Kargil War

When the Kargil war broke out, Joshi was a Lieutenant Colonel and the commanding officer of his battalion, 13 JAK RIF, then stationed at Dras. The battalion launched four attacks, most successful of which was on Point 4875. Captured on 4 July, the feature was renamed Batra Top, after Captain Vikram Batra, who was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra.^[9]

Under Joshi's leadership, the battalion was extremely successful during the war, and was conferred with the title of the Bravest of the Brave. The battalion received more than 25 gallantry awards, including two Param Vir Chakras (the other recipient was Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, PVC), eight Vir Chakras (including him) and fourteen Sena Medals.^[10] His gesture of giving honourable burials to Pakistani troops who perished on the icy heights of Kargil fetched him praise.^[11]

Vir Chakra Citation

The citation for the Vir Chakra reads as follows:^[12]

Gazette Notification: 18 Pres/2000,15-8-99

Operation: - Date of Award: 15 Aug 1999

CITATION

LIEUTENANT COLONEL YOGESH KUMAR JOSHI

13 JAMMU AND KASHMIR RIFLES

Lieutenant Colonel Yogesh Kumar Joshi, 13 Jammu & Kashmir Rifles, was tasked to capture the strategically vital Point 5140 in Drass Sector during "Operation Vijay". Lieutenant Colonel Joshi conceived a brilliant plan catering for coordinated action to achieve total surprise and psychological dominance over the tactically better positioned enemy. He also personally supervised all preliminary actions before the attack. During the attack on 20 June 1999, Lieutenant Colonel Joshi kept motivating his company commanders and kept staging himself forward with utter disregard to his personal safety. Displaying exceptional presence of mind, he responded to changing battle situations in a most competent manner, his leading from the front and being well forward in battle acted as a morale booster to the attacking troops. Drawing inspiration from him, the attacking companies surmounted the heavy odds, rugged in-hospitable terrain and enemy fire to close in and capture the objective, important peak of Point 5140.

Lieutenant Colonel Yogesh Kumar Joshi displayed exemplary leadership, outstanding command and control and valour beyond the call of duty, leading to killing of six enemy intruders and recapturing of the strategically vital Point 5140 in Drass Sector.

Post-war career

In 2005, Joshi was appointed the Defence attaché at the Embassy of India, Beijing. He spent about three years as the DA during which he negotiated the technicalities of the first India-China joint exercise “Hand-in-Hand” in Kunming in 2007.^[13] Promoted to the rank of Brigadier, Joshi took over command of the 114 Infantry Brigade in Chushul in eastern Ladakh. He subsequently attended the National Defence College as part of the 52nd course in 2012.^[14]

General officer

Joshi was promoted to the rank of Major general and appointed General officer commanding of the 3rd Infantry Division. Christened Trishul Division, it is part of the XIV Corps and headquartered at Karu in Ladakh.^[14] In 2017, promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, Joshi took over as the Director General Infantry at Army Headquarters. He spearheaded the modernisation drive of the Infantry and a large number of weapon systems and equipment were procured under his tutelage.^[15][8] On 1 September 2018, he took command of the XIV Corps in Leh, whose area of responsibility was the whole of Ladakh.^[16][17] For his command of XIV Corps, he was awarded the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal on 26 January 2020.^[18] After a year-long tenure, he moved to Headquarters Northern Command as the Chief of Staff.^[19]

After a short stint as COS, Joshi was appointed the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command. He took over from Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh on 1 February 2020.^[20][21] He was the Northern Army Commander during the 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes.^[22] As Army Commander, he is credited with spearheading the Indian response to the PLA's attempt to alter the status quo on the Line of Actual Control by use of force in 2020 during Operation Snow Leopard.^[23][8] After a two year stint as Northern Army Commander, he relinquished command, handing over to Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi and retired from the Army on 31 January 2022.^[14]