Chhelu Ram

Mortally wounded, he kept leading his men through the fight.

Chhelu Ram was born in 1905 in the village of Dinod, also rendered Dhenod, in northern India. He joined the Indian Army and served with the 4th Battalion, 6th Rajputana Rifles. By the Tunisian campaign he was a company havildar-major.

During the night attack on Djebel Garci on 19-20 April 1943, a machine-gun position stopped the advancing infantry. Chhelu Ram rushed the post with a submachine gun and silenced it. Later, when his company commander was mortally wounded, he went to assist in an exposed position and was himself seriously injured.

He nevertheless took command of his company and men from another leading company. Facing a counterattack and dwindling ammunition, he moved between the hardest-pressed positions, rallied the troops and kept the defence together through fierce close fighting. Wounded again, he refused evacuation and continued directing the men until he lost consciousness. He died shortly afterwards.

His posthumous Victoria Cross recognised the leadership that enabled the vital position to be held. He was buried at Sfax War Cemetery in Tunisia.