<P> CITATION CAPTAIN GURBACHAN SINGH SALARIA 3 / 1 GORKHA RIFLES (IC - 8947) </P> <P> On 5 December 1961, 3 / 1 Gorkha Rifles was ordered to clear a roadblock established by the gendarmerie at a strategic roundabout at Elizabethville, Katanga . The plan was that one company with 2 Swedish armoured cars would attack the position frontally and Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria with two sections of Gorkhas and two Swedish armoured personnel carriers would advance towards this roadblock from the airfield to act as a cutting - off force . </P> <P> Captain Salaria with his small force arrived at a distance of 1500 yards from the roadblock at approximately 1312 hours on 5 December 1961 and came under heavy automatic and small - arms fire from an undetected enemy position dug in on his right flank . The enemy also had two armoured cars and about 90 men opposing Captain Salaria's small force . </P> <P> Captain Salaria appreciating that he had run into a subsidiary roadblock and ambush and that this enemy force might reinforce the strategic roundabout and thus jeopardise the main operation, decided to remove this opposition . He led a charge with bayonets, khukris, and grenades supported by a rocket launcher . In this gallant engagement, Captain Salaria killed 40 of the enemy and knocked out the two armoured cars . This unexpected bold action completely demoralised the enemy who fled despite their numerical superiority and protected positions . </P>

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