Mohan Singh Deb

Mohan Singh
Singh (in turban) being greeted by the Japanese Major Fujiwara Iwaichi, April 1942
Born	3 January 1909 Ugoke, Sialkot, Punjab, British India (present-day Punjab, Pakistan)
Died	1989 (aged 79–80) Jugiana, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Soldier
Known for	Founding General of the First Indian National Army
Movement	Indian Independence movement

Mohan Singh (Punjabi: ਮੋਹਨ ਸਿਂਘ (Gurmukhi); موہن سنگھ (Shahmukhi); 1909 – 1989) was an Indian military officer and member of the Indian Independence Movement best known for his role in organising and leading the First Indian National Army in South East Asia during World War II. Following Indian independence, Mohan Singh later served in public life as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) of the Indian Parliament.

He was born the only son of Tara Singh and Hukam Kaur, a couple of Ugoke village, near Sialkot (now in Pakistan). His father died two months before his birth and his mother shifted to her parents home in Badiana in the same district, where Mohan Singh was born and brought up.

As he passed high school, he enlisted the 14th Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army in 1927. After the completion of his recruit training at Hrozpur, Mohan Singh was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment, then serving in the North-West Frontier Province. He was selected as a potential officer in 1931, and after six months' training in Kitchener College, Nowgong (Madhya Pradesh), and another two and a half years in the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, he received his commission 1 February 1935 and was posted for a year to a British Army unit, the 2nd battalion Border Regiment. He was them posted to 1st Battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment on 24 February 1936, which at that time happened to be at Jhelum.