Education: He studied at S P College, Pune and then at the Royal Military College, sandhurst. from where he commissioned into the British Indian army.

Biography: Thorat was born on 12 August 1906, in Vadgaon village, Kolhapur Stater British India. By World War II, Thorat was a lieutenant colonel and commanded battalions during the Burma campaign against Japan. He attended Staff College, Quetta in 1941 and after a brief posting to the army HQ, Thorat joined the 4th battalion,14th Punjab Regiment, which, as part of the 114th Indian Infantry Brigade under the 7th Indian Infantry Division, played a role in clearing Japanese forces from the Naga Hills.

He participated in small actions with 4/14th Punjab and after a short stay, transferred to the 9th battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment under the 20th Indian Infantry Division, which was engaged in fighting on the Imphal plains.

The commanding officer of 9/14th Punjab went down with dysentery and Thorat temporarily took command of the battalion. Since it was his first time commanding a battalion, he accompanied his troops on a long reconnaissance patrol, which his brigade commander didn't approve of.

In November 1944 Thorat received his first official battalion command, and took command of the 2nd battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment under the 51st Indian Infantry Brigade. This brigade became known as the "Indian Brigade" because unlike other British Indian Army brigades which were composed of 2 Indian battalions and 1 British battalion, the 51st Brigade had 3 Indian battalions. Additionally, all 3 battalions in the brigade had Indian commanding officers - K.S. Thimayya, L.P. Sen, and Thorat. These 3 were among the few Indian officers above the rank of major who saw intense action during the war.