Family Legacy

Born in Suchani, Jammu, into a Dogra Rajput clan of the Jamwals, and commissioned into the Jammu & Kashmir State Forces at eighteen. He commanded the 1st J&K Mountain Battery in the Middle East through the Second World War — holding the rare distinction of commanding his unit independent of British officers, having removed two British Special Service officers posted over him.

His battery’s conduct drew letters of appreciation from Field Marshals Auchinleck and Wavell, and Maharaja Hari Singh flew to Egypt to meet him. He went on to raise and command the 1st J&K Rifles (Raghu Pratap), served as Private Secretary and confidant to the Maharaja, and in 1947 was recalled to command the Jammu Brigade, recapturing Budhal in Rajouri by leading an infantry company in a frontal attack as a Brigade Commander. A holder of war Jagirs, he wrote two memoirs of his service.

Eldest son of Lt Col Bhagwan Singh, and heir to the title of “Kunwar” — the K. that appears on his books. He passed out of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun with the 12th course on 13 December 1953, and served through four conflicts: the Naga insurgency, 1962, 1965 and 1971 — including eight unbroken years in the border and counter-insurgency areas.

The 1962 defeat turned him to serious defence writing; two of his essays were reproduced in the U.S. Army’s Military Review. After premature retirement he took an M.Sc. in Military Science, an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in History, and wrote the History of the Jammu & Kashmir Rifles — still the standard reference on the regiment — along with British Diplomacy in Kashmir, Saurashtra and the draft history of the 9th Gorkha Rifles.

Son of Major (Retd.) Dr Brahma Singh and grandson of Lt Col Bhagwan Singh — the third generation of the family to wear the uniform, and a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Indian Army.

He is the keeper of the family’s record, and the author of the tributes from which much of this archive’s account of his father and grandfather is drawn — writing of the Character, Leadership, Determination, Valour, Values and Courage of Conviction he learned from them.