Book excerpt: Kargil saw Indian Army Grenadiers battle bullets, boulders

Retired colonel S.C. Tyagi was commissioned in the Rajput Regiment of the Indian Army and held various instructional and staff appointments at the National Defence Academy, the Army War College and as the Colonel G.S. of a Mountain Division, among others. He took part in the operations of the IPKF in Sri Lanka and voluntarily served in the Kargil war zone during Operation Vijay.

Excerpted below is a chapter from his forthcoming book The Kargil Victory: Battles from Peak to Peak, published by Speaking Tiger in association with United Service Institution of India.

Khalubar and Stangba Ridgelines

The Khalubar Ridgeline is in the Batalik Area. The Jubar Complex is to its left and Point 5203 to its right in the Chorbat La Area, close to the LoC. The highest feature is Point 5287 (approximately 16,000 feet), with Point 4812 in its vicinity towards the south... To reach the LoC, it was important to dislodge the enemy from there.

Roar of Allah-hu-Akbar

The 22nd Battalion of the Grenadiers Regiment (22 GREN) arrived in the region in the third week of June 1999, straight from desert-oriented training! Now they were expected to scale and defend lofty Himalayan peaks. The battalion surely needed some time to adjust to the new environs, but there was hardly any time.

With minimum preparation and practically no mountain warfare training, Major Ajit Singh was given the task of gaining a foothold on the top, between the two heights—Point 5287 and Point 4812—by the morning of 1st July. A tall order, indeed! Earlier attempts had been made by other battalions from other directions, but none could succeed as the enemy was occupying the area in very heavy strength from those sides. The current approach to the objective area was quite steep, and equally dangerous, because the enemy could observe their movements. The approach outlined for 22 GREN was the only available alternative yet to be tried out.

The time to start moving upwards towards the objective was set for after dark. However, even before the troops had assembled, heavy enemy fire came down upon them. The enemy’s artillery was firing very accurately, truth be told. Heavy fire and the darkness made it difficult to regain command and control.

A true soldier, however, never leaves the battlefield in the face of the enemy, and never shows his back to him. And so, Major Ajit took charge and within half an hour, had commenced movement upwards.

It was an extremely treacherous climb, as the gradient was steep and the boulders were slippery due to rain and snow. Also, the enemy sniper was picking off our soldiers one after the other, even at night. They could only advance from one boulder to another, till they reached a point from where they could not go upwards as there was a cliff in front and enemy fire from both sides. The rumbling of stones was a loud and clear indication that the enemy was going to push boulders onto them. Their soldiers were so close that our men could hear them shouting out instructions to each other!

Injuries were bound to happen. Among others, Lance Havildar Shamshad was badly wounded and gasped for breath. A vigorous pounding of his chest eventually resuscitated him. However, carrying him to the higher reaches may have been detrimental to him apart from delaying the climb, but leaving him behind was not an option. The Indian Army does not abandon the wounded, or the dead. So, three experienced climbers from another battalion prepared a team to escort Lance Havildar Shamshad back to the base.

With daybreak a mere hour away, Major Ajit wondered if they were trapped for the day, only to be killed for sure. It was a ‘now-or-never’ situation, but he was not one to lose heart. The cliff had to be scaled. There was total silence and no one spoke, except Major Ajit.

NARRA-E-TAQBIR (Allah is the Greatest!), he proclaimed at the top of his voice. The brave boys of his company instantaneously and with equal gusto responded, ALLAH-HU-AKBAR!

With renewed strength, all hands got together to push one of them upwards, with the aid of a rope, till he managed a foothold. The remaining followed, in a similar manner, to the echoing cries of Narra-e-Taqbir and Allah-hu-Akbar.

The battle cry had a magical effect on the Pakistani soldiers too. They ceased firing. The rumbling and rolling down of stones stopped. Possibly they thought that these were their own men who had come to reinforce them!

Major Ajit and his boys—two dozen men, one Junior Commissioned Officer ( JCO) and Second Lieutenant S.S. Shekhawat, who had just joined the battalion after training at the Academy—quickly reached the top.

The first of July. A bright day. The glow of the sun helped in telling friend from foe. However, the ordeal was far from over. In fact, yesterday’s obstacles seemed easier. Their advance was fast paced though, and a lodgement of 50–60 metres was soon secured. The other side of the ridge was comparatively less steep, and one could peep into the rear side of the enemy’s position. Major Ajit’s keen eye spotted their helipad where additional manpower was landing. Something had to be done!

He saw a telephone line passing through the patch connecting the two shoulders. Major Ajit knew that the enemy was well entrenched and he had to disrupt their communications, so he cut their telephone line. The enemy responded by bringing down heavy fire from rocket launchers and MMGs. Our troops, though tired, continued to defend themselves with great alacrity.

By evening, two men were lost, and many injured. There was no sign of the troops meant to reinforce them or bring them their ammunition, food and sleeping bags. Rest and sleep became a distant dream. A bag full of pooris, however, did reach them through the trailing column of a few men that arrived. Three pooris each—enough to survive. A deep search of pockets brought forth chocolates that had been issued to them as part of their survival ration. This was the time for survival! The chocolates were energizers and morale boosters, putting smiles on their faces, and loving images of their young ones back home in their thoughts.

Respite was, however, short-lived. The enemy counterattacked with double the number of men this time. As vigorous fighting was resumed, our troops started suffering losses of both men and the material, which they had mustered at the top with great difficulty. Despite this, 22 GREN fought like hungry lions and succeeded in beating the enemy back.

The enemy seemed equally determined though. They returned with additional men after a short gap, but were once again unsuccessful in dislodging the brave Indian soldiers. There was no rest for the next two days and nights. But the trying conditions did not deter either side. The din and the noise of the fire were so intense that one of the soldiers, Shafiq, who had a bullet pass though his helmet, didn’t realize it for another two days! Hardly anyone remained untouched by injury. There were also serious casualties, as well as fatal ones. The soldiers could depend on nothing but their own grit, bravery and good luck.

Help came only on the third morning. A few Gorkha soldiers, under Colonel S.S. Rai who had taken over 1/11 GR as CO, managed to reach the top, followed by some more of their troops and a dozen Grenadiers. One MMG and an automatic grenade launcher (AGL) had also been fetched up. This gave some solace to the beleaguered troops who had been continuously fighting for the last two days and three nights with almost no food or ammunition.

Their trials and tribulations, however, were far from over. The sleeping bags had still not reached them and the injured soldiers struggled to keep themselves alive in sub-zero temperatures while the rest were busy fighting.

A quick attack was launched with this handful of fresh troops but they suffered casualties. The enemy launched yet another counter-attack in the afternoon. Fierce fighting ensued and the enemy and our troops were so intermingled among the boulders that there was utter confusion, compounded by fire from all sides. Our fighting strength was further depleted.

The enemy commander was hardly a few feet away. He called out aloud to our troops, asking them to surrender. He added that he would spare their lives and treat them well, were they to comply. He sounded so polite, genuine and convincing that anybody in that prolonged state of exhaustion and shock would have been tempted to surrender.

A shiver ran down Major Ajit’s spine. It was imperative to restore faith and hope in his men, lest one among them inadvertently buckle in a moment of weakness. He did some quick thinking, and shouted back, Surrender karenge hum nahin, surrender karoge tum, kyoki hamare 150 jawan tumhare peechche se chadney mein kamyab ho gaye hain! (You will be the ones surrendering, not us, because our 150 jawans have succeeded in climbing up behind you!)

This broke the lull in the battle and intense firing resumed. Just then, Shafiq, who still had a hole in his helmet, pointed out the enemy commander to Major Ajit. With his pulse racing, he looked up at the sky. The sun was fading and soon it would be night. Something had to be done quickly, or the fleeting opportunity would pass.

Major Ajit checked his rifle. There were only six bullets left. He immediately removed two bullets from the rifle magazine and kept them in his pocket. He fixed the bayonet on his rifle for hand-to-hand combat, if this ammunition too finished.

Colonel Rai saw this and gave him a questioning look. Major Ajit indicated to him in sign language that it was meant to shoot himself in the head were he to fall into the hands of the enemy. The other bullet was a spare one, just in case the first one did not do the trick. Everyone followed suit.

Major Ajit closed his eyes and bowed to his ‘Kul-Devi’, and pumped the four bullets into the gap between the boulders, putting an end to the surrender request. He had been one of the best shooters while training in the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun.

Bullets, however, continued to whiz by and a few seconds later, Naik Zakir Hussain, who had been performing the role of the Maulvi for a very long time, and had volunteered to man the light machine gun, was shot dead. He had successfully kept the enemy at bay continuously for sixty hours. Another brave soldier, Riyasat Ali, who was manning the MMG also got a bullet put through him, killing him on the spot. Unluckily, the AGL which had come up later had also got jammed and the entire ammunition was exhausted.

Seeing the end very close, Major Ajit was very rapidly scanning his mind to search for a solution. He remembered one of his instructors, a guru, who had trained him, and told him, “When in trouble—remember God! Also, remember the artillery, and ask for fire support.”

A call for artillery SOS fire is given out as a last resort when there are no other options and the resultant casualties to own troops is grudgingly acceptable. This is done by giving out our own coordinates on the radio set. They were, as it is, too close to the enemy and would perhaps not make it. The thought flashed through Major Ajit’s mind, would it not be better to lay down his life with own shelling, rather than getting captured by the enemy?

His request was agreed to and the artillery fire arrived within no time. The loud explosions created intense fire and smoke. Major Ajit’s gamble had paid off. The enemy’s counter-attack was repulsed, with heavy casualties to them. Our own troops suffered injuries as well. With the fall of night, the firing ebbed, on both sides. Silence at last. The first time in almost four days.

Later in the night, the remaining Gorkha Regiment troops, who had lined up at the base by then, were to capture Bunker Ridge and a part of Khalubar Ridge, which was held by the enemy. The battle at Khalubar had already taken a heavy toll on our troops.

One of the fallen was the younger brother of Lance Havildar Shamshad. How many more were there for whom the bell would toll?

(Excerpted with permission)