Yeshwant Ghadge

He charged a machine gun alone after his whole section fell.

Yeshwant Ghadge was born on 16 November 1921 in the Bombay Presidency of British India. He enlisted in the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry in November 1938 and served on the North-West Frontier before going to the Middle East. His conduct as a sepoy brought a mention in despatches in December 1941.

By 1944 he had become a naik, the equivalent of a corporal, in the 3rd Battalion. The battalion served in Italy during the Allied advance through the peninsula. In July its men were fighting in the Upper Tiber Valley near Montone.

On 10 July, Ghadge commanded a rifle section during an attack against a well-defended position. Close-range machine-gun fire struck down every other member of his section. Alone and knowing that no one could accompany him, he rushed the emplacement.

He threw a grenade that disabled the machine gun and killed its firer. He then shot another member of the crew with his submachine gun. With no time to change the magazine, he reversed the weapon and used it as a club against the remaining defenders. His assault eliminated the position that had stopped his section.

Enemy snipers then shot him in the chest and back, and he died at the emplacement he had captured. He was twenty-two. His Victoria Cross was announced in November 1944 for the determination with which he continued the attack despite the destruction of his section and the overwhelming risk to his own life.

His body was not recovered for an identified burial, and his name is commemorated on the Cassino Memorial. Memorials in India and Italy subsequently honoured his service, while the Maratha Light Infantry preserved his example in its regimental traditions and the training of later recruits.