Naik Yeshwant Ghadge VC (1921-44), 3rd Bn 5th Mahratta Light Infantry, 1944

Oil on canvas by Paul Drury (1903-1987), 1965.

On 10 July 1944 in the Upper Tiber Valley of Italy, a rifle section commanded by Naik (corporal) Yeshwant Ghadge came under heavy machine gun fire at close range which killed or wounded all members of the section except the commander. Without hesitation Yeshwant Ghadge rushed the position, first throwing a grenade which knocked out the gun and its firer. He then shot one of the gun crew and clubbedto death the remaining two members of the crew. In the course of the action he was mortally wounded by an enemy sniper: his Victoria Cross was posthumously gazetted on 2 November 1944.