Yeshwant Ghadge

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A brief biography

Arjun Sengupta, Oct 16, 2023: The Indian Express

Map of the Italian campaign. (Wikimedia Commons)
From: Arjun Sengupta, Oct 16, 2023: The Indian Express

Singh’s visit to the memorial harkens to a shared military history from World War II — that of the participation of Indian soldiers in the campaign to liberate Italy. However, these soldiers have long been relegated to relative obscurity; it is only earlier this year that Italy opened the memorial in Montone.

We tell you about the Italian campaign, the contribution of Indian soldiers to it, and the story of Yeshwant Ghadge, who epitomises the forgotten Indian hero of World War II.

Single-handedly captured an enemy post

Naik Yeshwant Ghadge was not even 23 when he succumbed to German sniper fire in Montone, a commune in the Italian province of Perugia. He had been in service for at least four years at the time, and had been promoted to the rank of Naik, commanding his own rifle section.

On July 10, 1944, a Company of the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry attacked a position that was strongly defended by the enemy. Naik Ghadge’s section came under heavy machine gun fire at close range, in which every soldier except Ghadge himself was killed or wounded.

With literally no one to provide covering fire, Naik Ghadge, without hesitation or fear for his own life, charged to the machine gun post, braving a barrage of bullets. He lobbed a grenade into the post, which knocked out the gun, and emptied the clip of his Tommygun into one crewman. There were two others at the post, and he beat both to death with the butt of his weapon.

All the while, enemy snipers pumped bullets into his back and chest, wounding him mortally. But he breathed his last only after he had captured the post.

For his gallantry, Naik Ghadge was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), Britain’s highest military honour. “The courage, determination, and devotion to duty of this Indian NCO in a situation where he knew the odds against him gave him little hope of survival, were outstanding,” the citation reads.

The Italian campaign of World War II

Naik Ghadge laid down his life during World War II’s Italian campaign (1943-45). Nazi Germany and Italy, along with Japan, were partners in the war, together known as the Axis Powers. They fought against the Allies, comprising the Americans, the British (and Commonwealth forces), and the Soviets.

After German expansionism had brought all of Europe under Axis control, the Allies decided to begin their counterattack with the invasion of Italy. The Allied war planners believed that the campaign would be able to knock Italy out of the war and, after Rome had fallen, the Allies would drive through the Italian peninsula and break into the “soft underbelly” of the Axis.

The Allied forces landed in Sicily in July 1943, and advanced up the Italian mainland. The Fascist Italian regime collapsed almost immediately, but Germans resisted furiously. They concentrated their resources along a series of defensive lines running across the Italian mainland, from the Tyrrhennian Sea to the Adriatic Sea.

Naik Ghadge died in action here: between the Trasimene/Albert Line and the extremely important Gothic Line.

The heroism of Indian soldiers in the war

The Indian Army, then under the British, contributed over 2.5 million men to the Allied war effort. About 50,000 fought in the Italian campaign, and 5,782 laid down their lives on Italian soil. Indian soldiers comprised the third largest Allies contingent in Italy, after the British and the Americans, and stayed in the country from 1943 through 1946. The 4th, 8th and 10th Indian Divisions, and the 43rd Independent Gurkha Infantry Brigade were involved in the campaign.

After being involved briefly in the campaign in Sicily, the 8th Indian Division led the assault on the German defensive Bernhardt Line in October 1943, and crossed the Sangro River. The 4th and 8th Indian Divisions took part in the crucial battles of Monte Cassino, forcing the Germans to withdraw to the Gothic Line, the last major line of defence. This line would be breached only in the final stages of the War, again with Indian troops playing a major role.

“The Indian Army’s increasing professionalism and successes in the Italian campaigns were duly noted by many Allied commanders … the Indian Army formations were at times in the forefront of the campaigns,” historian Daniel Marston wrote in The Indian Army and the End of the Raj (2014).