Walong battle showcased mettle of our troops

Brig Kuldip Singh (retd)

1962 War Veteran

THE 1962 Chinese invasion shook our national leadership out of their naiveté and ‘Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai’ comfort zone. The Indian Army that was sent to confront the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was ill-prepared and ill-equipped, which resulted in a national humiliation. Though our national leadership failed, the jawans and officers fought with immense courage and brought the Chinese offensive to a standstill at Rezang La in Ladakh and Walong in Lohit Valley, Arunachal Pradesh.

Walong evokes a surge of emotions and pride among the veterans of 11 Mountain Brigade, which included 4 Sikh, 6 Kumaon, 4 Dogra and 3/3 Gorkha Rifles. In the 1962 war, this brigade was the only formation that battled and kept the Chinese at bay for a month (October 20 to November 19).

This is the story of 4 Dogra, inducted as the reserve battalion of 11 Brigade. Flown into Walong, platoon by platoon, we fought a tenacious battle at Tri-Junction, the most dominating hill in the sector; and at Firm Base, a last-man-last-round battle was fought on November 15 and 16. In the process, the Dogras foiled the Chinese plan to trap the units of 11 Brigade.

On November 14, 6 Kumaon’s effort to capture Yellow Pimple (13,000 ft) did not succeed. The enemy launched a strong riposte and nearly overran Tri-Junction, where Brig NC Rawlley was monitoring the battle. He ordered 4 Dogra to move up to Tri-Junction and relieve 6 Kumaon, which had suffered a large number of casualties.

Our Commanding Officer, Lt Col RS Pathania, was an experienced, battle-hardened officer. Anticipating lack of artillery or mortar support, Col Pathania ordered the boys to carry four times the normal scale of ammunition. The Dogras thus fought with a mere section and platoon weapons against the Chinese.

The distance from the Walong base to Tri-Junction was 26 km. In the first column, Delta Company under Major KJS Grewal and Col Pathania’s group (myself being his Intelligence Officer) commenced our march to Tri-Junction at 11.30 pm on November 14, reaching the mortar position on Avalanche Ridge the next day around 1.30 pm. Here, Brig Rawlley met Col Pathania and informed him of the grim situation at Tri-Junction: the Chinese were barely 50 yards from the crest. We discarded all personal items from our backpacks and filled them with more ammo. Without ado, we set out for Tri-Junction and I was asked to navigate for the column. About a kilometre short of Tri-Junction, we ran into a strong Chinese block and intense enemy fire.

Grewal ordered a charge through the enemy block. Being at the head, the two section commanders and I, wielding light machine guns (LMGs) and with Grewal and his jawans following, charged uphill blasting our way through the Chinese position. The Chinese were stunned and gave way. We surged through the gap, but somehow Grewal’s last platoon and Col Pathania’s group got separated from the main column. The Chinese quickly closed the gap, thus blocking the way of Grewal’s third platoon and Pathania’s group. Grewal and I with two platoons had reached Tri-Junction, met CO, 6 Kumaon, Lt Col CN Madiah and took over the trenches from the Kumaonis. The enemy was barely 40 yards from the crest.

Earlier on November 15, 4 Dogra’s Subedar Bhagat Singh’s platoon had already been rushed from the mortar position to reinforce Tri-Junction and had joined the battle. Leading his platoon with courage, Subedar Bhagat Singh made the supreme sacrifice. At Tri-Junction, I volunteered and took over Bhagat Singh’s platoon. Grewal launched section-size (six to seven men) assaults to push back the Chinese. In vicious hand-to-hand fighting, we wrested back the forward trenches, but 20 of our heroes made the supreme sacrifice.

Keeping his cool, Grewal told me: “Kuldip, we are probably going to die here, but I hope we get enemy bullets in the chest and not in our backside, lest people coming later to recover our bodies think we were running away from the battle.”

At 7.30 am on November 16, the Chinese launched another massive attack. After an hour of fighting, the attack was repulsed, but more men of the Delta company fell. Grewal, Subedar Ram Lal and I were wounded, but we carried on with the fight. In the nine-hour action, over 50 per cent of our jawans made the supreme sacrifice.

Around 8.30 am, Col Madiah ordered a pullout from Tri-Junction to the Lohit-Yapak Nala Junction (LYJ). At Grewal’s suggestion, Col Madiah, with 25 survivors of 6 Kumaon, left Tri-Junction at 9 am. Grewal ordered me to leave for LYJ at 9.30 am. Major Grewal, with two LMG teams, kept the Chinese at bay for an hour. Soon, another wave of Chinese swarmed over Tri-Junction and overwhelmed Grewal and the LMG teams.

An even greater saga of unparalleled courage and heroism was exhibited by 4 Dogra’s Subedar Rattan Chand and his No. 5 platoon at Firm Base-Yapak Ridge. This position straddled the Chinese axis of advance to the LYJ, where the enemy had planned to establish a block to trap and annihilate the units of 11 Mountain Brigade.

China’s final offensive was launched with a division plus a regiment on the intervening night of November 15 and 16. By 11.30 am, most positions in the brigade had fallen. Subedar Rattan Chand and Dr Subba were ordered by HQ 11 Brigade to abandon their position, but they declined to withdraw in order to protect the Commanding Officer.

Rattan Chand and his boys repulsed three Chinese attacks. By 6 pm, the enemy encircled Firm Base and after a fierce fighting, the position fell. Subedar Rattan Chand and his jawans died fighting to the last man. Lt Subba, the doctor who was treating the wounded in the bunker, also fell to Chinese bullets. The Dogras’ heroic stand foiled the Chinese plan to establish a block at the LYJ.

In 36 hours of intense fighting at Tri-Junction and Firm Base, 4 Dogra sustained 206 casualties. In March 1963, I led a cremation team to Walong. At Firm Base, I was stunned to find the bodies of Subedar Rattan Chand, Lt Subba and 28 Dogra martyrs still in and around the bunkers. Brig Rawlley acknowledged that the sacrifices of 4 Dogra’s Bravo and Delta companies on November 16 had stopped the Chinese offensive in its tracks and allowed 11 Brigade to get away. The Chinese dared not advance beyond these positions in Lohit Valley.

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