The Battle of Badgam
Major Somnath Sharma - India's First PVC
Major Somnath Sharma led 4 Kumaon Regiment at Badgam airfield when 700+ raiders attacked. His last radio message - 'I shall not withdraw an inch but will fight to the last man and the last round' - became the defining words of Indian military valor. He became independent India's first Param Vir Chakra recipient.
The First Among Heroes
November 3, 1947. Just 79 days after India's independence.
At Badgam airfield, seven kilometers from Srinagar, a young Major with his left arm in a plaster cast watched the morning mist lift from the Kashmir Valley. Major Somnath Sharma of the 4th Battalion, Kumaon Regiment, commanded a company of approximately 100 men. His task: protect the airfield that was India's lifeline to Kashmir.
What he didn't know was that over 700 tribal raiders, armed with modern weapons and burning with the fury of jihad, were converging on his position from three directions. Before the day ended, Somnath Sharma would write the first chapter in the legend of the Param Vir Chakra - with his own blood.
The Road to Badgam
The Raiders Strike
On October 22, 1947, thousands of Pashtun tribal warriors from Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province invaded Kashmir. They called it ghazwa - holy war. Armed with rifles, machine guns, and mortars supplied by Pakistan, they swept through the valley with terrifying speed.
By October 24, they had reached Baramulla, just 50 kilometers from Srinagar. There, they stopped - not to regroup, but to loot, rape, and murder. The St. Joseph's Convent, a missionary hospital, became a scene of horror. Nuns were violated. Patients were killed in their beds. The raiders' bloodlust temporarily slowed their advance.
This brief pause gave India a crucial window.
The Airlift
On October 27, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession, formally joining Kashmir to India. Within hours, the Indian Air Force began the most audacious military airlift the subcontinent had ever seen.
Dakota aircraft, stripped of seats, carried soldiers of 1 Sikh Regiment directly into Srinagar airfield. Landing on an undefended runway with enemy forces nearby, these soldiers immediately took up positions and halted the raiders at the outskirts of the city.