Inderjit Singh Gill

Lieutenant General Inderjit Singh Gill, PVSM, MC (16 January 1922 – 30 May 2001) was a general officer in the Indian Army. He was the officiating Director of Military Operations (DMO) of the Indian Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. He retired in 1979 after serving as the Western Army Commander. Gill was born in 1922 in a Jat family of Lieutenant Colonel Gurdial Singh Gill of the Indian Medical Service and his Scottish wife, Rena Lister. Having done his schooling in India, he was studying engineering at the University of Edinburgh when the second world war broke out, and in 1941 he dropped out to enlist in the Black Watch. He was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers as a Second Lieutenant on 5 April 1942. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 5 October 1942. The British Special Operations Executive planned Operation Animals to deceive the Axis Powers into believing that Greece was the target of an Allied amphibious landing, instead of Sicily. Gill served in this operation, for which he was awarded the Military Cross in the London Gazette of 3 February 1944 as a Lieutenant (acting Captain). His citation (which was not made public) read: "Capt. Gill proceeded in mufti with Maj. Barker on a reconnaissance of the railway on the South edge of the Thessaly Plain between 14 and 18 June. This reconnaissance necessitated a night journey across the Plain on horseback, and, due to enemy patrolling, for the reconnaissance to be carried out in mufti. Four days later he returned with explosives and one Andarti assistant and successfully demolished a bridge to the south of Proerna. During the reconnaissance and during the actual operation he showed the greatest coolness and courage and complete disregard for personal danger. Due to the proximity of German patrols on the railway, he was at all times in grave risk of being discovered. The successful achievement of this operation was entirely due to his personal gallantry. During the past three months Capt. Gill's work has been of the very highest order.