Captain Vikram Batra, (9 September 1974 – 7 July 1999) was an officer of the Indian Army, posthumously awarded with the Param Vir Chakra,India’s highest and prestigious award for valour, for his actions during the 1999 Kargil War in Kashmir between India and Pakistan. He led one of the toughest operations in mountain warfare in Indian history. He was often called as ‘’Sher Shah’’ in the intercepted messages of the Pakistan army.
Vikram Batra was born on 9 September 1974 in Ghuggar village near Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, to G.L. Batra and Jai Kamal Batra. He got his primary education from his mother, who herself was a teacher. He received his education up to Middle Standard at the D.A.V. Public School in Palampur and up to senior secondary stage in Central School, Palampur. After passing his 10+2 in 1992 from Central School Palampur, he got admitted in D.A.V. College, Chandigarh in B.Sc where he was adjudged the best N.C.C. Cadet (Air Wing) in two zones. Later, he was selected to join the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun in 1996 in Jessore company of Manekshaw Battalion, and was commissioned in the Indian Army as a Lieutenant of the 13 Jammu & Kashmir Rifles at Sopore, in Jammu and Kashmir. He rose to the rank of Captain.
Param Vir Chakra
During “Operation Vijay”, on 20 June 1999, Captain Vikram Batra Commander Delta Company was tasked to attack point 5140. he skirted around the feature from the East with his company and maintaining surprise reached within the assaulting distance of the enemy. Reorganising his column, he motivated his men to physically assault the enemy positions. Leading from the front in a daredevil assault, he pounced on the enemy and killed four of them in a hand-to-hand fight. On 7 July 1999, in another operation in the area of Point 4875, his company was tasked to clear a narrow feature with sharp cutting on either side and heavily fortified enemy defences that covered the only approach to it. In a speedy operation, Captain Batra assaulted the enemy positions along narrow ridge and engaged the enemy in a fierce hand-t-hand fight and killed five enemy soldiers at point blank range. Despite sustaining grave injuries, he crawled towards the enemy and hurled grenades clearing the position. With utter disregard to his personal safety leading from the front he rallied his men and pressed on the attack the helped achieve a near impossible military task in the face of heavy enemy fire. The officer, however, succumbed to his injuries. Inspired by his daredevil act, his troops fell upon the enemy with vengeance, annihilated them and captured Point 4875
Captain Vikram Batra, thus, displayed the most conspicuous bravery and leadership of the highest order in the face of the enemy and made supreme sacrifice in the highest traditions of the India Army.
(Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikram_Batra)