5/5 Gorkha Rifles crossed 100 yards under fire with a khukri to silence a Bren gun at the Tungabhadra bridge in 1948.
A Hundred Yards to the Bren Post
A Bren gun post and a sniper in a second position had stopped No. 2 Platoon of 'A' Company, 5/5 Gorkha Rifles, on the left flank of the Tungabhadra bridge. The date was 13 September 1948, during the Hyderabad Police Action.
When a section opened fire on the two positions, Naik Narbahadur Thapa moved. He ran across 100 yards of open ground under heavy fire and reached the Bren post.
He silenced the crew with his khukri. The gun's removal let the platoon go forward, and it secured the bridge.
Listed Beside Bachittar Singh
The Gazette of India Extraordinary of 26 January 1952 published his award under notification 12-Pres./52, directly below that of Havildar Bachittar Singh of 2 Sikh. Both men acted on the same day of the same operation, and theirs are the only two names in that notification.
Bachittar Singh's award was posthumous. Narbahadur Thapa's was not, which makes him the first living recipient of the decoration, then called the Ashoka Chakra, Class I.
The Defence Ministry's gallantry portal lists him under service number 10341 with the unit 5/5 GR, in the Republic Day list of 1952.
The citation
On 13th September 1948, No. 2 Pl 'A' Company 5/5 GR was held up on the left flank of the TUNGABHADRA RS Bridge by automatic fire from a Bren Gun post and sniping from a second position. As soon as the positions were engaged by Section fire Naik NARBAHADUR THAPA seized his opportunity, dashed across 100 yds of open ground under heavy fire, and with his Khukri silenced the Bren Gun crew.
He acted with great courage and complete disregard for his personal safety, and by this very gallant effort he enabled his platoon to advance and secure the vital bridge.
Source: Gazette of India. Reproduced as printed, including any errors in the original.
Cover image: Robert Prummel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for this page. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ashoka_Chakra_India_De_drie_medailles_van_voor_1967.jpg