Rajendrasinhji Jadela was the first Indian officer to be given command of an Armoured Regiment. He was born on 15 June 1899 at Sarodar in western Gujarat. He came from the ruling Yaduvanshi Rajput dynasty of Nawanagar State. He was educated at Rjkumar College, Rajkot, then at Malvern College in Worcestershire. He entered RMC Sandhurst and was commissioned on 14 July 1921 as second lieutenant. He spent a year with the KRRC and was then posted to the 2nd Lancers, reaching the rank of captain on 14 July 1829 and major on 1 Aug 1938.
He was a squadron commander in 1941 when the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade was surrounded at Mechill by superior German forces. His squadron was in the rearguard of a push towards the desert and avoided the worst of the enemy attack. The squadron made a charge and gained the safety of nearby hills. That night they took the offensive and captured 60 prisoners. For his actions he was the first Indian to be awarded the DSO during WW2.
Major Rajendrasinhji was appointed commandant of the 2nd Royal Lancers and given the rank of acting lieutenant-colonel on 29 May 1943. He was the first Indian officer to command an armoured regiment. In May 1945 he was appointed Deputy Director of the army and sent to Washington as Military attache. He was promoted to brigadier in Sep 1946 and appointed as the first Indian director of the Indian Armoured Corps. He was a major-general when Independence came in 1947 and as one of the very few Indian senior army officers, had a very tough job when the British generals started to leave India, overseeing the reorganisation of the army which had to be divided up between India and Pakistan.
He was GOC, Delhi and East Punjab, rising quickly to lieutenant-general in Jan 1948, commanding first Eastern Command, then Southern Command, and organising the integration of Hyderabad State. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army on 14 Jan 1953 with the rank of General. He was the second Indian to be C-in-C after General K M Cariappa. But on 1 April 1955 the President of India, Rajendra Prasad, became the Commander-in-Chief, and General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadela DSO was named as Chief of Army Staff. He retired soon after and died on 1 Jan 1964, aged 65.
