Battles fought during Kargil conflict

Towering behind the Kargil War Memorial near the town of Drass, the centre stage of the conflict’s 25th anniversary commemorations, is Tololing visible in the distance to the north-west in Tiger Hill, the conflict’s most celebrated geographical feature. Both are among the sites, along with places like Khalubar Top in Batalik that witnessed some of the most decisive battles of the conflict.

Said to be a turning point of the conflict, Tololing was captured on June 13 after three weeks of intense fighting. After initial attempts by various units were unsuccessful, 2 Rajputana Rifles, commanded by Lt Col MB Ravindranath, and additional artillery support were inducted. The battalion’s C and D companies launched an attack, with two other companies establishing support bases. D company went in first and despite facing heavy fire at close range, succeeded in establishing a foothold. An assault by C company followed and after intense hand-to-hand fighting, succeeded in evicting the enemy from the top.

The loss of Tololing top was a major setback for them and a counter-attack was launched with a vengeance, which was beaten back by C-Company. Thereafter, the unit’s A and B Companies were launched to capture the remaining areas around the peak. Artillery fire support as well as the role of the units commando platoon was instrumental during the battle.

TIGER HILL

The highest feature in the Drass sector, Tiger Hill was captured by 192 Mountain Brigade, led by Brig MPS Bajwa, with three infantry battalions. The attack was launched on July 3, which was preceded by intense bombardment by over 100 artillery guns and rocket launchers, as well as aerial attacks by the Air Force. Supported by artillery fire, 18 Grenadiers commenced a multi-directional assault under the cover of bad weather and darkness. The battalion’s A-Company captured an intermediate position in the wee hours, while C and D- Companies approached from other directions and surprised the enemy, capturing the area just below the peak.

By 4 am on July 4, after a carefully orchestrated artillery bombardment, the troops approached Tiger Hill top by climbing a sheer cliff and caught the enemy unawares. After hand-to-hand combat, they succeeded in capturing the objective.

As the Grenadiers held on to the top, the Pakistanis began their counter-attacks and it was realised that it would not possible to evict them from the area completely as long as their supply lines were intact. 8 Singh was tasked to capture features like Helmet and India Gate along the hill’s western spur, which was accomplished on July 5 despite heavy casualties. The entire area of Tige Hill was finally cleared by July 8.

KHALUBAR

Khalubar was the hub of enemy activity in the Batalik sector, with Muntho Dhalo, the main enemy logistic base located there. The initial assault on Khalubar was launched on June 30 by 22 Grenadiers which had to overcome stiff enemy resistance to secure small footholds on the ridgeline, which were expanded with the induction of reserve battalions. On June 2, 1/11 Gorkha Rifles Battalion began its build-up for attack the next day with artillery guns targeting enemy sangars and disrupting communications and supply lines. After climbing up the mountainside for seven hours, the Gorkhas reached their objective on the Khalubar ridge. The battalion eventually cleared the enemy from Khalubar on July 6 and linked up with 12 J&K Light Infantry located to the south. The enemy suffered heavy casualties and left behind a huge quantity of weapons, including US stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

POINT 4875

Point 4875 located in the Mushkoh Valley overlooked a 30-odd kms stretch of the Srinagar – Leh national highway, allowing Pakistani artillery to easily interdict the movement of vehicles, which was restricted to the hours of darkness.

On July 4, 13 J&K Rifles began its attack on a neighbouring feature, Flat Top, under artillery support. By attacking from two different directions, the battalion managed to divide the enemy’s attention, but as the troops came close to the objective, they were pinned down by the enemy fire and could not make further progress.

Daylight saw the troops exposed on the mountainside, requiring artillery guns to pound the enemy positions for several hours. Anti-tank missiles were also used to destroy some enemy bunkers. The enemy position was attacked again. Flat top was captured by the afternoon of July 5 after intense fighting. The next day, the troops came under heavy artillery and machine gun fire. Additional reinforcements were sent in to clear enemy locations adjacent to the Point. The bodies of a large number of Pakistanis soldiers had been recovered during the prolonged battle.

THREE PIMPLES AREA

A cluster of sharp, the area, comprising three features – Knoll, Lone hill and Three Pimples, is located to the west of Tololing dominating the national highway and Drass town. For several hours before the assault, about 120 artillery platforms saturated the targets with high explosive.

Two companies went in for the assault and despite the casualties, established a foothold on Knoll by midnight. An enemy counter-attack was repulsed with concentrated fire from medium guns. This enabled a close-range observation of Three Pimples, resulting in an accurate artillery barrage on the enemy.

Lone Hill was an imposing feature with sheer cliff faces covered by enemy machineguns and the moonlight made operations even tougher. Troops managed to negotiate treacherous terrain without getting noticed and assaulted the enemy positions from the south after climbing sheer rock face of 200 feet. Three Pimples was vacated on June 29. — Vijay Mohan