Vikram Ramji Khanolkar

Major-General Vikram Ramji Khanolkar (28 June 1905 – 29 August 1952) was an Indian Army general.

Early life and career Khanolkar was from a noted family in Sawantwadi State. Born in Quetta, he received his early education in the city before further studies at Wilson College, Mumbai. In 1927, he enlisted as a sepoy in the 1st Battalion of the 4th Bombay Grenadiers and received a Viceroy's Commission the following year. He served in Zhob during this time. His brother was V. R. Khanolkar.

In 1929, he was selected for a King's Commission as a King's Commissioned Indian Officer (KCIO). and as was customary was posted to a British Army regiment, the East Lancashire Regiment, for a period of one year before receiving his British Indian Army appointment. and was posted to the 5th Battalion (Duke of Connaught's Own) of the 11th Sikh Regiment. taking eight months leave from April through December 1936. He was promoted captain on 8 March 1937 and was appointed a company commander in the 10th Battalion of the 11th Sikhs from 1 January 1938.

Wartime service From 3 December 1940, Khanolkar was seconded to the Travancore State Forces, in which he was appointed commander of the 2nd Nayar Infantry, serving in this capacity until December 1941. with a subsequent appointment as overall Commandant of the State Forces in the acting rank of major.

Following his service in Travancore, Khanolkar returned to his regiment and helped raise the 14/11 Sikhs. He was promoted temporary major on 1 May 1942 and was appointed second-in-command of the 5/11 Sikhs the following year, seeing service with them in North Africa and Italy. He then returned to India with a promotion to acting lieutenant-colonel and commanded the 6/11 Sikhs in Waziristan. He was promoted acting colonel (war-substantive lieutenant-colonel) on 14 July 1946. After Independence and Partition, he was appointed commandant of a refugee camp at Kurukshetra, with responsibility for nearly 3,70,000 refugees. He then briefly commanded Jalandhar Sub-Area and a brigade in Jammu before being promoted acting major-general and taking charge as GOC Delhi Area on 5 August 1949, in which capacity he was known as a strict disciplinarian and skilled administrator.

Personal life In 1932, Khanolkar married Swiss-born Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros, an artist and designer of Hungarian-Russian descent who subsequently converted to Hinduism and changed her name to Savitri Khanolkar. The couple had two daughters and a son.