Awards and decorations of the Bangladesh Liberation War

Awards and decorations of the Bangladesh Liberation War were decorations bestowed by the major warring parties for actions during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan all issued awards and decorations related to the conflict.

A listing of the medals bestowed are as follows:

Bangladesh

Gallantry awards

A total of 677 participants of the Bangladesh War of Independence received gallantry awards for their service and bravery. Four categories of gallantry awards were created after the war in Bangladesh. These were: Bir Sreshtho The Bir Sreshtho (), is the highest military award of Bangladesh. It was awarded to seven freedom fighters who showed utmost bravery and died in action for their nation. They are considered martyrs.

Recipients All the recipients of this award were killed in action during the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971. The award was published by the Bangladesh Gazette on 15 December 1973. It is the highest military award of Bangladesh, similar to the U.S. Medal of Honor or the UK's Victoria Cross. It has only been given in 1973 to seven people. Listed below are the people who have received the Bir Srestho medal. They are all considered 'Shaheed' (Martyrs). Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir Sepoy Hamidur Rahman Sepoy Mostafa Kamal Engine room artificer Ruhul Amin Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Lance Naik Munshi Abdur Rouf Lance Naik Nur Mohammad Sheikh

Bir Uttom ()

Recipients No. NAME SECTOR RANK 01 Khaja Nazimuddin Bhuiyan, (posthumous) Sector-04 Leader Public Force/Gano Bahini 02 K M Shafiullah Commander, S Force Major 03 Ziaur Rahman Commander, Z Force Major 04 Chittoronjon Datta Sector Commander-04Major 05 Kazi Nuruzzaman Sector Commander-07 Major 06 Mir Showkat Ali Sector Commander-05 Major 07 Khaled Mosharraf Commander, K Force Major 08 Abdul Manzur Sector Commander-08 Major 09 Abu Taher Interim Sector Commander-11 Major 10 A N M Nuruzzaman Sector Commander-03 Captain 11 Rafiqul Islam Sector Commander-01 Captain 12 Abdus Salek Choudhury Sector Commander-02 Captain 13 Aminul Haque Commander, 8 East Bengal Major 14 Mohammad Abdur Rab Army chief, AHQ Lieutenant Colonel 15 A K Khandker Deputy Chief of Staff Army Group Captain 16 Shahjahan Omar – – 17 Kader Siddique – – 18 Liakat Ali Khan – – 19 Shahabuddin Ahmed – – 20 Anwar Hossain Pahari – – 21 Aftab Ali (Sector-11)3rd East Bengalsubeder 22Motiur Rahman – Lieutenant Colonel Bir Bikrom () A total of 175 fighters have been awarded on 15 December 1973 for their heroic actions at the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. The government of Bangladesh declared the name of the awardees in Bangladesh Gazette on 15 December 1973. In recent 1 Bir Bikrom title award postponed. So total Bir Bikram awarded person is 174. Bir Protik () This award was officially declared on 15 December 1973 through the Bangladesh Gazette. According to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, a total of 426 people have received the award.

Liberation War medals

Samor Pawdok (War Medal)Joy Pawdok (Victory Medal)Rono Taroka (Campaign Star)Mukti Taroka (Liberation Star)

Civilian awards Independence Award

The Independence Day Award (),Independence Day Award, Cabinet Division, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh also termed Independence Award (), Swadhinata Padak, and Swadhinata Puroskar, is the highest state award given by the government of Bangladesh. Introduced in 1977, this award is bestowed upon Bangladeshi citizens or organisations in recognition of substantial contribution to one of many fields, including the War of Liberation, the language movement, education, literature, journalism, public service, science and technology, medical science, social science, song, games and sports, fine arts, rural development, and other areas. Bangladesh Freedom Honour -(); posthumously conferred on former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi. Bangladesh Liberation War Honour -(); conferred to heads of states and heads of governments: King Jigme Dorji WangchuckThird druk gyalpo honored by Bangladesh thebhutanese.bt. President Fidel Castro President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed President Pranab MukherjeePranab Mukherjee receives Bangladesh's second highest award . NDTV.com (5 March 2013). Retrieved 21 May 2014. Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral.Grateful to you all: PM tells 61 friends of Liberation War from abroad The Daily Star. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Acting Prime Minister Gulzarilal Nanda Minister of Defence V. K. Krishna Menon President Ram Baran Yadav Prime Minister/ Acting Head of State Girija Prasad Koirala Prime Minister Bishweshwar Prasad KoiralaFriends of freedom honoured , Wednesday, 28 March 2012, The Daily Star General Secretary Leonid IIyich Brezhnev President Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny Prime Minister Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin Prime Minister Sir Edward Richard George Heath President Marshal Josip Broz Tito Friends of Liberation War Honour -(); conferred to individuals, six organisations and Mitra Bahini. The individuals include 257 Indians, 88 Americans, 41 Pakistanis, 39 Britons, 9 Russians, 18 Nepalese, 16 French and 18 Japanese. Three ceremonies were held between March 2012 and October 2012.

India Param Vir Chakra Recipients of the Param Vir Chakra: S. No.RankName 01 Lance Naik (Posthumously) Albert Ekka 02 Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon (Posthumously) 03 Major Hoshiar Singh 04 Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal (Posthumously) Maha Vir Chakra Recipients S. no.RankNameOperation/WarDate of Award 01 L/Nt Ram Ugram Pandey 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 24 November 1971 02 Sep Ansuya Prasad 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 30 November 1971 03 Rfn Pati Ram Gurung 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 04 Maj Gen Shamsher Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 1 December 1971 05 Vice Adm Swaraj Parkash 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 06 Maj Anup Singh Gahlaut 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 3 December 1971 07 Brig Basdev Singh Mankotia 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 08 Maj Gen Anant Vishwanath Natu 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 09 Maj Gen Kashmiri Lal Rattan 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 10 Maj Gen Prem Kumar Khanna 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 11 Lt Col Jaivir Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 12 AVM Vidya Bhushan Vasisht 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 13 Gp Capt Allan Albert D'Costa 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 4 December 1971 14 Sub Maj (Hony Capt) Bir Bahadur Pun 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 15 Cmde Kasargod Patnashetti Gopal Rao 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 16 Gen Arun Shridhar Vaidya 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 5 December 1971 17 Cmde Babru Bhan Yadav 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 18 Capt Devinder Singh Ahlawat 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 19 Lt Gen Krishnaswamy Gowri Shankar 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 20 Brig Kuldip Singh Chandpuri 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 21 Brig Narinder Singh Sandhu 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 22 Wg Cdr Padmanabha Gautam 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 23 Air Mrshl Ravinder Nath Bhardwaj 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 24 Lt Col Sawai Bhawani Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 25 Lt Gen Joginder Singh Gharaya 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 6 December 1971 26 Brig Kailash Prasad Pande 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 27 Brig Mohindar Lal Whig 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 28 Sep Pandurang Salunkhe 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 29 AVM Chandan Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 7 December 1971 30 Maj Gen Chittoor Venugopal 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 31 Lt Gen Joginder Singh Bakshi 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 32 Sub Maj Mohinder Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 33 Maj Chewang Rinchen 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 8 December 1971 34 P/O Chiman Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 35 Cdr Joseph Pius Alfred Noronha 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 36 Brig Udai Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 37 Capt Mahendra Nath Mulla 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 9 December 1971 38 Nt Sugan Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 39 Brig Rattan Nath Sharma 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 10 December 1971 40 Maj Gen Harish Chandra Pathak 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 11 December 1971 41 Maj Gen Kulwant Singh Pannu 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 42 Brig Sukhjit Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 43 Maj Vijay Rattan Choudhry 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 44 L/Nt Drig Pal Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 13 December 1971 45 Capt Pradip Kumar Gour 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 14 December 1971 46 Brig Amarjit Singh Bal 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 15 December 1971 47 Sub Maj (Hony Capt) Thomas Philipose 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 48 Lt Col Ved Prakash Ghai 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 49 Lt Gen Hanut Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 16 December 1971 50 Lt Gen Raj Mohan Vohra 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 51 Capt Shankar Rao Shankhapan Walkar 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 52 AVM Cecil Vivian Parker 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 17 December 1971 53 Air Cmde Harcharan Singh Manget 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 54 AVM Madhavendra Banerji 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 55 Maj Malkiat Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 56 Gp Capt Man Mohan Bir Singh Talwar 1971 Operation Cactus-Lily 57 Air Cmde Ramesh Sakharam Benegal 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 58 2nd Lt. Shamsher Singh Samra 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 59 L/Nt Shangara Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 60 L/Hav Dil Bahadur Chettri 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 21 December 1971 61 Rear Adm Santosh Kumar Gupta 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 62 Brig Vijay Kumar Berry 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 28 December 1971 63 Air Chief Marshal Swaroop Krishna Kaul 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 30 December 1971 64 Sub Nar Bahadur Chhetri 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 31 December 1971 65 Col Dharam Vir Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 1 January 1972 66 Brig Sant Singh 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 2 January 1972 67 Maj Daljit Singh Narang 1971 Operation Cactus-Lilly 20 January 1972 Vir Chakra

Recipients

S. no. Rank Name Branch Award Date Awarded for 01 Adm Laxminarayan Ramdass Indian Navy 1 December 1971 Operation Cactus Lily 02 Subedar Gurdev Singh Hans Indian Army 4 December 1971 Operation Cactus Lily 03 Maj Nanjappa K P Indian Army 5 December 1971 Battle of Daudkandi 04 Lt Col Raj Singh Indian Army 15 December 1971 Operation Cactus Lily 05 Major PK Sharma Indian Army 6 December 1971 Operation Cactus Lily 06 Captain Jatinder Kumar Indian Army Operation Cactus Lily 07 Col Gopal Krishna Trivedi Indian Army 11 December 1971 Operation Cactus Lily 08 Lt Col Satish Nambiar Indian Army Operation Cactus Lily 09 Air Cmde Jasjit Singh Indian Air Force 17 December 1971 Operation Cactus Lily 10 Grenadier Rafiq Khan Indian Army 19 December 1971 Operation Cactus Lily 11 Vice Adm Arun Prakash Indian Navy 21 December 1971 Operation Cactus Lily 12 Squadron Leader M A Ganapathy Indian Air force 1972 Boyra Encounter (1971) 13 2/LT David A Devadasan Indian Army - 1 MAHAR Battle of Harar Kalan 10/11 December 1971

Pakistan Nishan-i-Haider Recipients of the Nishan-E-Haider: Major Muhammad Akram (posthumously) Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas (posthumously) Major Shabbir Sharif (posthumously) Sarwar Muhammad Hussain (posthumously) Lance Naik Muhammad Mahfuz (posthumously)

See also

Liberation War of Bangladesh Bangladeshi honours system Military awards and decorations of Bangladesh

References