'A handful captured the peak'
By Amarjit Thind
Tribune News Service

CHANDI MANDIR, Aug 19 — "The peak was unnamed but our men did not spare any effort in overcoming strong defences and heavy firing to capture it," says Havildar Yudh Veer of 5 Para who was injured while taking the height during Operation Vijay in the Batalik sector. He is a resident of Azamabad Mokhuta in the Mahendragarh district of Haryana.

Convalescing at Western Command Hospital here, he said this peak was adjacent and on the right side of Point 5385 on our side of the Line of Control (LoC). It was an imposing hill of sheer cliffs capped by snow and was known to be heavily defended.

An assault team was assembled and briefed about the mission at 8.30 p.m on July 22. Surprise and swiftness were stressed and it was also made known that the height was of strategic importance which had to be captured at any cost.

The 20-men team, under the command of Capt B.M. Cariappa, headed out from the base camp at 10 p.m. They had hardly gone some distance when it began to snow and to make matters worse, it started to drizzle also. The men were soaked and pitch dark made the progress impossible. The track, whereever clear, at places became slushy. It affected the progress of the men who were weighed down by the equipment they were carrying.

Falling and stumbling, they negotiated their way over the cliffs and managed to reach the ridgeline by 2.30 a m. They could see the enemy bunkers but no movement. As they crept their way towards the bunkers, some movement might have given them away as the enemy opened the fire.

However, they were close to the bunkers. After a fierce encounter lasting an hour, the enemy soldiers fled their positions. The assault team stormed into the bunkers and killed two infiltrators who were still fighting. All was over by 4 am.

A perusal of the bunkers revealed that they were well stocked for any eventuality. There was a large stock of ammunition and foodgrains. The cache included UMGs, HMGs, LMGs, AGLs, 120 mm mortars and nearly a truckload of grenades.

After securing the parameters they scouted the nearby areas. As dawn broke, they saw that they were facing an enemy camp with a couple of tracks probably leading to their supply lines in the background. There were nearly 45 snow tents and they guessed the enemy's strength to be nearly 200 soldiers.

"The counterattack came at 5.30 am. The enemy positions from the nearby peaks opened fire and artillery fire was also brought on us. Since we had the advantage of height, the first attack petered out in view of accurate fire from our men," Havildar Yudh Veer said.

"The second one which came a few hours later was also repulsed by us. After this, further attempts were abandoned by the enemy. It was at this time that a bullet shattered my arm. Handful of men fought like lions in face of 150 men," he added.

"Following this, their artillery pounded the ridge injuring some of our men. At the end of the day, we counted 10 enemy soldiers dead, besides several wounded carried away by the fleeing enemy. But we still lost two men while eight were wounded," he said.

"Army is my life and I am looking forward to be in uniform again," he says.

Waiting for Guinness recognition
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 19—All- time great players of ice hockey feature in a book authored by Parneet, who is in contention for recognition by the Guinness book of World Records as the youngest sports author.

Parneet, currently based in Canada talked to the Tribune here yesterday. The book, which carries details of equipment and data of the game,also carries exclusive interviews of six all- time greats of the game, including Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr.

"The highlight of my research was interviewing Gordie Howe over the Christmas break.I could not believe that I was interviewing the greatest player of ice hockey of all times", he said.

"I wrote about ice hockey because I liked and also played with my friends in the streets.", he said . The book of the 14- year -old author titled ``the NHL and the history of ice hockey" was published in December, 1998.

Parneet had enrolled in the local St Johns school before he shifted to Canada in Class I. Currently a student of Class X he shows interest in pursuing education in computers and as police officer.

He stunned his parents, brother and grandmother when he announced that he was writing a book at the age of 13. They couldn't believe when he managed in having the book published.

The young author awaits a quick release of his book on baseball and hopes to publish poetry. The development in the young should make an interesting reading because he hardly knew how to even speak English before he shifted abroad.