The Battle of Siramani : The Tribune India

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The Battle of Siramani

On December 16, 1971, one of the fiercest battles of the Indo-Pak War in Bangladesh was being fought in the Khulna sector.

The Battle of Siramani

Illustration: Sandeep Joshi



Brig HS Lamba (retd)

On December 16, 1971, one of the fiercest battles of the Indo-Pak War in Bangladesh was being fought in the Khulna sector. Pak 9 Inf Div was pitted against 9 Inf Div of the Indian Army led by Maj Gen Dalbir Singh. The Pakistani Division carried out a tactical withdrawal from Jessore and fell back to the sound defence of Siramani. Three attempts by three battalions were made to capture Siramani, but despite suffering many casualties, they failed to capture the objective. The General Officer Commanding of the division tasked 13 Dogra to carry out a daylight attack for the same. The entire divisional artillery had to support the attack. On the evening of December 15, 1971, the Commanding Officer, 13 Dogra, Lt Col TGPM Nair, called “O group” at a dilapidated hut. The area between the Bhairab river and the objective astride a road-cum-railway line was thickly wooded, except the last 400 yards. The CO expressed his inability to give orders as the objective could not be seen. I, by then a senior company commander, assured the CO that we do not need any orders as the enemy will open up with its weapons and the objective will be (clearly seen) defined. I also suggested him that the success signal for this operation should be given the code word “Phakian”. 

On December 16 at 0930 hours, the assaulting companies left the forming up place (FUP). My company (Alpha Company) was on the left and the Charlie Company on the right with Bravo and Delta companies as reserves. As we came out of the wooded area, the companies spread out. Despite being assured of the support of the divisional artillery, not a single artillery shell landed on the objective. In daylight, the enemy was able to target the commanders at will and there were large-scale casualties. Every step that we took towards the objective, we saw someone getting dropped, killed or wounded. 

Having got a bullet in the lower portion of my neck, I was one of the first to be wounded. Fortunately, I was not incapacitated and kept up the momentum. Just when I was shouting at Capt Kulkarni, my Forward Observation Officer from the artillery, for not providing us the requisite artillery support, he got a burst from the enemy machine gun on his thigh and dropped dead.  The CO of the affiliated field artillery regiment, who was with the brigade headquarters, contacted me on the radio and told me that they had started firing as per the plan, but the shells landed at the 4 Sikh location, who were inching forward to establish a block behind the enemy.  I requested him to shift the fire to east of the road and the railway line so that effective cover could be provided to the troops. Capt Tikkam, one of my platoon commanders, was also injured at this juncture. The gallant Dogras continued to press forward despite all odds.

There were times when we thought that the assault would have to be abandoned due to high number of causalities. Naib Subedars Roshan and Mulraj inspired us. I asked for reinforcement and Major Bhola, who was commanding the Bravo Company, came out of the wooded area from the FUP and was hit by a bullet and he died.  

Now, it was not a problem to get the Bravo Company reach my location.  Hats off to Sub Budhi Singh, senior JCO of the company, who displayed rare qualities of leadership and courage to bring his men near my company.  Charlie Company on my right had slowly drifted further right under pressure from the enemy fire.  Once the Bravo Company joined me, we put in the final assault and over ran the enemy localities. Charlie and Delta companies, meantime, attacked the northern locality of the objective. The conspicuous bravery and valour displayed by Capt Tara Singh was indeed commendable.  The success signal on radio “Phakian” was given by me to the battalion headquarters.  General Officer Commanding Major General Dalbir Singh arrived on the objective, minutes after the success signal was flashed and I was ordered to be evacuated in his jeep. I was then flown from Jessore to a Military hospital at Barrackpore. 13 Dogra captured four Pakistani officers one JCO & 18 OR, besides a lot of arms and ammunition.  It decimated a major portion of 15 frontier Force Riffles in a straight fight.  The battalion was awarded Siramani as a battle honour.

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