Karamjeet Singh Judge

He steered tanks onto bunkers and led the following assault.

Karamjeet Singh Judge was born at Kapurthala on 25 May 1923 into a family connected with public service. He studied in Lahore before entering military training. His elder brother was already an officer, and Karamjeet eventually obtained an infantry appointment in the 15th Punjab Regiment. He served with its 4th Battalion during the final Allied offensive in Burma.

On 18 March 1945 his company was ordered to capture the cotton-mill area on the outskirts of Myingyan. The defenders occupied numerous bunkers that the supporting tanks could not always see. Whenever the infantry were held up, Judge moved forward through fire to contact the tanks, using their external telephone and personally identifying the positions that needed to be engaged.

After the tanks fired, he led his men into the assault. Repeating this process allowed the platoon to move from bunker to bunker. On one occasion he stopped two Japanese soldiers who rushed towards him with fixed bayonets. His leadership kept the infantry and armour working together during a difficult clearance operation.

Near the end of the battle, a machine gun in the last group of bunkers again halted the advance. Judge brought a tank close to the position and marked it with a smoke grenade. He then asked the tank commander to stop firing so that he could take a small party forward to clear it. As he approached, the machine gun reopened fire and mortally wounded him. His men completed the capture.

He died on 18 March, aged twenty-one. The Victoria Cross was announced that July and presented to his next of kin by the Viceroy, Field Marshal Lord Wavell, in December 1945. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial in Myanmar.

Official Victoria Cross citation

In Burma, on 18th March, 1945, a Company of the 15th Punjab Regiment, in which Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge was a Platoon Commander, was ordered to capture the Cotton Mill area on the outskirts of Myingyan. In addition to numerous bunkers and stiff enemy resistance a total of almost 200 enemy shells fell around the tanks and infantry during the attack. The ground over which the operation took place was very broken and in parts was unsuitable for tanks. Except for the first two hours of this operation, Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge’s platoon was leading in the attack, and up to the last moment Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge dominated the entire battlefield by his numerous and successive acts of superb gallantry. Time and again the infantry were held up by heavy medium machine gun and small arms fire from bunkers not seen by the tanks. On every such occasion Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge, without hesitation and with a complete disregard for his own personal safety, coolly went forward through heavy fire to recall the tanks by means of the house telephone. Cover around the tanks was non-existent, but Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge remained completely regardless not only of the heavy small arms fire directed at him, but also of the extremely heavy shelling directed at the tanks. Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge succeeded in recalling the tanks to deal with bunkers which he personally indicated to the tanks, thus allowing the infantry to advance. In every case Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge personally led the infantry in charges against the bunkers and was invariably first to arrive. In this way ten bunkers were eliminated by this brilliant and courageous officer. On one occasion, while he was going into the attack, two Japanese suddenly rushed at him from a small nullah with fixed bayonets. At a distance of only 10 yards he killed both. About fifteen minutes before the battle finished, a last nest of three bunkers was located, which were very difficult for the tanks to approach. An enemy light machine gun was firing from one of them and holding up the advance of the infantry. Undaunted, Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge directed one tank to within 20 yards of the above bunker at great personal risk and then threw a smoke grenade as a means of indication. After some minutes of fire, Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge, using the house telephone again, asked the tank commander to cease fire while he went in with a few men to mop up. He then went forward and got within 10 yards of the bunker, when the enemy light machine gun opened fire again, mortally wounding Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge in the chest. By this time, however, the remaining men of the section were able to storm this strong point, and so complete a long and arduous task. During the battle, Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge showed an example of cool and calculated bravery. In three previous and similar actions this young officer had already proved himself an outstanding leader of matchless courage. In this, his last action, Lieutenant Karamjeet Singh Judge gave a superb example of inspiring leadership and outstanding courage.

(Supplement to The London Gazette of 29 June 1945. 3 July 1945, Numb. 37156, pp. 3439-40)