Treacherous enemy, fierce battle in the open

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 4

At Dehradun, the unpacking of heavy baggage received from the Regimental Centre was being done when "bang" came the order to move for "Operation Ablaze". The 3rd Garhwal Rifles thus spent three months in Punjab from May to July. But the heat was soon forgotten when the battalion landed at Dalhousie. The peace location was changed. The families and heavy luggage arrived at Dalhousie. And then another bigger and a louder bang came for "Operation Riddle". The war with Pakistan that began in September 1965 was really a riddle. The battalion moved under 38 Infantry Brigade along with 1/3 Grenadier and 1 Jat (LI).

On the intervening night of September 5 and 6, the battalion under the command of Lt Col Lachhman Singh Gusain, Veer Chakra, crossed the international border without opposition. The task given to the battalion was to advance to the Ichhogil canal after clearing Bhasin, Dogaich and Wagrian villages en route. While advancing along the GT road, four Sabre aircraft of Pakistan strafed the column and the

battalion suffered a few casualties. Some vehicles and equipment were also damaged.

When the battalion reached Sadhanwali village about 1,800 yards short of the objective, it came under heavy artillery fire and the advance was held up. On the evening of September 9, Pakistan troops intensified the already heavy artillery fire, including air burst. During this time, Major RA Michael and Capt JS Gill commanding ''B'' Company were wounded and evacuated.

Some enemy tanks closed in on our troops but were halted around 1,000 yards away. These tanks tried to demoralize our battalion by using small arms and high explosives but to no avail. D Company Commander Capt JS Malia was killed in the action.

The battalion was redeployed in Sadhanwali and was ordered to send a patrol to the Ichhogil canal. Subedar Darwan Singh Bhandari led this patrol that was trapped in a strongly defended enemy position. The JCO and 19 other ranks never came back. Only seven returned to tell the story.

The Battle of Wahgarian-Dogaichi

On September 17 and 18, the long-awaited orders for the capture of Wahgarian-Dogaichi were received. The Commanding Officer, Lt Col Lachhman Singh Gusain, Veer Chakra, gave out his plan for the attack to his group. ''A'' Company commanded by Major Hira Singh Thapa was to launch the assault on Dogaichi while ''C'' Company commanded by Major Vijai Kumar Khanna was to attack Wahgarian. Other two companies were to act as reserves in the forming up place.

At last light, the battalion started moving to the forming up place from defences at Sadhanwali. By about 9.30 pm, the last of the troops had moved in. Intensive pre-H hour bombardment by 81 Fd Regiment was carried out for 10 minutes. However, as soon as our artillery fire was halted, the enemy opened fire with artillery, tanks and MMGs. The intensive enemy firing caused heavy casualties but our troops crossed the start line. The left flank (''C'' Company) reached within a few yards of the objective but because the right flank had not made any progress, the advance was held up.

The assaulting troops were caught in the open in the crossfire of MMGs and artillery bombardment. Utter confusion prevailed and radio communication with the Brigade headquarters was also disrupted. The only link left with the Brigade headquarters was through artillery communication.

Around 3 am on September 19, Brigade Commander Brig PW Pathak decided to abandon the attack primarily because of the approaching dawn. The orders were received to withdraw to Sadhanwali defences and the battalion reoccupied the old position in the falling darkness.

In Sadhanwali, the troops stood firm in spite of heavy enemy shelling and MMG fire. The enemy continued intensive shelling on Sadhanwali defences with heavy and medium guns. On the intervening night of September 22 and 23, during one of the heavy enemy shelling, Major Khanna''s trench had a direct hit and he was killed. Two signal men NK Chandan Singh and Rifleman Bikram Singh, Naib Sub Sain Singh and Major Bal of 7 Cavalry were also killed in this shelling that night. The ceasefire came into force at 3.30 am on September 23 when guns on both sides fell silent. The troops got a respite after 19 days of hard fighting.

Ceasefire

The unit remained in the Pakistan area till February 1966, but unlike other places there were no ceasefire violations in this sector. On September 28, Lt Col Lachhman Singh Gusain, Veer Chakra, was evacuated. Major Hira Singh Thapa remained in command till the arrival of Lt Col RA Michael from hospital on November 18. There was considerable redeployment and the battalion was busy building defences.

A memorial to those killed has been built on the GT road at milestone 9 (near Gharenda police station).