In 1971, when the entire Pakistan army was guarding every inch of the country’s border with tanks, cannons and rockets, about two dozen Indian commandos drove 80km deep into Pakistan, struck at Chachro, Virawah, Nagarparkar and Islamkot, hit supply depots, and killed several enemy troops. Not only did they travel 500km across enemy territory, but also returned with no losses, and with 20 Pak troopers as prisoners. That was the first known, and by far the most successful, surgical strike scored by the Indian Army.
The Army had been planning for such surgical strikes since the 1965 war and had trained two teams of commandos (Alpha and Charlie) from 10 Para, known as the Desert Scorpions, for five months before the start of the 1971 war. The raid began on December 5, two nights after the war opened. The Alpha team, led by Second Lieutenant (later brigadier) Abraham Chacko drove the whole night slowly and quietly, but early morning the enemy spotted them, and fired from atop a sand dune at Kita. The commandos took cover, but were certain now that they would be outgunned and overpowered. At that moment Naik Nihal Singh took a Jeep, and drove it at breakneck speed firing madly from the mounted light machine gun. As the enemy, now distracted, thought a tank was rolling towards them, the other commandos opened up their 18 machine guns on them in unison. The enemy fled; the raiders captured the post.
Next, a pathfinder team crept ahead looking for a route for the Alpha team to attack the wing headquarters of the Pakistan Rangers in Chachro. Before first light on December 7, they not only found a route, but also the Alpha team had raided the target at Chachro, killed 17 enemy troops, and captured 12 alive. The post and prisoners were handed over to 20 Rajput.
The Charlie team crept back to India, but the Alpha team drove quietly to Virawah during the day, risking capture. They reached Virawah close to midnight, and launched their assault at 2am. They crept towards the Pakistan Rangers camp, and assaulted it with 12 light-machine guns. The enemy fled, and the raiders took Virawah. Without wasting time, they now rushed to the tehsil town of Nagarparkar and captured it before daybreak of December 8. Soon the regular infantry caught up with them, took charge of the prisoners, and the raiders returned to their base in India, with no loss.
The war in the east officially ended on December 16 with Lieutenant General A.A.K. Niazi’s surrender at Dacca, but there were mop-up tasks left in the west. There was an ammunition dump to be taken out in Islamkot. The raiders reached the target before daybreak of December 17, but found the dump empty. While driving back, they spotted an enemy convoy, ambushed it, and killed about 20 of the enemy.
Lieutenant Colonel (later brigadier and maharaja of Jaipur) Bhawani Singh was the overall commander of the Chachro raid. The operation is lauded by military historians as one at par with the British Special Air Service raid on a German airfield in Fuka, Libya, during the Second World War. Bhawani Singh was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra.