The Russians are reported to be pounding Ukraine daily with 10,000 artillery rounds with the Ukrainians returning fire with about 2,000 rounds daily. No wonder the availability or the scarcity of artillery ammunition is proving to be a decisive factor in which the ongoing war turns.
But 25 years ago in Kargil, the Indian Army’s artillery pounded about 3,300 artillery rounds on a daily basis on the Pakistani-held positions, totalling about 2,93,600 artillery rounds in about three-month-long war, leading to disarray in their ranks and greatly contributing to India's victory on July 26, 1999.
On the face of it, it looked like an almost impossible task. To take on well-trained adversaries perched in very advantageous positions that were located at dominating heights of more than 17,000 feet across the Drass-Kargil, Batalik, Mushkoh Valley and Kaksar sectors.
Not just the super-high altitude, it was the lack of oxygen, the freezing temperatures, the extremely mountainous and craggy terrain, but most importantly, taking on an enemy located above that couldn’t be seen, but who could observe each and every minor detail of the Indians below.
But the incessant bombarding of Pakistani positions with the booming of Bofors 155mm guns, 105mm guns, multi-barrel rocket launchers and mortar fire caused disarray in the Pakistani ranks.
Major General Lakhwinder Singh (retired) told THE WEEK about what he decided to do: “To degrade and destroy the enemy so that the attacking infantry can capture the features… Our main goal was to find a way to get our platoons up so that they can fight the enemy.”
Gen Singh is among the veterans who were honoured at an event in Drass to commemorate the completion of 25 years of the Kargil Vijay Diwas. Gen Singh was commanding a mountain battle brigade in 1999 when he was asked to move from Srinagar to Drass-Kargil. “It was difficult to position the guns but most of them were on the road, for about 30km on the road.”
A total of about 2,93,600 artillery rounds were fired on the Pakistani-held positions, leading to disarray in their ranks. “The enemy would message their superiors, ‘Save us, hell is raining down on us.’ We came to know of this through our intercepts of their radio transmissions,” said Gen Singh.
Talking about the changes that have taken place in the Indian Army’s artillery capabilities now, he said: “Now there are much better weapons, heavier, and better target acquisition capabilities.”
Asked if more ‘Kargils’ were possible, Gen Singh said that everything is possible in today’s world but one has to be prepared for it, while batting for the ongoing move for ‘mediumisation’ of its artillery guns with the 155mm gun being the preferred calibre.
The Indian Army’s artillery uses the 130mm (M-46) Russian medium guns, 122mm (Russian field guns), 105mm, 122mm and 155mm.
Artillery guns are classed under light, medium, and heavy guns. Artillery ammunition up to 105mm is considered ‘light’ and is mainly used for close support of ground troops. The ‘medium’ in the 106–155mm range is usually used for bombardment, while projectiles more than 155mm fall in the ‘heavy’ category and are used for attacking rear installations.
