The Khukri Charge in Africa
Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria - The Only UN Peacekeeper to Receive the PVC
Captain Salaria remains the only soldier in history to receive the Param Vir Chakra for a United Nations peacekeeping mission. In Congo (1961), with just 16 Gorkhas against 90 enemy gendarmes and armoured cars, he led a khukri charge that saved the UN headquarters. His last words: 'I am going in for the attack. I am certain I will win.'
The Gorkha War Cry in Africa
December 5, 1961. Elizabethville, Congo.
A young Indian captain stood with 16 Gorkha soldiers, facing 90 enemy gendarmes armed with automatic weapons and supported by two armoured cars. They were 8,000 kilometers from home, fighting in a land none of them had ever seen before, for people they would never meet.
The odds were impossible. The enemy had them outgunned and outnumbered nearly six to one. Any sensible commander would have held position and called for reinforcements.
Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria was not sensible. He was a Gorkha officer.
His last radio transmission before the charge: "I am going in for the attack. I am certain I will win."
With the ancient Gorkha battle cry - "Jai Mahakali, Ayo Gorkhali!" (Victory to Goddess Mahakali - The Gorkhas are here!) - he led his men into the guns.
What followed was the most extraordinary action in UN peacekeeping history.
The Congo Crisis
A Nation in Chaos
The Republic of the Congo gained independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960. Within two weeks, the country had collapsed into chaos.
The Congolese army mutinied against its Belgian officers. Belgian paratroopers intervened, ostensibly to protect European civilians but actually to protect mining interests. And on July 11, Katanga - the wealthiest province, home to vast copper and uranium deposits - declared independence under Moise Tshombe.
Katanga's secession was no grassroots movement. It was backed by Belgian mining companies, European mercenaries, and colonial interests that refused to accept the end of empire. Tshombe assembled an army of white mercenaries - some former Belgian soldiers, some ex-SS, some adventurers from across the world - to defend his breakaway state.
The United Nations intervened with ONUC (Opération des Nations Unies au Congo) - at its peak, nearly 20,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries. India, newly independent and committed to anti-colonialism, contributed a brigade of 3,000 men.