Mt Tololing lesson came in handy at Tiger Hill: Ex-CO

Vijay Mohan

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 3

Tiger Hill and Mount Tololing became household names 19 years ago when the Kargil conflict raged across the icy heights along the LoC in J&K as their recapture proved to be the turning point in the two-month conflict. An infantry battalion that played a crucial role in recapture of both peaks learnt valuable lessons in the art and science of warfare the hard way.

Tiger Hill, the most iconic feature of the battle zone that towers over Dras town and dominates the national highway, was captured by 18 Grenadiers on July 4. A fortnight before the recapture, the battalion had been involved in the assault on Tololing, which was wrested from Pakistan intruders on June 14. “Tololing, where we suffered high casualties, could have been different. When we were initially tasked with capturing the feature, there was negligible intelligence on the enemy, inadequate logistics, lack of equipment and no artillery support,” recalls Brig Khushal Thakur (retd), who was then the unit's Commanding Officer.

The troops, who had been moved in from counter-insurgency operations, were not acclimatised for high-altitude warfare. Till then, the general mood in higher echelons was that just a few terrorists had sneaked in and evicting them would be easy. Three battalions — Grenadiers, Garhwal and Naga — of the 121 (Independent) Brigade headquartered at Kargil had been ordered to capture Tololing in the middle of May. The feature had to be cleared first as it was closest to the highway and was being used by Pakistan to direct artillery fire. Initial frontal assaults along the steep, barren mountainside were beaten back. The engagement continued till June 14, with 2 Rajputana Rifles doing the final mopping up operations.

At Tololing, the senior-most officer, Lt Col R Vishwanathan, fell to enemy bullets while leading an attack.