Vir Chakra (VrC)

On the night of 1 November 1948, at the Zojila Pass in Jammu and Kashmir, Jemadar Balwant Singh was in command of a platoon detailed to bypass an enemy post and occupy a hill feature adjacent to it. There was 200 yards of detour, involving climbing on heavily snow-covered hills in close proximity to the enemy. But Jemadar Balwant Singh, without caring for darkness and snow that stood in his way, reached the top of the hill in four hours and encircled an enemy post hardly 200 yards below. With his platoon he lay there for the whole night and at dawn, realising that the enemy was hid below in carved caves and might escape, he did not wait for orders, took out two sections and systematically charged one cave after another with automatics, rifles and hand grenades. He combed out the whole area, inflicted many casualties on the enemy and captured one 3.7 gun, one Bren gun, two rifles and vast quantities of equipment.

Throughout this vital engagement, Jemadar Balwant Singh displayed consistent superb courage, utter fearlessness and a most invigorating leadership.