INDIA. New Delhi: Infantry, or the “Queen of the Battle,” is the largest fighting arm of the Indian Army. Earlier today, India celebrated the Infantry Day with a ceremony at Srinagar airfield. As part of the ceremony on the 75th anniversary of the 27 October 1947 Budgam Landings, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Chief General MM Naravane laid a wreath at the National War Memorial in New Delhi.
Air Marshal Amit Dev, AoC-IN-C, Western Air Command, told reporters in Srinagar that if the United Nations had not intervened in the 1947 India-Pakistan war, the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) would have become a part of India.
Respect has been also paid to the National War Memorial by Veer Naris, war widows of Indian Army veterans.
History of Infantry Day
Infantry Day is celebrated in remembrance of India’s first independent military event.
On October 27, 1947, the first battalion of the Sikh regiment of the Indian army fought for victory over the first attack on Indian soil by the Pakistani army and the invader Lashkar. In the Kashmir Valley, Pakistan tried to seize J&K, and together with the Indian troops, seven Dakota planes were deployed.
Two of the Dakota planes were from the Indian Air Force and five from private airlines, including that of Biju Patnaik, who would later become the Chief Minister of Orissa (now Odisha). The IAF vintage Dakota VP905 aircrafts are known now as Parashurama.
