By World War II, Thorat was a lieutenant colonel and commanded battalions during the Burma campaign against Japan.

[3] The 51st Brigade had been assigned the task of clearing strongly fortified Japanese rearguard positions, and Thorat coordinated his battalion's attack with artillery and air support.

[3] After his initial attack had succeeded, Thorat limited his battalion's advance and consolidated their position of half of the hill feature.

[3] He was fully aware of the Japanese tactic of evacuating a position under attack and then swiftly counterattacking to retake it, thus inflicting maximum casualties on their enemy.

In October 1959, Thorat's plan was sent to General Thimayya who in turn showed it to the Defence Minister VK Krishna Menon.

[4][5][6][7] Exercise Lal Qila was conducted on 17 March 1960 at the Eastern Command Headquarters under Lieutenant General Thorat.