TANGLED TALES FROM NINE SPECIAL

FORCES

COLONEL RANJIT SINGH

COLONEL AWADHESH KUMAR
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 Copyright © 2023 Col Awadhesh Kumar

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below.

TANGLED TALES FROM NINE SPECIAL FORCES

Author: Col Ranjit Singh & Col Awadhesh Kumar (awadheshpara9@gmail. com)

© All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means without t the prior permission of the Publishers, or be
otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

Cover by Sabari Vinayak R

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 Preface

Only six and half years had passed, when I had reported to the Unit on 30
Jun 1978. During the Probation, I was made to go through the 12 year old
history of 9. Thereafter heard scores of tales from men sitting around on
some hill top, around Camp fires, during barakhanas and in our Officers
Mess from the rank, file and officers of the battalion. 12 years in the Unit is
a long time to memorize most of the stories.

Born out of anguish cum anger of Lt General Harbaksh Singh, the Western
Army Commander in 1965, the MEGHDOOT FORCE and its new avatar 9
did a wonderful job during 1965 and 1971 Wars respectively. 9 continue to
uphold its mantra DIAL 9 FOR ASSISTANCE.

I wanted to write the stories of the three Groups of 9 in 1978. The first
chapter was written in 2010 and the typed pages were promptly lost during
my retirement move. Finally Bravo Groups story was published on a site
BHARAT RAKSHAK and was seen by over 5000 in just a few days. The
last was the exploits of Charlie Group, six months later and was seen by
over 50000.

Colonel Ranjit had joined the unit in April 1972, just a few months after the
1971 war. Operation CACTUS LILY was still on. He too spent a long time
with 9 and is a great story teller.

Together we decided to bring out this edition of TANGLED TALES from 9.

DEDICATED TO 9 WHERE MEN AT PEACE AT ONE MOMENT ARE

READY TO FACE CHAOS AT THE NEXT
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 Contents

Title Page
Copyright
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About The Author
About The Author
Books By This Author

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 Chapter 1

Those Who Wrung It But Never Sung It

By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar
Capture of Chicken Neck in 1971 by Parachute Commandos of 9 ( Google Image
)

This is the story of a Band of Brothers who quietly went behind the enemy
lines during a cold wintry night of December 1971 and by first light next morning
completely shattered the Pakistani grand plan of cutting off entire POONCH –
RAJAURI Sector from rest of India and then eventually capturing it and making it
part of Pakistan. This is the story of men of Bravo Group 9THBATTALION
COMMANDO, The Parachute Regiment or in short B GP, 9 PARA CDO.
BRAVO GROUP 9 PARACHUTE COMMANDO RIGHT AFTER THE WAR

Based on the lessons learnt from the exploits of the MeghdootForceduring

the1965 operations, this specialized unit was raised on 1st July 1966 with Lt
Colonel Megh Singh, VirChakra, as the first Commanding Officer and
MEGHDOOTS forming the nucleus. It was made a part of the existing Parachute
Regiment then comprising eight standard parachute infantry battalions.

In June 1967, the 9 was divided into two smaller sized units and thus was
born 10 PARA COMMANDO under Lt Col N S Uthaya.

The Suffix COMMANDO was granted by the order of the Supreme

Commander, The President of India, only in Jan 1969, after the two units had
successfully cleared a series of test exercises. So on the eve of 1971 war we had two
young, highly motivated commando units, though still not baptized by fire…. One
for the mountains of J&K and the other for the deserts of Rajasthan. Nowadays the
correct nomenclature happens to be 9 PARA SPECIAL FORCES and 10 PARA
SPECIAL FORCES and they continue to belong to the Parachute Regiment.

Also the three erstwhile Groups in each unit are now called the Alpha Team,
Bravo Team and Charlie Team. Each Team has several TROOP and each Troop has
a few SQUADS (Groups comprised Teams and under the Teams were Sub Teams).
So in 1978 after clearing the probation, I was appointed Team Commander of 6
TEAM.
 However thirteen years later after re joining the Unit from Staff College
Course, I was once again appointed Team Commander only, this time of ALPHA
TEAM. Two years later while moving out of the Unit on posting to HQ SPECIAL
FORCES , I was Team Commander of HQ Team.

Major -General Abid Ali Zaidi, General Officer Commanding, 15 infantry Division
of Pakistan holding the Sialkot Sector was supremely confident of thrusting his
forces deep into India thru THE DAGGER. The sharpness of his Dagger had been
further increased by allotment of 8 Armoured Brigade, whose tanks would lead the
assault.

The dream of Pakistan GHQ to organize a lavish breakfast on the Akhnoor Bridge,
narrowly missed in September ’65 by Maj Gen Akhtar Hussain during
OPERATION GRAND SLAM was certainly going to come true this time. His only
worry was that, the task of going for Akhnoor may be given to General Eftikhar,
commanding 23Infantry Division opposite Charnmb.

The DAGGER is actually a narrow piece of Pak territory jutting into India, south of
Akhnoor. It is basically a small island between Chenab River and her subsidiary
Chandra Bhaga covering about 170 SqKms. The base of the island rests on the bank
of WadiTawi River and goes on narrowing towards the North, with the narrowest
point or the neck near the KachhiMandNalla.

Then it opens up a little forming the shape of a head and then again narrows down
like a beak. The major crossing places on the Chenab when coming from Sialkot to
this Enclave were at Saidpur Ferry and Gonda! Ferry. Other two crossing places
were at Majwal and at Gangwal.
 DAGGER…. wrung by 9 like aChicken’s Neck in 1971 (Image from Google)

The DAGGER points straight towards the Akhnoor Bridge over the fast
flowing Chenab, a Vital Point for the defence of Jammu Sector. Any successful
Pakistani offensive from this area would provide the shortcut route to the Akhnoor
Bridge.

Once the bridge was captured, the route to Jammu would be wide open and
just about one hour drive. The entire Poonch – Rajauri Sector would be cut off and
the flank of Chamb - Jaurian Sector too would be totally exposed to the Pakis. In
one sweep, things so painstakingly consolidated in 1948 by the Indian Army would
vanish. The martyrdom of Brigadier Mohhammed Usman, MVC, Commander
50(INDEPENDENT) Parachute Brigade, along with other paratroopers and men of
Indian Army in the sectors covering Naushera to Poonch would have been in vain.
 It was still dark but there was a very faint hint of red on the sky line towards
India, though no headlights could be seen, purr of engines of a few light vehicles
could be made out.

Just about 20 minutes back, 2/LT Shashi Khanna had suddenly jerked out of a fitful
sleep and come to full alertness within seconds
 Captain Shashi Khanna

Reacting to his gut feeling, he quickly moved along with two of his Sub
Teams (nowadays called Squads) to the track bend about 200 m towards India.
Balance of his 4 Team remained deployed in the original position dominating the
Crossing place on the Gondal Ferry, located about 12kms from the International
Border (IB) inside Pakistan. He quickly got into an opportunity ambush position
with around 12 commandos. They waited perfectly still, though chilled to the bones;
the surging adrenal ensured that no cold was felt by the body.

2/Lt SBK, Team Commander 4 TEAM, Bravo Group, had reached Gondal
Ferry site with his Team around 1430h, 06 December, from Saidpur Ferry 6 Kms
away, where the rest of Bravo Group held the position. 33 commandos including
SBK lay well hidden in the, sarkandas, observing the enemy activity from close
range.

Finally on a signal from the Team Commander, the first round was fired
from a sniper rifle at about 1550h. 10 Pakistani Rangers guarding the ferry area
were completely taken by surprise. By 1605h six of them were already on their way
for a meeting with the Maker. The rest fled and crossed the river towards Sialkot,
16 Kms away, leaving behind their weapons and equipment and the most important
thing… several packets of TAPAL tea, a well known Pakistani brand.

Top Naik Sohan Singh ( second from L ), Paratrooper Jasbir ( fourth

from L )
Sitting L-R CHM Ratti Ram , Subedar Duni Chand , CQ MH Jaipal
Singh

The commandos, as per their drill, organized themselves around the nearby
dominating piece of ground, completely merging with the surrounding. Once
deployed, the Team Havildar, Havildar Baldev Singh organized proper tea for
everyone. This was most welcome after nearly 24 hours without any food or even
tea. Whatever pre cooked rations they had carried had become too soggy while
crossing the chest deep river on the I B on the night of 5 Dec with rest of the Bravo
Group.

While waiting in the ambush, Shashi Khanna had mentally drifted to the
Royal Enfield Show Room in Chandigarh, his home town. Having been
commissioned directly into 9 from IMA in December 1969, in a few days he would
be becoming a Captain. Then he would be able to buy his dream mobile. After the
visit to the Show Room, he moved to his favouritedhaba, eating a mouth watering
tandoori chicken.

He was suddenly jerked back to reality by a tap from the commando

manning the Rocket Launcher. Next moment, three WILLY Jeeps, with no lights
came around the bend. SBK whispered to The RL chap and a second later the first
jeep was blown up sky high. For the next few minutes the other two jeeps faced
such heavy fire that they too burst into flames. There was complete pin drop silence
for next few minutes. In a slow motion SBK tried to get up, to go and inspect the
vehicles, but he could not.

He started feeling very cold, there was dampness all around and he could
feel something trickling down his left shoulder. Things started to blur and as he was
blacking out he heard a voice, as if coming from far off “Sahib koGoli lag gai”.
When he woke up, it was already noon. He was fully bandaged. Luckily the bullet
had gone thru and thru without causing any major damage.

As he came to his senses, he found his Team second in Command congratulating

him for dispatching 12 Pak Army personnel including an officer again to the Maker,
along with 3 vehicles. Seeing his Sahib getting wounded, SubedarDuni Chand had
taken immediate control of the situation. After applying the field dressing, the
ambush party had quickly moved back to the Team position. Within about 30
minutes there was heavy shelling on the ferry site by Pak artillery. Group
Commander Major Narender Singh Rathore was then informed on the radio set
regarding the situation.

4 TEAM held on to the position though intermittent arty shelling continued

for some more time. Things remained tense till evening as there was no sign of the
tanks of the 8 CAVALRY, the Link up Force.

The Commanding officer of 3/5Gurkha Rifles Lt Col JagmohanRawat,

himself reached the location with a company of the Gurkhas. As the Gurkhas started
deploying, heavy shelling started once again. The CO had to go back to his other
companies. After speaking to Maj Rathore, during a break in the” Shelling”, Col
Rawat dashed back along with the wounded SBK in his jeep, followed by arty shells
in classic filmy style. By last light the tanks of 8 CAVALRY too fetched up.

Finally the Para commandos had something to eat thanks to the Gurkhas and in spite
of intermittent shelling could also catch up on some much needed sleep. By mid
night SBK too was on an ambulance train speeding towards Jalandhar. At 1000h on
8 Dec, 4TEAM under SubedarDuni Chand left the Gonda! Ferry site for Saidpur
Ferry location and linked up with the Group by 1400h.

In spite of the high morale of our men and Officers, Pakistan had the
advantage of choosing the time and the place of attack. Very high stakes were
involved in this area. The thrust from the “Dagger” had to be blunted at any cost.
This was well understood by the Indian General, commanding 26 Infantry Division,
responsible for the Jammu Sector.

However merely neutralizing the threat to Akhnoor, which as it is was the

responsibility of 10 Infantry Division, would gain nothing. Though deployed in a
defensive role to protect Jammu at all cost, with one brigade group each in Damana,
Jammu, Miransahib and Samba, the General was itching that his troops advance
towards Sialkot. This advance would surely draw away a part of the Pakistani Strike
Force from Chammb…Jaurian, thus reducing their overwhelming superiority and
advantage of the terrain.

Major General Z C Bakshi, MVC, VrC, VSM (for 1971 he was awarded the
PVSM and retired as Lt General) was one of the most highly decorated Officer of
the Indian Army. Zoru as he was affectionately called by his colleagues was aware
of the enormous responsibility entrusted upon him by the 15 Corps Commander, Lt
General Sartaj Singh, The Gunner, but felt shackled by this defensive role. He had
remonstrated with his boss, cajoled him and even begged him for an offensive role.

He had taken on even the Chief when Sam Bahadur had come to him on 01
Nov 1971 but to no avail. Sam had bluntly told him “the political cost of losing even
an inch of land around Jammu area is simply not acceptable and so I am reposing
my full faith in you and you will not let me down”. Zoru also got a hint that “when
the balloon went up” the westward dash will be done by his neighbor General
Jaswant Singh at Akhnoor.

However Zoru, never quit on his plans. Whenever he got a chance to be in

his office, he would most of the time keep looking at the map. Around 15th of
November, while he was gazing at the big map in his office, the telephone rang. It
was a call from the Corps Commander. “Zoru, to make you happy I am allotting you
some of those trouble makers from Jindra.

Narendra and his boys are already camping at Jammu airfield. Get hold of
them and use your imagination. “Suddenly Zoru was smiling, he knew the trouble
makers from Jindra… located about 30 Kms from Jammu towards Udhampur…
quite well.

A plan already in his mind for some time began taking a concrete shape. The
DAGGER now seemed to have morphed into a NECK of a chicken! He called for
his General Staff Officer 1, and told him to get cracking on the plan to WRING
THE CHICKEN’S NECK. Next he told his ADC to Locate one Major Rathore, 9
PARA, who was somewhere inside the Jammu Airbase, and ask him to come to
Divisional HQ, pronto.

Major Narendra Singh Rathore or Jimmy, was a Rajput Warrior from Jaipur,
Rajasthan. He was always cool, calm and collected. Commissioned in 1964 in the
SIKH REGIMENT, a veteran of 65 war, he had volunteered for 9 CDO, right after
its raising. He was now the BRAVO GROUP Commander. He went about his task in
a methodical manner. After initial tasking of his subordinates, he would keep an eye
on all the ongoing things, give a helping hand wherever and whenever required but
was generally non interfering. His Team Commanders had full freedom within the
Terms of Reference. A father figure to his men, he was a true Rajput Chieftain.
 Jimmy the Bravo Group Commander

The Group had moved from Jindra to Jammu airfield in the first week of
November. The Commanding Officer Lt Colonel 0 P Sabharwal, SM, had told
Jimmy to be fully prepared for a heli borne mission somewhere behind the
enemy lines. By now thanks to the helicopter units located at Jammu, Bravo
Grouphad perfected all the required air and ground drills and was ready for
any eventuality.

Major Rathore Singh now standing in the GOC’soffice was warmly

welcomed. General Zoru had high regards for the paratroopers. He was the Brigade
Commander under whom Major Ranjit Singh Dayal, MVC, 1 PARA, had captured
the Hajipir Pass during the 65 War.

The General had earlier visited Dhansal (location of 9 prior to move to

Jindra, a village about 6kms further down the road] a few times when Lt Col G P
Tripathi, formerly 1 PARA, had been the Commanding Officer of 9. On taking over
the Division, he had again spent an evening with Sabharwal and his Officers at
Jindra.

However nearly every fortnight his Military Police in Jammu City had some
gripe or the other about those annoying” visitors” from Jindra. So he was surprised
that Bravo Group had been camping in Jammu Airfield since last 20 days and he
was unaware of the fact. He broke into a grin when Rathore replied” Sir, now we are
deployed for business, so no peacetime escapades”.

Placing the - pointer stick on the map in the middle of the Salient, the GOC
looked at The Major. Jimmy’s response was” Sir, the Phuklian Salient. I am happy,
you have not called this‘Chicken's Neck’ as THE DAGGER, said the GOC. In case I
get a chance, I am looking at Sialla and the Marala Head Works which may become
a major task for you Group.

However, first I would like to eliminate this salient and you will help me in
wringing this neck. In conjunction with the advance of 19Infantry Brigade, you will
go and secure Saidpur Ferry which is about10 Kms inside. Major reinforcements
including tanks will come to the salient through Saidpur Ferry.

They will have to be stopped at all cost. Keep all this to yourself while carrying out
aerial and ground reconnaissance. In case we go for it, the Brigade will get in touch
with you.

2/Lt V K Bali, had not been able to sleep the previous two nights. Though
outwardly calm, he was a worried man. The onus of leading Bravo Group to Saidpur
Ferry Area, in pitch darkness, without getting lost in the treacherous terrain, had
been placed on him by the Group Commander.
 2/ Lt V K Bali at Jindra two - weeks after the Cease fire in 1971

Virendra Bali had just been commissioned from OTA, Madras, in Sep 1971
and had reported to 9 on 30 Sep for the month long Commando Probation
(nowadays its six months long).

This probation is carried out by Airborne Forces world over for period ranging from
a month to three, generally to test the physical and mental robustness of the
volunteer. Special Operation Forces like GSG9, NSG and IAF GARUD too carry
out such probation to select their personnel. However Special Forces, i. e. British
SAS, US Delta, SEALS, Rangers, SAYERET MATKAL of Israel carry out up to six
months probation with a twofold aim. First, to find out the physical, mental,
psychological and emotional suitability including the limits to which these qualities
can be stretched.
 Second, to ensure that by end of the probation period, the ones likely to get
selected are at least trained in the basics of SF. So that on joining his Squad, they
don’t become a liability, in case there are immediate operational deployments.

Without even waiting for the next morning, the Probation began immediately
after a cup of tea. Next one month was complete HELL. Then on 31 Oct around
Noon, in the Adjutant’s Office, he was given a big lecture wherein all his sins and
weaknesses noticed throughout the month were listed. He was a most unfit officer
ever seen during probation. An unfortunate Infantry Unit was now going to suffer
him for next five years. He was to go to his room, pack his bags, next report to the
officers Mess, pay his Mess Bills and then collect his movement order from the
Mess Havildar.

On reaching his room, he found that his bags had already been packed by his
Sahayak who also consoled him. Knowing that Sahib’s pay had still not started
coming to the bank, he also offered him money for clearing the Mess Bill and for
travelling to his new unit. Bali quite irritated, just muttered something and started
for the Officers Mess.

On entering the Mess lounge, he was surprised to see all the officers
gathered inside. On seeing him, Major Rathoresaid“you are still here? anyway come
in and say good bye to the CO. ”The CO was standing at the bar and Bali wished
him.

Paratrooper/Mess Waiter Balbir Singh appeared from nowhere. He too had

just joined the unit from Parachute Regimental Centre and would be looking after
the officers of 9 for the next 25 years before retiring as HonoraryNaibSubedar and
dined out of the Mess by then serving Officers. Balbir Singh was carrying a tray
with a glass, having a Patiala Peg of neat Rum and a Maroon Beret. VKB was now a
part of 9 and appointed Commander 6 Team, Bravo Group, 9 PARA COMMANDO.

After the meeting with the GOC, things had moved at frenetic pace. The IAF
helicopter units rose up to the occasion. For every one official aerial sortie there use
to be several others as “testing’sorties for the Glass Eaters of 9. All the officers,
JCOs and most of the Havildars (sub team commanders now termed Squad
commanders).
 A few
men of BRAVO , days before leaving Jindrah for the war

2/LT VKB was the one who actually was enjoying these helicopter rides.
‘ZALIM SINGH’ the Intelligence NCO of the Group invariably accompanied him.
ZALIM’s actual name was Naik Mukhtiar Singh. He had been so nicknamed
because of his “Shikar skills especially with wild boars. This nicknaming was the
sole prerogative of the Group’s DISCIPLINARIAN, Captain Tej Swarup Pathak, the
Second in Command (2 IC).

VKB who enjoyed the aerial and ground reconnaissance’s with frequent
violations of the IB/LC, use to be very scared of the after reccee debriefing done by
the Group 2IC. Very soon the Officers, JCOs and NCOs had memorized all the
major landmarks inside the CHICKEN NECK. It was then the turn of the men to
do the same thru the Sand Model which Zalim Singh came up with the help of
L/Naik Bhagwan Singh, the Champion Cross Country Runner of the Group.

Further on advice of the Group Commander, the Navigation Party had

memorized the entire route from Village Machhial on the Indian side of IB to
Saidpur Ferry site on Tawi River inside Chicken Neck.
 VKB had even spent two days at a BSF Border out Post Opposite Saidpur.
Most of his time was spent perched on a “Mach… on a tree about 40 feet above the
ground, observing the area in front deep into the salient. He was unaware that he too
was under observation. The viewing ended when a smartly turned out Pakistani
Officer came opposite, waved to him and invited him for some Murre beer.

Stalwarts of Bravo Group most of whom had been there to Wring up

the Chickens Neck with Basketball Trophy . ZALIM SINGH ( later Subedar
Mukhtiar ) kneeling right most

On the night of 05-06 December 1971, at about 2130 h Bravo Group started
crossing the International Boundary, one by one in a single file, into Pakistan.
Anyone encountered ahead was now an enemy unless he quickly gave the correct
Pass Word. 6 TEAM was leading the infiltration, with the Navigation Party right
behind the leading Sub Team. BILLA (Naik Om Prakash) was the Points man.

Bravo Group officers had been present when 19 Infantry Brigade

Commander, Brigadier Mohinder Singh gave his final briefing on the morning of 05
Dec. As per intelligence available andappreciation of the situation, Pakis had
deployed up to six companies of Rangersalong thePaki Border Outpostsin front. A
regular infantry Battalion most probably 36 PUNJAB was holding well prepared
defensive positions in the following areas along with Recce and Support Elements,
one or two troops of armour, and a battery of mortars: -
 (a) Kohairi Area…………to cover the NECK area
(b) Bajuan - Phukiian Area…………The major communication hub leading
to the ferries
(c) Diwara - Bajawat Area to block any ingress from Pargowal side
(d) Tiba Area…………to defend base of the Neck.

Our attacking force comprised 11GUARDS, 3/5 GURKHA RIFLES,

7/11GURKHA RIFLES and a Squadron of 8 CAVALRY along with nearly a
regiment of Engineers. Around 10 artillery batterieswere going to support the attack.

As per Brigade’s plan, one battalion was to capture area Tiba, while another
battalion to make its way thru GhagNala and eventually reach Gondal Ferry and
then link up with the, Commandos at Saidpur Ferry. The third battalion was to be
launched thereafter to clear the WAIST of the salient that is area Phuklian.

On 4 Dec morning, Major Rathore left for 19 Infantry Brigade HQ, whilein
the evening the Group started its move to concentration area under Captain T S
Pathak and reached Machhial Village near the IB around 2300h. Resting in the day
time next day, the Commandos would be crossing the minefield on own side of the
IB only after 2030h. These minefields had been laid and re - laid many a times since
1965.

Coupled with the shifting sands of the terrain, numerous rivulets during the
yearly monsoon and the high sarkanda grass, own minefield Maps of the Area were
just not trustworthy. However the gallant Gurkhas of 3/5 GR had actually marked a
path for the Commandos to cross this very dangerous minefield.
After walking for a km inside Pakistan, came the River. It took a few minutes to
ascertain the correct crossing place from the memorized land marks.

Thereafter as per drill, very silently, 6 TEAM started crossing the chest deep, fast
flowing river whose water was only a few degrees above the freezing point. As
heard later on during ‘barakhanas’ and around camp fires during training: the water
was extremely cold but everyone just tuned it out mentally.

Also though it was nearly pitch dark at the ground level, on the sky line it
was Diwali Celebrations all around which kept the Commandos mesmerized.
Flashes emanating from gun muzzles, rolling thunder of gun fire, whistling of the
shells on their way to India or Pakistan and then the terrifying sound of shell burst…
all could be heard and seen by the heavily loaded Commandos as they progressed
deeper and deeper into Pakistan every minute.
 Crossing the river, the leading elements turned left and after walking another
2kms started on a bearing straight for Saidpur. Captain Tej Pathak along with his
party was walking just ahead of 5 TEAM, followed by Group Commander and his
party. SubedarTeja Singh Dadhwal, the 5 TEAM 2/IC and presently the officiating
Team Commander was walking just behind the Group Commanders Party.

TSP had been commissioned in 1966 in 1PARA and therefore had missed the
’65 War, was a true Special Forces soldier on the lines of Colonel Charles Beckwith
of US Delta Force.

About seven years in future our entire Course (62 Regular) at IMA,
Dehradun, would have the first encounter with this COMMANDO. Now after so
many years, I can take some liberty and on behalf of everyonefrom 60 Regular, 61
Regular, 62 Regular and even 63 Regular, can say it was PURE TERROR!! This
was even authenticated by American Special Forces team when they had, come to
India for the first time in mid Nineties for Joint Training. As Tej Pathak negotiated
a longish dip in the ground which was also full of sarkanda grass, he stepped into a
sort of a clearing. About 15 yards to the right stepped out a group of 5 men talking
in low voices.

Tej Pathak hissed at them to be quiet and then suddenly it hit upon him that
words he had heard were of the Urdu language! Simultaneously Major Rathore and
his party few other men of 2 IC parry too realized the same. Pathak instantly pressed
the trigger of his Carbine but it was a misfire.

Even then the Commandos had a faster reaction than the Ranger Patrol.
Major Rathore along with two others fired from their Silencer Carbine and that was
the end of the Ranger Patrol. Only one of them was able to fire back but that too in
the air only.

Due to this firing the entire Group went to ground.

It took about 5 minutes for the Group Commander to first regain command
& control thru the radio and then some hectic running around by The COMPANY
HAVILDAR MAJOR Ratti Ram, cursing everyone and everything from India to
Pakistan under his breath, to physically verify things. He then reported to Subedar
Baldev Singh, the Group Senior JCO, who further reported to the Group2/1 C and
finally the Group Commander.

By 0100h on 6 December, the Commando Base was established about a km

from Saidpur Ferry on a dominating peace of ground, well covered by the tall
sarkandas.
 Immediately 6 TEAM moved ahead for capture of the ferry. Crawling the
last about 200m, VKB and his boys halted at the grenade throwing distance from the
well dug in defences at the ferry site. After observing the enemy for close to 10
minutes, the commandos pumped in everything into the enemy defences for exactly
3 minutes. The enemy was stunned.

There were some sporadic reply from their side but once their positions
ascertained, were quickly silenced. By 0300h, in the wee hours of 06 Dec, Saidpur
ferry was under physical control of India. Saidpur ferry was now under physical
control of India. One Ranger Inspector with seven of his men had laid down life in
defence of Pakistan; rest had vanished in the darkness.

About two hours later another Ranger Patrol coming from KachhiMand side
was seen just in time by the MMG Section covering the rear. NaikMalkiat Singh and
Lance NaikAnant Ram waited for the 4 Rangers to close in. The Patrol too saw
them and mistaking them as Rangers from Ferry site warned them of the Indian
Army movement in the area. All four were killed with a few well placed bursts.

The capture of the ferry had been followed heavy volume of small Arms fire
from across the River. There was also very heavy artillery shelling by the Pakis.
Major Sandhu, the artillery officer from 216 Medium Regiment, rose to the
occasion. He brought down very accurate and heavy fire on the Paki positions
across the river.

By 0445h both the firing and the shelling had stopped completely. Then
started a trickle, soon followed by a mass exodus of men, women and children
moving to the ferry site. Jimmy took a quick decision and the civilians were allowed
to cross. Now there was no chance of firing by any side.

VKB wrapped himself in a blanket and reclining against a boulder tried to

catch on some sleep. Within seconds he was in New Delhi among his college
friends. All the boys and the girls were having a party in the college Cafe. Then
suddenly he was back at the ferry site.

Right in front of him was a middle aged man along with a well attired young
woman, both escorted by BILLA. It was already first light. These two were on a
motor cycle and were seen to be carrying bags with Pak Army markings and
therefore stopped. When VKB questioned them, it turned out that the girl, a
permanent“guest” in the bunker of the Ranger Company Commander was going
back to Sialkot.
 She started begging for her life and told the young Lt that she was ready to
do anything for him. The blush on the face of the fair looking VKB became more
crimson than the rising sun, the commandos around tried to hide their titter to no
avail.

Billa though may have had some other plan, was promptly asked to ensure
that in next few minutes both the girl and her escort were out of the most recent
acquired part of the Indian land mass.

The Link Up with advancing 19 Brigade Forces was to take place at first
light 06 December. By 0700h Jimmy with his BravoGroupwere waiting quite
anxiously. Only comfort was that by this time, they were in contact with
Deltacompany of 3/5 Gurkha Rifles. The Company under command of Major Malik
had in the later part of the night followed the same path as the infiltrating
commandos and after crossing the river had turned right towards the BEAK area.
They had then established themselves on a dominating peace of ground. After first
light a patrol had established contact with the Bravo Group.

At around 0730h, the scouts of 6 TEAM, located near the L Bend on the
road reported movement of a jeep from the East (Indian side). Once within range,
Paki markings were clearly visible. A long burst from the nearest Light Machine
Gun brought the vehicle to a stop.

The Ranger Major driving the vehicle was wounded badly, while the jawan
sitting next to him had died instantly. The wounded Officer was taken out of the
vehicle. He asked for some water which was given to him. A shell dressing was
applied to his side but his bleeding could not be stopped. He died a few minutes
later.

Around 1000h, Jimmy was contacted first by the Divisional HQ and then by
the Staff of the 19 Brigade. He was asked to immediately dispatch one of his TEAM
for securing The GondalFerry about 6 Kms away. That’s how 2/LT SBK got
involved in action at Gondal Ferry described earlier.

A company of 3/5 GR finally reached the Saidpur Ferrysite around 1000h

and linked up with the Commandos. An hour later tanks of 8 CAVALRY Squadron
could be seen moving towards the Ferry site. A section of Gurkhas with a
fewCommandosmoved towards them. It seems that the leading tank crew was
unaware of Commandos clad in khaki dungarees. They opened fire on the Gurkhas
and for a few minutes it was BLUE ON BLUE before things were brought under
control. Only the timely arrival of The Gurkha CO could calm down the furious
company Commander and his men.
 There was no further action at Saidpur Ferry site till next morning. An hour
after sunrise on 07 December, in came a L 5, a small fixed wing aircraft of Pak
Army Aviation. It flew over the ferry site, banked sharply and went back. After 30
minutes, sound of an incoming jet could be heard clearly.

A MIG 19 of PAF came over the Ferry site, banked sharply to the left and a
few minutes later came again, this time quite low and at a near stalling speed. The
Pilots face could be clearly seen and he too must have seen the khaki clad men on
the ground.

He again started banking to his left but by now was somewhere overhead the
Delta Company of 3/5 GR. The Gurkhas had LMG in anti air role (this was SOP of
Indian Army and PAF thinking that Gurkha will disregard it was unfathomable)
which promptly opened up and a there was a hit. The MIG crashed somewhere in
Pakistan but Flying Officer Azmal who had bailed out landed in between the
positions held by Delta Company and Bravo Group.

By the time he could release his parachute and come out of the knee deep
waters, a party was there to welcome him as a Prisoner of War. A few days after the
cease fireSam Bahadur visited 3/ 5 GR and shook hands with SABRE BAHADUR
the Gurkha who had brought down the MIG.

By evening of 07 December Phuklian salient had been completely cleared of the

enemy. Though at night the enemy once again made an attempt to cross the river at
Saidpur Ferry site. Heavy Medium Machine Gun fire by the Commandos persuaded
them to abandon the attempt.

On 08 December, 4 TEAM was back at Saidpur Ferry. On 09 Decemberearly

in the morning Bravo Group started their trek to the nearest point on the Akhnoor —
Damana highway with 6 TEAM leading. They must have barely moved half a Km,
when Zalim and Billa had secured a fresh batch of Paki Prisoners of War…. this
time fivedonkeys loaded with sacks of Gur (jaggery).

Most of the gur was eaten up in minutes. The prisoners were then moved
along and in direct violation of Geneva Convention were seen to be carrying the
rucksacks of the Officers and JCOs of Bravo Group. Around Noon they reached the
highway somewhere near Damana. As they were waiting for transport, the locals
came in with halwa, eggs and tea for the entire Group of over 100.

The Food faced an attack by the famished commandos which was more
intense than what was faced by the Pakis. The records indicate that 55 Kg VKB had
eaten 10 eggs alone. By evening 9 December, the Group was concentrated at the
Jammu airfield once again.

By 1100h of 12 December Bravo Groupwas moved by vehicles and

concentrated at NathuTibba, West of MunnawarTawi in Chamb Area, about 6 Kms
north of Mandiala. A company of 8 J & K Militia (after the war this militia became
the Jammu & Kashmir Light Regiment) was holding the feature.

Enroute to this place from Jammu, the Group probably by now having total
disregard for the Pakis had halted for brewing some tea right next to the Akhnoor
Bridge… quite unprofessional for the Commandos. A pair of Sabres made a low
strafing pass. Luckily nothing happened. After reaching Tlbba, rest of the time was
spent by 4, 5 and 6 TEAMS carrying out observation and reconnaissance in Keri,
Ghopar and Chakla area respectively.

Each team was given a search and destroy mission in their respective area
for the night 13 December. Capt Anil Kumar Verma who had missed action at
Chicken Neck was itching for some fire fight. He had been directly commissioned
into 9 from IMA in June 1969. Sometime in mid November he had to be sent for a
Course and could reach Damana only on the morning of 06 December. Tagging
along a Gurkha Party he was able to reach Saidpur Ferry site on 07 December and
had taken over Command of 5 TEAM.

Having moved for barely an hour behind the enemy lines with his 5 TEAM,
AKV heard noise resembling those made by tanks. After 30 minutes, on reaching
the general area, and after a close inspection they found two parked Road Rollers
and two small trucks. It was probably a road repair party comprising civilians. On
seeing the commandos suddenly materializing out of nowhere, they just ran away
and vanished in the darkness.

As patrol was being poured on the vehicles and explosive tied to the Roller
engine, a convoy of4more vehicles reached the location. They were carrying
ammunition including mortar rounds. The four Pakistani Army Drivers along with
their NCO were swiftly eliminated. Though one of them managed to fire a few
rounds from his weapon. Charges were quickly placed on these vehicles too and the
TEAM made a quick retreat. Ten minutes later, one by one, up went the 8 vehicles
along with a few rounds of mortar in sympathetic detonation.

The other two teams were back an hour after midnight, without any luck.
Captain AKV and his team finally reached the Company location of 8 J&K Militia
around 0200h. The Company Commander welcomed the Team Commanders in his
bunker. He enquired about the route taken by the commandos to reach the company
location.

On hearing the details he had an incredulous look on his face. Two burly sardars
were asked to fetch a box from the store bunker. It was full of choicest Scotch. “We
just finished placing more than five thousands mines over that route yesterday and
33 of you have walked in without a scratch. This calls for a toast” said the Company
Commander.

On December 16 at around2015h, a raid on the enemy gun position near Jillahad to

beabandoned. Aseries of encounterstook place with enemy patrol rightafter
infiltration behind the enemy lines. Next when quitenearto the gun position,
someonetripped a flare and thatstarted the ‘Diwali’ with enemy firing machine guns
includingtracers and what not. The Commandos withdrew quietly.

Cease fire was declared on 17 December bringing the war to an end.

L to R
: 2/ Lt V K Bali(6 Team), Captain T S Pathak(2 IC), Major N S Rathore(Group
Commander), Captain S B Khanna (4 Team), Captain A K Verma(5 Team)

So this is how the CHICKEN’S NECK was wrung but General Zoru
Bakshi’s dream of move towards Sialkot could not take place due to various reasons
beyond his control. The Bravo Group, except 2/LT Shashi Khanna came out totally
unscathed from the war.

Bali the "one star Genera" in full glory after the War
 As an American marine once said “you require no jokers citation or
recommendations to win a PURPLE HEART Medal” Therefore Army HQ had no
choice but to give a WOUND MEDAL to SBK. Of Course Defence Ministry also
had to mint around 120 PASCHAMI STARS and Operation CACTUS LILY medals
for Bravo Group.
Major S K Mehta , Group Commander in 1979-- 81
 Regarding the name given to this story. . . . In 1980 somewhere during a
formation exercise or was it Udhampur, 3/5Gurkha Rifles, Bravo Company
contacted Major S K Mehta, Bravo Group Commander, Capt Shashi Bhushan
Khanna the 2 IC and us the Team Commanders…. 2/ Lt Bhupesh Jain and self.
Captain Bhupesh Kumar Jain, 4 Team Commander, Bravo Group( later Defence
Attache to USA and GOC 15 Infantry Division )
 They presented a small but most cherished memento for the association of
the two sub units for the
CHICKEN NECK Operations On the memento was inscribed “TO THOSE WHO
RUNG IT BUT NEVER SUNG IT”.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 2

The Commanding Officer and the subaltern

By
Col Ranjit Singh

With most officers in the Army, it is a Rite of Faith that you’re first CO is
normally your military hero. I am no exception; my first CO was Lt Col OP
Sabharwal. It was a pleasure to get a call from him today; I was watching
Dojokivic’s French Open replay, lying down totally relaxed in this lovely weather
when the phone flashed OPS. It happens to most of us, when your first CO rings
you up, even after 51 years plus, the natural tendency, reflex, is to straighten up,
stand up. That is what I did.
The Commanding officer( sitting in the centre ) with his war winning Team
sometime after the 1971 war . Major C M Malhotra and Capt K C Padha were
away on some duty .

‘Hullo Ranjit’ the baritone voice drawled. Since the day, I joined 9 till when
I was his General Staff Officer 3 as a Captain, he had never called me by my name,
and it was something else. We exchanged pleasantries and had a long conversation
about various things, the latest about our plots in the DLF land north of Chandigarh,
his daughter in Dubai who years ago had been my little friend in Bakloh, my
daughter in Dubai who stays a stone throw away from his daughter’s office there,
etc, etc.

I first met him in Jindrah where I had joined the unit. He had been away for
a few days when I had joined the unit. I was playing Basketball during games
period, the game was about to end, the whistle blew and one of the paratrooper in
my team whispered to me ‘Saab CO saabkharehain, Game dekhrahe the’. I looked
behind, there he was, ran up to him and stood at perfect shun, smart and all of 66 Kg
then and said ‘Good Afternoon, Sir’. There was no smile on his face, a steely, deep
penetrating stare, looked me up and down and after what seemed ages he drawled,
very slowly ‘Hullo Boy’ and after a scary pause he added, ‘You play well. ’

That is the name he always called me by. In those days a 2nd Lt rarely saw
the CO and so was the case with me. Even the 2i/c, Maj LM Jain, ex – CentralIndia
Horse, was seldom seen, once in a blue moon, when some odd task was to be
delegated. Wesoon moved to Bakloh, a peace stationwhere life was different. Every
first Tuesday of the month was CO’s day, a two mile run in FSMO (Field Service
Marching Order …around 16 kg) followed by the Battalioninspection after breakfast
and the visit to training area.

The first CO’s day in Bakloh was preceded by some serious thinking
amongst us in the bachelors quarters the night before, let’s keep the water bottle
empty, stuff news paper in the big pack, why put a blanket in, everything should
look full and heavy but empty inside, our juvenile minds led us to the right answers
as the guiding principle was, it is kind of silly running around with all that weight.
Could we take a chance?

We all know that 2nd Lt’s minds are very fertile and we had plenty of 2nd
Lt’s. The CO’s reputation as a disciplinarian was well known, so in the end we
decided that this being the first run we should take it seriously, study all the loop
holes and hoodwink the system in the subsequent month.

The next morning the CO arrived at the PT ground, after the report he went
around from the rear of the rank and file, it was announced before he started his
dress inspection that whomsoever he taps will have to lay his complete kit out, we
heaved a sigh of relief, thank god we were carrying everything.

The only person out of the complete Battalionhe tapped was a field officer,
poor soul, he was saved a lot of embarrassment as the CO never came back to check
what was laid out. But believe you me; the CO had driven the message home that
ensured every one carried everything for all future runs. You know CO’s are very
erratic and unpredictable, next time he may tap you, why get caught? No system is
fool proof, I am sure some diehard’s still managed to run light.
 2/ Lt V K Sharma , Major M A Kariappa , 2/ Lt Ranjit Singh

On one of the subsequent days, Alpha Group was on training, I was the only
officer present in the Group. Normally when JuniorKariappa ( Major MM Kariappa
the Group Commander ) was present, he sat at the Group Commander stable laid
out under the tree. We Team Commanders joined him when tea and snacks were
served during tea break.

That day SubedarZile Singh, walked up to me, I was smoking as was the
norm those dayswith all us young officers; we smoked just for the heck of it as the
‘Marlboro’ cowboy was all over the magazines. Now most of us don’t smoke, follies
of our youth, I guess. With respect he told me, seriously at that, that the CO may ask
me to take over a Weapon Trainingclass so he suggested I may like to scan the
précis. He was a great veteran SeniorJCO and decided to warn me and have me
prepared.

That ruined my happiness. I went through the lesson so many times and even
memorized it backwards, before the CO arrived. I was raring to go. Come the CO
with the Subedar Major, I was standing on his left behind the squad when after a
minute or so he told me, ‘Boy, take over’.

I must have done a great job as after a few minutes he seemed satisfied, he
never smiled on duty, and you had to move a mountain to make him do that. He was
about to leave and said ‘Good’, Good Lord; at that precise moment the Grenade
launcher cup affixed on top of the 303 rifle which I was holding in kneeling position
in front of the squad, fell off.
It was a most silly and stupid contraption, you had to take a bayonet, loosen
a screw inside the cup, fix the cup on the rifle, adjust the clamps and tighten the
screw again. Everything had been done properly except that the screw was not
tightened well enough.

I was looking at the cup lying on the ground sheet, the rifle and then at the
CO. Oh heavens, I thought, why was this ordained? This disaster didn’t seem to
bother the CO, I was relieved. But in my mind I wanted to dig the inventor out of
his grave in UK and bash his skull in for letting a 2ndLt down.

A few months later the CO decided to play Squash in the afternoons. That
day I got a message from the Adjutantto be at the Squash courts at a particular time,
the CO would like to play with me. I dressed up in the best of whites and was there,
with him, as far as turn out went you could not take a chance.

Whether in uniform, games dress, casuals or a suit. He was meticulous. I am

sure all in 9 will agree that the dignity and grace he carried in his appearance and
attire was the best we have seen. That day I was not bad in appearance and attire so
half the squash battle was won.

The problem was the other half, the actual game. I had not played since
college, about three years, but it did not bother me. It would be a cake walk, I was
young and fit. That afternoon was terrible, I lost all 5 games, it seemed only one of
us was running around the court, the other was standing plumb in the centre. No
marks for guessing who was really sweating.

Of course, we all are educated and intelligent and we have our reputation to save, so
we will understand that in the evening when I was asked in the mess how the game
went, my answer was ready, ‘The CO plays extremely well but you know it is not
proper to beat your CO’!!!

That is one of the general principles of military service. If anyone has a better
answer do let me know. I must be frank in that as much as we played over a period
of time, I could just take a game or two off him. He was an excellent player; perhaps
I should have had a better chance in billiards.

In those days, CO’s were humane but never really close. To make the youngsters get
that family feeling the CO’s wife played a very important role, Mrs Sabherwal was
so perfect and natural in that she made us feel so nice. What else do 2nd Lt’s want,
just some family affection, with her we always felt at home.

The CO normally trusted me with the most arduous and difficult tasks. I was
entrusted with tasks that people twice my age would shy away from. I guess he had
full faith in me. So when he called me to his office and said he has a task for me, I
was convinced that I was the trustworthy one. He asked me to go to his house, his
wife would brief me.

There I was tasked to drop his little daughter to their relative’s house in Delhi. So on
the fateful day when I went to the CO’s house to pick her up I was briefed twice
over, I can understand a mothers concern and assured them that she would reach the
house in Delhi properly; everything would be done, even at the cost of my life.

When I saw Mrs Sabharwal hugging her daughter good bye, it was a do or die
mission for a 2nd Lt. We were on our way from Pathankot and then the only thing
which I was not briefed about happened, Anu started crying, slowly at first and then
she would not stop.

For me it was the most perplexing situation I had faced in my very short life, I tried
my best to please her, did everything, but Anu wouldn’t stop. I was on tenterhooks
when we reached Jalandhar Cantt and I thanked God when I saw Mrs Bounthiyal, a
classmate’s mother (Her son is now running a big Nursing Hospital in Clement
Town), praise be to God, the moment she and her daughter held Anu, Anu stopped
crying, was all smiles as if nothing had happened. Some Girlie talk amongst the
three, and a most complex problem, which I was not able to comprehend, or handle,
was solved.

Life is certainly strange. On the onward journey, it was night. Anu was now
fine and fast asleep. Had my problem ended, No, a new one sprung up in my mind
and was looming large, what if Mrs Sabharwal somehow found out that her
daughter had been crying and I was unable to do anything to make her stop? I could
see a fledgling military career coming to a very premature end. It was an
uncomfortable night for me.

The following morning we reached Delhi and I handed her over and
returned. I was very apprehensive for a few days, awaiting summons from the 1st
house but there were no comebacks, so all was well. I have never been more
relieved.

Time passed, I got posted to Agra, Brigadier Sabharwalby then was the
BrigadeCommander of 50(Independent) Parachute Brigade. I was in theParachute
Regimental Centre which is a different world in every aspect. You hadso much time
that you hadto look for things to do. My passion was to get maximum books from
Time magazine’s bestseller list and read them, there was all the time in the world for
that. I was going on leave abroad in a few days. So the preparations had begun,
meaning that I had started growing my hair. Lt Col LM Jain our ex 2ic and then CO
2 PARA came for his refresher; I had an Ambassador car so we went around calling
on everyone we knew, just the two of us.

One day in the Centre Bar, having a drink and talking about old times, he mentioned
that we should call on Brig Sabharwal the next day. That old fear of your first CO
lingers; I had not had a haircut for some time now, so the Commander seeing me
with long hair would invite some action, all the effort I had put in to grow my hair
would go waste. I wriggled out giving some vague excuse and got the centre car for
him. The car arrived and I was escorting him to the car, he looked at me, winked and
said, ‘So, you managed to save your hair’. These seniors can somehow see through
everything.
 One
evening we bachelors were at the centre Mess, having a great time when the
Commandant’scar screeched to a halt, this was followed immediately by
theBrigadeCommander’s car. I was in a suit and Brig Sabharwal, while literally
running up the stairs snapped an order at me, ‘Boy, put on your uniform and come
back in a minute’, my party came to an end, I was back in uniform in no time.

I was a Centre officer, the Centre Commandant was there but Brig
Sabharwal had taken control. He told me, ‘There has been an air crash, rush to the
airfield, find out what you can, we will come shortly’. I reached there, everyone
wasswarming around, no one seemed to know what to do; The lesson I learnt there
was that in any crisis when there are a lot of officers present, they all collectively do
not know what to do.
 A C119 Packet transport aircraftfull of paratroopers and ParaJump
Instructors of IAFon a night sortie had started to roll, on full power, at a runway
crossing a cyclist jumped the red light and the pilot yanked the stick back, stalled
and turned turtle, caught fire and all 54 perished. There were no survivors, my
Skydiving instructor;Sergeant Govindan was also in that aircraft.

So was Naik Hari Chand of Bravo Group of 9. At the airfield I bumped into
2/ LtAwadhesh Kumarof my unit. Gods ways cannot be described. He
wasundergoing an experimental Pathfinder Courseunder the aegis of Parachute
Brigade and was supposed to be on that aircraftwithanother 15 men.

However virtually at the last moment, the Senior Warrant Officer of Para
Training Schoolinformed him that there was a change in plan. The undergoing Basic
Parachute Course, waiting for its fifth and last jumpwasasked to board the aircraft.
Awadhesh and his menweretaken off literallyat the last minute. I hugged him;he had
an incredulous look on his face.

After all he had stared at death in the face. . The Gods had been kind to him
at the last minute. HoweverNaik Hari Chand, undergoing thePara Dispatcher’s
Courseand at that moment standing nextto Lt Awadhesh, had been asked to
accompany the BasicCourse Sortie. The burnt and mutilated bodies strewn around,
the horrid smell of burning flesh, it was a ghastly sight.

Brig Sabharwal arrived, and I conveyed whatever little I could gather at my

level. The Commander and Centre Commandant got into a huddle with the Air
Force senior officers who had arrived there. Brig Sabharwal took overall charge in
his hands, got complete functionality restored in a hopeless situation which no one
knew how to handle.

Once the blazing fire was put out, Lt Awadhesh with his men then pulled
out most of the 42 bodies still in sitting position with parachutes fitted, strapped to
their seats. Thereafter unlocking and removing the parachutes had been a
horrendous experience. Nk Hari Chand and seven others had been thrown out of the
broken aircraft on impact. The fire tender and the ambulance standing at the ATC
had reached instantly and found two survivors. They were rushed to the Military
Hospital but died within 24 hours.

Next day, I took Awadhesh along to the mortuary of MH Agra, where we had
to identify the body of Naik Hari Chand. It could be done through his HMT watch,
still intact and functional. Also his Service number stitched in the inside of his OG
woollen military issue Socks, still unburnt inside his boots.
 As things turned out, a few months later, I got posted to the Brigade HQ as
the General Staff officer Grade 3. The first day I reported, I was to meet the
Commander, he told the Brigade Major that there was no need for anyone to be
present and he would see me alone. There were no taking chances with him. I had
had a new uniform stitched, and everything on my apparel was sparkling clean and
shiny. I marched in; he was looking at a file.

“ Good Morning Sir’ I saluted, after a few seconds he looked up from the
file, that look, as steely as ever, ‘Hullo Boy’, he looked at me up and down, then
addressed me, he said that I should always put my best foot forward, how to behave
also whom not to behave like and what not to do. CaptV K Bali andCapt
AshokTaskar of 9 were also in the HQ with me.

It took a couple of minutes in his office and I was back to active military
life, the good times at the centre were over. I had eleven years service then,
thoughstill a Capt, in those days a Captainwas a Captain, 6 years or 13. Somewhere
in my tenure with him at the BrigadeHQ, I got my original name back; he started
calling me by my name.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 3

How 9 Destroyed the Guns of Mandhol

and saved Poonch

By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar

PROLOUGE

There was a SURGICAL STRIKE first towards the East inside

Myanmar and few months later towards the West, inside Pakistan.
Daredevils from 21 PARA SPECIAL FORCES made us proud in the East
and 4 PARA SPECIAL FORCES and 9 PARA SPECIAL FORCES avenged
us in the West.

In 1971 we just had two newly raised Parachute Commando

Battalions…. 9 PARA COMMANDO and 10 PARA COMMANDO, not yet
tested in battle. Both the units, under Lt Col (later Major General) O P
Sabharwal and Lt Col (later Brigadier) His Highness Maharaja of Jaipur
Bhawani Singh, respectively, proved to be worth 24 carat gold.

Every Indian must be made aware of the exploits of these units

during 1971 War. This is one such story of Charlie Group (now called
TEAM) who went inside Pakistan and destroyed a complete battery of
Pakistani Artillery. This is till date unparalleled in the annals of War. Not
even during the WWII either the Germans or the Allied had been able to
achieve such a feat of destroying all guns in a raid. Even the famous movie
GUNS OF NAVARONE had just two guns.

SubedarKeshav Chandra (L/Nk in 1971)

Havildar Keshav was the first NCO to greet the newly minted 2/Lt
(me) at the unit gate in 1978 as the Regimental Police Havildar of the unit. .
During the Mandhol Gun raid he was a L/ Naik and the radio operator for
the Group Commander. At the Junior Leaders wing of the Infantry School,
Belgaum, when he attended their Commando Course he was already 39
years old. Yet he beat all the youngsters in everything to top the Course.
During the intensive battle in the Alampil jungles of Sri Lanka’s Vavunniya
District, Keshav stepped on a mine and lost a leg. Thus writes his then Team
Commander Major J D Britto“clearing an enemy jungle camp, steps on a
mine……a foot or so ahead of me. No screaming, no whining, no shock……
just hobbles to a tree and sits down. A quick cleaning up and morphine by
the Nursing Assistant and then this guy is lifted up on a stretcher and the
column moves up single file……with the Commanding Officer Lt Col H S
Lidder (later Lt General) leading.

Keshav who never swore at anybody…. . from the stretcher gives a

clear unhurried order……get the f……g scouts ahead of the CO.

Do they come any better anywhere in the World? This story of

Mandhol Gun Raid is dedicated to such SURGICAL STRIKERS.

These were the Gun Raiders

These are the actions of Charlie Group 9 PARA COMMANDO

during the 1971 Indo Pak war. This is the story of Major C M Malhotra,
Captain KD Pathak, Captain M L Bhagat, 2/Lt Roshan Lal, 2/Lt A V Taskar,
Subedar Gian Singh, Naib/Subedar Zile Singh, Havildar Bichhittar Singh,
Havildar Balak Ram, Havildar Gulab Singh, Havildar Fateh Singh,
NaikYashwant Singh, Lance Naik Dharam Singh, Lance Naik Keshav
Chandra, Paratrooper Balwan Singh, Paratrooper Raj Mal, Paratrooper Raja
Ram and 120 other brave hearts of 9 including Captain D Tyagi, the Artillery
Officer who accompanied them on this daring mission.

HavildarBichhitar Singh (later Subedar) who lit the fuze on of the Paki
Guns

Some of the readers of this story may not have even heard of the
Mandhol Gun Raid carried out by the Indian Parachute Commandos or
Parachute Special Forces, during the 1971 Indo Pak war. However to a
majority of the readers (at least all those born in 1950’s–60s or before)
NAVARONE must be a very familiar name. Many must have even read the
book written by Alistair MacLean published in 1957. Nearly all must have
seen the 1961 Epic block buster movie THE GUNS OF NAVARONE.
 Sub Zile Singh who led No2 Gun Assault Party at the raid site

The story in that book is based around the Battle of LEROS during
the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II fought in the Aegean Sea and on
its islands. The epic movie followed the plot as given in the book and the
star cast as under made the movie a block buster of its time:

Colonel Andrea Stavros – Anthony Quinn

Major Roy Franklin – Anthony Quayle
Captain Keith Mallory – GREGORY PECK
Corporal Miller – David Niven
Private Butcher Brown – Stanley Baker

As per the movie plot, in 1943 Axis Powers plan an assault on the
Island of Leros where 2000 British Soldiers were trapped, with an aim to
capture it and also strategically coerce Turkey in joining the German side.
Rescue by Royal Navy of British troops is prevented by massive radar
controlled Super Guns on nearby island of Navarone. When aerial bombing
by USAAF and RAF failed then allied gathered a team of Commandos to
infiltrate and destroy the Guns with help of local Greek Resistance force
operating against the Germans.

After the release of the Hollywood Epic movie, the name Navarone
became world famous. The best part is that the Island of NAVARONE does
not exist and the entire plot of the book/film is fictitious.

Though it is a fact that the overall story revolves around the actual
BATTLE OF LEROS and the LEROS ISLAND Coastal Guns, during the
Campaign in the Aegean Sea in 1943. These Coastal Guns one of the largest
used in the WWII and had been built and initially used by the Italians and
later on by the Germans. After the Allied Success in Italy, the Italian
Garrison in Leros switched side and was strengthened by the British on 15
Sep 1943. The battle began on 26 Sep with German air attacks and finally
landings on 12 Nov. It ended with capitulation of allied forces on 16 Nov,
one of the last German Victories. Italian losses were 254 killed, 5350
captured and British losses were 600 killed, 100 wounded and 3200
captured. Allied also lost 115 aircrafts and more than 15 Ships. On the other
hand German losses were 512 killed and 900 wounded.
Now another surprise is that Allister Maclean was actually inspired to write
his book based on a real gun raid carried out in Jun 1944 just 11 days after
the NORMANDY Landings. These guns were not on any of the Greek
Islands but on the Italian Island of Elba. The attackers were French with a
hand full of British Commandos from the Royal Navy. This was
OPERATION BRASSARD, wherein on 17 Jun 1944 Free French forces
comprising Continental French, Senegalese, Moroccans etc. landed and
captured the Island of Elba with total loss of 400 killed and 600 wounded.
500 Germans were killed and 1800 became prisoners.

During this landing men of French Commando unit COMMANDOS DE

CHOC and COMMANDOS D’ AFRIQUE along with 48 men of a unit
called ROYAL NAVY BEACH COMMANDO spear headed the landing and
the gun raid. These men carried out the actual raid to destroy the guns so
located on ENFOLA Peninsula as to totally prevent any landing on Elba.
The daring Commandos reached near the Coast of Enfola, aboard Torpedo
Boats from Corsica at 0400h, transferred to inflatable boats and then rowing
landed on the shore in total silence. They did suffer losses but managed to
destroy the guns.

“KD, how is it possible for this youngster to eat even more than his
own body weight on daily basis? I find him doing nothing but eating and
eating all the time “. Captain KD Pathak just smiled and instructed a Runner
to go to the Company Langar (Cook house) look for and fetch 2/Lt Ashok
VasudevTasker on the double, as the Group Commander wanted to see him
at once.
 2Lt Ashok Tasker, SM

AVT or Tasker or Tusky had joined the Unit from Indian Military
Academy just six months back in end June71. In spite of his frail looking
body and height of 5ft…. (few) inches had successfully completed the tough
probation. After all he was a wiry lad of a
 Lt Ashok Tasker , SM

Community whom Shivaji himself had designated in his “Mala

EkSwapnaAhe” speech as …. . GREAT HELPERS of Maharashtra.
Interestingly his forefathers had migrated from Kashmir, from the banks of
Chenab or Chandrabhaga, starting in 7th century AD to parts of Central
India and Maharashtra. This Community whose ancestory is derived from
Vedic King Sahastrararjun are considered at par with Brahmins with rights to
perform Vedic rituals, granted by none other than Lord Parsuram himself. As
he had killed king Chandrasen, Parsuram later blessed the King’s widow that
her Child and his decendents will always rule with both Sword and the Pen.

It seems that Lt A V Tasker truly achieved both, as this Parachute

Commando or Special Forces Officer finally retired as the Judge Advocate
General of the Indian Army in the rank of a Major General. In 1986 and 87
he had also walked along the banks of CHANDRA BHAGA right up to the
point (and beyond towards Zanskar) where CHADRA and BHAGA Streams
join to form the river Chandrabhaga or Chenab, without probably even
knowing that this was his ancestral land. Presently he was the brand new
Commander of No 7 TEAM, Charlie Group, 9 PARA COMMANDO.
 The would be Judge Advocate General of Indian Army as a Captain

Tasker was wiry, tough, extremely witty, fond of eating and also had
a great sense of humour. When I joined the unit on 30 Jun 1978, he was still
a bachelor boy, a hero of Mandhol, saviour of Poonch but most non
assuming, and extremely polite to even the most junior.

During that period, One day the Second – in Command while carrying out an
inspection of the Officer’ Mess, passed an order that till the Daily Mess
Accounts Books were brought up - to - date and inspected by him,
expenditure on daily messing would be minimum. It was a Friday and after
some tough training during the day, all the officers had gathered in the Mess
in the evening. Drinks and music was on, when someone casually enquired
about the menu. Paratrooper/Waiter Balbir Singh replied “Sahib it is
KHICHDDI” and that too with his characteristic smile. There was complete
pandemonium for a few minutes.

Then 2IC thundered “who passed this order and who is the Food Member
and where is he? With another smile Balbir Singh replied “Tasker Sahib is
the food member, he has given the menu with a strict order that nothing else
will be made, expenses have to be kept to the minimum. He himself will not
be having dinner in the Mess, since as the Duty Officer, tonight he will be
checking the food especially the cooking of chicken in all the Cook houses
of the Unit “.

Next day, Officers Mess menu was back to NORMAL. Quite frequently
Tasker’s humour and wit use to be on display in similar manner. It will fill
pages if one starts narrating them but this is the story of Mandhol Gun Raid.
After Unit moved to Udhampur in Jan79, with accommodation in plenty,
AVT had no excuses but to get married. A month later, I landed in his home
town for a course and had enjoyed the hospitality at his mother’s place quite
frequently. When Mrs SuhasiniTasker reached Udhampur, then all types of
Maharashtrian food became available to the youngsters of 9.
 Mangla Mata Temple in Jhangar area Entrance ( 2020)

Finally Tusky was located and was now standing before the Group
Commander the fiery Major Chander Malhotra. Before the Major could even
open his mouth the Lt uttered with a straight face “Sir, I had gone to inspect
the Cook house”. Though it was quite a cold winter morning of end
November 1971, in Poonch area of J& K, the Group Commander considered
this as a cheeky answer and that too out of turn. Ok, young man, do you see
that hill top at 11 Clock, I have a task for you. In next five minutes I want
you to take your No7 TEAM along the track which is going behind the hill
and follow it to the AREA FLAT. Once there, make a sketch of a Company
deployment for defence on that FLAT. Then come and give me the report
along with the sketch at 1330h sharp. Time now is 0930h. Also I want you to
practice various tactical drills while on the move, as now we have to be fully
prepared for all contingencies. After Tasker left the area in front of the
Group Commander’s tent, Chander said smiling “this is going to keep the
youngster busy for some time and also sharpen his drills”. KD replied “Sir,
you have only ensured doubling the quantity of his Lunch, which he will
have on return. ” Ashok Tasker was quite used to such training moves on
short notice.

Major Chander and his Group had left Jindra right after the Dushhera
Celebrations and had moved initially to Jhangar in Naushera Sector. There
they had camped near a temple of Mangla Mata. While perfecting various
drills on daily basis, the men of Charlie Group also visited this temple every
evening. One day out of the blue, a 11 year old devotee, a girl who did all
the sweeping and cleaning on daily basis, just blessed them loudly “do not
worry, you all will come back safely except two who will have to quench the
thirst of Goddess of war”.
 Mangla Mata temple in Jhangar area of Naushera

Then after 20 November they were moved to Poonch Sector, dressed

in khaki overalls, designated for cover as 9 Pioneer Company and plonked
near the Gurudwara of picturesque Village NAGALI SAHIB, on the banks
of the DurungliNallah, around four km from Poonch town. This Gurudwara
was built in 1803 and Maharaja Ranjit Singh had himself visited this
Gurudwara in 1814 and had presented it with a jagir of few villages. Across
the Nallah was located the Wagon lines of an artillery regiment. The Pioneer
Company cover seemed to have succeeded because one of the Battery
Second in Command requested his Course mate K D Pathak to construct a
proper Track from the Road Head to the Wagon Line.
 2/ Lt Roshan Lal

2/Lt Roshan Lal had joined the Unit in 1970 from IMA. This Dogra
lad was from the mountains of Chamba and bore the surname of Chambyal.
Though only slightly taller than Tasker, he was equally or even more wiry
and tough like a steel rope. On reporting to the unit on 30 Jun 1978, my
probation had begun two days later, as 01 Jul was the Unit’s Raising Day,
with Captain Roshan as my Probation Officer. He was No Nonsense type
when “On Parade” and always went into the minutest of the details of a
given task but otherwise very friendly. In the Mess, he could indulge in leg -
pulling of others with a very stern and straight face. A few years later when I
got married and my Wife came to Udhampur, during her welcome party in
the Officers Mess, he totally convinced her that in order to stay in
Udhampur, she too was required to undergo all the Probation Tests, though
with much reduced parameters. It so happened that due to a few Posting In
and out around the same time, there were a series of parties at various
Officers houses and the Mess wherein Captain Roshan kept reminding her
about the forthcoming probation …. ” it is going to commence as soon as
these parties are over. You will also have to pass a singing test where you
will be given a particular song to sing. ” My wife literally remained terrified
for a few days till Mrs. Roshan stepped in.

By the way, Mrs Roshan or Swaran Chambyal was an excellent cook

and many an evening we bachelors of 9, of that time, Mathew Kurikose,
Bhupesh Jain, Anil Nayer, BalbirSambyal, Manoj Unni and self - use to
barge in at their place uninvited for super dinners. Thankfully she also
ensured that my wife learnt cooking under her tutelage within no time and
the menu at my newly established house changed from standard fare of just
“rice and dal” to other things. . Another thing about Captain Chambyal was
that he was always very meticulously dressed whether in uniform or in
civvies. Presently he was Commander 9 TEAM, Charlie Group.
 Captain Mohinder Lal Bhagat

Captain MohinderLalBhagat was the 8 TEAM Commander. A

Rimcollian who had been commissioned into the unit in Jun 1969 along with
Captain Anil Kumar Verma. When I had joined the unit MLB was posted on
Staff and came back on posting to the Unit only in 1980. However being a
Cross Country Blazer of National Defence Academy and a Legend Record
Holder at NDA for nearly 10 years, his name was well known to all ex
NDAs. MLB had a passion for pistols, shot guns, rifles, Shikar, Golf, cricket,
expensive perfumes, Silk Scarfs, colourful expensive shirts, leather shoes,
carpets and also getting into heated discussions with seniors especially
senior Rimcollians. He would never hesitate to reprimand any of the junior
officers even for a small mistake but at the same time was very large hearted
and ever ready to extend all kind of help when asked for. He would rather go
out of his way to give help. He had managed the QM chair of the Unit very
efficiently in mid - 70’s and had been my coach when in end 1980 I was
suddenly made to sit in the Q chair. I was quite clueless regarding this new
task, in spite of having done the QM Course at College of

Material Management, Jabalpur a few months back. He would

minutely explain all the practical aspects of being an efficient Equipment
Officer of a Special Forces Unit. Mrs Sheela Bhagat was also in the army as
a Doctor in the Medical Corps. Sadly she left for the heavens quite young.
 Captain Krishen Dutt Pathak

DADA, not the Mafia variety but the Elder Brother, was what
Captain KrishenDutt Pathak or KD as he was fondly called in the unit. He
had been commissioned in 5 PARA and had suddenly found himself in 9
against his wishes to help another Pandit …. Lt Col G P Tripathi to pull out
the Unit from near oblivion. For the future of 9 it was a blessing and to 5
PARA a real loss. Most probably Trips had asked for just one Pathak, 1
PARA variety …Tej Pathak, but Military Secretary took no chances and sent
in the second Pathak in the Regiment, too.

Having served as General Staff Officer 3 to one of the legendary

Commanders of 50 Parachute Brigade, Brigadier Inder Singh Gill, KD was
always calm, cool and collected. During my probation I was attached to
Bravo Group and on completion of probation was posted to it. Major K D
Pathak was my first Group Commander albeit for a brief period only. Being
field area, all Officers stayed at one place. Morning, evening, any time of the
day, in the billet area, I always found Major KDP with a glass of tea and a
cigarette. During my probation, after morning and evening grueling
physicals, on entering the billet area, even before I finished wishing him, I
was invariably welcomed with a glass of hot tea. This is how he treated even
the most junior. By the time KDP took over the Unit as the 8th Commanding
Officer in Feb1982, he was like Goggle with respect to anything and
everything regarding 9 PARA. So was Mrs KD and in Udhampur her house
too was always filled with ever hungry bachelors during many of the
evenings.

The caliber and quality of Dada may be estimated from the fact that
one evening in early 1983 when Lt Colonel KDP had just entered his office
after evening games, in walked General M L Chibber, the Northern Army
Commander unannounced and all alone. For the next two hours they kept
discussing matters operational. However from next day itself 9 started
working on the most important of the Special Forces Capabilities
building…. . Covert Surveillance Operations and within months, tasking
began. There are numerous examples of his moral courage which will fill
several pages but this happens to be the story of Mandhol Gun Raid …. the
story of raw physical courage.
 During his tenure as CO, sufficient to say that he turned 9 from raw
Fire Water to mature Whisky. No wonder at one time in Nov 87, he was
made to wear several hats…. CO 9 PARA, CO Special Group of Special
Frontier Force, Chief Security Officer Prime Minister Security and SSP
Special Police District around Race Course Road, New Delhi. The present
Special Protection Group must rightly consider him as their founding father.
Presently in Nov1971, he was the Second in Command of CHARLIE
GROUP, 9 PARA COMMANDO.
 Major Chander Mohan Malhotra

Major Chander Mohan Malhotra was the Group Commander,

CHARLIE GROUP. CMM was commissioned in December 1962 from
IMA, Dehradun into 3 GUARDS. At that time Major Megh Singh was in 3
GUARDS as a Company Commander and later as the 2 IC. After a massive
ambush by the Nagas, of a company column just a km or two from their
Start Point, Major General K P Candeth, then GOC of newly raised 8
Mountain Division, gave clearance to a plan put up by Major Megh Singh.
This was basically to operate in small teams inside the jungle and beat the
insurgents in their own game.

Thus Chander had participated in many operations against the Naga

Insurgents in the early sixties, displaying not only exemplary valour, tactical
acumen but also marksmanship. He had been recommended several times
for both Ashok Chakra Class 2 (present day Kirti Chakra) and Ashok Chakra
class 3 (present day Shaurya Chakra). Malhotra had made a great impression
on the legendary Megh Singh.
In fact his was the first name in the list of Officers, Megh Singh
wanted to be posted to the new Commando Force during the 1965 War when
GOI approved the war establishment. The GOC 15 Corps, Lt General KS
Katoch had then sent a Flash Signal to Military Secretary to make the said
officer available for the New Force.

Captain Malhotra now Adjutant of newly raised 10 GUARDS had

rushed all the way from Sikkim and was the first officer to report to HQ 15
Corps. His Commanding Officer Lt Colonel Ashok Handoo (later Army
Commander Northern Command) though did not want to lose such an
officer, had dispatched him with his full blessings.

However by time Chander reached J&K, Megh Singh was already a

casualty and recuperating in military hospital Jammu. Chander remained
attached to HQ 15 Corps, working on refining the War Establishment of the
new Force. Soon erstwhile MEGHDOOTS started reporting to Udhampur
and for a brief period Captain CM Malhotra moved to a camp in SuranGali
with his men and commenced training in earnest. The FORCE even did a
Cross Pirpanjal move SURANKOTE- SHOPIAN. Eventually everyone was
asked to move to Gwalior where raising finally commenced on 01 July 1966.
 Sometime in 1967, CMM after getting vetted by several underlings
was interviewed by the First Citizen himself. Thus was appointed Captain C
M Malhotra an ADC to the Third President of India, Dr Zakir Hussein in
October 1967. While still in school I remember having read a book WITH
TWO PRESIDENTS written by C L Dutta who had been ADC to both Dr
Rajendra Prasad and SarvapalliRadhakrishnan.

However due to untimely demise of Dr Zakir Hussein, Captain

Malohtra had to remain ADC right up to mid October 1970. He therefore
served not only two Presidents Dr Zakir Hussein and Shri V VGiri but also
two acting Presidents VV Giri and Mohammed Hidyatullah.

Some senior Paratrooper of 1 PARA must have been watching

Chander closely and pulled strings accordingly. Military Secretary issued
posting orders for the ADC to report to 1 PARA. Chander would have none
of it and was even ready to go back to The GUARDS. His Highness
Bhawani Singh, erstwhile 2 IC of 9 and now Commanding 10 PARA
COMMANDO invited him to his own unit. However Chander prevailed and
ensured that finally he received a fresh posting orders to report to Jindrah,
the then home of 9.

So one fine afternoon, Major Chander Mohan Malhotra and Mrs

Sheila Malhotra found themselves travelling in the rear of a Nissan 1Ton
Vehicle from Pathankot (rail head in those days) to Jindrah via Jammu. For
Sheila Malhotra, a recent bride this was first introduction to real Army Life.
Till now in Lutyens Delhi, whenever she stepped out of the
RashtrapatiBhawan Compound her husband used to requisition a Cadillac or
a Limo, with colours matching her saree!!! However now this was HOME
and she was determined to make even a Tent look like one.

The ADC tenure had further boosted the self - confidence of

Chander, already in abundance. He was the ALPHA MALE variety…always
the Leader. He brooked no interference in his turf from any one, ran a very
tight ship, kept his command always Ship Shape and at the same time
fiercely protected it like a mother hen.

Many a times in a given situation he in true Western Style, fired

straight from his hip and blazed his way through. This quality of his did not
endear him to his superiors, seniors and some of his course mates. Though
his juniors and his men revered him and were ever ready to follow him TO
HELL AND BACK.

Another quality…once he gave his word for anything, he always kept it.
Chander who had earlier missed the exploits of MEGHDOOT FORCES had
now been preparing his Group for the D Day and waiting for the right
Orders.

Nagali Gurudwara at Nagali Village

Whereas life in Jhangar area had been more of a routine, here in

Nagali Sahib Things were more hectic and looked more serious. Though
exactly not knowing when the D Day would come, numerous visits to
various forward defended localities of the Poonch Brigade, different
battalion HQ, route reconnaissance up to crossing places on the Poonch
River etc in small groups, was slowly building up the momentum. Now it
was just a matter of time. In fact by last week of November, daily exchange
of fire by most of the Forward Defended Localities had become a norm.
Soon the battalion mortars had joined the fray which initially got upgraded
to sporadic artillery fire and then serious exchanges.

By 02 Dec, 33 infantry brigade ex 39 Infantry Division commanded

by a paratrooper Brigadier M S Panwar started moving into the Poonch
Sector. Parts of a battalion started arriving at Nagali and a camp came up
across the DurungliNullah. On night 03 Dec — 04 Dec the balloon went up
or The War Commenced, with a massive artillery barrage on the Line of
Control and even on Poonch town itself.

The whole sky line towards West simply lit up. The Diwali could be
seen by the people of Nagali Sahib and the camping parachute commandos.
Then suddenly a few freak shells, overshooting the intermediate Ridges
landed near Nagali itself. Everyone forgot about Diwali and instead rushed
to their trenches. Luckily Chander had insisted for such preparations against
air raids and for local defence.

Presently Chander himself was out of Nagali, on visit to one of the

many Posts. Two hours later DQ of the Brigade arrived at Nagali with a few
1 Ton Vehicles and after a long argument forced Captain KD Pathak to hand
over Lt Roshan and his 9 TEAM to him. They then moved away quickly to
reinforce one of the Forward Posts. This move was being carried out on the
Express Orders of Brigadier A V Natu.

Next that is on the morning of 04 December, just after first light

came noise of some firing. It sounded somewhat far off but not very far,
though the exact direction could not be ascertained, even by those who were
a bit more curious than most. An hour later a general message was received
from the Poonch Brigade HQ regarding the Paki attack and another message
that a morning convoy of 9 BSF crossing the Kalai Bridge near the town had
been fired upon by some automatic weapons. Around 0700h commotion
could be observed across DURUNGLI Nullah. It was soon learnt that a
jawan, probably a sentry, had been found dead with his throat slashed and
body disfigured. Who had done it? and when?
 Nagli Sahib Gurudwara

Dada, with his sixth sense on the receiving mode, at once alerted all
the Team Commanders. Looking around from the terrace of the Gurudwara
Sarai he observed some activity on the Ridge Line going up from Nagali
towards North called Area Nangi Top or just Area Top…being devoid of any
trees. Looking through the binocular, a few chaps could be seen, now and
then, in khaki and probably digging defences.

Major Chander was still out on one of the posts for recce, KD tried to
contact him on radio but to no avail. This was because of the fact that Major
Chander had been at once summoned back by the Brigade Commander and
while driving towards Poonch town had been at the receiving end of a copy
book Artillery Shoot by one of the Paki Artillery Observer. Chander finally
had to abandon his vehicle and move on foot.

Thinking that those chaps in area TOP must be the BSF boys, as a company
of theirs was to arrive somewhere here, KD decided to send Tusky on a
Patrol. By now Tusky already had tucked in at least a half dozen eggs and
double the number of poories. He was asked to take his Troop up to Area
Flat (midway between Nagali and Area TOP). He was to move as if
advancing for Contact with the enemy. Start time 1130h. He was to give
report every 15 minutes. “Must get a detailed report from the BSF Company
Commander” and Dada added with a smile …. that he should be back before
last light for his well - earned dinner.

7 TEAM led by 2/ Lt Tasker left Nagali Sahib at 1130h on the much

familiar route by now. He decided that he would be climbing somewhat
higher than the AREA FLAT and then come down on it from above. Dada,
kept watching the move of 7 TEAM as long they were in view. He was
feeling uneasy, something was not adding up. He tried to keep himself busy
with a visit to the “office tent”. Chander had already left the Brigade HQ for
Nagali. Finally Dada asked the Senior JCO to send a Runner to fetch Captain
Bhagat. KD then discussed the matter with MLB and explained his unease
with the whole thing. He then added ” Mohinder, I want you to take a few
chaps, at least one LMG and climb up the ridge from this side only and
check up with these chaps who seem to be in khaki dress. Why is BSF taking
position at Area Flat? For Convoy protection, they should be at a much
lower height overlooking the road. However be careful, you never know! ”
Soon after MLB had left, CMM reached Nagali, from the brigade
HQ. He was already in a foul mood due to heated discussions with the
Brigadier, wherein he had refused point blank to undertake any infantry type
Defensive Tasks, instead wanted immediate clearance to go for a raid into
Pak Occupied Poonch. On reaching Nagali when KDP briefed him of the
latest, he just blew his top on hearing about the move out of 9 TEAM. He
was so angry that he even threatened KDP with a Summary General Court
Martial.

He then got hold of a few commandos ex 8 TEAM into his jeep and
drove up on the road climbing up and going towards Thanpir. A few kms
further up on the road they found some men of JAK Militia, who said that
they had been fired upon from Area TOP. So CMM got down and started
climbing up towards area TOP with his men just four in number. As per
orders of Chander, one of them was carrying a LMG. As luck would have it,
their route was taking them towards Area FLAT at about 270° from the route
being taken by MLB but from a higher elevation.
 MLB, NaikYashwant, L/ NkDharam Singh and Paratrooper Balwan
Singh started climbing straight up the ridge from Nagali. A force comprising
four was big enough for MLB, though Dharam Singh was carrying a LMG
as advised. Time now was around 1300h. Climbing the Nagali Ridge along
the ridge line was not funny.

However to GhodaBhagat as MLB was called since NDA days due to

his physical stamina, it was a mere stroll. The three commandos were
equally tough and matching in stamina. So around 1415 h, when Tusky’s 7
TEAM had deployed itself for a ‘water break ‘ about 300m from AREA
FLAT on the Northern Side (towards NangiTekri end), MLB and his force
was less than 50 m from AREA FLAT on the Southern Side (Nagali Sahib
end).

The climb now was nearly over onto AREA FLAT which incidentally
was not exactly a flat piece of ground. It was around 500m by 100m of
relatively flattish area with some amount of undulating ground with a few
dips and a few mounds. Tree cover was there but sparse with relatively few
bushes. NaikYashwant spotted a chap who was sitting on the sky line on a
small rock with a pick axe in hand. It was a False Crest Line with a dip in
the terrain thereafter.

The individual was looking into the dip. Then suddenly another chap
appeared, handed over a mug and disappeared downwards. The first one
started sipping his tea. Captain Mohinder and party started moving forward
by first spreading out. The chap having tea was so lost in his thought that he
was totally startled when suddenly MLB asked him in Hindi, from about 20
m distance, “whats your name and which unit”.

L/NkDharam Singh a Veteran of 1965 war having fought in Ichhogil

Canal Area with his earlier infantry unit was not taking any chances. He had
moved up with his LMG onto the Crest Line and was deployed.

Out came the reply “Sepoy Mohammed Shabir, 9 Azad Kashmir ”

and leaning on his pick axe he stood up, eyeing the two khaki clad, armed
men who had suddenly startled him …. . He had missed out L/ NkDharam
Singh completely whose LMG in fact was now pointing into the dip where
another 7 or 8 men were having their tea or relaxing. Their weapons,
equipment and digging tools scattered around.

Captain Bhagat was equally startled with the reply received in thick
Kashmiri accent. He at once brought up his Carbine and shouted …Hands
Up. Then looking down, he was horrified to see that the carbine magazine
was not fully pressed in. Seeing no reaction from MLB, Dharamsingh
cocked his LMG and fired…. . there was just a loud click, the first round
was a misfire. Then various things though happened simultaneously, still
recollect able ‘happening in slow motion’ by MLB and Dharam Singh (when
individually each had narrated the story to me):

Sepoy Mohammed Shabir dropped his mug and the pick axe, turned
towards the dip poised to run down. NaikYashwant charging upwards,
shouting DHA…AA……WAA……A and firing from his rifle. Balwan
Singh too rushing forward and firing from his rifle towards Shabir. On
reaching the crest line both taking position and firing into the hollow below.
MLB hitting hard on the magazine end, spraying bullets towards Shabir. The
men in the hollow getting up and making a dash for their weapons. Dharam
Singh simultaneously doing the misfire drill, shouting on top of his voice ….
Number 2, 3 and Number 4 LMG F…. I…. R…. E and then firing a full
magazine into the hollow dip.

Thereafter for an eon there was stillness. Dead body of Shabir and
two others were left in the dip along with mugs, some weapons and most of
the equipment. Others had vanished. The three Commandos and Captain
Bhagat were now deployed and breathing hard. Instantly heavy fire came on
them from rest of Area Flat. MLB instantly realised that they could be in big
trouble soon as their LMG had just 5 magazines and rest had only two
magazines each.

Therefore they answered back with just a few rounds intermittently

and started planning their withdrawal. The volume of enemy fire increased
and shouts could be heard, as if a patrol was moving towards them. By now
five minutes must have elapsed when another very heavy volume of fire was
heard coming from the Norther Side of Area Flat and simultaneously from
the Western side.
 On signal from MLB, the radio hand set was handed over by Balwan.
Within seconds Tusky confirmed his position and 7 TEAM increased its
volume of fire. Then Paratrooper Prahlad, Group Commander’s Signal
Operator came on Radio and then CMM himself spoke to both MLB and
Tusky. In another five minutes, the opposition just pittered out and then
simply stopped. MLB was quite thankful to God for the timely arrival of
both the Group Commander and Tasker on the Scene.

Malhotra himself had taken a big risk and like MLB had nearly
bumped into two of the Pakis. The two Pakis had run away but those located
higher up had opened up with automatic weapons. Major Malhotra and his
party were badly pinned down. when Chander tried to get up, Havildar
Virender virtually scolded him for his careless manoeuvre by saying “till the
time I am alive, I shall remain in front of you, to reach you, enemy bullet has
to first go through me”. Incidentally Virender of 9 TEAM had been left
behind by Lt Roshan for ensuring proper administration of the Team on
coming back from the forward post. For this Virender was quite upset as he
wanted to be with the Team in action. So when CMM was moving up,
Virender simply moved along.

Finally all of them managed to crawl and get into better position but
firing uphill was difficult. Then CMM himself manned the available LMG
and firing single shots displayed his awesome marksmanship, taking down
around 11 men of 9 POK on Area Flat in a very short span. Then quickly
Chander and party had rapidly moved further up and emptied a few
magazines of LMG into Area Flat, thereby completely eliminating all
resistance.

However before sweeping down to Area Flat for search operation, Lt

Tasker first spoke to both CMM and MLB on radio. Once their exact
position was ascertained then 7 TEAM started fanning out Sub Team wise.
After a while they had one wounded prisoner in the bag and counted 41 dead
bodies, many weapons, two radio sets and lots of equipment. The wounded
prisoner was given some medical aid; rather CMM himself wrapped boot
putty over the stomach wound. A quick interrogation revealed that a
Company of 9 POK Battalion had infiltrated the previous night and taken up
position on Area Nagali Top. One platoon out of it had moved towards Area
Flat to take defences on it. The overall task was to harass the Indian forces in
the rear as much as possible.

While this interrogation was on, an inspection of prisoners ruck suck

revealed that the PW could not be from 9 POK Battalion but some other
unit. His accent and looks were also not of Pak Occupied Kashmir variety.
Initially he was very stubborn. However a stern version of “Mutt and Jeff”
tactics broke him down. Some of the paratroopers, furious due to the
mutilated body of the dogra boy found in the morning, were not play acting
but actually wanted to eliminate him. Realizing the situation, he revealed his
true identity that he was a Special Service Group trooper. This fact was more
of his Saviour than the Geneva Convention because now he was suddenly a
very valuable Prisoner.

It turned out that Liyaquat Company of SSG too had infiltrated

alongwith entire 9 POK battalion and taken position on ThanPir heights. A
Company of 9 POK with a platoon of SSG then had come along the Nagali
Ridge to AREA FLAT. Another Company had similarly come down a
parallel Ridge and taken position to dominate Kalai Bridge, the life line of
Poonch with rest of Jammu Division.

As per Paki plan, the rest of 2 POK Brigade with other supporting
elements was to infiltrate in the early parts of night 4—5 December and link
up on Thanpir heights. Then in conjunction with attack on Forward
Defended Localities, 16 POK battalion would have moved down the
Chandak Ridge and cut off Kalai Bridge. This would have made the
defences of Poonch Infantry Brigade totally untenable and would have led to
capture of Poonch by Pakistan. What the Pakis could not achieve in 1948
even after a siege from Nov47 right up to 20 Nov 1948 and in a similar siege
in 1965 would have become a fact in 1971.

In 1948, paratroopers of 50 (I) Parachute Brigade had helped

Brigadier Pritam Singh in saving Poonch. In 1965 Major Megh Singh with
his Meghdoot Force had been a big help to Brigadier Zora Singh in saving
Poonch. Now in 1971 it was the blue eyed boy of Megh Singh, Major
Chander Malhotra with his Charlie Group, 9 Parachute Commando that
upset all the calculations of Yaha Khan’s GHQ. Brigadier A V Natu, the
Poonch Brigade Commander in 1971 may have been totally unaware that
how his fellow Maharashtrian LT A V Tasker had helped saving the day not
only for him but for his entire brigade and the J & K State itself. As a result
India continued to have a large District called Poonch.

After gathering all the details, MLB passed a very brief precise report
quickly on radio to KDP for passing on to Brigade HQ. Immediately orders
came that brigade wanted 7 TEAM to commence advance to Nagali Ridge
TOP at last light and attack it ……what an Order. A force smaller in size
than an infantry platoon was being asked to attack a Company or may be
even bigger and that too uphill. When CMM intervened, after half an hour
orders changed …they were to take defences on AREA FLAT itself and
move towards TOP only next morning.

CMM then asked Tusky to make a Commando base for the night. He
himself moved down to the road head with his party along with the prisoner.
The prisoner more than 6ft tall and solidly built had simply been given a
choice …. walk down to the road for further evacuation or be shot. The SSG
chap began talking about his 1year old son, it was then CMM had realised
that he too had a 3 months old son.

It seems finally Malhotra prevailed and next morning it was a battalion ex 33

Infantry Brigade whose elements reached AREA FLAT, took briefing from
Ashok Tasker before moving towards Nangi Top and onwards to Thanpir
Top.
7 TEAM was soon on its way down to Nagali Sahib. On reaching there a
beaming Chander himself handed over a fully piled up plate of poorie, sabzi
and halwa to Tusky. For a change this time debriefing could wait till the Lt
and his Team finished their breakfast.

Around this time 9 TEAM was also back to Nagali. Major Chander
on debriefing Lt Roshan did not know whether to get mad, have a laugh or
just cry. As per Lt Roshan, 9 TEAM had been rushed to one of the Posts
where they were tasked to be ready to go for a Spoiling Attack in case Pakis
again started concentrating into a FUP for a fresh battalion level attack…….
. what a task for the only mountain COMMANDO UNIT of the Indian Army
existing in those days.
 Anyway, at least the Company Commander at the location ensured
that the Commandos were given hot tea and something to eat even though
time was nearly 0130h. However the attack never took place and Lt Roshan
was asked to go back to Nagali on 5th morning. On their way back, while
they were negotiating a road bend, their two vehicles came under quite
heavy and accurate artillery fire.

The Commandos jumped out and took cover. Shells kept landing as if
the Artillery OP was having a clear view. Then one by one Roshan made his
men crawl out from there and finally all reached a location 200m away. The
road thereafter was not under observation and thus safe. At Nagali, in the
evening Roshan got the news that the Company Commander who had
ensured tea for them was KIA from direct artillery hit on the bunker.

Soon after breakfast and a quick de briefing Lt Tasker was sent to the
Brigade HQ to brief the Brigade Major in detail and also to hand over the
SSG Prisoner, meanwhile Chander got busy in writing a few citations. The
BM was not ready to believe that a full battalion plus had infiltrated so deep
inside. The SSG Trooper now knowing that no harm would come to him as
he was fully protected by Geneva Convention would give out nothing except
his Name and Number. Also the unit ex 33 Infantry Brigade reported that
there was nothing on Nagali Ridge TOP except some evidence of recent
camping by a small party.

The B M was not even ready to believe that 40 Pakis had been killed.
Hence he asked Lt AVT for proof. This demand turned Tasker into a very
angry man as he had not slept the previous night. So Tasker just saluted,
drove back to Nagali, took a sub team and climbed up to AREA FLAT at a
trot. Less than four hours later he was back at the Brigade Majors table. He
saluted and placed a big bundle on the table. “Sir, here is the proof, please
open it”. The BM opened the bundle …there were 40 blood soaked Paki
boots, all right foot, thickly covered in human blood…. . theB M could not
control himself, he just puked. Though by the time I had Passed out of IMA
in 1978, URBAN LEGEND at the Military Academy had turned these 40
blood soaked boots into 40 PIECES OF LEFT EARS. This legend had
turned into folklore even in the Parachute Units though facts were further
obfuscated by addition of Major Malhotra’s name as the actual EAR
SLICER and Tusky as the BOOT LEGGER.
 The effect of this puking by the Brigade Major, if any, on the
Citations forwarded by CMM to the brigade HQ is not known, though by
evening of 5th or 6th December a Vir Chakra had been awarded to Havildar
Yashwant Singh and a Sena Medal to Lt Ashok Tasker. However no one
thought of forwarding any Citations for Major Malhotra himself!

Poonch terrain in winters

Poonch has been called mini Kashmir since ages and thus its
importance with respect to the whole of J& K State becomes obvious. In 6th
Century AD, the Chinese travelerHuien Tsang had travelled towards interior
of India through Poonch. In 850 AD Poonch had become an independent
Country for a brief period. Later it came under the Mughals in 1586 and in
1589 Akbar passed through Poonch for the first time in his way to Kashmir.
In 1596 one Siraj - u - din from Kahuta was appointed as Raja of Poonch by
Jehangir.
 In 1798 a Gujjar leader became the ruler. From 1819 to 1850, Poonch
came under the KhalsaDarbar, Lahore. Then in 1850 Raja Moti Singh laid
the foundation of Dogra Raj. In 1940 on death of Raja Jagat Dev Singh, on
orders of Ruler at Srinagar, Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan became the
Administrator of Poonch.

The main road communication to Poonch was via Jhelum town

which went to Pakistan in1947. The road from Jammu, Akhnoor, Rajouri to
Poonch was not in good shape. In 1947 due to priority given to Kashmir
Valley Poonch District was easily run over by the tribals and Poonch town
and its Garrison came under a Siege lasting up to 20 Nov 1948.

However due to political importance of the Area, finally troops were

diverted from more important task of capturing Domel, Muzzafarabad,
Mirpur and Bhimber. Thus out of 4 Tehsils of Poonch, 2 and ½ Tehsils came
under illegal occupation of Pakistan and remainder became part of a new
district RajouriPoonch.

During the 1965 War, Major Megh Singh had liberated nearly half of
this Pak Occupied Poonch and even Hajipir Pass had come back to us. Alas
all the effort came to naught after Tashkent. In 1967 Poonch was separated
from Rajouri again became a separate district.

The famous Mughal Road passes through Poonch and this route was
used by Akbar for his visits to Kashmir Valley. In 1627 Jehangir had died
somewhere on this route while going back to DILLI and in order to keep this
a secret his entrails were buried in Chingus near Rajouri by Noorjahan. The
Poonch -Srinagar distance via Jammu is 588 kms. It gets reduced to126 km
via the ‘New Mughal Road’ 84 km long from Bafliaz -Behramgala -
Chandimarh - Poshana - Chattapani - Peer Ki Gali –Aliabad- Zaznar —
Dubjan -Heeepora —Shopian –Srinagar. The original historical route was
Bhimber–Saidbad–Naushera –Chingus –Rajouri —Thanamandi–Ratanpeer
—Bafliaz onwards. The Peer Ki Gali Pass on PirPanjal is at 11500, higher
than Sinthan Pass or even Banihal Pass. No wonder Pakistan was so eager to
capture Poonch in 1947 as it would provide them with easy infiltration
routes into the Kashmir Valley. However they could not do so even after a
prolonged siege. They failed in 1965 too and now we’re getting ready to try
it once more in 1971. They were unaware that it was an impossible task as
Chander Malhotra and his boys had moved to Poonch and were located at
village Nagali Sahib.

Failure to capture Poonch in 1947 and 1965 had made it a prestige

issue for Pakistan GHQ in 1971. However apart from prestige, capture of
Poonch would not only enlarge the Hajipir Bulge but would also provide
numerous infiltration routes through gullies over the PirPanjal Range. It was
also likely to compel 15 Corps to reinforce the Sector with additional Forces
and thus weakening other areas. This would further increase the chances of
complete victory of 23 Infantry Division in the Chamb Sector right up to
Akhnoor.

OPERATION GRANDSLAM would smash the Indians into a pulp.

A large tract of fertile agricultural land with a huge Muslim population
would get added into Pakistan. The area is hilly and quite thickly forested,
thus ideal for infiltration. Due to existing Cease Fire Line, Pakistan also had
the advantage of higher terrain from where they could easily target all the
Forward Defended Localities of India, parts of Poonch town and even the air
strip.

Major General Akbar Khan GOC 12 Infantry Division of Pakistan

was in charge of Operations in this Sector. Apart from his holding brigades
he was given 26 Infantry Brigade and 2 POK Brigade for the offensive in to
Poonch. A Company of SSG was also allotted to help General Akbar in
achieving GHQs Aim. A few months back he had his Formations even
practice attack by infiltration. Apart from his holding Fire Units, he had been
allotted additional 16 Artillery Fire units. These had been moved and
deployed quite near to the CFL for the planned offensive. GHQ wanted that
General Akbar Khan should capture Poonch and secure area right up to
PirPanjal.

For this 12 Division was to attack the forward Indian Posts at

Shahpur, Danna and Guterian which were located 6 to 9 kms north and
North West of Poonch Town. As per overall Plan, while the main attack
would be going on, 2 POK Brigade under Brigadier Tony Mohammed would
infiltrate and take positions to dominate Mandi Ridge, Thanpir Ridge and
Chandak Ridge overlooking the Kalai Bridge.
Prior to this on Night 03 Dec–04 Dec 71 with the declaration of War, 9 POK
along with a Platoon of SSG was to infiltrate and secure ThanPir Ridge Top,
Nagali Ridge TOP and AREA FLAT. Then next night that is 04 Dec–05Dec,
in the early parts, rest of 2 POK Brigade would infiltrate along the same
route, while the main attack was being launched.

However, the simultaneous action by Captain MLB and party and 2/

Lt AVT and his 7 TEAM on the afternoon of 04 Dec 1971 simply put paid to
the entire plan of General Akbhar Khan. A few hours later same night, in a
similar manner, Major Cariappa with his Alpha Group would halt the
onslaught of General Iftikhar’sChamb Offensive at a bridge on the junction
of MunnawarTawi and Sukh Tao Nullah thus saving Akhnoor. 24 hours later
NarenderRathore and his Bravo Group would move into Chicken Neck area
and just wring it thus eliminating a major threat to Jammu.

No wonder later on the Supreme Commander was pleased to at least

award a theatre Honours to 9 for defence of J & K.

The above in nutshell was what could be made out from the
interrogation of the SSG trooper on Area Flat. With the benefit of hind sight,
it seems to have been a very plausible and a very bold plan. A brigade level
force infiltrating and occupying heights behind the main defences would
have unnerved any Commander. Brigadier A V Natu did not panic or
displayed any nervousness because either he was very brave (he was indeed
awarded with a M V C as at that time YSM, UYSM and SYSM medals had
not been constituted) or because by the time he actually became fully aware
of the fact of battalion level infiltration, part of it had been wiped out and
rest had just vanished.

However the planning of this Operation by General Akbar did help in

saving Pakistan. Indian Army had not failed in noticing all the forward
movements of artillery and our intelligence too gave enough information.
Based on all this, 33 Infantry Brigade ex 39 Infantry Division had moved
into Poonch Sector. This helped in strengthening Poonch Defences. However
the pulling out of 33 Brigade did weaken our offensive thrust of 1 Corps in
Shakargarh Bulge and they could not advance as much as planned.
 Poonch river ……. right India, left Paki Occupied Poonch

“Chander, I want you to send a Team at once to hit the Paki post
located on the Spur going down towards Madarpur. They are using it for
infiltration into our areas. “Chander tried to protest saying he would like to
go for some worthwhile targets behind the enemy lines. However Brigadier
Natu insisted because after the Nagali Ridge action, his HQ had been
swamped with information regarding presence of enemy infiltration over a
vast area in the rear, of course there was hardly any confirmed reports. A few
contacts which had taken place were behind Shahpur area. Chander was
certain that these must be the elements of 9 POK now running back to their
own area. However seeing the desperation of both the Brigade Major and the
Brigade Commander, Chander for once agreed to send a Team.

He first passed the orders for MLB and his No8 TEAM to reach the
brigade HQ at the earliest, take whatever briefing available from the Brigade
Major and thereafter move for a raid on Post near Madarpur. He then got
hold of the Commanding Officer of the Artillery Regiment who had come to
the brigade HQ and started discussing the likely locations of enemy Medium
batteries.

8 TEAM reached The MOTI MAHAL Palace in the evening of 5th

itself. MLB received whatever sketchy information was available from the
Brigade Major and thereafter he was asked to spend the night there only.
Next day after breakfast the Team left for our Forward Defended Post
overlooking the target located on the spur going down towards the river.
Madarpur Village was rather located on the Spur coming up from across the
river. Whole day the Team kept the enemy post under surveillance,
familiarised every one with the route and the raid plan and rested.

After last light, the Team started for the mission. Coming down a
Nullah from the side of the main Spur on which own FDL was located, they
silently crossed into Pak Occupied Poonch and thereafter they were near the
objective by 2000h. After observing for around 20 minutes they swiftly
moved forward and within seconds well aimed shots from silencer carbines
dispatched the three occupants of the post. A quick inspection of the so
called post revealed that it was actually a Traffic Control Point for all the
military movement on the road passing through and not a defended Post as
such. Posters and other papers thrown around indicated that prior to 03
December it had been a Check Point manned by UNMOGIP (United Nations
Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan). Though it may have been a
infiltration point too because there was food under preparation for about 15
people …. . the menu was chicken and pulao, all to be cooked in Ghee
available in abundance.

While the Team took position and MLB passed the code word for
success to our own Company Post and to KD at the base. Yashwant Singh or
Mammu as he was known immediately took action as a self - styled cook.
Within minutes instead of dry poories, the commandos began enjoying a
meal of Pakistani basmati rice pulao and chicken, though peering along the
length of the barrel of their weapons every few seconds. Half way through
the meal, the 21 Punjab Company Commander was on the Radio, saying that
the Team was required to fall back at once. Hurriedly finishing the chicken,
it was time once again to start climbing up hill in the freezing cold and cross
back the existing CFL. By 2300h they were back to own FDL. No sooner
had they reported reaching back, MLB was asked by the Brigade Major to
explain vacation of Madarpur Post without Orders. It seems there was total
confusion. Major Chander then intervened and had the matters sorted out.
Then he himself spoke to MLB…… I am moving with rest of the Group to
NangiTekri in the morning. You too will move and join me there by last light
07 December.

Google map of area Mandhole

Twelve pairs of eyes were peering into the darkness in front, virtually
holding their breath, adrenal pumping presently at a slow rate but building
up for the big moment. Twelve pairs of ears too were straining themselves to
catch any incoming sound, pinpoint the location of the sound and analyze it
as to what had produced it. They could now discern the gun pit less than
150m in front of their position. Suddenly the gun came alive and in quick
succession, one by one three rounds were thundering and whistling on their
way towards Dhuruchian.

These were the Commandos of Gun Assault Party No 1 ex 7 TEAM

under 2/Lt Ashok Tasker the Team Commander. About 50m to the right of
Tusky’s party, in a similar manner, 12 Commandos were lying prone on the
ground and peering westward into the gun pit in their front. This was Gun
Assault Party No 2 ex 7 TEAM under the Team Second in Command
NaibSubedarZile Singh. The next two guns of the enemy were being
intensively watched, again in similar manner by Gun Assault Party No3 and
No 4, ex 8 TEAM under SubedarGian Chand and Captain M L Bhagat
respectively. Finally fifth and the sixth gun pits were being watched by Gun
Assault Party No 5 and No 6, ex 9 TEAM under NaibSubedar …. and 2/ Lt
Roshan Lal.

The six Assault Parties had started moving for their respective
position at 0001h. After 45 minutes of slow walking and then noiseless
crawling, by 0045h all were waiting nervously, nevertheless fully poised for
assault. The overall Assault Party Commander was Major Chander Malhotra,
the Group Commander. He with his party of six commandos had placed
himself between No 3 and No 4 Gun Assault Party. The intense cold did not
matter but the wait for action was the KILLER. Here both the extensive and
intensive rigorous training undergone since raising had kicked in and taken
over.

Therefore the gunners of Pakistan Army remained totally oblivious

of 72 heavily armed men crawling and now lying within 150 m of the guns.
Next to Chander was the Radio Set Operator Lance NaikKeshav Chandra
with his hand set on the SQUELCH mode and ears glued to it. Chander was
now patiently waiting for the Code Word from KDP, the Support party
Commander. The Code would indicate that they had reached and were fully
deployed at the intended location from where fire Support could be and
would be given to the Assault Party.

On reaching the Commando Base, Major Chander had at once moved

out for a confirmatory reconnaissance with his party. By the time the
Commander returned 30 minutes later, Captain KD had ensured that
CHARLIE GROUP was now organised into Assault Party, Support Party and
a Cut Off Party. Further, six equal sized force, numbered as Gun Assault
Party No 1 to No 6 comprised the Assault Party. Each Gun Assault Party was
led either by an Officer or a Junior Commissioned Officer and apart from
their weapons was carrying four pre prepared Demolition Charges to ensure
full destruction of any type of gun encountered. After a quick updating of all
the Commanders, on a given signal the Gun Assault Party required to
traverse the maximum distance, silently started moving out if the Base. Time
now was 0001 h 14 December 1971.

One by one the other parties too slipped out at regular intervals. Five
minutes after No 6 Gun Assault Party had left the location that is at 0030h
Captain KD Pathak silently led the Support Party comprising the “heavy fire
power “weapons and the Cut Off Party to their position. By 0050 h KDP had
his party deployed, all his weapons now pointed into the Gun Area and ready
for action. He was just waiting for a report from the Cut Off Party, which
had moved further west to ensure their given task.

As soon as Havildar Balak Ram and NaikFateh Singh and party got
deployed at the Cut of location, the code was received by KD. In his turn at
precisely0100h KD whispered into the radio hand set …80 for all stations
…. . DHAMAKA …80 for all stations…I say again DHAMAKA. With this
Code Word the fury, rage and the controlled fear of CHARLIE GROUP had
been unshackled and was about to be unleashed upon the Pakistani Gunners
whose guns was now belching out deadly shells at very short intervals to
land on our boys of 14 GRENADIERS assaulting the Pakistani Post at
Dhuruchian.

Google map of Satwal

A few nights before Commandos had crossed the icy Poonch River
for a gun raid in area Satwal. Crossing itself had taken sometime and
thereafter due to very tough terrain the going was quite slow. Instead of
exact location several squares had been indicated as likely Gun Position.
Since the guns were silent, in pitch darkness it was a task akin to looking for
a pin in a haystack. Around 0100h Chander decided to CALL OF the
mission as any further lingering around was likely to lead to being day
lighted on the return journey, a sure recipe for disaster. Also throughout the
move after crossing the river, there had been an all pervasive foul smell
along the column route. Every trooper had become aware of it. It transpired
that a certain Commando had sudden onset of dysentery and behind the
enemy lines there was no alternative to CARRY ON WHILE WALKING!!!.
The decision to turn back had been taken at the right time and therefore
around first light they were safely back across the CFL…. Cease Fire Line.

This time CHARLIES DEVILS were a determined lot. A total of 78

Indian Parachute Commandos with Major Chander Malhotra in the Centre
started crawling westward towards the six Pakistani Artillery Guns, four of
which had been accounted for as they were firing intermittently. By 0110h
the Commandos were just about 20 m or less from the Gun Pits. He having
gone to the ground Major Chander was still not sure about the position of
two of the guns. Then suddenly …. hell broke loose …. it is extremely
difficult to piece together the exact sequence of events in spite of having
spoken to four of the Officers participants and many of the JCOs, NCOs and
the men over a period of 12 years. Recently some of the selected were again
grilled in detail and this includes the Group Commander himself. So the
readers themselves have to delve into the FOG OF WAR and come to own
conclusions. Here it is …….

…. to the left of his own position or the Southern side Chander had counted
two guns 50 to75 m apart. Similarly two guns on his right. The Gun which
should have been right in the front had not yet fired, one more gun on
extreme right or northern end also had not fired till now.

……. one enemy gunner came out of his pit or bunker on the side, moved 10
odd m towards East and scanning the skyline, unbuttoned his trousers and
started pissing. As the Paki Gunner started buttoning and turned his back,
both Paratrooper Balwan Singh and Rajmal lunged at him and Balwan’s
commando knife found the target. Unfortunately another Paki had emerged
out of the pit right at that moment and seeing this he not only emptied his
carbine into Rajmal but also shouted Kaaaafir —kaaafir.
………simultaneously a similar kind of scuffle seemed to have taken place
towards North Western end behind the Guns where the Support Group had
taken position.

………the firing sound jolted the COMMANDOS into action. Every one
simply went through the drill automatically.

………. . grenades were lobbed and a magazine each emptied towards the
front into whatever looked like an enemy or a hiding place of the enemy,
though it was pitch dark. The Support Group too fired into the Gun Area for
a brief period.

………. . Then Major Chander voice could be heard shouting STOP FIRE
…. . STOP FIRE and joined in a chorus by the JCOs and NCOs. Suddenly
there was pin drop silence.

………. next Chander was shouting–aaagebaadhoDhhaawaaaa and more

than three scores voices joined in and black shadows sprinted towards the
pit.

……. . firing commenced once more and muzzle flashes were seen here and
there, as if answering back, as remembered by some of the veterans.

……. . some more shouting by Zile Singh, Tusky, Major Chander, MLB,
Yashwant, Roshan Lal to stop firing –taken up by dozens of NCOs.

……. . someone shouting Balwan Singh has been hit

………then muted shouts of TAKE POSITION…. Charge lagao, JAALDI

KARO etcetcetcetc

……. About 20 minutes later suddenly there was massive blast and a super
Flash towards Southern end.

……. . As recalled by Colonel Roshan Lal—I had been looking towards

South at the moment of the flash and thereafter for next 10 minutes I was
blind and could see nothing but bright flashes only. Though I must have been
more than 200 m from the flash site. This happened to all those who by
chance had been facing the direction of the Flash.
…… SubedarZile then reported to Chander that one gun had been destroyed.
It seemed to have a round loaded into its breach and that was the likely
reason for the blinding flash. Four of his boys and he himself had received
splinter wounds.

……. . sir, this seems to be a Chinese 122mm gun, markings are Chinese –
yes croaked Chander, try and remove the Sights - , his throat was unable to
utter a sound— -sir, Sight is welded cannot be removed said MLB
……. . Sahib, bhago, fuzemeinaaglagadiahai said Havildar Gulab or
someone. —–nahi walk karo said Tusky. Then there was a blast.

………then General Tasker recalls— I was walking towards East away from
the gun pit. Suddenly it seemed someone lifted me completely off the
ground and then threw me down with a force. I was stunned. Then I got up
totally dazed. Looked around. Someone was lying on ground near me
moaning. I rushed to him and saw he was wounded. Shouted for help. As he
was being bandaged, I felt something warm on my left thigh— - I too was
bleeding.

……. Colonel MohinderBhagat recalls—– I ordered Havildar Bichhitar to

light the fuze and then everyone walked out of the pit. Then I rushed back to
get my helmet and was out of the pit in a second or so I thought. A few
minutes later I was up in the air and then thrown to the ground. I got up
dazed, gingerly tried move my limbs and laughed loudly on discovering that
everything was fine.

……. . there are only shells in this pit shouted someone. Just blow it up
shouted someone else in a reply.

……. . there were 8 dead pakis in the gun pit mentioned a NCO and another
four next to the bunker.

……. . I counted 11 of them in our gun pit and area behind.

……. . I counted 7 of them in our gun pit

………around 10 to 15 had been mowed down when those fleeing from the
gun area had run into Cut Off Group.
 Return from Mandhol

Time now was 0200h. Withdrawal signal was given. RV was about
800 m away at the outskirts of the abandoned Mandhol Village. On their
ROUTE IN to the gun position, the Commandos had found the village of
more than a score of huts to be completely empty except for an 80 year old
man. He had indicated the direction of the Gun Area and had led them for
about 100m when one of the guns had fired, thus giving their position to the
Commandos. At the RV everyone was quickly accounted for. There was one
dead body that of Rajmal and five seriously wounded including Balwan
Singh. Also there were 15 walking wounded which included Lt Ashok
Tasker and NaibSubedarZile Singh. Orders were given to look for charpoys
in the huts.

While charpoys were being taken out and bandages of wounded

adjusted wherever required, message was passed to the Brigade Major.
Brigadier A V Natu himself came on the Radio and wanted to speak to the
Group Commander. Chander just about managed to croak the Code Word for
complete success. Natu at once congratulated Chander and also said “you
deserve a Paramvir Chakra for this mission”. Chander just requested that on
reaching back, a doctor and evacuation facilities should be available for the
casualties right on the Post itself and some hot food for the men. Finally at
0300h, Charlie Group started moving out of the RV, fully alert for any
ambush along the route.

For Move back, after leaving Mandhol Village, the Commandos took
a different route. Having fired about 30 % of their ammunition, each person
was a bit lighter nevertheless now movement was downhill which is quite
tough on the knees. Casualties were an added burden, since for each
casualties four persons had to be employed as Stretcher Bearers.

Then suddenly the Scouts gave a signal and the leading Team under
Lt Roshan went to ground. Lt Roshan moved forward for assessing the
ground situation. By the time Major Chander moved up and caught up with
the Team Commander, he found Lt Roshan having a good laugh. This was
no ambush site but a mule transhipment point for supply and ammunition.
There were around 14 mules still standing there, with lots of ammunition
and ration dumped around. The Paki muleteers and sentries if any had just
vanished.

Since no prisoners of war had been captured, the 14 mules were

promptly declared as Prisoners. Then someone had a bright idea …. . Why
not place the casualties on these mules. The walking wounded too could
have a ride. However next five minutes was pure chaos, the Pakistani mules
proved to be tougher and more stubborn than the Indian Commandos. Lt
Tasker and all the other walking wounded simply refused the Ride Offer.

Seeing this Major Chander, under the powers vested in him as the
highest Indian military Commander present inside Pakistan Occupied
Poonch, at once granted freedom to the 14 members of Pakistan Army. The
ammunition dumped around were quickly wired and activated. Within
minutes the Group had moved further down, munching upon dry fruits
requisitioned from the dump. By the time the Commandos had covered a km
there was a loud bang, signaling the destruction of the ammunition dump.

As they neared the river, the pace picked up but crossing back was
again a dangerous business. Meanwhile the Group Commander had
frequently walked beside the moaning Balwan Singh, telling him all the time
that, he will survive and nothing will happen to him. The Group halted when
they neared the river and then a Sub Team crossed over and took position on
the other bank. They were followed through by the rest of 9 TEAM. Then
the others entered the icy cold water.
Time now was 0530 h and the Commandos were back on own side of
Poonch River. Soon they were nearing Dhip post, a full 12 hours mission.
They had left Dhip Post in the evening of 13 December at 0530h after last
light. By 1830h they were negotiating the icy cold, waist deep, fast flowing
Poonch River in pitch darkness.

The pickets on the Ridge Line on both sides along with their artillery
had already started celebrating Diwali with full gusto. Commandos had to
cover around another 08 kms after reaching the far bank of the river.
Thereafter look for the guns. The radio crackled and Passwords exchanged.
A dozen men came forward and started hugging the Commandos. Burly
Sardars were eager to carry the Commandos on their back uphill all the way
to the Post.
 By the time Commandos reached the main defences it was daylight
around 0630h. News had spread all over the Poonch Brigade. Seven
prominent flash and blasts had been seen and heard towards Mandhol, the
visible proof of the gun raid. History had been created, NAVORONE was
fiction but MANDHOL was now a fact.

After all not even during the Second World, any raid had been able to
destroy a complete battery of guns and kill over 35 enemy gunners (as
estimated by Major Chander) with many more certainly wounded. Even
Navarone, a fiction had only two guns!! However a mystery remains
regarding the total number of guns destroyed. Some say 06 guns and 01
ammunition stack/ dump, some say 04 guns and 03 ammunition
stacks/dumps, men on the piquet’s say 07 blasts. A book written by a
Pakistani Corps of Artillery General a few years later mentioned the
destruction of a full battery without specifying the number of guns. At one of
the flag meetings just a month after the war a Pakistani Officer mentioned a
casualty figure of 84 dead and wounded.

The immediate effect of the raid was pulling out of all Pakistani Gun
Batteries from forward deployment to gun areas further back. All this
resulted in reduction of effective artillery fire on Poonch Defences. Pakistan
Artillery Batteries also had to deploy manpower for the perimeter security
from their internal resources and this further brought down their
effectiveness for the next few days up to the declaration of Cease Fire. Later
on after the War when Pakistan Artillery had a re look in to their
Organizational Structure and other drills, this raid was taken into account.

Mission Next

As soon as the first Commandos reached the main defences, shout

went out for the doctor. To every ones horror there was no doctor available
on the post. Balwan Singh too must have heard the word NO DOCTOR. He
moaned to the nearest buddy …. . Call the Major Saheb at once, I wish to
meet Malhotra Saheb before my death. Reluctantly Chander walked up to
the dying soldier and held his hand. Balwan Singh thus became a Martyr for
his Country, holding the hands of his Group Commander. 9 even a doctor
would not have been able to save him there on the Post.

However what was required to be demonstrated by the Army and the

Country at that point of time (and always and every time when a casualty
occurs) was only one thing that THE NATION CARES. HQ 93 Brigade, HQ
25 Division, HQ 15 Corps should have ensured that a doctor or at least a
Nursing Assistant was there even if just with a stethoscope …. . Balwan
Singh would have died peacefully ……. 9 ensured that his young widow and
the Child had no problems ever. They were there in the Unit 0n 01 Jul 16 for
the 50th Raising Day. 9 has also ensured that nowadays every Squad has one
person fully trained as Battle Field Medico.

Chander, shaking with anger dashed down to the road head and was
off to the Brigade HQ. The Brigade Major and Others at the HQ would have
not minded even if the enemy had reached there instead. However, before
things turned from Worse to Ugly, a message came from Rajouri that
Chander must report to Divisional HQ at once. So the Group Commander
quickly sat down somewhere and wrote nearly a score of Citations ranging
from PVC to Sena Medals. Then in the evening he left for Rajouri. The rest
of the Group carried out cremation of Balwan and Rajmal. The wounded got
evacuated though Lt Ashok Tasker refused evacuation and ensured that after
proper dressing of his wounds, he was discharged to his Group.

By evening, Charlie Group was at Moti Mahal, where initially

Brigadier Natu himself wanted to congratulate them but later due to ongoing
battle on some Posts only the DQ came over. This led to some more scenes
and by next morning the whole Group was asked to move to Rajouri.
Meanwhile at the Divisional HQ, Chander had reported to Col Sabharwal the
CO and was congratulated for the daring mission. A quick briefing was
followed by a meeting with General Kundan Singh the Divisional
Commander. After the debriefing, the GOC told him regarding the
forthcoming task, again a Gun Raid but this time in Naushera Sector.

By afternoon of 15 December the entire Group was concentrated at

Rajouri. Then at night they moved towards Naushera. Major Malhotra got
delayed due to last minute briefing at the Divisional HQ. So around mid -
night he along with Ashok Tasker left for Naushera. Tusky was extremely
tired and on top of it the medication for his wounds must have made him
drowsy. At one of the bends, he nearly fell out of the Jeep. So Chander with
Tusky’s consent had him tied up nice and proper and then commenced
driving the Jeep like a Maniac at the wheel. Tusky got dozing again, while
the driver sitting in the rear seat began reciting the Hanuman Chalisa quite
loudly. At Naushera TCP, the Military Police seeing the trussed up Tusky,
asked Major Chander as to the place where the Paki Prisoner had been
caught. When told that he was a not PW but a 2/ LT of the Indian Army, they
burst out laughing.

In spite of two dead, morale was again high. The Group was back in
the location of MANGALA MATA and the prophesy had come true. She
became the Group deity and to this day since last 45 years after the evening
roll call it is MANGLA MATA KI JAI by each Officer, JCO and Jawan, a
Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christain, Parsi, Jain or Budhhist. A room in the
Company Line is the adobe of Mangla Mata.

On 17 December evening the Group was again at a Forward Post.

Captain Hardev Singh Lidder too had joined the Group at Naushera. He had
been posted as an Instructor at Belgaum, had just taken some leave and then
promptly reported to the Unit. A Gun Battery somewhere in Chauki Area
was to be located and destroyed. After last light when the Commandos had
hardly crossed over into Pakistan Occupied Jammu, a call came on the radio.
The message from 80 Brigade was a recall message. The raid was off and
four hours later at midnight 0001h 18 December 1971 Ceasefire became
effective. War was over.

In Jun 1972 when LOC marking commenced at Suchetgarh, General

P S Bhagat, VICTORIA CROSS was asked by his Counterpart Pakistani
General Abdul Hamid Khan “You must have awarded the Mandhol Raid
Commander with a P V C for the most daring and successful mission”.
PremBhagat had no reply. On coming to Udhampur as the first Army
Commander of the newly created Northern Command; he immediately made
an Inspection visit to the unit. The Commanding Officer received the Army
Commander at the Unit helipad along with his Subedar Major and the Stick
Orderly. After shaking hands with the CO and the SM, the General turned to
the Stick Orderly, a smartly turned out Lance Naik and shook hands with
him. Then the General started quizzing him regarding the war and as the
answers came, the General came up with more questions.

CO was getting a bit worried but the chat continued. The Lance Naik
answered all queries on the tasking of his Sub Team, Team, Group and even
the overall aim and mission of the Unit, a brigade and even a Division. Army
Commander was mighty pleased. Then came the bombshell. The Lance Naik
said …. sir with your permission, may I recommend something. On
receiving the nod, he said, in case there is a fresh war then Northern
Command must go for an offensive at the junction of 25 Infantry Division
and 10 Infantry Division, it is the most suitable gap for an offensive.

PremBhagat at once told his Staff Officer accompanying him that the
Stick Orderly’s picture must adorn the cover page of the next issue of
SainikSamachar. Then he turned to the CO and told him “I don’t think there
is any need to inspect an Unit having men of such caliber”. The inspection
was over at the helipad itself, the General then entered the Unit as a Guest
only and paid his personal Compliments. The Army Commander ensured
that 9 was always provided with the best of training and logistics support
available.
who is Captain Keith Mallory in this……Gregory Peck…. . Guns Of
Navarone
 KD Pathak, Chander Malhotra , Mohinder ( Kneeling ) Bhagat Ashok
Tasker & Roshan Lal

When I reported to the Unit on 30 June 1978, Major K D Pathak,

Captain Roshan Lal and Captain Ashok Tasker were there in the unit and so
were most of the Mandhol Raiders of CHARLIE GROUP. Havildar Gulab
Singh was the Mess Havildar of Officers Mess. During my probation he
always ensured that on daily basis I was fed with at least half a dozen eggs if
not more but failed in his effort to add anything extra to my 55 Kg body
weight.

Havildar Fateh Singh later on became my Team Havildar and then

my Second in Command in BRAVO GROUP. In 82_ 84 SubedarBalak Ram
served as my Senior JQM when I was made the Equipment Officer. In Jun
1992 when the first SF Team to be deployed in the Kashmir Valley for OP
RAKSHAK crossed Banihal into Jammu Province after completing its tour
of duty, Subedar Major Balak Ram was there to welcome us. Being in charge
of a Transit Camp, he had laid down an actual 5 star spread for our lunch
along with beer, Whisky and what not.

In 1987 when we moved to SriLanka, L/ NkDharam Singh, now a

Subedar, was 6 TEAM Second in Command of which I was the Commander.
He was always as alert as on NAGALI Ridge on 04 Dec1971. During a
major Operation for Link up with 10 PARA SF and capture of LTTE HQ at
Sandillipai, SubedarDharam got wounded. Two hours later at around 0100h
we were in the process of establishing and securing an area for helicopters to
land the rest of the unit after first light. 6 Team found a house at the outer
perimeter with doors closed. As I was getting ready for an ENTRY with two
more Commandos, in spite of being wounded SubedarDharam realizing the
danger, just dashed forward, kicked the door open and made an entry. Out
came six members of a terrified family. Being a Veteran of 1965 and 1971,
he had full fire control, so no harm came to the civilians. As long as Dharam
Singh was there, he would not permit his Commander to come in Harm’s
Way.

I must mention about Havildar Yashwant Singh. By June 1978 he had

taken premature retirement and gone back to his Village somewhere in the
Chambal Ravines and hopefully not following in the footsteps of PAN
SINGH TOMAR, some reported that he did. In the Unit he was a legend and
known as MAMU. After the war even Colonel O P Sabharwal who had
earlier prohibited any reference to the word MAMU with respect to the
particular NCO ended up calling him MAMU. In the words of Major
Chander himself

“Yashwant was a pure ROUGE as far as discipline goes but a pure

asset for any type of mission for the Group be it in peace or war “. In 1975
there was a Test Exercise for the Unit. The GOC, 25 Infantry Division
General TS Oberoi, a paratrooper himself was the Chief Umpire. He was
himself walking with the troops and so the Subedar Major had specifically
tasked MAMU to look after the General.

While walking, the General noticed that Havildar Yashwant Singh,

Vir Chakra, Sena Medal was not carrying anything nearing even half of 40
kg, which each Commando was to carry as per specific orders of the General
himself. So the General angrily asked for an explanation then and there.
With equal aplomb MAMU retorted “don’t be naïve like you even I am not
participating in the exercise. My task is to ensure your comfort, if I carry 40
kg then how will I look after you”. The General Knew his Parachute
Regiment quite well …. . He just changed the topic.

Finally I must mention my Compatriots who served in CHARLIE

GROUP during my first spell of 10 years with the Unit. Captain Ashok
Kumar Singh Sengar or TIGER as he was called by all. From 45 NDA
Course, he had been commissioned into the unit in December 1974. He had
super stamina and could carry more than his own weight. Most of the
physical tests during my probation were supervised by him. For a brief
period we were together in BRAVO GROUP as Team Commanders.
 Major Ashok Sengar

A true epitome of MAN APART EVERY MAN AN EMPEROR he

lived by his own sets of rules. At Udhampur when KDP was CO, Sengar was
the Adjutant. He would reach the PT ground at exactly 0530h to take the
report not one second before or one second after. Every day the entire
battalion waited with bated breath and probably even wagered to witness the
Adjutant’s late arrival.

B S Yadav and Ashok Sengar

 To this day he is always there for 9. You just have to give him a call
and he will be there for you. His house is open for you 24 hours. When he
was ADC to General G P Tripathi then there were certain days in the week
reserved for the ADC to enjoy his drinks in a party and GOC would not
bother him with any duties. After contributing to the Marriage Silver Salver
of most of the officers of the Unit, he was presented with one as a
BACHELORS Silver Salver. He tied the knot only after leaving the Army
with 20 years’ service and is happily married to Deepa Sengar.
Captain B S Yadav
 Captain B S Yadav was commissioned in 1973 from OTA . He was
the MTO in June 1978 and then became the Equipment Officer. In Sri Lanka
he was the CHARLIE TEAM Commander when 9 had moved in and did the
initial bedding in of the Team. He was a superb boxer and a boxing
instructor and also a Marksman. He was a Man for All Season. He also was a
born mechanic or so he thought and had to take apart anything mechanical
on which he could lay his hands, though after re assembly few nuts and bolts
were always left out!! Many a times this extremely spirited man from Kosli
uttered sentences which can be best described as “humour in Uniform”. He
like Sengar had the latest electronic music system with a superb collection of
western music. He took premature retirement after 20 years of service. Alas
Major Biru yadav is no more. The children are well settled and Mrs Lata
Yadav keeps in touch with the Unit.
 Captain Anil NarainanNayer in Vavunniya (Sonti in the background)

2/ LT Anil Narainen Nayer had reported at Tale Camp in Sep78 and

after the probation joined CHARLIE GROUP. He was a ‘Delhite rather than
a Keralite’. Tall, dark and handsome, he was muscular too, being part of the
Delhi University Wrestling Team.

Later he got a Karate Black Belt or was it Brown 1 from a Chennai

School after six months training. While there he and his men taught their
Instructors in return the difference between Civilian Karate and Special
Forces Karate. He also tried to attain the same expertise in the Art of
Bullshitting as that of the MASTER SENSE but the standard achieved
though of very high caliber still remained many notches below.

He is one of the few officers to have spent more than a decade in the
unit without going out on staff and then came back for more. He was
wounded and decorated with a Sena Medal in SriLanka. He commanded the
actual Black Cats of NSG and left the Army thereafter, even though he was
nominated for Higher Defence management Course. He is running his own
set up and travels a lot all over India and abroad along with Radhika Nayer.
Though whenever he gets a chance he attends a reunion for doing a freefall
jump.

2/ LT S V Jagdish joined the unit and CHARLIE GROUP in 1983. Soft

spoken, bespectacled, lean and thin Sonty topped his YO Course and the
Commando Course at Belgaum. He had the brains of a Computer.
 Major Jagdish V Sonti

In Sri Lanka he had joined us the BATS Team and on arrival of the
entire unit was back to CHARLIE. After a decade of service, he left the
Army. Whatever he did, he did it with perfection. He was there on 01Jul 16
at Udhampur for the Golden Jubilee, all the way from USA though Padma
could not come with him.

Col Sudhir Kumar Varni

 Another officer, Captain SK Varni, a year senior to me at NDA,
joined CHARLIE in 1985 from 9 JAK Rifles. He had been an instructor at
Commando School Belgaum and had volunteered from there. He went back
to JAK Rifles after a very eventful 5 years which included OP TRIDENT,
OP PAWAN, Venture Series and what not. He commanded 6 JAK RIFLES.
After leaving the Army, he was GM in a 5 Star Hotel and then CEO of a
company. After crossing 60 years decided to Live Life King Size.

Nowadays he is into cycling both in the plains and high altitude and
looking at life through the lens of his Camera. In a short span of time a few
of his pictures when posted on Jagruk Bharat was viewed by over 20000
people. He does not have to look around for a Model for photo shoots. She is
always there by his side Mrs Anita Varni. Even at this age whenever he gets
a chance, Sudhir does his Free fall and also static line parachute jumps
during Reunions.

I will fail in my duty if I do not mention Mathew Jacob. He was

commissioned into 9 in 1968 and well - known being Academy Blazer in
both Boxing and PANGA Taking. In 1979 end he was back from staff
posting and left again by 1981. He was a super shot with pistol and any other
weapon. Had he concentrated on his pistol shooting as he did on THE
BOTTLE, India would have won her first Olympic Shooting Medal at
Munich itself. While posted at Agra in mid - seventies, one night several
young Officers accosted him to show his Pistol expertise and that too after a
good bar session. So Jakes asked the most vocal one to stand against the wall
……that officer was also too drunk to back out. Jakes fired 12 rounds
around his head (youngster survived to retire as a Lt General) and then
handed over the pistol with one round left in it. Jakes said “you trusted me
with 12 shots, now I shall trust you with one. “
 Jakes shaking hands with General I S Gill

Jakes stood at the wall, shot was fired and hit the wall just grazing
his neck!!! In mid - eighties, a hastily assembled local Army team made to
participate in a Shooting Competition organized by the Home Ministry for
the Central Police Organizations …. . BSF, CRPF, ITBP etc. Army team
came third or something and the PM cum RM made some comment.
Thereafter on the express orders of General Sunderji, within days the ARMY
MARKSMAN UNIT came up at Mhow under Mathew Jacob. So finally
Jakes did contribute something towards the 2004 Silver Medal won by Col
RajyavardhansinghRathore. Many years later Jakes younger son joined 9.
Jakes is no more. Mrs Jacob was there at Udhampur on 01 Jul 2016 for the
Unit Golden Jubilee.
 Brig Jude Laurence Cruz

Brig JLC around five years my senior and Brig Sanjay Thakur
around o7 years my junior were there in CHARLIE TEAM as Troop
Commanders during my time in the unit. However as later on the
commanded 9, write up on them is reserved for future. Then there was
Colonel K A Mohan, who had been motivated to join 9 during his NSG
tenure. So this SIKH REGIMENT officer volunteered and joined the unit in
Sri Lanka where he went ahead to win a Vir Chakra, getting wounded in the
process. Having reached Vavunniya the previous day from leave, I had the
privilege of meeting him for the first time while helping him down from the
Chopper, on his evacuation to the Field Ambulance. Three years later on
coming back to the Unit from DSSC, I took over command of Alpha Team,
while a month later he took over Charlie Team. He finally took over the
Command of 9 from JD Britto.

So a detailed story on him too is reserved for future. Just before he

took premature retirement, though he had already punched the proper slots
for General ship, we again served together at Army HQ in the Training
Directorate. I still remember the super VVIP treatment given to me when I
had visited the Unit during his Command. Thereafter when already in the
Civil Street, he still took time out of his very busy schedule to dine and wine
me when I had gone visiting South.

EPILOUGE

What to talk of PVC, the Mandhol Gun Raiders were awarded just
one Vir Chakra and one Sena Medal. .…. Havildar Yashwant and 2/Lt Taskar
and that to for Nagali Ridge action. What happened? Did someone ask for a
proof of the gun raid? Certainly no one in HQ 93 Brigade ask Lt A V Tasker
for a proof, otherwise no one knows what he would have done this time.
Some Citations were certainly initiated from somewhere otherwise how did
Yashwant and Taskar get their Medals?

Why did Major General Kundan Singh not insist for citations either
from Brigadier A V Natu or Lt Colonel O P Sabharwal? The Corps
Commander was himself a Gunner and must have appreciated this
unparalleled daring raid. Even during both the World Wars no raid on either
side had managed to destroy a complete Gun Battery…. all guns. He should
have asked the CO of 9 to initiate Citations directly to the Corps HQ, after
all 9 was directly under him. Alternatively CO should have himself done
this. There was confusion between 4 or 6 guns. Chinese gun batteries at
times used to have just four guns;due to this did Lt General Sartaj Singh
think that it was a fake raid? Well facts have been brought out in detail and
biggest CITATION and MEDAL has been the Acknowledgment by the
Adversary himself.

President of India did bestow upon the Unit, the Battle Honours for
Defence ofPoonch and Theatre Honours for Defence of J& K sometime
later. However things can still be rectified with respect to Mandhol.

The President of United States of America bestowed The

CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOUR (equivalent if PVC) to Lt Col
Matt Urban 35 years after his World War 2 Heroic Action.

On 19 Jul 1980 Jimmy Carter rectified the mistake and hugged him
as the “greatest soldier in American history“. The citation initiated by
Urban’s CO had not reached the Divisional HQ in time because the CO
himself got killed right after writing the Citations. In fact with the Medal of
Honour and the earlier Silver Star, 5xBronze Star, 7x Purple Hearts and 15
other medals, he beat the record of legendry Audie Murphy …. To Hell and
Back …fame, the highest decorated American Soldier till then.

Recently Lt Col Charles Kettles, Retd was called to the Oval Office
on 18 July 2016, nearly 50 years after the Action in Vietnam on 25 May
1967. Major Charles had been awarded with DISHTINGUISHED SERVICE
CROSS, the Second highest medal, for his valour. However a few years later
there were some who thought that Mike deserved the highest and they fought
for it relentlessly for years. The Nation finally rectified the mistake. Lt
Colonel Charles Kettles said that all the fuss was for nothing. The medal
belonged to all the officers and men who had fought with him that day. In a
similar manner nearly 13 years after his action on 02 May 1968 the
Distinguished Service Cross of Army Master Sargent Roy P BenaVidez had
been upgraded to MEDAL OF HONOUR by President Ronald Regan on 24
Feb1981. There are few more such episodes of presenting the Medal many
years later.

At home we have the precedence of bestowing the award of Bharat

Ratna, after so many years on to Shri B R Ambedkar, Sardar V B Patel, Shri
JaiPrakashNarain, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and Shri GopinathBardoloi.
Then we have the famous case of Squadron Leader
AjjamadaBoppayyaDevayya. The Squadron Leader was shot down and
killed over Sargodha airbase during 1965 War by the PAF Ace, Squadron
Leader M MAlam, SitareZurat.

However prior to that, while flying an obsolete Mystere Aircraft,

Devayya had shot down a PAF F104 Starfighter, pride of USAAF, flown by
Flt Lt Amjad Hussain. Nearly 19 years later this story came out when a
British writer was commissioned to write the Official history of PAF 1965
War. Then in 1983 nearly 23 years late, Squadron Leader A B Devayya was
awarded the Mahavir Chakra, Posthumous.

Well we Indians have yet another duty left, that is to Confer the award of
PARAM VIR CHAKRA to Major Chander Mohan Malhotra for combined
action of Mandhol and Nagali and also bestow suitable awards un to all
those deserving of the MANDHOL GUN RAID.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 4

THE EXERCISE: ACTIONS OF

ALEADER

By
Colonel Ranjit Singh

The drive was long, the temp outside, terrible. The comfort provided
by the Superb I was driving helped overcome the misery. This road was a
one way rural road long ago; it is now a smooth two lane state highway. I
was travelling to the farm with my family; my younger daughter had come
from abroad with her little baby. Like all babies, the little one fell asleep
immediately as the car started moving in Delhi itself. By afternoon we
passed a familiar open patch in the fields in Punjab.

This place has always evoked me and I have always remembered

this place; it triggers a memory in me whenever I pass by. I try to make an
attempt to converse with my daughter and explain an event which
transpired here long ago, but I have not yet come to terms with the fact that
women do not hear what does not interest them. They have different
interests, as they have today spent the larger part of the journey discussing
everything about babies. They do not want to be disturbed by the man of the
house.
 Forty years ago, travelling in the same direction at 140 knots well
above the road I was in a different machine. The high pitched whining, the
whirly birds in formation cruising to their objective. Inside the aircraft, the
hot air blasts from the engine exhausts and the smell of burning kerosene
coming through the open rear always gave you a drowsy feeling. It is the
shuddering of the helicopter when it reduces speed to a hover accompanied
by the whoosh, whoosh sound and juddering which pumps the adrenalin
into you as the ropes are dropped for rappelling.

In the good old days my car always had an ice box full of beer,
when my elder daughter grew up she put an end to it, one can at times
disagree with a wife but you can’t disagree with a daughter, it is just an
unwritten law which you learn by experience. The craving for a beer on a
hot day has become history for me now. I stopped the car to observe and
tried to recollect, a lot had changed, too much had come up, huts and houses
everywhere, yes it was the same area but changed a lot over time.

The family does not comprehend why I am standing in the heat and
gazing into vacant air. They sound the horn and ask me to get back in the
car and drive on. I do that, much to their relief. I realize that whenever they
want me to react fast to their bidding the grandchild’s discomfort is
mentioned, leaving you with no choice. Like the old saying, ‘Eventually in
life, the woman always wins’ and I have three of them in the car.

While resuming the drive, I reflected, the hard disc of my memory

activated and flashing. An exercise which we did here long ago came up
crystal clear in my mind. We had spent a few days at the air base. Under
tent age in warm weather, tying up drills and practising slithering, it was a
group exercise and I was on loan to Bravo fromAlpha for the exercise.

The GroupCommander had been discussing all aspects of the

exercisewith me. His training programme pre launch was the most practical
one I had undergone in the unit. I was soon to complete 13 years service
and become a substantive Major so one had undergone a lot of training
programmes, this one was different. It wasn’t the old bent of mind of busy
troops are happy troops or wherever you see a tree, tie a rope and start
slithering kind of training,
 The GroupCommander had served long enough in the unit and like
anyone who has served a long time in the outfit he had matured into a very
practical man and his dealings with his troops made him a very respected
man amongst rank and file. We had prepared the group together for the
exercise and shared some common beliefs about the uselessness of some
pre World War outdated ideas.

But within the frame work of an organization you can’t get rid of
certain attitudes, so for the benefit of the umpiring staff we stuck to the
minimum of convention, like making an odd night march chart, etc, etc.
Everything was well thought of and planned. No unnecessary interference
was brooked from any quarter, which was good as unnecessary tensions and
impractical ideas were best avoided.

I had been involved in many exercises in the past where we worked

overtime on unimportant aspects losing sight of some pertinent issues. But
now we had distributed time in a way where the focus was only on the
essentials, all preparations were going smoothly with adequate time to
ourselves to also take a dip in the Air Force.

Station pool and for the men for all their personal and administrative
tasks. His way of running the training had created some tension but he did
not allow that to percolate down to us. Safety restrictions imposed by the
Air Force have in a majority of cases always ended up in dusk drops with
the exercise being frozen till dark whence the action commenced. Seeing
the time of take - off we anticipated the same. What was in store for us was
a little different.

On the Landing Zone there were a host of umpires, they were very
observant and like all umpires maintained a nasty silence all through. We
anticipated that we would be held up there till dark and then let go. They
rounded us all up, waited for the last light and asked us to board a few
transport vehicles lined up in a corner of the Landing Zone.

The bodies of the vehicles were covered with hoods including the
tail gate to deny observation for navigation. We had no idea where we were
being taken. We were driven to a far off place. It was pitch dark when the
vehicles halted, we were asked to dismount hurriedly, the umpire staff got
us together and barked that our designated Landing Zone was found
occupied and we should consider that the helicopters were diverted and had
dropped us here.

We did not know where this location was. To top it the umpire
shouted in to the megaphone that an enemy party was close by, it had
noticed this activity and in 5 minutes there would be action on us here. The
umpire staff presumed that they had prepared a perfect recipe for disaster.
They did not realize that cool, calm and rational minds can deal with any
adversity.

Having made us aware of the situation theChief Umpire sat back,

waiting for the five minutes. The Group Commander casually moved away
from him, called for me, his voice was calmer than when we were relaxing
at the unit mess bar, ‘Georgie, let’s get them out of here in two minutes, rest
is after that. All teams to follow yours rush out in single file’. We did rush
and had scampered far when the bicat strips started sounding(these are
lighted up to simulate small arms fire). We stopped and regrouped and got
down to the most important thing, finding our location and getting our
bearings right.

We got on the move, avoided the ambushes, reached our objective;

hit our target all in the planned, stipulated time frame. All through the
various stages of the exercise the Group Commander had displayed a
demeanour totally devoid of any panic. He was icy cool and made all
decisions with calmness and absolutely clear thinking. I have never known
him ever to have a muddled thought.

I have spent 20 years of my service in a Special Forces company or

in an SFF battalion as the CO and the remaining two years and half in the
Para Centre/Para brigade. One has seen and had enough of his quota of
exercises at all levels. The important ones are the formation level exercises
where the battalion’s reputation is at stake.

Having done so many of them where the unit earned a good name
even many of those have faded from the memory. The bad ones are always
jarring and rarely forgotten. When it comes to a really bad one there are
serious long term repercussions, most of the Bakloh vintage would
remember one. In this area we had done plenty of exercises, there were
subpar ones also but this is no place to waste time on that.

I have never been a hero worshipper; rather I am a critic, in an

inoffensive way of certain ideas which emanate from those who have been
remote from battalion life. I have never been personality driven but rather
devoted to organizational benefit.

Every one of us has been through some wonderful events during

their tenure with the battalion. In my reckoning I grade this exercise as the
best one I have attended. It was smooth, flawless and perfection personified
from beginning to end.

I was reminded of a line I had read in a Times bestseller in the 70’s,

‘The Defence never Rests’ by the top US attorney, F Lee Bailey. ‘When the
red light blinks, just keep your cool’. He was referring to his experience as
a rookie pilot in a Sabre jet when he was in the air force and the fuel
warning light came on in the middle of nowhere.

The first thought was to eject as no air field was nearby. He did not
panic, he thought fast and cut throttle to barely above stall, ‘At that speed I
could not get far but I could stay in the air so much longer, at the moment
that is what I needed’. It was the same attitude I saw all through the
exercise.

Steering in stormy weather is a tough task, to do it safely and

accomplish the mission calls for a lot. This was one commander under fire
who I remember performed outstandingly.

The Group Commander was Major Shashi Bhushan Khanna, of the

Gondal Ferry fame.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 5

SUDHIR VARNI

By
Colonel Ranjit Singh

In 1985, a young lad joined us straight from the Commando Wing,

Infantry school Belgaumwith about 8years service. An officer from the
Jammu &KashmirRifles Regiment, he had been an instructor at Belgaum
and from there had volunteered for 9 SF.
 He was captain Sudhir Varni. Like all his progeny from Haryana, he
was all muscle and bone; there was no fat on his body. Sudhir was a simple
honest boy; he had no false pretensions, no airs, absolutely down to earth. In
many ways he was a son of the soil.

He was different; you could see it on him. Sudhir cleared his

probation and was accepted in the unit. A physically fit man who played all
games and was liked by his troops. Sudhir had a medical problem but it
never affected his work, he kept it to himself. He was well groomed, paid
due respect to his seniors and regarded his men.
 He had a unique trait; he was never tilted to the thought that
sometimes you have to break the rules to come to a result which may benefit
all, an accepted process, but for him everything was the right, honest,
straightforward way, even the result could be whatever. Everyone liked him.

Sudhir and I were neighbours in the Golf View married quarters in

Udhampur. Though I was reasonably senior to him in service he had
superseded me in the marriage field. The Varni’s with their two lovely little
girls were on top floor and I was on the ground floor.

The cool, calm and quiet demeanour he displayed reflected in his

house also, there never was any untoward sound from his house, leave alone
any noise. At times we wondered if anyone was staying on the first floor.
There were some odd squabbles amongst ladies in those houses as all were
from different units, but one never heard anyone say anything odd about the
Varnis.

Mrs Varni kept a very neat house and was a gracious host whenever
anyone visited. She was perfect in her mannerisms and behaviour and
displayed a maturity and grooming of a high order. Sudhir came down to my
house on not too many occasions, partly because my guests were of a
different genre, despite that we were friends and understood each other.

One day I was passing by the CO’s office and I saw himtalking on
the phone, from the sound of his voice I could make out it was long distance.
The call ended, he noticed me and he beckoned me inside, there had been no
inkling of any move in the preceding days. Colonel TejPathak explained his
discussion on the phone and issued the WARNING ORDERS for an
operational move. ‘It is 10 AM and we will be airborne at 2 PM’. High
Altitude.

The aircrafts, were delayed and we reached our destination well past
afternoon. Met the BrigadeCommander at night and early next morning the
induction began. I was in the central re - entrant with Captain R K Singh,
high ridge lies on either side, southern flank was Captain S KVarni withLt
Rajneesh, his platoon was on the other side of the ridge line. Captain
Paramjit, with his detachment were on the northern side of the other ridge
line.
 We were the first troops ever to be inducted in that high altitude area.
There were no line communication between us and the VHF radio was very
erratic. There was no over land communication between the three localities
because of the harsh terrain. All was quiet and well, till there were some
interesting incidents with RK and Paramjit, up there in those lofty heights.

All young officers do things in their own lovely, wonderful ways,

those we will come to some other time. One day the helicopter came in but
could not land, from a very low heightthe pilot dropped a pickle bottle and
some news papers which fell on a rock and broke; it is from the pickle
stained Hindi newspaper we learnt about the death of our Second in
Command Major KIKumar and the ill fated 1985 Everest expedition of the
Indian Army.

We were given a portable long range rocket launcher. Its tripod

needed a firm mount place though it had a basic dial sight but up there, due
to lack of resources, you could only fire it by direct alignment. Using this
weapon was getting to be a difficult task.

A young gunner who came in later to handle the weapon fell sick and
he could not move out from the tent. The spotter scope we had was a
powerful one, two thousand feet below us was an enemy shed in full
visibility, I spotted a young soldier, he would come out regularly from the
shed, go down into the nalah in front of the shed and away from anyone’s
view he would pull out a bunch of letters, he spent a long time reading them,
they were human also.

One day our look out beckoned to us hurriedly, by the time we

reached the edge we saw two enemy soldiers, running south with weapons
and were soon behind the spur. A little while later we heard gunshots and
Sudhir came on the air, he said, ‘I can see them, they are close, and they are
firing at me’.

Sudhir was breathing heavily over the radio and I could make out he
was running. In the heat of the moment he had not released the pressure
switch, which meant all transmission was only one way, from his side. The
sounds over the radio were garbled, I heard him shouting some instructions
which I could not make out, there was a crackling sound like a whiplash and
all went silent. I was later told by him that the antenna of the radio set he
was carrying had been shot off, it must have been a very close call. We
suffered casualties that night, we lost three excellent men…Havildar Baldev
Singh , Havildar Suresh Chand and Havildar Amar Singh , all three were just
29 years old and top notch . Lt Rajneesh was wounded but managed to come
back.

Havildar Suresh Chand Khattana

( छह पाक सैनिको को मार कर देश पर बलिदान हो गए थे हवलदार सुरेश चंद….. गांव रिठौज में
देशभक्त परिवार में जन्मे सुरेश चंद खटाना देश की सरहद पर पाकिस्तानी सेना के छह
सैनिको को मार गिराने के बाद देश के लिए बलिदान हो गए। उस वक्त उनके दो साथी ने भी
बलिदान दिया था। (9-पैरा कमांडो एसएफ) चार अक्टूबर 1985 को आपरेशन मेघदूत (जम्मू
कश्मीर) में पाकिस्तानी सेना के साथ युद्ध में वीरता का अदम्य साहस का परिचय देते हुए
 अपने प्राणों का बलिदान किया। अपने देशभक्त पिता की भावना से ओतप्रोत होकर नौ पेरा
मिलिटरी फोर्स में भर्ती हो गए। नौ पेरा स्पेशल फोर्स में तीन साल तक पूर्व
प्रधानमंत्री राजीव गांधी की सुरक्षा में तैनात रहे। उसके बाद उनकी पोस्टिंग उधमपुर
जम्मू में हो गई थी। पाकिस्तानी के आतंक को मिटाने के लिए आपरेशन मेघदूत मिशन के तहत
सियाचिन में भेज दिया गया। 15 साथियों की टीम के साथ सुरेश चंद खटाना ने अपने वीरता के
बूते छह पाकिस्तानी घुसपैठियों को मार गिराया ) extract from a Hindi daily
Jagran

We were later de inducted but Sudhir remained a quiet man, his

innate inner nature was showing on his face, he did not talk much but the
writing on his face, in a poetic way conveyed, ‘Why? Was this required’?
ColonelTej and I drove down to Srinagar, I was at the wheel and we hit
HAWS at Sonamargby the evening.

Their staffs were all busy, pulling out bodies from civil vehicles
buried under an avalanche. After a tiring drive we found that their bar had
only free issue rum, we could not have that and both of us left our half
finished drinks and went in for dinner. Why I mention this is because the old
cook, there since the British times had made some French Beans and
Potato’s, sautéed to perfection. I had never had them better anywhere else,
even during all my travels abroad.

We reached Srinagar the next day and in the evening ColonelTej and
I went to a bar in a hotel. We discussed the entire operation there in some
peace and quiet. I must have been a sight, a shaved head, long beard and a
shaved upper lip. I was looking like a local in a long military overcoat.

The CO was looking reasonable. The next morning the CO went

back to the unit at Udhampur, I stayed behind as Sudhir was bringing the
convoy and the following day we were to move back to the unit. Sudhir got
in late, he was a little forlorn and I offered him a drink or two, Sudhir was
never a man I have ever seen have morethan what he had that day.

He expressed a desire to have some real Roti’s and curry; I decided

to take him out somewhere. I had dismissed the Jonga driver, the vehicle was
in the car park and the keys were with me, it was rather late, we drove off
into town looking for a place.

We took directions a couple of times and finally entered a narrow

alley which opened out into a small courtyard with a wooden shed. There
were about a dozen locals sitting there. We parked the Jonga and walked in
to a sudden hush which engulfed the place. All eyes were on us. One of the
locals got up and went inside a curtained room. We settled down on a table
and but no one came to take our order. Our sixth sense started tinkling.

A couple of minutes elapsed and the same man came out from the
curtained room, he stood at a side and held the curtain open. A figure
emerged, broad shouldered, tall, well built in a Phiran, I estimated him to be
over 6 feet tall. With his appearance everyone got up.

He walked to our table where Sudhir and me were sitting, pulled up a

chair, waved to everyone to sit down, and said, “ Hamaremehmaan aye hain,
inkikhatirkijaye”. The curry was delicious and Sudhir was relishing it.
The man in phirantalked to us taking a special interest in me after
hearing I was from RS Pura, Jammu. The meal over, we asked for the bill, he
smiled and reminded us we were guests.

He walked us to the vehicle, and told us, “Daleridikhayiaap logon ne

yahan aa ke”. It was then, Sudhir asked him his name, He said, “
KukaParray, humme sab jaantehain”.

Kuka Parray

His generosity stayed with us in our thoughts, Sudhir and I many

times talked about it, I doubt if he ever discussed it with anyone, I did not.
 Initial days as Leader of Ikhwan Group

Kuka later joined the terrorists, came back into the main stream as
Ikhwanleaderin South Kashmir, entered politics and became a Minister. He
eventually was shot by his oldterrositoutfit for crossing the line. That sight
of him emerging from the curtained room still floats across my mind when it
strays into that past.

We came back to the unit; Sudhir stayed for a few years and on return from
OP Pawan in Sri Lanka, finally went over to JAK RIF’s calling.
 I was driving down to Pathankot one day in 1991 ; I stopped at
Samba and went to meet Major Sudhir in his Unit. He was a little perturbed,
very late at night some officers had come to his room inquiring about the
rationale of a decision he had taken earlier in the night. He had come back
late at night from training, he did not want to waste the troops time, so he
said that they could carry the weapons to the barracks and return them the
next morning to the armoury. A logical decision and a common practice in 9
PARA, introduced by Col Tej.
 However, It was a thought which was unheard of and sacrilegious for
the rest of the Army and naturallyto his present unit. They were looking at it
with suspicion. He was waiting as the CO had called him. All I could tell
him was he should apologize and state that he did not mean anything as this
was a common practice in9 SF, the unit he was coming from. I left. He
eventually Commanded a battalion of his Regiment and like me, took
retirement from the Army having completed more than20 years service.

The last time I met him was during a 9Para SFget together at RR
Hospital where the Commandant was Lt General Manoj Unni, an RMO of 9.
Varniseemed happy and contended. He was finally living out his heart’s
desire, cycling around the country including the place where he had that
skirmish. I guess he was happy when he immersed himself in nature and
became one with it.
 He and JD Britto, as I understand were actually living life, the rest of
us were merely existing. I spoke to him when he was up north, scouting for a
piece of land to build a cottage; he wanted to be away, with solitude and
nature. I was suggesting the Kasar Devi side, as I would then pool in also for
a small patch but Sudhir chose a place about 40 KM away. He loved it, I was
happy for him.
 Many years later, I had to visit, Lavasa a lovely hill resort near Poona
on an urgent visit. My younger daughter was studying in a Swiss Hotel
Management School there; I wanted to check in the hotel before going to
meet my daughter and went to one of the Glitzy Hotels. I do not remember
the name of the hotel; it was one of the three or four starred ones there.

At the reception, as I was showing identification, the Manager’s door

opened. The hotel staff straightened up, a normal courtesy to the boss. A
very pretty girl stepped out and came over, with management training and
courtesy she said, ‘Welcome Sir’ and polite talk followed, where I was from
and what was I doing.

She replied that her father was in the Army also. When she told me
her father’s name, I was a little taken aback; Is this the same little girl who
used to run up and down the stairs when she was staying above our house in
Golf Quarters. Varnis daughter and I were destined to meet here.
 Sudhir suddenly passed away in Apr 2018 into a different world,
while he was supervising the construction of his cottage up in the hills. The
stars at night there had a clarity, he had said, which brought happiness to
ones heart. He passed away in an area where he wanted to spend the twilight
of his life. Sudhir, I am sure you are amongst the same stars which you so
beautifully described to me, smiling and looking down with happiness at
your family.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 6

The Brigadier and the Captain

By
Colonel Ranjit Singh

The fairy land times of the Parachute Regimental centre were a thing
of the past now; the Brigade HQ was a different world and life altogether. It
all boils down to the top mans personality; for any new arrival some lessons
are best learnt on the first day of work.

Self preservation is an essential ingredient of survival, so whenever

we had to step out of the office, it was best to take a cautionary peek through
the curtains, if the Commander is in the verandahadmiring the roses in the
office lawn, it is best to go to the other side of the offices from the rear of the
building, why invite trouble? After all, Commanders don’t need a reason to
pounce on you.

Why put your head in the tiger’s mouth? No one ever got a medal for
that. Also, whenever you got bored and wanted to have some friendly chatter
with the G3 Air and the Staff Captains who were on the other side of the
Commander’s office, the standard practice was to carry a file in your hand
and walk briskly across his office. You never know when he may step out.
The Coffee and biscuits were always good on the Assistant Quarter Master
General’s side.

In the HQ General Staff branch there were four G3’s and also all
kinds of lines, time lines, deadlines, lines not to be crossed, very thin lines
and of course toeing the line. We were so much on our toes all the time that
we needed a new pair of toes.

Commander’s are human and as busy as they are, at times they also
have nothing to do, so on one of those days Ashok Taskar and self were
surprised when he stood at our office doorway and looked inside with his
usual penetrative glare.
 Brigadier O P Sabharwal

He stood there for just a few seconds, in circumstances like that it

was best to pretend you had not noticed him, bury your head in a file and
look awfully busy. Lucky for us that day, there were a bundle load of files on
each of our tables and we were busy scrutinizing them. I am sure he
definitely felt that if he did not have these hard working Captains the
Brigade would collapse.
 That is the only day in my tenure I remember him at office door for a
few seconds, there had never before been any files on our tables worth
talking about, that day the Head Clerk had kept some old files on our tables
as the Brigade Major wanted us to check which ones needed new covers or
were redundant. I don’t know if it can be classified as work, but we looked
busy. You know providence exists.

Another naturalism of the army is that Commanders always treat

Captains a little more gently, the Majorsoila little harsher and as far the
Commanding Officers go, they had better toe the line.
 As Defence Attache in Washington with Mrs Sabharwal

Brigadier Sabharwal had a tough reputation and no one took chances.

My observation there with all the CO’s was that the Gunner CO’s always
seemed to be more suave, savvy and sophisticated. More expressive in their
language, the Infantry guys seemed to be on the back foot back whenever all
the CO’s were with him, together, on any occasion.

The Brigade HQ had plenty of Captains; I was the only bachelor,

staying in the mess. So I was easily accessible to the Commander, Brigade
Major and Deputy Assistant QuartermasterGeneral for work at odd times.
The mess waiter, Santosh would come to my room and say that the guests at
flag staff house are coming at a particular time. My responsibilities were
clear.

The occasions were few but you could partake of some really nice
meals at the Commanders ‘residence when the Commander was a host to a
small delegation. These do’s at the Flagstaff house, where the drinks, snacks
and dinner were special, were nice to spend time at, except when the
Commander’s gaze fell on you. Even if you had done nothing wrong that
look made you sit on the edge of your seat and lose your appetite.

Mrs Sabherwal on the other hand always spoke to you in a manner

and language which made you feel comfortable, relaxed and at home. It
motivated you to take another helping. One wondered why Commanders
can’t be a bit more like their wives.

One instance I remember when a British VIP was leaving the

Flagstaff house, I had the cars lined up and was chatting with a pretty young
thing of the delegation when the Commander came out with the VIP. I got a
chilling stare which I thought that was a little unfair; I was just doing my
little bit for international relations.

The delegations and VIP visits were a plenty, The British Defence
Minister, French Defence Minister, Russian delegation, Prince Charles
entourage and so many others. Any dignitary visiting India would visit the
Brigade. They had nothing to do with the Brigade except that geographically
the Taj Mahal and we were in the same location. We were regularly tasked to
look after the visit due to the military efficiency displayed during the past.
In Washington at the White House
 The Commander had devised a way to ensure that every government
civil department was roped in during coordination meetings and given
adequate work during the visits, with their liability spelled out. There was a
lot of passing the buck with the Civil administration during Prince Charles
visit.
Commander of Indian Parachute Brigade receiving the Colonel of
British Parachute Regiment
 The moment the Commander said that Mrs Gandhi had passed a
message to him, personally conveyed verbally by RK Dhawan, the
administration just prostrated itself and were willing to take on everything.

For all visits, the accommodation was in 5 star hotels, which left us
with only to receive the visitors at the airport and provide pilots and a
military Liaison Officer. The LO would drink and dine with our national
guests during official time so the army’s part of the duties was not that bad.
European delegations were normally jovial ones and of course had a fair
number of pretty faces.

The then Prince of Wales in Agra

 I remember many memorable instances, to quote a couple, the
Russian delegation had some very old people, all in uniform with medals
from their throat till their belts, their uniforms were full of braids, they
seemed edgy whenever their Def min was near. The senior most Russian
went forward to receive him when their Defence Minister arrived. He
stepped out of the car looking like a survivor from the battle of Stalingrad.
 The Def Min pointed to his shoes and said something, the Russian
officer receiving him actually pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and
wiped the Def Min’s shoes. Life in a communist country must be real tough.
The second was during Prince Charles Visit, I was the assistant. Lunch was
organized in the Para Brigade Mess lawns with Mughal Sheraton catering.
Everything was going well when suddenly there was a bit of flutter and
commotion.

This excitement was created by an Eagle which swooped down and

with superb deftness picked up a big piece of chicken from a guests plate
and flew away. The senior LO came running to me and asked me, ‘What is
this’, I had not invited the eagle so I replied, ‘You are the senior LO, ask the
eagle’. Prince Charles Rolls Royce was a real beauty.

With everyone in Agra trying to outdo the other, Partridges for partis
was a requirement to make the event exceptional; the Brigade Majorv would
task me with this. I could take a jeep whenever for this purpose but I had to
get the quantity required, needless to say that the demand was always met
and importantly friends were also kept happy. Once, a very short notice was
given by the Corps Commander’s staff for a particular type of Duck, the
lunch was at Sir Muttra old fort near the big pond.

The request was for a Ruddy Sheldrake, I managed to bag just one
and word was passed around the table of 5 or 6 to go easy on that dish. It
needn’t have been passed as very few like that duck. I sometimes felt that I
was given a bit of extra freedom by the Brigade Senior staff because they
thought I was close to the Flagstaff House. In fact, none knew too well than
I, that, that was not true; the Commander’sscales were absolutely evenly
balanced, always.

Paratroopers are very magnanimous, full of chivalry. They would do

anything for their brother officer. One day in the HQ, the Brigade Major
called me and said that the COAS’s guest was coming to Agra for two days,
as the guest was a foreigner the accommodation was to be booked in hotel
Clarks Shiraz. I was detailed as the Liaison Officer.

By afternoon guest’s detail’s had arrived, nationality, age, etc, etc. I

was really touched by our military brotherhood as for the first time there
were a lot of volunteers, even amongst the married lot to share my burden,
saying that that the brigade had been unfair to me as they were always
detailing me and felt that I needed some spare time also, they were willing to
take on this arduous task.

Needless to say, that the guest was a young British Airways

stewardess, the Chiefs daughters’ friend in London. The Brigade in its
wisdom decided that I was the right person to receive the guest and make
sure her stay was pleasant. The DeputyCommander’sJeepStationWagon was
allotted to help me perform my duty, all was on the house for two days, it
was warm so there was always an ice box full of beer in the vehicle, Taj
Mahal, Agra Fort, FathepurSikri, Sikandra an odd lake for some
photography. This was one of my more pleasant duties delegated.

Commander with few ladies of Parachute Brigade who had been

motivated to parajumps

There was the other side also, impromptu express duties. They jolted
you, as all plans made for the holiday went into orbit. One Sunday Morning
the Mess waiter came to my room at about 7 in the morning, ‘Saab,
Commander saab yaad karr rahe hain’. Sunday morn, 7 AM? By then I was
well versed with the Commander’s summons.
 Any Captain knows, Sunday or the Christmas holidays, when the
Commander calls you, better be there real fast. I put on my shorts and ran
across the lawn, the Commander was standing there with another officer, a
Lt Colonel. A Jonga was on the ready. With all respect to the other officer he
looked like he had served with my father in WWII and had come back for
another stint in the Army. The Commander was talking in a very gentle and
polite way with him which meant that I should also follow suit.

That officer, when he spoke to me, other than his weather beaten
looks was perfect in his language and manners and had a real old world
polish. The Commander told me to accompany him to Jaisalmer…. where?
Jaiselmer, Oh God? I got a real high voltage Sunday shock, but when the
man giving it to you is your Commander, it is best to smile and say no
problems Sir, that is what I did. They went upstairs for a coffee and I was
ordered to be back in half an hour, in field dress. Our journey started, there
were no highways during those days, and the roads were awful. Somewhere
ahead of Jaipur we stopped for a while, the driver told me he was feeling
sleepy, so I decided to drive, I conveyed thisto the Lt Colonel and he said,
‘Do you have a military drivinglicence’, I said no, so that was it.

The driver was made to wash his face, and the driving resumed. This
was repeated every half hour. It was about 1 AM, pitch dark between
Jodhpur and Jaisalmer when the driver could not carry on any further, so we
took a 2/3 hour nap break. We spread a tarpaulin on the sand and went off to
sleep.

At about 3 AM I got up on hearing some clanking sounds, it was him

shuffling around collecting water to shave. I had an inkling of what was
coming. We were about to leave when he asked me if I had shaved, upon
seeing the disbelief in my look he reminded me of Officers always doing the
right thing, so me and the driver shaved.

At about 10 AM we dropped him to the exact location he was going

to and headed back. These old officers of a different era were so quaint.
They followed all the rules in such a sincere painful manner with proper
officer like behaviour. With me driving we came back in record time.
 This sudden summons was repeated many months later, the
Commander was going to Delhi as there was an Air Borne exercise and he
was to take off from an airfield near Delhi. I was not involved at all, when he
called me in the afternoonat the Flagstaff house, his car was ready, I was
expecting another shock but it was a light one this time. He was leaving for
Delhi and said that ‘I will drop at the Drop Zoneday after in the evening,
locate me on the Drop Zone and bring my Jonga to me’.

The Commander was taking off from a distant airfield with the Drop
Zone being near Jodhpur. His instructions must have been important that is
why he briefed me personally. I understood the crux that is come what may, I
have to locate him on the Drop Zone and get his Jonga to him. The
Commander then left for Delhi and next morning I got into the
Commander’sJonga and left for the exercise location. I had never seen a
night drop involving an entire battalion group, 30 + aircrafts, I could not
visualize the chaos which unfolded.
 First aircraft has dropped, second is coming. Imagine 30+ dropping
their load in minutes, all at night. Imagine the chaos on Drop Zone, in pitch
darkness.

With the COAS and Air Chief on the Drop Zone, to see a joint
service drop, who can take a chance? The army and the AF had marked the
Drop Zone, but since they had done it on the quiet, they had not coordinated
with each other. Any career officer will tell you that if the drop does not take
place where the VIP’s are sitting then there is a serious problem, the CO of
the air stream has got it wrong, then perhaps he will just remain a Group
Captain and the career is gone.

You do not want the Air Chiefsitting at the stand along with the Army
Chief, enjoying a drink waiting for his glorious AF to place the soldiers in
front of him and nothing of that sort happens, after all that is where the Drop
Zone is on the map. Pilots are notoriously night blind and many times the
drop is not placed right.

At a lower level the army was requested to tell their pathfinders to

just lie dogo after the drop and not to light the Drop Zoneas men to dosohad
already been placed. That would ensure that the main aircraft stream
following the Pathfinder aircraft by about 15 minutes behind would drop
plonk in front of the Brass hats.

Total win situation for everyone. The lone Pathfinder aircraft came in
the pitch dark desert and dropped the Pathfinders, the spectator’s couldn’t
see much in the dark so it was presumed that the drop was a km or so in
front of the stand, Jolly Good, so far as per plan. Alas, in actuality they were
dropped far away somewhere, but not to worry, this was anticipated, that is
why theAir Force surreptitious party hidden in the dark a few hundred yards
away in front of the VIP stand was placed and they would light up the Drop
Zone, totally fool proof.

The best of planning goes awry, the problem arose when out on a
limb and with no supervision, the young officer in charge of the Pathfinders
who had jumped displayed a sense of sincerity, above and beyond his duty
and also above his understanding of the actual plan.
They set about their business and marked the Drop Zone where they
had landed, many KM’s away, in record time. Oblivious to this, the secret
party hidden on the ground lit up the Drop Zone in front of the VIP stand, a
few minutes after the Pathfinderaircraftflew by, thereby giving the
impression that the Pathfinders had landed and done their job. The Army’s
party, not to be left behind, lit up theirs.

The stream of umpteen aircraft coming in with suitable gaps must

have been a really confused lot. Put yourself in the lead air craftpilot’s
cockpit, pitch darkness everywhere, his huge aircraft is zooming in at an
awesome speed on to the coordinates flying a little above the sand dunes, it’s
‘Red On’.

Suddenly he is hit by a sledge hammer of the sight before him, not

one but 3 Drop Zones appear on the ground in front of him, KM’s apart, the
entire transport aircraft fleet is coming in behind him; his Chief is on the
ground below looking up at him. What does he do? Where do you drop? No
one prepared him for this perfect recipe for a cardiac arrest. God help him. I
would not like to be in his place.

The battalion was spread over three Drop Zones. On the ground there
was confusion galore, I left the vehicle climbed over a sand dune and after
ages finally found a screaming, most harassed CO who was almost going
around the bend; he had absolutely no idea where he was or where his
battalion was. He tells me that the Commander had a change in plan and had
gone back to Agra, I was to return immediately. I rushed back to the Jonga,
Lo behold, the vehicle was missing! An ambulance driver told me that the
Chief Umpire, a Brigadier had commandeered our vehicle for the COAS as
his was stuck.

I commandeered the ambulance and followed the trail into the desert
to meet the Brigadier. The ambulance stopped near a steep dune and I
walked quietly up in the dark. Imagine if I could not find the vehicle? There
was a CO whose Battalion was lost, there was a Commander of the airstream
who was lost and led all his aircraft astray and now there was a young
Captainwho lost his Commander’sJonga, what a story it would have made.
 I found our Jonga, got hold of the driver and berated him, what if the
Commander had really landed? He said that the Brigadier did not listen and
just asked him to move. From the spectator’s point of view, everything was
fine, Black and White was served, countless aircraft flying overhead against
a night sky, what a sight, it was a lovely drop and everything was perfect.

As far as the tactical aspect goes, the CO, till dawn, was still looking
for his battalion spread over 3 Drop Zones, Km’s apart. I got into our vehicle
and shot back to Agra. The poor Brig umpire, with his vehicle was stuck
somewhere, I don’t know how he made his way home. I had enough worries
of my own; I was following my orders, that were to get back to Agra fast.

An occasion I remember in the HQ was when we had the Vice Chief

and two Army Commanders in the HQ, Generals’ Menezes, IS Gill and
Nakai. At a certain time BrigadierSabherwal got up and requested
GeneralInder Gill, ‘Sir, you have been a Brigade Commander here, please
look after the other two Generals, I have to go, another duty calls. The US
Army Chief is landing in the next hour’. So easily conveyed and so easily
understood by the others.

An odd aberration is accepted with any officer. Our Commander was

magnanimous enough to overlook an odd mistake or two. There were a few
odd instances, I quote just one. His open jeep had a brand new coat of bottle
green paint and chrome, a shiny lovely piece.

The office was over and it was got to the HQ so that the Cdr could
see it, having done so he left in his staff car. Well, this young Capt stepped
out of office and found an open jeep in front of him; all it needed was a twist
of the key. I told the driver to hop on behind. I zoomed off burning rubber on
the Agra Cantt roads.

I presumed that the Commander must be having lunch now and

would rest subsequently. Good heavens! Out of nowhere near the
Commissioners house the Commander’s car appeared in front, he looked at
me. Driving fast and desperately trying to grope for my beret on the co
driver’s seat.
 His look definitely conveyed that he was annoyed. For the next few
days my movements within the HQ had to be planned with caution so that
my path does not run across the Commander’s, why refresh his memory.
Nothing happened for a couple of days and my mind was back to a state of
bliss.

A few days later he crossed me in the verandah, no smile and a

serious look. He pointed with his index finger to his beret, I understood what
he meant. So, he remembered but had overlooked it. Despite his strict veneer
he was human after all.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 7

A Bridge too near and a bridge too far

By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar

First Blood
 1971 war

Naik Ram Singh, a Services Level Boxing Champ, always full of

stamina was now feeling absolutely drained and tired and so was Lance
NaikHoshiar Singh, himself a very good Cross Country runner. The duo
were responsible for manning one of the two Medium Machine Guns or the
MMG of Alpha Group, 9 PARACHUTE COMMANDO.

The entire night of 04 – 05 December 1971 had been a real bad

dream or rather pure hell. Spread over the night there had been three fierce
attempts by the Pakis to decimate the Commandos. Each time, it started with
intense earth shattering artillery barrage which seemed to last for eternity
and was followed by an infantry assault.

By the end of first artillery bombardment, both the machine gunners

were completely aware of not only the 206 bones presently existing within
their bodies but even of the additional 64 which between childhood and
adolescence had fused together with neighbouring ones.
 Luckily the buzzing ears made the rest of the world just a vibration
and thus the blood curdling war cry of the assaulting enemy made no
impression. At the end of each barrage, the pair just stood up inside the
trench, nonchalantly manned their MMG and opened up when the Pakis
came within the killing zone.

Unmindful of the numbing cold and incoming bullets, the Machine

Gunners created a wall of fire and each time the assault was beaten back. As
ammunition had not been a problem, they just concentrated on the enemy
and the periodic changing of the gun barrel as per the taught drill.
They were unaware of the fact that they had fired their complete first line
and four second lines (these are the accounting units for storage, supply and
expenditure of ammunition) that is 12000 rounds. Now it was nearly 0500h,
morning of 05 December 71 and Ram Singh desperately wanted to have
some hot tea.
Pallanwalla Village of Chamb….
Jaurian Area ( Google Picture )
 As if waiting for the demand, Hoshiara, as he was fondly called by
all, got busy low down in the trench and in no time had two large steaming
mugs of hot tea. The hot brew got distributed into 5 mugs/steel glasses/mess
tins when he spotted Captain Macarius and his Radio Operator Trilok Chand
coming from the Southern side and simultaneously, Battalion Havildar
Major(BHM)Bahal Chand joining from the Northern flank. The tea was a
morale booster for all. After his STAND TO inspection the No 1 TEAM
Commander went back towards his Team HQ trenches. The Battalion
Havildar Major, who had recently been appointed 2nd In Command of No 1
TEAM, after passing his examinations for promotion to the ranks of Junior
Commissioned Officer, proceeded back to the three trenches on the Northern
flank of Alpha Group. These were manned by the fourth Sub Team of No 1
TEAM.

About 75 to 100 m further north were the 3 tanks of DECCAN

HORSE. Right behind the tanks about 800m in the depth was an artillery
battery comprising 06 guns of 216 Medium Regiment. To the South of the
MMG trench were rest of No 1 TEAM and further South, No 2 and No 3
TEAM extending towards the CHAMB BRIDGE (on road Chamb – Jaurian)
on River MunnawarTawi. Behind No2 TEAM in the depth was the Group
HQ along with the elements of Battalion HQ of 9.

Further behind in the depth around 1200m was 39 Medium

Regiment. At this point of time, this stand - alone force located at the
junction of Sukh Tao Nala and MunnawarTawi was the only representative
of Govt of India left around. They had been repeatedly requesting the
advancing 4 Azad Kashmir Brigade of Pakistan, milling on the western bank
of Tawi since night 04 – 05 December, to reconsider their decision to
advance along CHAMB — JAURIAN –AKHNOOR ROAD towards
Akhnoor. However the Pakis seemed to be either deaf or inconsiderate.

To the uninitiated, STAND TO is a readiness drill executed by troops

in defence when expecting an attack from the enemy. The pre - dawn
STAND TO is an important routine because psychologically as dawn
approaches, the ingrained fear of the darkness imposed over eons during
human evolution tends to reduce and one lets down his guards. Therefore it
is the best time to attack an enemy citadel. Dawn was still about 20 minutes
away though things near and far had commenced acquiring definite shapes.
The Bridge Too Near on Munnawar Tawi……was blown up partially
in1971( Google Picture )
 As the BHM was nearing the Sub Team trenches, he happened to
glance towards the Eastern side, in the direction of the guns of 216 Medium
Battery. He spotted a group of men, walking towards the tanks. They must
be the gunners, but why so many have left their gun position all at once?
Then suddenly words of CaptainMac flashed thru…. during the last assault,
a considerable number of Pakistanis were able to pass thru the gap between
the No2 andNo 3 Teams, how many? not known. Bahal Chand quickly
lowered himself into his trench and hissed to the Sub Team to be on the alert.
The advancing group of men on seeing the tanks first stopped and then
formed an assault line, totally oblivious of the presence of the watching para
commandos. Now they could be counted all eight of them. By the time they
must have taken 50 steps, it was clear by the light of the dawn that they were
Pakis.

Suddenly with loud clanking sound the three tanks closed their
cupolas though the tank men remained clueless about this threat from the
rear. Throughout the night the Cavalry had fought shoulder to shoulder with
the Commandos and both had been able to ensure that their CHAMB WALL
remained intact. This had been made possible only because of the
uninterrupted accurate fire support provided by the brave Gunners located
right behind them. During each lull in the battle, the Sub Team had ensured
contact with the nearest tank. As part of the STAND TO, a buddy patrol had
even gone to the nearest tank. The tank men had discussed their
apprehension of the noise emanating from the tall sarkanda grove about
800m in front of the tanks towards North West. Now finally the Tank Troop
Commander had decided to become battle ready once again by ordering the
closure of the cupolas.

With loud yells, they just could not help it, the 8 Pakis climbed onto
the tank nearest to the Commandos, looking for an opening to throw in
grenades. Seeing this the BHM ordered the entire Sub Team to bring down
fire on the tank itself. The heavy volume of fire simply decimated the 8 fully
exposed men.

Now the radio set started crackling. First was CaptainMacarius

asking for the situation report. Next call comes from the Group Commander.
Less the 30 minutes later Captain Mac came running to his Sub Team on the
Northern flank to brief BHM Bahal Chand. The BHM was to take the Sub
Team along with the MMG Detachment and move to area BROKEN
GROUND about 400m in front and bit to the right. The Tank Troop
Commander too was briefed on radio.

BHM and his party wasted no time in making a dash for the new
location. They had not even deployed their weapons properly when they
heard loud cries of ALLAH O AKBAR from within thesarkandas. The three
tanks started firing directly into the Sarkandas. With their hearts at maximum
palpitation due to the sprint, certainly not due to fear, everyone waited with
their fingers on the trigger. Men of 13 AZAD KASHMIR Battalion, eager to
liberate some more areas of J&K from the Indian Union, obliged the para
commandos for the fourth time. As the assault line emerged out of the
sarkandas moving towards Alpha Group, heavy fire was brought down once
again by the MMG from this unsuspected flank…. area Broken Ground.
Heavy battle ensued.

Naik Ram Singh shouted a warning to Hoshiara to ready a new belt

of MMG ammunition. There was no response even when the ON WEAPON
belt finished off. He looked down and saw Hoshiara resting his forehead on
an ammunition box. How can you go off to sleep with this much noise? he
scolded. Then as he shook him, Lance/NaikHoshiar Singh’s head just rolled
to one side, he was lifeless. Without a second glance Naik Ram Singh came
to a sitting position to place a new ammunition belt on the MMG and began
firing. Suddenly as if he was in the boxing arena and the opponent had
punched him all over. His shoulder went numb and this made him very
angry.

Two of the charging enemy had nearly reached his position with rest
following, when Bahal Chand, trying to place a new magazine on his rifle
looked desperately towards the machine gunners. He saw Ram Singh
removing the MMG from its tripod and then standing up. Now Ram Singh
was yelling and firing at the Charging enemy in true Rambo style. Then as a
reflex action, Bahal Chand too emptied his entire magazine. The tall athletic,
senior most Non Commissioned Officer of the battalion suddenly found
himself knocked down to the ground. In slow motion, he saw Ram Singh too
going down along with the last of the enemy and he lost consciousness.
 Captain Bahal Chand

When he came back to his senses, BHM Bahal Chand found himself
being bandaged by Paratrooper Trilok Chand with a shell dressing. Then he
saw Group Havildar Major JaganNath picking up the MMG and finally
heard Captain Mac and SubedarDuni Chand, the Team 2IC, asking for a
stretcher. In a daze he got up and volunteered to walk but fell down.
Sometime later he found himself lying in a trench behind the Group HQ,
fully medicated and bandaged for further evacuation.

The enemy had finally been vanquished and chased across to the
Western Banks of MunnawarTawi, leaving behind more than nine scores
dead on the Eastern Bank. The Commanding Officer of 13 AZAD
KASHMIR was himself looking for Azadi as a Prisoner of War along with
nine of his men. Five years after its raising 9 PARA COMMANDO was now
fully baptized by fire.

PART 2

The Route to The Jugular Vein

There is a saying that once war is over, then there is no dearth of

brave men. In line with this, a Pakistani Brigadier had claimed, while
sipping a mug of ale in a London pub much after the War, that had he been
given a free hand then in 1965, he would have been in Akhnoor through
Chamb within 24 h, in Jammu in next 12h and then onto Pathankot in next
24h.

Though an obvious tall claim, it highlights the importance of

CHAMB. Another analysis, which may be plausible, claimsthat it was
OPERATION VENUS planned by GHQ at Pindi to strike Akhnoor through
Chamb, thus cutting off the entire Poonch Valley and then pose a major
threat to Jammu/ Kathua/ Pathankot communication lines, in effect cut off
entire J&K and may be even Ladakh, which in 1948 motivated Nehru in
requesting for a ceasefire at the UN Security Council. Indians wanted to
avoid any major battle opposite their vital communication links emanating
from Jammu as under:

• Jammu – Samba–Kathua –Hiranagar–Pathankot

• Jammu–Udhampur –Doda
• Jammu–Udhampur –Srinagar –Leh
 • Jammu–Akhnoor –Naushera –Rajouri –Poonch
• Jammu–Akhnoor- Jaurian–Chamb
These days we have developed alternate routes and have large fleets
of both medium and utility helicopters. There are adequate heavy and
medium transport aircraft fleets with extremely accurate means of aerial
delivery of both men and material. Most important (since KARGIL), our
country has begun showing the WILL to defend our SOVEREIGNTY. So a
tactical setback, here and there may mean nothing much and we can wait for
its recovery. However in 1948, 1965 and 1971, loss of Jammu would have
been a strategic disaster. Further if Jammu was the heart, then the jugular
vein was the BRIDGE at Akhnoor over the extremely fast flowing Chenab.
And for the Pakis the route to this jugular vein was from Chamb–Jaurian,
though shortest route was through Chicken Neck Salient.

In 1965, Yahya Khan had been unable to organize the promised

breakfast on the Akhnoor Bridge. It remained a BRIDGE TOO FAR. In Spite
of overwhelming superiority, OPERATION GRANDSLAM was overall a
failure.
Even in 1971 though Pakis were able to capture 120 Sq Km of
Chamb, this bridge still remained too far. Not because it was heavily
defended (in fact it was totally defence less) but due to the fact that a group
of men with grit got accidently deployed, TOO NEAR A BRIDGE on the
junction of MunnawarTawi and SukhtaoNullah.

The first obstacle to the Paki Offensive on night 03–04 December

came in the form of 5 SIKH with the backing of 12 Field Regiment. The
Sardars simply refused to pay any heed to the numerical and firepower
superiority of the enemy. Their valour and sacrifice against heavy odds, quite
well documented, gained vital 24 hours for the Indian Army.

Orders were being issued and cancelled on the Indian side every
minute and there was utter chaos. However Alpha Group of 9 PARA
COMMANDO, found itself at this bridge location on 04 December around
1830 h based on a direct order given by the General Officer Commanding
(GOC) to Lt Col O P Sabharwal, SM, Commanding Officer (CO) 9. The CO
had accompanied General Jaswant Singh to HQ 191 Infantry Brigade in
Chamb on 03 December. As the attack commenced, they had to rush back to
the Ad Hoc Advance Divisional HQ. While crossing the Chamb Bridge, the
GOC must have realized its importance. He turned to CO 9 and said “Sabu,
you will defend this bridge for me no matter what happens“. Having
rehearsed day in and day out for missions behind the enemy lines, here were
the bewildered para commandos on a purely infantry role, without RCLs, 81
MM Mortars, mines, wire obstacles etc or without the requisite practice and
the mindset to give battle as a Company Defended Locality. Nevertheless
they rose to the occasion. Chamb–Jaurian Sector is bounded by

•Cease Fire Line from Dewa to Burjeal in the West

•International Boundary from Burjeal to River Chenab in the South
•Various branches of Chenab from Phuklian salient to Akhnoor in the
South and South West
•Range of hills (1000 ft to 3000 ft) in the North running in East – West
direction

Relative height inside the Sector varies from 40ft to 80 ft which is

militarily significant in terms of observation and field of fire. The Chamb
village itself is dominated by two ridge lines …Mandiala North and
Mandiala South. Then there is MunnawarWaliTawi about 7 to 8 km from the
border, flowing North to South into Chenab and roughly dividing the Sector
into two halves. Finally, in 1971, there were two Roads in the Sector…. .
Akhnoor - Jaurian - Chamb and Akhnoor - Kalit - Mandiala.

The Thrust For The Jugular

By Oct 71 it was quite clear that 26 Infantry Division would remain

in defensive in the Jammu Sector and offensive if any would be by 10
Infantry Division in Chamb Sector. However somehow the plans got based
on a highly erroneous assumption that commencement of offensive in
Chamb would by itself ensure the defence of the Sector. This led to totally
disregarding the prime task of defence of Chamb. With the offensive in view,
large gaps were left in the defensive minefields and there were no
deployments to protect Mandiala – Deva approach.

191 Infantry Brigade with four battalions of infantry was defending

the area West of Tawi and 28 Infantry Brigade also West of Tawi was
defending the hill sub sector. Slowly 191 Brigade got into a posture where
instead of being totally in the defensive, they would be facilitating the
launch of offensive by 52 Brigade and 68 Brigade and an independent
Armoured Brigade, all concentrated, east of Tawi well in depth, for their
offensive tasks.

On 03 December 71, Major General Jaswant Singh, GOC, 10

Infantry Division decided to move to his Ad Hoc Advance Divisional HQ at
Pallanwala. This HQ was still not fully established. Move of Main HQ to
this location was planned to commence only after last light on 03 December.
Then from Pallanwala, GOC along with CO, 9 PARA COMMANDO had
gone to HQ 191 Brigade for a briefing on the latest situation.

After the briefing in the evening, drinks were offered by Brigadier R

K Jasbir Singh. As everyone raised their glasses and said Cheers, reply was
given by Major General IftikharJanjua, GOC 23 Infantry Division of
Pakistan in the form of a massive artillery bombardment. General Jaswant
along with Sabu rushed back to Pallanwala.

Just a day before, 15 Corps Commander had told him regarding

cancellation of all offensive tasks pertaining to the Para Commando Group.
Thus while crossing the Chamb Bridge, Jaswant Singh entrusted its defence
at all cost, to Sabu.

General Janjua’s plan was to first secure two lodgements of

minimum 3 km radius each, across the Ceasefire Line with two brigades by
first light 04 December and then break out with armour to capture Chamb
Bridge on night 04 – 05 December with a lodgment across. Also secure, as
much length of the western bank of Tawi, as possible and then on 5th
morning breakout for Akhnoor Bridge. Like all military plans, it went for a
six, once battle commenced. Nevertheless General Iftikhar achieved total
surprise at both tactical and strategic level.
Pakistani offensive must have required massive preparation in terms
of forward dumping of ammunition & stores, forward deployment of
artillery and preparation of gun positions, concentration of armour etc.
However our Border Observation Posts, Forward Defended Localities,
military intelligence, Signal intelligence, IB and RAW, all failed to detect the
Pakistani Plan to reenact OP GRAND SLAM once again.
 In contrast Pakistanis seemed to have very detailed information of
our deployment in the entire sector, particularly West of MunnawarTawi.
The intensity and precision of their opening artillery fire over our defences,
gun positions, Command Posts etc was amazing. In fact, as per information
available to 23 Division and 4 Azad Kashmir Brigade, there was not even a
single J & K Militia jawan guarding the Chamb Bridge on Tawi, near the
Mandiala height and this was absolutely true……to their surprise this is
where Alpha Group popped out of nowhere.

Thus with Iftikhar seizing the initiative, Jaswant was caught totally
off balance. 10 Infantry Division was neither deployed for a defensive battle
nor ready for an offensive. The GOC also remained virtually divorced from
his Command for the crucial part of the first 24 hour of the battle due to non
availability of a fully functional Divisional HQ. All this resulted in total
chaos and took some time for the situation to stabilize. Then fate intervened
and there were two lucky breaks for India… plonking of Cariappa’s boys at
the Chamb bridge on 4 December evening and General Iftikhar getting killed
in a helicopter crash on 9 December.

Part 3
 Alpha Group Deployment At The Bridge Site

Their faces blackened, weapons with round in chamber, the five Para
Commandos were waiting for the watch to read 9. Outwardly calm, their
nervousness was betrayed only by their index finger frequently checking the
safety catch of their individual weapons.

It is the waiting which is the worst enemy. At 2100h night 20 Nov 71,
Col Sabharwal, Captain K C Padha, Havildar Waryamsingh, L/Naik Karan
Singh and Paratrooper Pushpinder Singh the radio operator, were to cross
over into Pakistan for a confirmatory reconnaissance mission to gather
evidence of Paki forward deployment for an intended offensive. They were
presently huddled at a Listening Post ahead of one of our Forward Defended
Localities.

A few days back, during a discussion at the Divisional HQ, Col

Sabharwal had asserted that Pakis were preparing for an offensive. This was
based on series of information gathered by a few deep penetration patrols
from Alpha Group and from day/ night observations made by the para
commandos from forward locations of 191 and 28 Brigades.
 In fact one such patrol led by Captain Macarius had gone inside Pak
from BOKAN POST in the area of 5 ASSAM. It was this post where the first
attack had come on night 03 December. Similar patrols had been led by
CaptPadha and Lt Bist. Both GOC 10 Division and Commander 191 Brigade
agreed with this assessment.

However Lt General Sartaj Singh roared acidically “It’s all

rubbish…. . as the D DAY is approaching (he meant our own offensive) all
of you are getting yellow “. There was complete silence. Then Col
Sabharwal volunteered to himself lead a confirmatory patrol.

This was agreed to by the Corps Commander. At 2045h,

PtrPushpinder Singh handed over the handset of his radio set to the Patrol
Leader Col Sabharwal. On the other end was TIGER 15 (Officer
Commanding ALPHA GROUP) who just uttered one word…. . the code for
cancellation of the said patrol, received only a few minutes back from the
HQ 15 Corps by Major M M A Cariappa, Group Commander Alpha Group.

Just after the Vijaydashmi celebrations in Oct 71, all three Groups of
9 PARA COMMANDO quietly moved out to their respective Divisional
Sectors. Alpha Group under Major MuckatriraMuthanna Ashok Cariappa
moved near to village Gigriyal in the 52 Infantry Brigade Area opposite
Mandiala heights. Major Cariappa, a tall, well - built Coorgi, had the perfect
image of a COMMANDO especially when he grew his mustaches (on and
off he shaved them).

He had been commissioned into 17 Parachute Field Artillery

Regiment in 1963 and in 1970 had volunteered for 9 thus changing over to
Infantry. He was an ace hockey player and as a Cadet had played for the
National Defence Academy beating the then Indian Olympic Team.

Though outwardly very stern looking, he was actually very kind

hearted and popularly called in the unit as SENIOR. This had nothing to do
with age or anything but because of the fact that ALPHA had another officer
Captain M A Kariappa who perforce had to be nicknamed JUNIOR.
 Brigadier Ashok Cariappa "Senior"

Senior had measured me inch by inch, from head to toe and back and
then covering his nameplate with his right palm asked “what’s my name….
full name…. find out by evening and let me know “. This was our first
meeting in Aug 1978 in the Officer’s Mess of 9 at Tale Camp, Naushera. Just
after completion of my probation, I had found myself as part of a column led
by Captain A S Bist, climbing the mountains in the upper reaches of Rajouri
District towards Budhal–Kandi. It was an Operation called OP DHAMAKA

For nearly 10 days we moved around day and night in pouring rain
and chilly weather conditions, with nothing much to eat, looking for
infiltrators from across the border. Map reading, Navigation, battle drills,
night movements in pitch darkness, Section and Platoon level tactics…. all
those things which Indian Military Academy, Dehradun had tried to teach me
in one year with partial success, got perfected within that short period.

On returning back to Tale Camp, everyone welcomed us as if we

were coming back from war. Then on entering the Officers Mess this
meeting took place with our Second In Command …. SENIOR. . who had
just returned from SC Course at Mhow.

Next 2 or 3 weeks were really tough for me. I was just getting used to
the fact that Major Tej Pathak, whose name had been more terrifying to IMA
GCs than “GABBAR SINGH” was now my Group Commander or
immediate boss and now this …. 2IC had landed from nowhere. Though
from their point of view they were only trying to mould a new 2/Lt into a
good Regimental Soldier.
 Suddenly the whole unit was ordered to move to OP DHAMAKA
area once again. I was to take out myfirst patrol, when message came that
2IC wanted a Copy Book Patrol Briefing …. it was back to IMA days. After
the briefing came the bombshell that he would accompany the Patrol. Then it
was my Group Commander Maj Tej who came to my rescue.

As advised, being an operational patrol, as we set out I assumed full

command. Terrain was really tough but we halted only at the pre - planned
places or BOUNDS. Remember 2IC had come back after 3 months at Mhow,
while physically I was at my peak. Within minutes of each halt, a glass of
very good tasting tea use to be offered to the 2 IC, with a statement that the
patrol had just prepared it.

Actually the tea had been prepared in the Officers Mess as advised
by Tej Pathak and was being smuggled in a flask. Senior must have guessed
this but he never mentioned it. Nevertheless, after return of the patrol, from
next day onwards, everyone started noticing that as far as 2IC was
concerned, the new 2/ Lt could do no wrong. Later Senior moved out to
command 1 BIHAR and at our request, with mustaches fully grown. Before
getting promoted to Brigadier, he was also the Battalion Commander of
CARIAPPA BN at IMA, l. p. same
 Colonel M A Kariappa

Junior was yet another example of one of the finest gifts to the Indian
Army from the hills of Coorg. Simple, honest and full of humour who also
tried to speak to his men in rapid fluent hindi with a coorgi accent. He was
also fluent in Gurkhali and people say that he had made full use of it when
the unit, prior to Tale Camp, was in Bakhlo, John Master’s land of Bugles
and the Tiger. He was again a very good hockey player, a keen Angler and an
ace Shikari. Though commissioned in Gurkhas had later volunteered for 2
PARA, from where he came to 9.
Unlike a staunch Gurkha like Sabu, he loved his long hair and would
never go for a crew cut. Periodically “request “would trickle down to him to
have a haircut. He would never disobey an order and every time had his
haircut in full public view. The barber always went through the entire hair
cutting drill ensuring minimum 2 inches distance between junior’s hair and
the Scissors.

Another episode at Naushera which is worth mentioning is like

this… Officers of a newly arrived battalion had been invited for Sunday
lunch. As they trooped inside the Mess, I was there to welcome them. Same
time, in walked Junior with his wife accompanied by Senior’s wife. He
introduced himself as Major Kariappa, then turning to Senior’s wife,
introduced her as Mrs Cariappa and finally introduced his wife as …. my
wife. The visitors first looked at Junior, then at me and then at each other.

Looks on their faces were indescribable. Situation was retrieved

when Senior walked in from the bar and introduced himself. Yet another
episode was when Junior (or was it Senior) planned the reception for newly
commissioned 2/Lt Anil NarainanNayer in September ‘78. Mrs Cariappa
(senior) took on the role of a Lady Regimental Medical Officer, Junior
became the Mess Waiter and I was made his Sahayak. Though Anil Nayer
soon caught on and the fun ended. In 1971 when Captain M P Singh, the
Group 2IC, permanently left for New Zealand the mantle fell on Junior.
 Captain K C Padha in the battle field

Captain Keshav Chandra Padha was commissioned into the 4/11

Parachute Engineer Company of 50 (I) Parachute Brigade. This small sub
unit has the distinction of producing the largest number of Generals for the
Indian Army. Keshav must have been mad enough to leave such a prized unit
and volunteer for a madder “unknown “entity of that time…9 PARA. Later
he did become a General and commanded a Division. He was good in all
sports and also became an excellent Golfer. Though while in the unit,
however hard he tried his hand at badminton, his racquet and the shuttle
could never meet.
Maj Gen K C Padha, VSM
 Regarding his physical fitness, In 1981, during the Annual Inspection
carried out to certify the fitness of the unit for war, in the 2 Mile Run test for
the battalion, he as a Group Commander was among the first 10 or so, in less
than 12 minutes flat. Presently he was No 2 TEAM Commander.

However just on eve of war on 30 Nov 71 he had to be evacuated to

Military Hospital at Jammu due to severe kidney infection. On 4th
December night with 102° temperature, he managed to “escape “from MH
and somehow reached Alpha Group at the Chamb Bridge site just before the
4th Paki assault on the morning of 5th December. Though perforce due to
worsening conditions he again had to be evacuated along with BHM Bahal
Chand and was back as “POW “of MH Jammu.
 Colonel E Macarius

Captain Edmond Macarius commissioned in16 MADRAS in

December 1968, belonged to Jhansi the land of Dhyan Chand and thus a
natural hockey wizard who had represented IMA team, Army team and the
SERVICES. With so many hockey aces, 9 PARA hockey team was
unbeatable in 15 Corps. However when it came to intercompany matches no
quarters were given by other Groups to ALPHA. These matches were more
fiercely contested than even the Indo Pak hockey matches at the Olympics or
the Asiad. Mac later commanded a MADRAS battalion.
 Captain A S Bist

The No 3 TEAM Commander was 2/Lt Amarender Singh Bist,

directly commissioned into 9 in December 1969. Being a Garhwali, he was a
natural mountaineer and aced many a courses at High Altitude Warfare
School, Gulmarg.

Later on at HAWS, he was the Chief Instructor too. Popularly known

as Booby, though at times his coursemates also called him LadduBist. He
was a very friendly person. Initially for OP DHAMAKA, I was to lead an
independent column.

Minutes before leaving Tale Camp in the evening for Rajouri, Major
Tej Pathak had called me and my 2IC NaibSubedarKishan Chand aside and
had said …. Kishan is one of the best, a veteran of ‘ 71, always take his
advice but always remember, you are the one who has to lead, also have full
faith in your IMA training.

Then turning to Kishan told him to take care of me. Yes, Kishan was
one of the best. A few months later, he went and topped the Platoon
Commanders Course at Belgaum. When the Commandant there enquired
about the time spent on his pre course training, his reply was …17 years ….
his entire service till then.

We reached Rajouri after last light. It seems that at the last minute,
GOC 25 Infantry Division, Major General Narinder Singh (or was it my CO,
Lt Col Arvinder Singh) must have lost his nerves on seeing a 51 Kg brand
new 2/Lt and that too with spects about to lead an independent column.

In the wee hours of next morning, GOC was there to see us off but to
my surprise my column had been merged with other two. Orders had been
passed in the night itself, after discussions between GOC and CO and
naturally no one bothered to either consult me or even inform me !!! I got
seconded to Captain Bist with whom in 10 days, gained confidence worth a
decade. The other column was being led by Captain Roshan Lal, who had
been my Probation Officer.
 Major General O P Sabharwal, SM

Lt Col O P Sabharwal had been commissioned into Gurkhas and then

had volunteered for 5 PARA on its raising. He had won his Sena Medal
during the counterinsurgency operations in the North East. Having been the
Brigade Major of elite 50 (I)Parachute Brigade, he had expected to get
command of a para battalion. Instead he got a shock in Feb ‘71.
 Senior with CO

At that time 9 had the same reputation discipline wise, as that of WW

II movie characters in Dirty Dozen and Devil’s Brigade. During the War 9
replicated the Commandos of the Devil’Brigade. Sabu had taken over the
role of the Lt Col Robert T Frederick, from Lt Col GP Tripathi. Trips was the
original Col Frederick in every sense. The herding together of the devils had
been started by the founder of the clan Lt Col Megh Singh, Vir Chakra.

Though at the beginning Sabu must have been thoroughly

disappointed by this turn of event of getting command of 9. Within weeks
arose an occasion when overnight the unit constructed a basha (hut) for a
newly married officer to live in. 9 revealed its spirit and changed the new
COs perception.

Assimilation was complete when people started using the name Sabu.
He must have had a tough time during the war, worrying all the time for his
three groups deployed under three divisions from Jammu to Poonch. As
Brigadier, he was our military attache in Washington for more than 3 years
and on return went on to command a Division.

Colonel Ranjit Singh

 Late Major General Vijay Kumar Sharma, SM

At that point of time in 1971 there were about 125 more Commandos
in Alpha Group who faded away as all soldiers eventually do. Col Ranjit
Singh and Late Major General Vijay Kumar Sharma had joined Alpha soon
after the war while Operation CACTUS LILLY was still on.
SubedarBishanDass, the senior JCO of the Group, after the war became the
Subedar Major of 9 and retired later as Hony Captain.

However when I had joined the unit, many were still there. 2IC of
No3 TEAM, NaibSubedarSain Chand was now the Senior JCO of my Bravo
Group. Whenever I was officiating as Group 2IC which even as 2/Lt was
quite often or at times even Group Commander, Sain Chand would always
brief me in detail regarding daily Battalion’s Orders, Group’s activities etc
and what action he had planned to implement them. At the end of it he would
always ask me …and now Sahib what are your orders…. which soon I
realized could be only one thing…Carry on Sahib. It was his way to guide an
officer less than half his age.

There was Havildar Puran Chand, SM, an ace mountaineer, pioneer

of Siachen with Bull or Brigadier Narender Kumar, who then got a
Regimental Commission and moved to 5 PARA. There was another Puran
Singh who by ‘78 had turned into a National level gold medal winning
boxer. He was unlucky to have missed the Delhi Asiad due to sickness,
where his junior Girwar Singh of Alpha Group won the heavy weight boxing
Silver Medal.

Later he was my Senior JCO in the HQ team and still later Subedar
Major with the Special Frontier Force. Pushpinder, the radio operator was by
1978, one of the outstanding young NCO. As a young Nb/ Sub in ‘86 he had
been with me and Sanjay Thapa, when we had some real tough time while
training in Zanskar mountains during VENTURE SERIES started by Tej
Pathak.

Later due to some temporary physical problem, he wanted to take

premature retirement. Luckily as officiating 2IC of the unit I could persuade
him to reconsider. He went on to become Subedar Major of the unit and
retire with Honorary Rank of Captain. BHM Bahal Chand too became a
Subedar Major, soon got a Regimental Commission and served with 6 PARA
before retiring as a Captain.

Part 4
Battle At The Bridge Too Near To Ensure Akhnoor Bridge Remained Too
Far( Goggle picture )
 On return from HQ 191 Brigade, Sabu gave a briefing to the Group
Officers, with as many details he had been able to gather. Details were
generally next to nothing. On 04 December morning, Recce party from the
Group moved to the Bridge site in three x 1 Ton vehicles and got dutifully
strafed by a pair of passing Sabers. Luck was on own side.

At last light, the rest of the Group arrived at the site. Initially looking
lost, they swung into furious digging action, once a sporadic probing enemy
artillery fire swept that area. The Group realized that they had neighbours,
when own artillery batteries deployed nearby gave a quick short reply. These
were the guns of 39 and 216 Medium. Soon an Artillery Observation Officer,
Major Ranbir Singh from 39 Medium joined the Group, though some say it
was Captain Mallick.

Everyone was now desperately waiting for 7 KUMAON and the

Squadron of tanks from 72 ARMOUR. By midnight, group was well dug up
though there was no sign of the Kumaonis or the tanks. Only a Troop of
Deccan Horse (three tanks) had reached the location and deployed close to
the Group. Who was going to protect whom was debatable but each was a
comforting neighbour to the other.

Group Commander downwards everyone was equally clueless about

the ongoing battle west of Tawi and thankfully also about the Command and
Control chaos in the entire Divisional Sector. For the Commandos, actually
IGNORANCE WAS BLISS. With nothing much to do and being clueless of
the gravity of the situation, they were merrily watching the ongoing Diwali
in front of them.

However Mac could not sit idle and so taking his radio operator
Trilok Chand and sahayakOmprakash and one more chap, had waded
through the Tawi to a sort of an island in the middle. Hiding in a sarkanda
clump he was trying to scan the area in front with his binocular in the semi
moonlight night. He got a shock of his life when he saw a patrol of 10
reaching the island from opposite bank and plonking themselves less than
20m from his position.

After a few Centuries it seemed (it was just 20 minutes by IST) those
chaps speaking with funny accents decided to get up and head back. A few
minutes later Mac realized, one of them was still lying around. As the young
Balti youth hurriedly got to a sitting position and started putting on his boots
which foolishly he had removed some 20 minutes back, he was suddenly
grabbed from behind with mouth firmly clamped.

By the time Mac and party tied up the prisoner they got another
shock …. noise of tank engines from the other bank though quite far off.
They just took off for own position giving warning of their return to the
Team on radio.

With the prisoner interrogated at the Group HQ, now Cariappa’s boys
were ready and waiting to welcome 13 AZAD KASHMIR. Coming into
their own country (and State), no visa was actually required by the
Kashmiris, they could have just walked in waving white flags but instead
they were coming with guns. The first attack came at around 0100h.

As per an eye witness, at first three jeeps, without headlights crossed

the bridge, went about 100 m on the road towards Jaurian, then took a U turn
and returned across. 15 minutes later two tanks opened up from the western
bank with sporadic fire followed by just a few salvos of artillery, then came
out an assault line about a company in strength from the sarkandas on the
Northern flank.

The attackers seemed as if they were just going through a drill. After
all it was supposed to be an abandoned bridge. Their real objective was the
high ground further East, near Sahamwan. As a nasty surprise to the
attackers suddenly 5 MMGs, three on the tanks and two from the ALPHA
opened up upon them. Within no time the attack was repulsed. The enemy
Commanders on the western bank were totally confused. As per their recce
report done on previous night and earlier intelligence, there was no Indian
deployment anywhere near the bridge.

HQ 4 AK Brigade was thus totally confused. There was supposed to

be no enemy and now suddenly 5 MMGs. Luckily for ALPHA GROUP,
Infantry School and War college on both sides of Radcliffe Line follow the
same teaching and therefore Commander, 4 AK Brigade assumed that
minimum of one infantry battalion was opposing him.
 The next attack came at 0200h in the form of a battalion level attack.
It commenced with intense artillery barrage followed by a massive assault
which nearly managed to reach the forward trenches before being beaten
back and repulsed across the Tawi. Miraculously except a few getting
scratched by a splinter or two, there were no casualties on our side.

Though Group Quarter Master Havildar Risalsingh was furious. 4

water pakhals left carelessly in the open had received direct hits and totally
destroyed. Senior moved from Team to Team and visited each trench. Junior
had taken over the command of No 2 Team though KCP had already reached
the location. Ammunition etc were re supplied to each trench and the Group
was ready once again.

Commander 4AK Brigade seemed to be in serious trouble. General

Iftikhar had really blasted him. So at around 0400h came a full brigade
attack with 13 AK and 47 PUNJAB. The artillery was so intense that by
itself it should have pulverized the paratroopers completely. Then came the
assault, this time from somewhat North westerly direction.

As the assault line came within killing zone, Cariappa’s boys opened
up with everything. The three tanks too joined in. Own gunners too began to
fire disorganizing the enemy in depth. It was do or die, kill or get killed. One
wave managed to get into a few vacant trenches in the gap between No. 3
and 2 Teams. The nearest Sub Team had to fall back.

A large number of assaulting enemy went beyond too, towards the

gunners. Situation was desperate. Senior took a split second decision.
Himself an old gunner he called for one of those rare types of artillery
fire…. . SOS …that is asking own artillery to fire on or very near to own
defences. He quickly shouted the code word into the hand set and then
passed on very accurate coordinates as corrections. Our artillery fire came
down as close as 50 m of own defences.

Gunners rose to the occasion. Firing virtually in a direct mode like a

rifle, they had a devastating effect. The enemy assault lines began to
disintegrate. During all this, Junior rallied about 10 commandos from the
depth and assaulted the trenches occupied by the Pakis.
 There was hand to hand fighting for a short duration, where situation
could have tilted either way. Then suddenly troops of 4 AK Brigade gave up
and started retreating. A large number of enemy had been killed. They had to
vacate the Mandiala heights on the Western bank too. Luckily our own
casualty was just 10 wounded including Captain MA Cariappa.

However quite a large number of Pakis had gone through the gap in
our defences and in the darkness some of them reached the battery of 216
Medium and were able to disable 2 of the guns. Then they moved further
ahead, realizing their perilous situation only after day break.

Most of them met their makers while trying to find their way back to
western bank of Tawi, rest went to have a good time at Prisoner Camps of
Indian Army. As it came to be known well after the war, that just when
Senior was asking for SOS fire, Brigade Major of 4 AK Brigade, was telling
HQ23 Division that Chamb Bridge had been captured totally intact!

GQMH (Group Quarter Master Havildar) Risal had by now given up. Not
only more pakhals were lost, Pakis had no respect for even the most sacred
thing …the Langar …. the cook house was completely destroyed and even
the ration storage area had received a direct hit.

In Spite of all this at pre dawn STAND TO, in came

Paratrooper/Mess Waiter Balbir Singh with few glasses of hot tea together
with his trademark smile, offered them to the CO and the Group Commander
and to the wounded who were in a position to sip. When someone
enquired… Balbir where is your rifle? Balbir in a hurry dropped his tray and
ran back to look for his rifle. This Mess waiter kept dropping his tray or
glasses like this but kept looking after the Officers of 9, Army commanders
of Northern Command, even Sai Baba of Puttaparthi and President of India,
till he retired sometime in 1992 or around.

General Iftekhar was furious. He had known that once this bridge was
captured then Indian defences West of Tawi would be out flanked and
perforce they would withdraw. Road to Akhnoor would be wide open.
Finally out of fear or out of shame Col Basharat Raja, CO 13 AK made a
final attempt, the fourth attack, where Nk Ram Singh and Hoshiar Singh
gave a befitting reply before laying down their life for Alpha Group and 9
PARA and may be also for the Parachute Regiment, Indian Army and India.

Part V

Till Cease Fire

Entire day of 5th December, Alpha Group was on tenterhooks, finally

in the evening arrived 7 KUMAON, a Company of 9 JAT and a Squadron of
72 Armour. Since the bridge remained intact, 191 Brigade kept fighting, 5
SIKH simply would not give up. However on 06 December, Pakis threw in
fresh troops into Western Chamb. 191 Brigade started fighting a fierce
retrograde battle. By evening troops started to cross over to Eastern bank.

Since no one had told the Commandos about this withdrawal, Sabu
ordered the Group to deploy the withdrawing troops, at gun point, next to
their own defences. Then arose an awkward situation when a few officers
had to be stopped too. Brigade HQ confirmed the latest orders for
withdrawal.

Brig RK Jasbir Singh was one of the last to step on the eastern bank.
At around midnight the bridge was blown up as a reserve demolition task.
Sabu was told that Alpha Group was now under command 68 Brigade and
the bridge was to be defended by him to the last man and the last round in
conjunction with 7 Kumaon.

Sabu was by now quite confident that with 7 KUMAON, Company 9

JAT, Squadron of 72 ARMOUR, and supporting Medium Regiments, the
position was quite safe. He also knew that incase he took no action, then
after the War, our Infantry School and War College, would start teaching that
such defensive tasks were meant for the para commandos.

Also at Brigade and Division level they would start quoting this as a
precedence and start employing the parachute commandos on such tasks as a
regular practice. Parachute Infantry and Parachute Commandos would be
treated as the same. So he went to the GOC and asked for commando tasks
instead. It was accepted and around 1900 h on 07 December Alpha Group
was ordered to leave for Pallanwala.

On 7th morning, Group commenced preparation for the move. There

was some excitement when Squadron Leader Denzen Killer had to himself
eject from his Gnat after shooting down a Saber. Luckily he landed near the
paratroopers, though there are no official records with the Group, of Sabu or
Senior having presented Denzen with a Para Wing. Move out of Alpha
Group from the bridge area was a sight worth watching.

As there were hardly any serviceable vehicles left around, the move
was to be on foot upto a certain point. However the GQMH was very
reluctant to leave anything behind. While Senior was scratching his head,
Mac and Bist found an immediate solution.

Around 10 to 15 buffaloes from nearby abandoned villages had

attached themselves to Alpha Group (or were they persuaded by the
commandos belonging to Haryana) and now they were carrying most of the
group’s stores. Had any U2s been made available to the Pakis in those days
by US, then the Americans would have got a heart attack, wondering about
the type of secret weapons on the move.

For the next seven days, Alpha Group kept running around the Sector
akin to Fire Brigade running around in Summer months to dowse fires
breaking out left, right and centre. First, Group less No 3 TEAM, went to 10
Garhwal location when Raipur and Dharia Crossings were captured by the
Pakis.

Here in a direct shell hit, Mac lost his radio operator L/ Nk Om

Prakash. General Sartaj then passed an order for the Group to infiltrate and
re capture Raipur Crossing from behind. However on re capture of Dharia by
68 Brigade, enemy vacated Raipur on its own.

No 3 TEAM led by 2/Lt Bist, meanwhile had gone for a hunting trip
to Nadiala, east of Lam. During day time they observed the area in front and
at night crossed over. Bang at the selected site there was a melee of sort. Two
tanks, having some mechanical problems were in a process of being
retrieved.
 After watching the situation for around 10 minutes from just about
50 m, they fired a round of Rocket Launcher into each of the tanks and like
good commandos scooted from there. One tank had a direct hit, while other
got a partial hit only. Though the retaliatory MMG fire from a third tank took
its toll. Luckily Subedar Bishan Das, Team 2IC, was only slightly wounded.
Team was able to reach back safely.
Standing: 2/ Lt A S Bist , Captain K C Padha , Captain Macarius Sitting
: Captain M A Kariappa , Lt Col O P Sabharwal , Major M M A
Carriappa

On 11 December, Alpha Group was moved to area Chinotta, 6 to 7 kms

North of Pallanwala, to prevent infiltration from the crossing places on Tawi.
For next 6 nights, the Group regularly went in for gun raids on suspected
gun areas, twice as a Group and four times, Team wise. Each night it turned
out to be a WGC (wild goose chase). Then came 17 December and the Cease
Fire.

Part 6

The End

When the advancing elements of 4 Azad Kashmir Brigade had

reached the area on the west bank of MunnawarTawi, they were actually
clueless of the fact that at the given time and for the next many hours, there
was nothing between them and the Akhnoor Bridge except ALPHA GROUP.
They still failed to make Akhnoor/Jammu Azad.
 2/ Lt Ranjit Singh, Captain K C Padha,
Junior, Mac and Bist

At the same time ALPHA GROUP and their associates were blissfully
unaware of the fact that apart from them there were no fighting forces
behind them on the road between the two bridges. The parachute
commandos, the cavalry and the gunners stood firm and became a
saviour of Akhnoor& Jammu by giving enough time to General Sartaj
Singh to redeploy his forces.

The exploits of Alpha Group and the importance of the battle at

Chamb bridge is not known to the country which is hardly surprising, as it is
not known to the majority of the Indian Army too, past or present. Since not
documenting and highlighting this episode in detail cannot be intentional on
part of the concerned Formations, we can only blame the then prevailing
chaos, confusion and the fog of war. Nevertheless now the story is here for
everyone to read and to judge the importance of the battle on their own.
 The whole feat was achieved by Alpha Group with sacrifice of 3
killed and 14 wounded and in return they were thanked with a LONE SENA
MEDAL to Captain M A Kariappa. However, any time Indian Army or
Indian Govt can still dial 9 for assistance without any worries. Many years
later I too had the privilege of commanding this ALPHA GROUP albeit
renamed as ALPHA TEAM.
 Late Captain Premjit Rockpa, Shaurya Chakra

This Story is dedicated to my immediate Senior in 9, Late Captain

Premjit Rockpa, Shaurya Chakra, who had been a great guide and a friend
right from day one till his death in 1981 on Mount Nanda Devi after a
successful summit assault.

We had kept planning all the time to write this Story of Alpha Group,
his Group. Then there was his sahayakSushil Kumar Pathak, a graduate who
had enrolled as a paratrooper and turned into a drug addict, whom he kept
trying to reform to the last.
Brigadier Balbir Singh Sambyal, SM
 Also must be included my contemporaries who had joined Alpha at
that time .… Brigadier Balbir Singh Sambyal, SM and Lt Col O M
Kuriakose. Samby had been commissioned in Mar 1978 but had to report to
Parachute Regimental Centre first and joined the unit only in December
1978. Whereas due to change in Policy, I had reported directly to the unit on
30 Jun 1978.

Even when he was just a 2/Lt, Balbir Sahib was a name to be

reckoned with right from Samba to Patnitop. Mathew O K who joined in
1979 had three name tabs and kept changing them on regular basis. M O
KURIAKOSE, MATHEW OK and the third read OODUMPANATTU.

He was expert in Salesmanship and even those days could get a

lightening telephone call through the military exchange to anywhere. Only
the GOC – In – C, Northern Command had more priority than him. Though
from Kerala, in many a traits he was a worthy successor to Junior. In the
unit, he always officiated in my place as the Equipment Officer.

Finally in 2003, I got a chance to replace him at Army HQ, when he

took premature retirement. He had nearly got himself killed in early part of
1980, when all of us youngsters were pioneering Slithering Drills from
helicopters. Due to the injury, he had to leave us and move to 6 PARA. His
son is now wearing the Regimental Lanyard

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 8

A Gentle Soul

By
Colonel Ranjit Singh

The sudden squall played havoc, sitting by the huge lake we reeled in
our line hurried for cover to the car. The clouds loomed in and the view, far
away to the distant hills faded. An hour ago that glistening glass up in hills
many kilometres away seemed to be our old mess window, I was not certain
now? In the good old days the shine was recognizable from a distance at
places on the Pathankot –Dalhousie road and so clearly from Phangota,
where I was on an angling excursion for a few hours.
 I gazed into the clouds to where our Mess was and some old
memories rekindled.

Many a times we all sat together behind that window, be it breakfast

or lunch, the dining table presided over by our then 2i/c, the veritable Major
MMA Cariappa. I first met him in Jindrah, I was with the Alpha Team’s PT
squad when an authoritative voice behind me said, ‘Can you do an upper
curl’? I looked behind and saw ‘Groupie’ as he was fondly called and at that
age anything could be done, I did that and he complimented me, ‘That is
good’! It established a bond between us.
 We moved to Bakloh, Maj Jain was posted out and Groupie moved
into the 2i/c’s office. Being a bachelorGroupie stayed in the bachelors
quarters with us. We all mingled around in each other’s rooms, but as per the
protocol of the times the 2i/c normally kept to himself, my loud music did
not disturb him, even if it did, there was never a rebuke from him.

The only time he came to my room, perhaps, was when the strands of
a sitar wafted down. It was Ravi Shankar’s Raag ‘Jansamohini’, That scene
and our conversation is still vivid in my mind, he had felt the sound very
soothing and that is why he came up to hear it. ‘I don’t normally hear this
kind of music from your room’ he commented, I told him that at times when
I was alone I heard this LP. He looked at me in a very different way, not at
me but into me, as if trying to read my mind. In a way we became friends.

He was the 2i/c of the Battalion during three different CO’s tenures.
There were plenty of opportunities for him to call us to his office for a
dressing down but they were rare. In those days a 2i/c was way up the
ladder, so one day when he called me to his office from ‘Alfa’ I was
apprehensive, as I entered the office, his gaze was on a letter he was writing,
there was a smile on his face, he seemed so relaxed.

He looked up and without wasting time he got to the point; he

wanted to know the names of a couple of songs which I normally played and
the singer thereof. The absolute peace, calm, happiness and the smile on his
face convinced me that he was writing to his lady love, he was engaged to be
married then. Yes, sure enough Mrs ChitraCariappa joined us, a charming,
pretty and comely young lady who got along well with everyone.
 He went on to command 1 BIHAR. When I was posted to the PARA
Bde as the G3 I had to accompany the Cdr, Brig OP Sabharwal, to the Inf
Cdr Conference at MHOW. It was for select Commanders and a few CO’s of
the Army.

A party, where only the senior attendees were called gave me a little
spare timeas I was not an invitee, I took the opportunity to make a couple of
social calls. I returned, ate early and was fast asleep in my room after dinner.
At around midnight there was loud knocking on my door, urgent and
consistent, expecting a missive from the Cdr as there was a presentation the
next morning I opened the door.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Groupie in a very good mood, with

a loud shout of ‘Georgie’ and a big crushing hug he met me. That visit
conveyed a lot, despite his schedule he took time off to spend with me,
catching up on old times.
 A few years ago we talked on the phone, he asked me that, if and
when, I ever passed by a certain place in Punjab, would it be possible to
locate a particular house and get the owners number. The man in question
had been his Adjutant in 1 BIHAR. Needless to say I had to do it as this is
the first time I ever had a request from our Groupie.

His erstwhile Adjutant was now a Retd Lt Gen. I conveyed Groupies

greetings to him and he introspected that he had learnt a lot in life from
Groupie and owed his rank to him. With his typical Coorgi style moustaches,
which he grew at times, he looked ferocious but deep inside he was an
extremely gentle and a kind hearted man, he had a tender heart and was most
loveable. We were in touch, though only occasionally.

When I learnt of his not being well from Mrs Cariappa I rung up a
course mate who had some coffee estates near Mysore to check up on him, it
turned out that he was also related to them, he was aware and he conveyed
the reality to me, what Mrs Cariappa as conveying’s were the feelings of a
wife, full of hope and affection.

My calls became more frequent. He was fighting a losing battle in his

medical condition despite being looked after in the best possible way by his
family, which only a devoted wife and children can do. Shortly before he
passed away his memory had faded. Eventually Gods will had to prevail.

A few days before he passed away I had called, Mrs Cariappa held
out the phone to him, she cautioned me that he does not remember anything
anymore, when she told him it was Georgie, a flashback in his mind
triggered a response, he told her, “From Jammu”. He remembered and I felt
a sense of divinity and a blessing.

Rest in Peace Sir, you deserve every bit of it and keep blessing your family
from the heavens up above.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 9

The Sadbhavna of the surgical strikers

By
Colonel Ranjit Singh

Certain happenings in a unit are celebrated, the big ones live on and
the minor ones last awhile. Some unsavoury and embarrassing ones are
brushed under the carpet and left there to be forgotten.

A few small events are innocuous and remain just as a pleasant

memory or otherwise, this is one of them, the real story of which we kept to
ourselves and to which only then Captain Balbir Sambyal and I then a
Major were privy to.

The then Army Cdr Northern Command had a reputation of being a

hard task master and perfectionist. He detested sloth and inefficiency and did
not tolerate non performers. He was extremely fond of his drinks and had a
very hot temper.

All in all, a feared and well known figure in army circles. He was
also a flashy, stylish man, slim, tall, good looking with long white hair.

He was a speed freak and many a time drove to the golf course in
impeccable whites in his open jeep, no driver, alone and at a screaming
speed.
 Ages ago when he was the Brigadier General Staff of a Corps, our
unit did an exercise under him. In the exercise we lost a NCO who was
washed away in a tributary of Chenab River and drowned rather than
becoming an exercise Prisoner of War.

This incident and the unit’s performance during the War had so
impressed him that it was embossed on his mind. He remembered 9 Special
Forces as he rose on to higher echelons in the army.

Years later, The Exercise Group Commander of that particular

exercise was now the Commanding Officer of 9 and the BGS was now the
Army Commander or the GOC in C. NINE was directly under the HQ
Northern Command.

On his first visit to the unit, the CO received him near the car park
and while walking to the office, hoping to catch the CO by surprise he asked
him about the drowning incident years ago and snapped, ‘Do you know the
soldiers name’? The CO promptly shot back in the same tone, ‘Havildar Lal
Chand Dhillon, Sir I was the Group Commander during that exercise. A
mutual understanding between the two was set.

Now, we all have our idiosyncrasies and the Army Commander’s was
speed and motor rallying. He introduced the Northern Command Himalayan
Jonga Rally and since it was his brainchild and the amount of interest he was
taking in the project, it translated into everyone participating in it and vying
to win for obvious reasons.

In its inaugural run our 9 SF came first, the next year 1986, the CO
called me and said that it was imperative we win. With this as the back
ground the story unfolded thus.
 On rally day team 9 (Sambyal, Self, L Naik KS Pathania and Veh
Mechanic NaikJagat Ram) was flagged off somewhere in the middle of the
rallying order. By the time we reached Dalhousie we had managed to climb
up to no 3 position when misfortune struck.

While going down to Khajjiar our brakes failed on a U turn and I

barely managed keeping the vehicle on the road, we lost two hours repairing
the vehicle, understandably, road side repairs being ad hoc jobs, we couldn’t
speed up and were forced to hobble along dangerously, managing to reach
Manali in the dark, 4 hours plus behind the leader.

In Manali, Pathania and Jagat worked the whole night and set the
brakes in order. There was no looking back after that. Over the next two days
we made up all the lost time and were at No 1. While climbing down the last
pass short of Upshi we had to stop the vehicle for a few minutes due to
technical reasons, and the no 2 vehicle overtook us when we reached Leh he
was a just a few minutes ahead.

The rest of the rally was way behind. Come next day, Leh to Dras,
we started second and short of Drass we saw some tell tale signs on the road
which were very heartening, the trail of a petrol leakage, the only vehicle
ahead of us now leading the pack, had a ruptured tank, it was bound to
happen as on the couple of occasions we overtook each other the previous
day he drove over boulders in the rough like a man possessed. We reached
Drass and were now just 2 mins behind the leader.

Disregarding the rough had cost him heavy. We slept easy that night
as the whiskey we had in the transit camp Officer Commanding’s room was
a fool proof sleeping aid. Alcohol was strictly banned during the rally and all
camps on ‘Terra firma’ had strict instructions on alcohol not being served but
this particular Officer Commanding in Drass from the Armoured Corps had
his own interpretation of rules and was rather humane. This instruction
didn’t matter to Sambyal, he being a teetotaller, but after a hard day’s drive
and no sundowners, it definitely used to put me on the edge.

The next morning we started two minutes behind the leader, Sambyal
was driving, we overtook a 1 Ton vehicle and a little ahead, sure enough, we
found the leaders Jonga stranded without fuel, he had topped up in Drass
terra firma but within 10 km it had all leaked out. With Srinagar a long way
off the rally was ours.
 Taking a loop and climbing up the hill I could see below that the 1
Ton had stopped near the Jonga and some hectic activity was going on, they
were loading some Jerry Cans in the Jonga. The competitive leg was till
about 15 Km short of Srinagar. With the other Jonga being immobile and the
rest nowhere in sight we drove in a more assured manner.

A little before the check point in a built up area we were surprised by

the stranded team who emerged from a by lane ahead of us, and reported
first, technically they had beaten us by a few seconds. Something was
seriously amiss here, they were behind us, how did they pop up in front?

They sensed that we knew the truth as we had seen the help extended
to them. Now this was strictly against the rules and if we protested they
would be disqualified. I lodged a verbal protest and was asked to give it in
writing by the afternoon, mean while for the prize giving dry run , our team
was asked to stand at the winners position on the ramp.

Our competitor, an ASC Havildar, seemed a broken man, he had

driven the Jonga all through and the officer in his team, a Lt, was just
present to comply with the rules. The Havildar was desperately trying to
catch my eye and finally mustered enough courage to approach me, with
absolute frankness and from the heart he put forth his case.

He had been promised a promotion to Junior Commissioned Officer

rank of Naib Subedar by his CO if he won, it would immensely benefit him
and his family for life. He explained that he had worked hard all his life, was
never involved in any disciplinary case and if he became a JCO it would be a
honour back in his village.

If we complained he would be ruined. He would be forever grateful

to us if we heard him favourably. His plea sounded like the desperate cry of
a drowning man seeking help.

I walked up to his Jonga with him and saw the three Jerry cans
hidden under a tarpaulin and a rubber pipe to siphon it directly to the
carburettor. I told him to let me know the complete truth, he must have
sensed hope in my words and stated that the ruptured tank was beyond local
repair so they had called their unit at night and en route help from a local
detachment was organized by their unit on the quiet.

On further inquiring, that nowhere from Drass had they overtaken us

so how did they come up in front? He avoided my looks, nervously and with
a shiver in his words he replied that they had carried out a recce of the route
before the rally and knew of the dirt track short of the last check point which
would save them about 10 minutes of time.

Now I had to decide if the protest was to be submitted, if I did, the

implications of his unit’s action on him for telling me all this needn’t be
elaborated. He was a worthy rallyist and in my mind his pleadings
outweighed our claim for the top slot. For us it would just mean a feather in
the cap but for him it was a life and future, not only his but his family’s also.

We did not lodge a protest and accepted the No 2 position.

The implications of what we were doing were understood by us and

we knew that we would always have to keep the reasoning for this decision
to ourselves. I felt that a units standing and positioning has, sometimes, to be
overlooked for a good humanitarian cause. We let him have his JCO’ship. At
the podium we were shifted from No 1 to No2, the Army Commander asked
me ‘Why no 2 why not first’, it did embarrass a little and I replied, ‘He was
a better driver. ’
 The 9 SF Jonga rally team which had won the inaugural Northern
Command Championship, the previous year

On return to the Unit the CO said, ‘I was keeping a track of our

timing, from Manali to Dras our team climbed up to No 2, you were just two
minutes behind, what happened “? My answer was the same, ‘The ASC
Havildar who came first was an excellent driver’.

The rally slowly faded from our minds and a year after the event
there were no recollections, life had moved on to other things. I left the army
prematurely in 1994. About six years ago in 2017 I walked into a Honda
Showroom enquiring about an Accord, the manager introduced himself, on
finding out that I was from the Army we got into a conversation.

He said that his father had also been in the Army, in the ASC. Seeing
my interest in a powerful top end Honda vehicle he asked if I enjoyed
driving, I told him I did and even now I drove myself over long distances,
that is why I was looking for a powerful comfortable vehicle. ‘Which
regiment was yours’, he asked, I said Paras.

He carried on the conversation that when he was young his father’s

driver had told him many stories about a rally; the driver had come first in
the Himalayan Jonga rally and had told him that a Para team had come
second and they were a wonderful lot. I looked at him intently, my mind
going back 30 years and I smiled and replied, ‘Yes, they are’. Somehow the
memory of that youthful ASC Havildar had come full circle.
 Brigadier Balbir Singh Sambyal

We kept this to our selves all these years till I finally rung up
Brigadier Sambyal, retired in 2021 and told him that this red light, flickering
in my brain had to be switched off and we should let the real story be
known.

Sambyal has always shown maturity and understanding far beyond

his years, he agreed and I mailed Gen Tej Pathak, the then CO 9, the facts
briefly so that the memories are corrected. 9 had won the rally but agreed to
let a worthy opponent to have the top spot.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 10

Baptization By Fire In The First Venture

By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar

24th Oct 1987 was my last working day with the unit, as I was to
move out on posting after nearly nine and half years in 9 since
commissioning. At 1600h, I reached the football field as I was to be the
Referee for one of the inter team football matches. To my surprise not a soul
was there.

Wondering, I proceeded towards Bravo Team Lines. I was relieved to

see Captain Sanjay Thapa coming towards me. He seemed to be quite
excited and blurted out…. sir we are off to Jaffna tomorrow morning…. .

I casually enquired "who all” …. . BRAVO TEAM less a Troop with

one Troop of Charlie led by Joe Sengupta and you too sir. He did not notice
my surprised reaction.
So now I was once again the 6 Troop Commander and also the
Officiating Team 2 IC, since Capt Britto was now the Team Commander.
Major Ranjit Singh, the erstwhile Team Commander had just been Struck of
Strength two days back on his posting to a high altitude area.

The next 12 hours were spent checking everything of my 6 TROOP

and then those of the BATS TEAM including the 9 Troop from Charlie
Team. Zeroing of all the weapons was done that night itself and we also
attended the Officers Mess Party to dine out Major Ranjit and celebrate
promotion of Captain S K Varni to Acting Rank of Major.

During the Mess function Britto too was “promoted “ to Major…. .

probably the first BREVET promotion in the Indian Army after the British
Era …a prerogative of the Commander – In -Chief only, now duly taken
over by TIGER 9 with reference to none. Britto kept wearing the epaulettes
and became a Substantive Major only in December 1988.

The Self Styled C - In- C also thumbed his Nose at the Military
Secretary’s Branch. After issuing several threatening signals to the Unit/ CO
for my forth with move to my new posting and added was Captain Anil
Singhal’s forthwith move to NSG . The Military Secretary in the end just
gave up.

BATS Team Jonga being loaded in AN32 on 25 Oct 1987 at Udhampur

Airbase
 ……. Next day on 25 Oct 1987, very early in the morning there was
a unit Mandir function and by 0530 h BATS Team was inside the
Udhampur airbase. Since we had a Troop of Charlie Team with us, we had
decided to call our Team as BATS instead of Bravo Team.

The BATS Stood for Britto, Awadhesh, Thapa and Sengupta. It was
there at the airbase when the Tiger 9 Growled the famous saying “Indian
Army has dialled 9 for assistance, now go and rescue them”. …… since then
9 has remained perpetually in this mode.

◆◆◆

Britto (extreme Left), Awadhesh (next to Britto) and Sengupta (cig

dangling) of BATS. Paratrooper Lakhwinder is in background and
Joginder is the radio operator
 Everyone was quite excited to visit a foreign country and that too
without a passport or even a visa and imagine the excitement had we known
about the VCRs, all modern electronics and foreign beers and Scotch
awaiting us !!

We were also fully aware of the 10 SF set back which they had
during their operation in the Jaffna University area. This was at the back of
our mind but we all were hoping that IPKF would at least leave some last
mopping operations to be done by us also.

Then four dots appeared on the horizon and soon four AN 32s were
lined up on the Tarmac. In less than an hour, one by one the aircrafts took of
and BATS were on their way to Jaffna.

There had been a refuelling and lunch halt at Nagpur and then later a
halt at Tambaram.

At Tambaram we had de planed and sprawled on the green grass next

to the tarmac. When signal was given to board, I picked up a pebble …
mother India …just in case there was no return. When the aircraft took off, I
saw Britto too with his one fist closed. I looked at him pointing to his closed
fist. He just opened it …a pebble was there. Then we noticed many of the
men also with closed fists.

Just before last light, the four AN 32s had finally taken off from
Tambram with the bearings set for Palely……. the Sri Lankan Air Force
base in The Jaffna Peninsula and also housing their HQ Northern Command.
Palaly airbase in Jaffna
 As we neared the island after a 45 minutes flight, the aircraft went for
its final descent, and we could see flashes and flares going up in the distant
sky…. the last of the battles for capture of Jaffna was going on. There was
total silence inside the aircraft.

At last the tail door opened and we stepped out. What a sight….. It
was quite dark outside but we could make out aircrafts and helicopters
parked all around, dozens of them, various types, both military and civil. We
started unloading quickly with every one talking only in whispers….. till we
heard our names being called out loudly.

Then the silhouette of SHASTRI JI was visible and we ran to him,

enquiring if everything was ok with him…. . he replied in vernacular that he
was not a ghost and very much alive and kicking!! We were also told that we
could talk loudly or even shout in case required …. LTTE was far off.
However a bigger foe i.e. Jaffna October Rain could descend on us any
minute with devastating effect.

As advised, our men unloaded all four aircrafts in quick time, loaded
the vehicles provided by thoughtful 10 and Major Sheonan, code name
Shashtriji, drove us, parallel to the runway to 10 PARA location at southern
end of the airbase.

Tents came up quickly and everything got tucked in. Then our boys
were taken to company langars by men of 10 and BATS were similarly given
a warm welcome by Lt Col Dalvir Singh and all the officers in the Officers
Mess.

Next morning, Lt Col Dalvir Singh, gave a pep talk to our men and
then a detail of the prevailing situation in Jaffna. After an our came CO 1
PARA SF , Colonel Arjun Katoch, SM with a few officers. They too
welcomed us and then gave a quick brief of the situation. The cook house
was made functional the fastest as we did not want to burden the ever ready
host … 10 PARA SF .

Soon the men got busy in tidying the camp, sorting out the
ammunition and other stores. Britto and self then went to liaise with the IAF
and Army Aviation helicopter Squadrons and within three hours all four
officers, each went in a Supply Sortie to wherever the helicopters were
going.

Thus Jaffna, vadamarachi, Tenamarachi and even Killinochi areas, all

were visited and people talked to at the brigade/battalion helipads. The IPKF
wasspread out all over but road linkswere yet to be established properly.

We came to know that when operations had started, some units had
gone into battle at night straight after landing at the Palali base. Soldiers who
had been killed in action had not even seen as to where they had come. Over
the next two days, all our JCOs and most of NCOs too had the Chopper rides
to various unit helipads and thus familiarized themselves with the
topography of Jaffna from the air.

Having reported to the Divisional HQ in general and the Colonel

General Staff in particular and taken our briefing, collected our maps etc, we
were now ready for our first mission. Colonel Hoshiar Singh the Colonel GS
(later Major General and Colonel of Parachute Regiment) was a paratrooper
who had also served in 9 PARA for quite some time on its raising. This was
a big comfort to us.

Fully dressed up, all four of were trying to get some sleep after an
early dinner at around 1900h. We were sprawled on our mattresses, on the
tent floor, with our weapon and rucksack neatly piled up beside each.
However sleep was far off.

Much later, we found out that each of us though with varying

commissioned service from 10 years to 7 years, was thinking nearly
the same thing.

Yes, I was frightened but the fear was not of death now, that fear had
receded somewhere beyond the back of the mind. Dispassionate thinking
made you recognize the fact that odds of getting hit was enormous and thus
very remote.

Though at times one wondered that if you do get hit, what would it
feel like and which part will it be. Presently the fright was : When under fire,
Will I be able to do everything which as a Troop Commander I was expected
to do, without displaying any outward sign of fear? After all, counting the
NDA days, for the last 13 and half years, I was training for this day only. I
prayed that my reflexes be fast and voice steady when giving orders. By now
the fear of failure had swamped all other fears.
 Area of first Operation towards the Achchuveli

This was our fourth night in Jaffna or Palaly to be more precise. We

had been given our mission by HQ 54 Infantry Division, to commence onthe
fourth night of our arrival on the Island of Sri Lanka. The General Staff
Officer Grade1, Lt Col Sushil Gupta (later Lt Gen and DCOAS) could
hardly provide much information regarding the enemy…. LTTE was
supposed to be everywhere!!! A battalion of ours was to advance along Road
Vasavilan towards Achchuveli and secure the area for further advance of our
forces into Vadamarachi district to secure Velvettithurai, the most prominent
town of the district and home town of LTTE Chief Prabhakaran. Their chief
ideologist Anton Balasingham was also somewhere there.

The task given to BATS Team was to go Southwards somewhere

between Idakkadu and Achchuveli (see the map above) and establish a block
at a Suitable place to observe the area and prevent escape / reinforcement
across the Causeway Connecting Jaffna district with Vadamarchi district.

After detailed study of the map, the plans were made. My 6 Troop
was to lead with 4 Troop led by Sanjay Thapa in the middle and the rear to
be brought up by 9 Troop of Joydeep SenGupta. Britto with his party would
be right behind my Troop. A detailed briefing was given to the TEAM and
every thing was checked and re checked at every level, several times. The
hidden nervousness was just about under control of every one …. ALL ranks
included.

It was time to get ready. Around 2330 h, some one brought some tea
and soon we were ready. At exactly 2400h, our column was crossing one of
the side gates of the airbase. We started moving ahead, under the watchful
eyes of the Sri Lankan Sentries manning their Machine Guns Posts at regular
intervals along the perimeter.

Around up to a km, we moved along a road. The entire area was fully
lit up with powerful flood lights but though comforting to the Sri Lankan
Sentries this was not to our “ liking “. We would have been comfortable in
total darkness.
 Anyway, by the time we left the road and started moving in dark,
cross country towards our first halt, we had become totally engrossed in our
standard drills and procedures. This had come automatically and all other
“thoughts” and “fears” had been pushed back if not vanquished all together.

Britto and Sanjay Thapa

After 2 to 3 km of cross country move, we again hit a road. Around a

km plus on the road, we could see the perimeter fencing of the Divisional
Ordnance Unit of 54 Infantry Division of the IPKF, our first halt after
leaving the airbase.

As we entered the DOU area, the tension left us completely. The

Team was to rest there till the final kick off time of 0430h. To our surprise
we found out that the DOU had got tea ready for all of us 100+ along with
hot “ pakoras and halwa “. Even at this hour, we suddenly felt hungry and
devoured whatever was offered.

While we were having tea, in came a Team of 1 PARA. They had a

similar task akin to ours but towards the Coast where there were two
Causeways North of Idikkadu. We exchanged notes. Our first 2 km of the
route was the same. So they offered to lead, having more knowledge of the
area as they had spent much more time on the Island.
 Meanwhile, I went around to see the defensive posts from where we
would be exiting and later also approaching while returning after completion
of our mission. These posts happened to be manned by a CRPF platoon. I
got talking to them and also to their Sub Inspector who happened to be from
Bihar, my State.

At 0430h, again we began our next move. We were now fully alert,
body tensed for immediate reaction but somehow the mental tension was
missing. 6 Troop under my Command was leading followed by Team
Commander, 4 Troop and 9 Troop. We were following 1 PARA team keeping
proper distance.

Slowly the darkness began to give way to pre dawn visibility.

Actually the most dangerous time in battle. When it was nearly dawn, we
reached the place where we had to peel off; a code was passed on radio to 1
PARA. Thereafter BATS went to ground for a five minutes halt.

We were moving once again. Now one could make out thing up to at
least 100 m or more, visibility was increasing by minutes. Suddenly there
was crackle in the air, as if something invisible had gone over our heads with
very high speed and at once there were more of it. Sound of rifles firing but
of a lighter variety was clear.

Next few minutes everything was a blur. I dashed and then went
down, crawled to a small mound and looked for my radio operator. He was
right beside me. Then quickly took stock of all four assault Squads. My
Second in Command, Subedar Dharam Singh gave all OK report and I could
see that the Weapon Squad was well deployed under his control. The front
squad had immediately retaliated with rifle fire.

The LMG det again carried out some speculative fire at possible
hiding areas in front. I then ordered the second Squad to manoeuvre into a
new position and asked the number one squad to stop firing. …. . all these
things had happened in a flash.

Slowly my adrenalin flow began to ebb down and heart beat was
getting steady. Then I found my team Commander and his operator beside
me. It was proper daylight now. Britto quickly took report from 4 Troop. 9
Troop had taken position in the pylemera grove itself, which rest of the Team
had cleared few minutes before.

Suddenly both Britto and self started grinning and Sir John D Britto,
the first Brevet Major of Indian Army after independence, appointed by
Tiger 9 under his own authority, began laughing out loudly in his
characteristic style.

We had been fired upon, may be just a few scores of rounds, by the
enemy in anger. We had heard the fire of AK 47 of the LTTE and fire of our
own 7. 62 SLR at the same time. We were clearly able to distinguish
between the phatphat of AK and Crackthump of SLR. We had suffered no
casualties. The enemy had vanished. Lastly all ranks had reacted in perfect
copy book style. BATS Team had passed BAPTIZATION under fire!!!!

Team Commander then asked 4 Troop to lead. 6 Troop was on

ground covering their move to the front. Then 6 Troop got up and started
following and only then 9 emerged from the grove. We were moving well
spread out, as per the terrain.

After about an hour and a half, we were near our given block site.
About 1800m to our left was a Company post of Sri Lankan Army. To the
right about 2 km away was a line of houses and some of them were double
storied. We went to ground.

One Squad with Capt Sanjay Thapa went to recce the Block site. It
was a sort of a grove with Cacti type plants and small bushes up to height of
6 to 7 ft. Area of the grove was not much, just about 100m diameter. After all
clear sign, 4 Troop moved into the grove followed by 6 Troop.

As 9 Troop was approaching, the gates of the Sri Lankan post was
opened and a vehicle started coming towards us at crawling speed. At once 9
Troop went to ground and rest of us in the grove too became tensed up.

Capt Joydeep was immediately asked on radio to shout out a halt

order to the advancing jeep. Next he was asked to move forward with a
Squad and approach the Sri Lankans. As this happened, the vehicle stopped
and a Sri Lankan Lt stepped out. The two sides met and we relaxed a bit on
seeing those shaking hands. The Sri Lankan Army then handed over some
biscuits and fruits to our chaps and went back.

The enemy had no artillery but then they had crude mortars. So by
now every Troop was busy taking up its position and carrying out some
digging. However to our surprise the trenches when just two feet deep got
automatically filled with water, as the area very near to the sea lagoon.

So we adapted immediately and piled all the sand and mud behind
the trenches (nick named these as Jaffna trenches) and took position behind
the mounds. The area grove was located in such way that it had clear view
all around 360°. The Sri Lankan post was behind us on the Southern side.

The village in front on the Northern side was about 2km away. To the
East the nearest grove was again more than 2kms and on the west was the
narrow lagoon ending in a small grove about 1 km away. We could see good
part of a road across the lagoon.

As it was, we had good cover with ample area for resting well hidden
from any type of observation. There was bright sun which ensured that every
thing got dried out. Everyone had a hearty lunch and most went to sleep
except those manning the machine guns as Sentries.

We were fully deployed and coordinated to take on any opposition from

LTTE or the Jaffna rain or so we thought. In the evening the rains came
suddenly for few minutes and made the lot of us pure miserable. It continued
like that, through out the night. Though the misery went away as soon as we
stopped caring about it.

After last light, around 1930h the IPKF columns started their
advance from Vasavilan, a few Kms away in the North and in front of us.
Soon the battle erupted and seemed to be quite intensive, at least from the
amount of fire power being used by both the sides.

Illuminating rounds lit up the sky and to us sitting away, it was like a
huge Diwali. We too were manning every thing and scanning the entire area
with our night vision devices, specially the road area and the houses in front.
We were fully alert.
 Towards mid night the battle had moved towards Achhuveli and it
had become relatively quieter. When suddenly there was loud continuous
noise from somewhere inside our own area. Since now it was my turn to take
some nap, I went towards the centre to investigate. It was none other than
our Team Commander sleeping soundly and snoring away to glory. As per
orders (his orders only) he had to be woken up and we exchanged places.

At dawn we had STAND TO. About half an hour later there seemed
to be some activity across the lagoon. We were under observation by some
people in civilian clothes hidden behind a high ground. After observing their
activity for sometime, the Machine Gun det was asked to fire off a belt over
their head. Within seconds those chap scooted from the area.

Knowing the LTTE tactics of using pylemera trees as observation

posts, we raked the trees in the grove in front of us with some more machine
gun fire. Thereafter the entire day was eventless, though we had to
remainalert. The Team Commander had become sure that we were under
observation from the area Grove near the lagoon and the double storied
houses in the front.

So around 1700 h after observing the area Grove for sometime with
our spotter scope, we again raked the area with Machine gun fire. Once we
stopped, came the sound of a frustrated 3 round burst of AK47 fire. Instantly
our Rocket Launcher fired a High Explosive round into the area.

Then two squads were led by me, well spread out but nearly sprinting
towards the Grove. We searched the grove carefully found few fired cases
and a pair of Slippers, then we placed some well camouflaged trip flares and
came back.

After last light, battle again erupted towards Achchuveli. After an

hour, Major Britto took a LMG det and a two inch mortar and crawled
towards the village. After observing the houses through the night vision for
good about half an hour from about 400m, he fired an illuminating round
towards houses and opened fire on two people armed with rifles, who we’re
seen running away.
 Around 2300h, suddenly we received orders on radio to terminate the
mission and report back to Palaly airbase. We tied up with 10 PARA to
inform the Divisional Ordnance Unit accordingly. We intimated that our
expected time of arrival at DOU would be around 0345h. We also requested
for radio frequency of the DOU in case they had one.

We could leave only at 0030 h and by that time the Jaffna Rain Devil
was actually pouring down like “ cats and dogs “. It made things a bit safer
for move but at the same time was an avoidable misery. We moved cross
country in the pouring rain, taking a route, different from the way we had
come.

Movement, through cultivated/abandoned fields, was not very easy in

that kind of rain. Also area in front had to be scanned quite frequently with
the night vision binocular. Using the night vision helmet mounted Goggles
continuously while moving may look fantastic in Movies (like URI) but is
not Viable when you have to move over long distances and that too in
pouring rain. It is not only practically impossible but rather useless too.

The rains stopped at around 0300h. At that time we too came out of
the water logged fields onto area relatively with much harder surface. The
Team went to ground for a much deserved break. The DOU area was also
not very far off.

So radio contact was tried with the frequency passed onto us by 10

PARA. There was no contact. The move commenced once again. When our
forward elements were about a km away at about 0345 h, we flashed torch
signal towards the DOU, several times.

We began nearing the DOU, a Squad was in front of me with

SubedarPushpender following them. I was following Subedar Pushpender
with my radio operator, when Major Britto moved up and came next to me, a
few meters towards my right.

The Squad halted went to ground, scanned the area and signalled that
now the DOU was just 100 m ahead. We again got up and started moving.
We must have moved less than 50 m in the darkness when suddenly there
was again that crack & thump …the unmistakable sign of 7.

62 SLR rifle followed by LMG firing at us. We wentto ground, with

SubedarPushpender shouting at the top of his voice in Hindi …. Stop firing,
we are paras, IPKF. Luckily rest of the Parachute Commandos knowing the
situation displayed full 100% fire control and discipline. The firing stopped
abruptly.

I suddenly remembered the name of the CRPF Sub Inspector and

shouted out his name two or three times … inspector Pandey and gave out
my name. He replied at once. Then I told him that he must tap his LMG det
physically and tell them of our approach, also to warn all his men in a loud
voice NOT TO FIRE (we did not want any panicky chap to open fire once
again). Once he had done his part, I again shouted that now we are going to
get up and start coming towards him. He shouted back in the affirmative.

In next few minute, 6 Troop and 9 Troop were inside the DOU, it
was then we realized that 4 Troop was missing. There was a bit of panic for
a few Second still Thapa came on radio, saying that he was deployed with
his Troop on our left flank to blast out the area in front. He was immediately
given a Stand down. Subedar Pushpender took a Squad towards the flank to
guide in the 4 Troop. A likely BLUE on BLUE was thus averted in nick of
time.

While enjoying the hospitality of Ordnance Corps once again, we

asked them if they were aware that we were coming. They said Yes but the
time was to be 0330 h. Then we were told that they had seen several torch
signals and took it that LTTE chaps were signalling their men to get ready
for an attack !!!!

Thus ended the first BATS mission of Operation PAWAN.

 Inspecting a LTTE bunker after a firefight near Sandillipai

A few months later, Joydeep’s 9 Troop (now part of Charlie Team, 9),
suddenly got pinned down under heavy fire. He just nonchalantly advanced
at them firing from the hip in true John Wayne style. Two of the LTTE went
down and rest ran away but in the bargain Joe was hit with few bullets, One
in the stomach.

He earned a much deserved Vir Chakra. He later commanded one of

the Action Groups in the NSG. Sanjay Thapa, too got wounded a few
months later and earned a Sena Medal, went on to command the Special
Group and retired as a Brigadier.
 SF are always outstanding…
out standing in mud , rain , snow etc .
A Squad of 6 Troop with the Troop Commander

Somewhere near Sandillipai where a helicopter Landing Zone had

been established by Bravo Team for heli landing of Alpha and Charlie.
Landing was doneunder heavy fire. Thereafter LTTE chased away.

Britto for his work was recommended for Uttam Yudh Sewa Medal
by none other than Rustam K Nanavatty. Two years later on getting out of
Sri Lanka on a peace posting, he was called for his medical categorization
board.

To their “horror” the Board found out that he was due for the same,
three years back. Furious, the bosses issued a Show Cause asking for
explanation…. . He just gave “I was busy bashing up the jungles of
Vavvunia”!!! Later he commanded 9. Last heard, he was busy cycling in
Arunachal Pradesh …he is now 65+.

The recommendations for UYSM for Britto had been forwarded well
in time. The covering letter had been signed by me . However the military
hierarchy (higher HQ) misplaced it, deliberately (my view), and asked for
another one only after Nanavatty had left Sri Lanka on posting. Later when
in Northern Command, General Nanavatty had complemented Britto writing
“it was my privilege of having served with you”.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 11

Operation Pawan – Gone With The Wind

By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar

A few years back, I visited Sri Lanka for the second time. This visit
was with my family with proper passport and visa, unlike the earlier one in
October 1987. That time, I still remember the date 24 Oct 1987, it was my
last working day in the Unit. From next day I was to be struck of Strength
and move to my new place of posting. Since Commissioning in Jun 1978, I
had been serving continuously for more than 9 years but the prospect of
leaving “home” was rather terrifying.
 Next morning by 0800h our BATS Team was airborne with bearing
set Southwards …. . destination Jaffna.

Though, I was posted out of Sri Lanka after about 11 months , the
Unit remained for nearly 3 years and was one of the last to be pulled out,
leaving behind 13 of our Comrades forever mingled with the dust of Sri
Lanka. A few more left behind their hands or legs.

Roughly 1200 all ranks of IPKF were killed and another 3000
wounded, many disabled for life, during the Indian Peace Keeping Operation
in Sri Lanka from Jul 1987 to March 1990.

The Indian Flag had sailed from India for the first time not under an
UN mandate but on the orders of the Supreme Commander to establish
peace in Sri Lanka …. . the Indian Peace Keeping Force.

It returned back only after completing its given mission, let there be
no doubt about it, though at a relatively high cost. For nearly 34 years after
Operation PAWAN commenced on 30 July 1987, this force had been
forgotten by our elected political bosses.

Chief of the Air Staff paying homage at the IPKF Memorial, Battaramulla
at Colombo.
 Yet after completing their mission, YES, they ensured a proper
election and did establish peace and thus completed the mission, IPKF was
bewildered to see the response of the political class of that time both at the
Central and State levels. Even the Paki prisoners of 1971 war had received
a warmer welcome on reaching their Prisoner of War Camps in India, when
arriving from Bangladesh. It has been one of the biggest blot on the Political
leaders and the people of this Nation.

Even the Armed Forces leadership must share the blame. They
should have stood up to be counted. They should have firmly demanded a
proper deal for the IPKF MARTYRS and other war casualties. At least one
officer Lt General SC Sardeshpande , who had replaced Major General
Harkurat Singh in Jaffna in 1987, did stand up but had to pay a heavy price
for it .

Successive Indian Governments kept demonstrating their ostrich like

behaviour for nearly three decades to recognize the true sacrifices of the
IPKF soldiers. For 34 long years the Nation continued to dishonour itself.
Why? Just because few lowly political personalities would get displeased?

Finally permission was given to numerous veterans of IPKF and

other stakeholders to commemorate the anniversary of OP PAWAN on 29 Jul
2021 at the National War Memorial. The veterans of IPKF, the families of
those who were martyred while carrying out their assigned duties, the entire
Armed Forces and all those Indians who cared were reassured.

Sometime in May 1987, I was ordered to rush down from beyond of

back, somewhere in Zanskar to New Delhi. A Commando Cell was being
created in the Military Operations with Colonel S S Mann as the Director. I
was to assist him as an errand boy. Brig V P Malik (later COAS) was his
immediate boss.

Even as a Captain, soon I could sense a flurry of planning activities

concerning both up north in Siachen and down South in Jaffna. Mann was
also tasked to handle Sri Lanka desk by the DGMO, Lt Gen B C Joshi.

While Brig Pervez Musharraf was planning his OP QAIDAT to

recover Bana Post, Sri Lankan Army had initiated OP LIBERATION or
Vadamarachi Operation to finish the Elem Tigers. So India initiated OP
VAJRA to checkmate Musharraf and OP POOMALAI (air drop of essential
supplies) to warn the Lankans.

Then on a very hectic day, Sukhi Mann came out of the Military
Operations Room, to the Commando Cell (the size of the room was actually
like a prison cell) and said that India and Sri Lanka were to sign a peace
accord.

A division size IPKF would be sent to Sri Lanka to maintain peace

and “disarm” the various Tamil Groups. He said that there were over a dozen
tasks/Scenarios and added his prophetic word “hope we don’t end up
fighting the LTTE “.

By first week July, I was back with my unit in the Kashmir valley,
preparing to call on Brig Musharraf but his QAIDAT faltered. Instead on 25
Oct, I found myself in Palaly, Jaffna.

After around two months with the Unit, I along with three senior
officers (Majors) established the Ad hoc HQ Special Forces with Rustam K
Nanavatty as the Commander.

Another two to three weeks, all others were reverted to their units
and I got elevated as “Chief of Staff” (in lighter vein Commander had
introduced me to a visiting General). Later Sukhi Mann became the next
Commander but I continued.

This Ad hoc HQ was directly under the HQ IPKF and also

maintained direct link with Commando Cell at Military Operations. Thus
even as a lowly Captain, I had the daily SITUATION REPORT, etc of the
entire IPKF with detailed reports of each division. I also had daily report of
the LTTE, constructed from their intercepts!!! …. They were very very
accurate.

So as an overview, I can say that, floundering and falling and getting

up, IPKF did a wonderful job. As happens every time with us, the Young
Officers rose up to the occassion. The JCOs and NCOs initially bewildered
(not due to lack of courage) because in peacetime they were never given the
initiative, also stood up and did a wonderful job.

The failure was at the Grand Strategy level. The politicos forgot that
war is continuation of politics by other means (or most likely they were just
not aware of this fact!! How can it be?).

Rajiv Gandhi rightly took the decision to display NATION WILL

POWER. However the Cabinet Committee Security, PMO, the External
Affairs, Defence Ministry and the Intelligence outfits all faltered badly. The
plans should have been made, scenarios worked out right up to the
withdrawal. The GHQ of course must share the blame for not advising and
INSISTING to the elected politicos entrusted with the constitutional task of
defending the Nation.

Certain excerpts will highlight things for the readers.

One day on Rupavahini, Lankan TV, I had heard Shri Jayavardhane

speaking to his Countrymen “ earlier our boys were getting killed, we were
spending huge amounts on fighting. Now that money, I am able to spend on
your welfare and it is the IPKF which is getting killed “.

Then there was a cartoon in the ISLAND showing Jayavardhane and

Prabhakaran as boxers in the Rink. Rajiv Gandhi was the referee. However
Jayavardhane was resting in one corner and Rajiv Gandhi bashing up
Prabhakaran. While Jayavardhane saying “referee don’t leave him”.

Another news some time in 1988 was the arrest of a Joint Director
level officer of one of our Intelligence outfits for espionage. Thus indicating
that our long term plans etc were compromised at various levels.
 Special Forces being inserted into an area in Sri Lanka

9 Special Forces had among other things captured one Captain

Shukla of the LTTE who had been the Chief of Security of Anton
Balasingham, another captain was wounded and captured and later on Jyothi
their “Chief Signal officer” and the “finance Minister”. We had lots of
meaningful talks with them. Then there were the captured documents,
videos etc pouring all the time into our HQ.

LTTE was being pressurized to give up their weapons. When called

to New Delhi for talks, Prabhakaran had found that he was virtually under
arrest. So reluctantly agreeing over “everything” he got back. There
Jayvardhane was shouting that IPKF had come on his request and would go
back on his ORDERS.

Prabhakaran then wanted a written assurance from India and a

Statement to the effect in the Indian Parliament that IPKF will return only
on LTTE recommendations. Our side was reluctant to give this. Meanwhile
India agreed to hand over around a dozen LTTE top cadres (arrested by Sri
Lankan Navy but under ‘custody ‘ of 10 SF ) to the Sri Lankans.

Protest from LTTE notwithstanding, they were handed over after a

high drama. All of them committed suicide.

Final trigger was the decision to arrest the top leadership of LTTE by
IPKF. Army HQ and 54 Division made a faulty assessment that things would
get wrapped up in 48 to 72 hours. What we had later seen on ground that
LTTE military cadre was a very well organized and efficient fighting force,
together with experience of fighting the Sri Lankan Army, had become an
extremely well trained and potent force.

LTTE Civil administration cadres were equally good. They were

running a proper government in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trinco and Batticaloa and
doing a job which appeared to be better than many of our State Governments
of the time.

Then militarily, our military Commanders on ground at various

levels from top downwards forgot the basic question “what if LTTE and
other groups refuse to hand over their arms”. It seemed no one in the IPKF
prepared for this basic scenario after arrival on the Island.

As per Captain Shukla and others, after arrival of the IPKF, orders
had been issued by the LTTE top brass to hand over some of the unfit/older
weapons to the IPKF but grease and store all other serviceable weapons
bought/received from international market, in secret hides. This was for the
day when IPKF would go back. LTTE had to be ready to defend themselves
from other Tamil Groups like PLOT, TELO, EPRLF etc and of course the
Sri Lankan Forces.

But then why did you fight us was our question. “why you did? was
the retort of Captain Shukla …. because you were ordered to and so were
we “. He said that when “ Our intelligence got the wind of IPKF impending
plan which was to start on 11 Oct, our bosses surmised that LTTE was well
prepared to take on an understrength, lightly armed IPKF for 48 to 72 hours.
After that there would be intense political pressure in India to call for a
ceasefire. Thus the bargaining stock of the LTTE would go up at the
negotiating table. ”

So on 10th night LTTE seized the initiative and IPKF walked into the
IED warfare trap which had actually been planned and prepared to stop the
Sri Lankans onslaught towards Jaffna during OP LIBERATION. Rest is
history.

During my second visit to Sri Lanka, I was totally amazed at the War
Memorial in the town of Kandy. The way it was maintained and the way
people placing fresh flowers and getting pictures clicked on a Sunday
afternoon.

Kandy War Memorial

The war cemetery was beautifully maintained and had sites marked
with fullest details of all the 30 odd Indians who had died on duty in Sri
Lanka during World War 2. I spent nearly two hours, going through the
details and signed the visitor’s book. The gardeners and the caretaker all
came to ask me, if I was from the Indian Army and shook hands.

Next I also visited the IPKF war Memorial near Colombo. This
memorial was mooted by President Premdasa and constructed by the Lankan
Government in 2008. Names of all the 1265 soldiers killed in Action are
there on the Black Marble. Five years later in 2014 the erstwhile IPKF HQ
now designated as HQ 21 Corps too constructed an IPKF Memorial at its
location in Bhopal. General A S Kalkat should have got it done long time
back when he was the Southern Army Commander in 1993.

So what is required, besides the National War Memorial finally

constructed by the express initiative and persistence of one man, is to have
similar memorials (smaller scale) at various places from where soldiers have
been martyred or awarded for valour.

Brig M S Sandhu , SM of 10 SF laying wreath at Jaffna War Memorial.

He was a Captain during OP PAWAN
 I was also told in Colombo that a memorial for IPKF soldiers built in
Palaly; Jaffna had once again been renovated declared open in June 2015
itself. The names of 33 paratroopers of 10 PARA who had died in the
operations in the Northern Province during 1987–1990 have been inscribed
on a wall at the memorial site. Even the LTTE had respected this memorial
after withdrawal of the IPKF.

Brigadier M S Sandhu and Mrs Jyotsna Sandhu at Jaffna War

Memorial

Such gestures are periodic reminders to the public of sacrifices made

by the brave soldiers and to encourage and motivate the common man.
Similarly the exploits of IPKF should not be forgotten by the Nation.

They carried out the task assigned, at a cost, established the WILL of
GOVT OF INDIA on the LTTE and others concerned and certainly returned
Victorious. So just to placate a few politicians, the Nation cannot permit
obscurity to the IPKF.

Not mentioning, IPKF on Army Day is certainly a mistake and needs

to be rectified at all levels. Between the periods 1987 - 88, seven out of then
nine battalions of Parachute Regiment were deployed in Lanka/Maldives
proving that Men Apart Every Paratrooper is an Emperor .

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 12

India Must Celebrate Surgical Strike

Anniversary
(An article written in 2018)

By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar

There was a news item, welcomed by nearly all the Armed Forces
Veterans regarding the Government of India plans to celebrate at the
National Level the second anniversary of the ‘surgical strike’ undertaken by
the Indian Army on September 29, 2016.

What is disheartening that this planned celebrations spread over two

weeks starting 29 September is being termed as “ Political gimmick “ by
certain political adversaries of the Government led by PM Modi and a
certain section of the Press has even called It “wasteful “.

The Celebrations of the surgical strike anniversary event is ,

something distinct from say the VIJAY DIWAS or the ARMY DAY or say
the INFANTRY DAY. This is to celebrate the NATIONAL WILL POWER
DAY.

There are various parameters which measure the Power of a Nation.

These are geographical size, population size, economic size, availability of
natural resources, industrial- technological – scientific prowess, military size
and capabilities etc.
 The graded values of all these parameters are added to decide the
overall National Power and the pecking order at the international level.

However there is one parameter whose values are not added but
multiplied to the sum of all other powers and that is POLITICAL WILL
POWER. In case the value of this power tends towards zero then the overall
NATIONAL POWER also becomes zero.

For a major portion of our existence since 1947, our country has been
suffering from deficiency of this POLITICAL WILL POWER. It was briefly
displayed in 1947 - 48 by Sardar Patel, by Nehru in ‘ 61 during liberation of
Goa, then by Shastri during the 1965 Indo Pak War and by Indira Gandhi
during the 71 War, the ‘74 Nuclear test and merger of Sikkim in 1975, by
Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 when ordering IPKF into Sri Lanka and the Maldives
Operations in 1988 and by Vajpayee in 1998 for nuclear weaponisation and
later during Kargil Operations.

Therefore the purpose of the surgical strike anniversary is certainly

related to demonstration of ‘national political will’, one of the most
important elements of power.

That the present government will be facing general elections in the

coming months is a known thing and if this celebration will help it, then
there is nothing wrong with it…. it is for the people to decide. They can
easily distinguish between a real thing and a gimmick.

It is indeed this government which in the first place took a calculated

risk to demonstrate THE POLITICAL WILL. After all even a war is
continuation of politics by other means.

Osama Bin Laden, a spent force, was in hiding in Abbotabad and had
become just a symbolic threat. So eliminating him was nothing great
militarily. However OPERATION NEPTUNE SPEAR the raid which wiped
him out became a galvanizing factor for not just the American military but
the entire American Nation.

Similarly, many raids have been carried out by the Indian Army on
the Pakistani Army front lines and some even behind it. However all of these
were in the past at the behest of the Commanding Officer of a Unit itself or
the local brigade commander.

Even when a clearance was given at higher level, a deniability clause

was in built, if things went wrong ie our boys were killed behind the enemy
lines or worst taken prisoners.

This was the first time when clearance was given at the highest
political level, detailed planning was done at HQ Command level and full
support given at GHQ level.

Next what is most important that people at all levels were ready to
take the blame in case things went wrong. Also for the first time India
officially announced to the World that the Country’s Armed Forces had
indeed carried out a strike behind the Pakistani military lines to destroy
terrorist camps and was ready to do so again, if required.

Therefore I really welcome the idea to commemorate the Strike Day

with displays not only on the lawns of India Gate in the National Capital city
but in all the State Capitals.

Also any one trying to link these celebrations with the forthcoming
elections is at the least displaying narrow mindedness.

We need to honour our soldiers, not by mere lip service but

periodically by display of such Public Celebrations.

We have been celebrating Vijay Diwas, the 1971 victory, the Kargil
Diwas and similar historic events.

Such gestures are periodic reminders to the public of sacrifices made

by the brave soldiers and to encourage and motivate the common man.

Therefore to feel exceptionally proud of the surgical strike is

certainly called for.

This Strike brilliantly executed by 9 and 4 Para SF is indeed a proud

carrying forward of the traditions set by Colonel Megh Singh in Sep 1965.
 Then at a personal level having been commissioned in 9 and having
served there physically for 12 long years, I too can bask in its after glow.
Though way back in 1992, we Team Commanders, after being alerted for a
similar thing had kept waiting for the display of Political Spine.

After all , the feat is akin to the Mandhol Gun Raid in 1971 War
under the leadership of Major Chander Malhotra by Charlie Group 9 Para
SF or the Capture of Qaid Post in Siachen by Subedar Bana Singh of 8 JAK
LI.

In SF, people are quite comfortable with operating in isolation and

without seeking publicity, though such public celebrations will certainly
provide them with great sense of honour even in anonymity.

While travelling around in Australia, once we had visited a small

picturesque town called Gosford near Sydney.
Gosford War Memorial
 I was totally amazed at the War Memorial in that town, the way it
was maintained and the way people were placing fresh flowers and getting
pictures clicked on a Sunday afternoon.

Down below is picture of a War Memorial in a very small place

enroute Sydeny from Melbourne, where we had stopped to have our packed
lunch. On one side it has names of all from the district who have rendered
service in various Wars fought by ANZAC. Names of all those who gave the
Supreme sacrifice are listed on the other side. Those who won awards are
also listed separately.
 Rosevita Kumar ( My Wife ) Most Australian towns have such
memorials.

So what is required, besides the war memorial under construction at

India Gate, is to have similar memorials (smaller scale) at various places
from where soldiers have been martyred or awarded for valour. We need to
honour our soldiers, not by mere lip service but periodically by display of
such Public Celebrations.

OceanofPDF.com
 About The Author
Colonel Ranjit Singh
Colonel Ranjit was commissioned into 9 on 31 Mar 72 during OP CACTUS
LILY. He served continuously for seven years plus before being posted in
1979 to Parachute Regimental Centre and from there to HQ Parachute
Brigade as GSO3(OPS). He was back with the Unit in 1982 and later
became Bravo Group Commander.

Unfortunately he was posted out to SFF in 1987 just on the eve of OP

PAWAN. He was posted back to 9 as the Second in Command in Dec 89 as a
Lt Col and joined in early 1990. In Oct 1993 he moved out to Command 2
Vikas of Special Frontier Force. He took premature retirement from the
Army in 1994 after about 22 years of service.

He was the unit’s first skydiver to have qualified in the long course at PTS in
the early 70’s and also has been an excellent Skier. Apart from his interests
in driving and reading books, paintings etc he has been a globe trotter right
from his Lt days.

OceanofPDF.com
 About The Author
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar

Colonel Awadhesh Kumar studied at St Michael's High School Patna. He

joined 52 NDA Course in July 1974 and was commissioned directly into 9
PARA CDOS in June 1978 with 2 ASSAM as parent unit. He has vast
operational experience and served in OP PAWAN and OP RAKSHAK He
led the first deployment of SF in Kashmir and has done a stint on Siachen
Glacier too.

He was associated with the creation of SF Cell in the Military Operations

Directorate in 1987, and was a Staff Officer to the Commander, Adhoc HQ
SF in OP Pawan. The onus of raising HQ SF and SF Training School had
fallen on him in 1993 as the GSO2 till the arrival of the Commander some
eight months later. He has trained abroad in Heavy Dropping from C-130
Herculeus and other training activities associated with helicopters.

Being a DSSC graduate, he has held a number of Staff appointments at a

Mountain Divisional HQ, a CI Force HQ, Army HQ, SF HQ and three
instructional tenures apart from 12 years in 9 PARA SF and 2 years in SFF.

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 Books By This Author
Nine the Special Forces: Dial 9 for Assistance
This book is a collection of some very interesting though untold accounts
from the illustrious unit of Indian Army, 9 Para Special Forces.

Navigating Dangerous Waters

This is not a book but just a collection of articles written over several years.
It may also seem strange that a Pongo is writing about the Navy. Though we
have started moving towards Theaterisation, these writings have nothing to
do with it; it’s just the continuation of the pre-NDA dream of joining the
Navy.

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