Hyderabad: The Kargil war took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). During February 1999, the Pakistan Army sent forces to occupy some posts on the Indian side of the LoC. Troops from the elite Special Services Group as well as four to seven battalions of the Northern Light Infantry (a paramilitary regiment not part of the regular Pakistani army at that time) covertly and overtly set up bases on 132 vantage points of the Indian-controlled region.
Pakistani intrusions took place in the heights of the lower Mushkoh Valley, along the Marpo La ridgeline in Dras, in Kaksar near Kargil, in the Batalik sector east of the Indus River, on the heights above of the Chorbatla sector where the LOC turns North and in the Turtok sector south of the Siachen area.
Here is a brief on the operations that the Indian army conducted to recapture important strategically peaks and turned the tide of the war in India's favour.
In the Dras sector
Tololing, a turning point
The importance of the Tololing: In the Dras sector, the enemy has occupied Tololing, which is located at a distance of 5 km from Dras and dominates the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway. This was the deepest penetration made by the Pakistani is this sector.
The capture of Tololing after three weeks of intense fighting was one of the turning points in the conflict. After initial attempts by Naga, Garhwal and Grenadier battalions proved unsuccessful, additional artillery was inducted and a fresh battalion, two Raj Rifles was brought in.
The story of the Battle
- The 2 Rajputana Rifles attack commenced on 12 June C company led by Major Vivek Gupta and D company under Major Mohit Saxena set out for the assault.
- The other two companies established firebases and were nominated as reserves for the attack.
- D company went in first along the southwestern approach towards its objective point 4590.
- Despite facing withering fire at close range, the company succeeded in establishing a foothold.
- At this stage, the C company assault was launched.
- The latter closed in towards the Tololing Top after intense hand-to-hand fighting. Vivek Gupta himself led the reserve platoon to Tololing top.
- Despite suffering grievous wounds, this gallant officer continued to lead his men to evict the last of the enemy from there.
- At this critical Juncture captain Mridul Kumar Singh, a young artillery forward observation officer took over the company, rallied the men and deployed them on the objective to ward off the inevitable counterattacks.
- The Pakistanis reacted with a vengeance. The loss of Tololing Top was a major setback for them. The counterattacks launched by them were beaten back by "c" Company.
- The commanding officer of 2 Rajputana Rifles, Lieutenant Colonel M.B Ravindranath, then launched "A" company under Major P. Acharya to capture the rest of Point 4590.
- Despite the close proximity to our own troops at Tololing Top, effective artillery fire was brought down on this objective. Simultaneously, "B" Company was tasked to clear the northern slopes of Tololing
- On June 13, 2 Rajputana Rifles was finally able to capture the Tololing feature.
In this hard-fought, crucial battle, Subedar Bhanwar Lal, company Havildar Major Yashvir Singh, Havildar Sultan Singh, Narwaria and Naik Digendra Singh displayed inspiring bravery.
A major contribution was made by captain N. Kenguruse, who with the commando platoon, had been tasked to establish a block between Hump and Tololing, and prevent any enemy reinforcements from reaching Tololing.
The Tiger Hill
- Tiger Hill lowers majestically above all other mountainous in its vicinity. Although located almost 10 kilometres north of the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh Highway, the enemy positions on this mountain top dominated parts of this highway. After recapturing of Tololing and the adjacent features, evicting the enemy from this well-fortified position became a priority.
- The highest feature in the Dras sector, Tiger Hill has been described as the ultimate pinnacle of the conflict. It dominates the Srinagar-Leh highway and enabled enemy observers to direct artillery fire across a wide swath. To capture this peak, Brigadier M.P.S Bajwa, commander, 192 Mountain Brigade assigned the task to 18 Grenadiers, 8 Sikh and 2 Naga along with artillery support.
- On the day of the attack July 3rd, nearly 120 field and medium guns, 122-mm Multibarrelled grad rockets launchers and mortars rained death and destruction on the enemy at the Tiger Hill.
- The air force too targeted Tiger Hill on 2-3 of July and hit the bull's eye several times during its missions.
- The tiger hill has two prominent protrusions. The first, approximately 500 meters west of Tiger hill had been named "India Gate" and the second "Helmet".
- Approximately one company of 12 Northern Light Infantry of Pakistan held the whole feature.
- On 3rd July, 18 Grenadiers commenced its Multi-directional assault under the cover of bad weather and darkness, supported by the firepower of artillery and mortars.
- A company captured an intermediate position called Tongue by 0130 Hours on 4th July.
- Captain Nimbalkar led the D company assault from the east. His approach surprised the enemy after some fire fighting D company was successful in occupying the eastern portion of area collar, which lay within 100 meters of Tiger Hilltop.
- C company and Ghatak commando platoon under Lieutenant Balwan Singh also surprised the enemy, this time along the difficult northeastern spur and obtained a toehold just 30 meters from the top.
- By 0400 Hours on 4th July, after a carefully orchestrated artillery bombardment, Sachin Nimbalkar and Balwan Singh along with their men approached Tiger hill Top by climbing a sheer cliff and caught the enemy unawares. After a spell of hand to hand fighting, they succeeded in capturing the objective.
- Although the 18 grenadiers held the Top, linking up with them was not easy. When the initial surprise wore off Pakistani began to counterattack.
- 8 Mountain Division realized that it would not possible to evict the enemy from Tiger hill completely as long as supply lines along the western spur were intact.
- Mohinder Puri and MPS Bajwa issued orders to 8 Sikh to attack and capture Helmet and India Gate, both located on the western spur.
- The western spur of Tiger Hill extended up to 1.5 Kilometers, The approach to the spur, where 8 Sikh was deployed, lay along a steep rock face.
- An ad-hoc column of Sikh led by Major Ravindra Singh and Lieutenant R.K. Sherawat, comprising four JCO's and 52 soldiers was able to capture the India gate after a tough fight.
- Despite taking heavy casualties, 8 Sikh exploited its success up to Helmet and captured the objective on 5th July.
- On 8th of July, the entire Tiger hill objective had been cleared and the 18 grenadiers hoisted the Indian Tricolour on Tiger Hill.
AREA THREE PIMPLES: Three Pimples is a cluster of sharp, mountain tops. This area is located near Point 5100 on the Marpole ridgeline, west of Tololing Nala. The three Pimples dominated the national highway, Drass village and Sando Nala. It consisted of three main features- knoll, Lone hill, and Three Pimples.
The operations
- For two hours before the assault, the twenty artillery fire units (about 120 guns, mortars and rocket launchers) bombarded the objectives with high-powered explosives.
- D Company lead by Major Mohit Saxena, and A Company, led by Major P. Acharya, went in for the assault. Despite the casualties, they established a foothold on the knoll by midnight.
- Major Acharya, the company commander and Captain Vijayant Thapar personally led the attack. Both officers suffered severe injuries but continued to lead their men forward. They achieved success but, in the bargain, made the supreme sacrifice.
- Despite the loss of officers, the remaining soldiers of A company stood fast and held on to their position. An enemy counterattack in the making was dispersed with concentrated fire from our own medium guns.
- B Company linked up with A company on Knoll. with a close-range observation on Three pimples now available, the enemy position was plastered with accurate artillery fire.
- Lone hill was an imposing feature with sheer cliff faces covered by Enemy MMG's.
- The moonlit night made operations even tougher
- Mohit Saxena lead his company through a treacherous terrain without getting noticed. He assaulted the enemy positions from the south. To accomplish his feat, he had to climb a sheer rock face over 200 feet high. His daring leadership enabled his men to capture Lone hill. Along with him riflemen Jai Ram and captain N. Kenguruse.
- The vacated three Pimples on 29th June.
CAPTURE OF POINT 5140
- Due to the large size of the objective, the brigade planned to capture it by resorting to a multi-directional assault.
- 18 Garhwal Rifles from the east, 1 Naga from the south-west and 13 JAK Rifles from the south.
- On the 19 June, B and D companies of 13 JAK rifles climbed the southern slope leading to Point 5140 and managed to surprise the enemy. In the battle, Captain Vikram Batra showed exceptional skill and killed 4 enemy soldiers in hand to hand combat. His success signal and call to his commanding officer - "Yeh Dil Maange More.”
- Captain SS Jamwal led the final assault on Point 5140. By the morning of 20th June, all the 7 sangars were cleared and Pakistanis driven out from point 5140.
MASHKOH VALLEY
The Mashkoh Valley - of all the peaks occupied by the Pakistanis in Mashkoh valley the Point 4875 was the key.
The point 4875
The importance of the Peak- The top and forward sloped overlooked a nearly 30-Kilometer stretch of the national highway from Moghalpura to Dras and Pakistani artillery could easily interdict the movement of vehicles from Matayin to Dras had been restricted to the hours of darkness.
The Operation
- The objective was assigned to 13 JAK Rifles. The attack began on 4th July with the artillery opening up the assault on Flat Top, which was adjacent to the Point 4875 and part of the enemy defences on this objective along the eastern slopes of the spur that led to the point 4875 and C company under the Major Gurpreet Singh proceedings along the Western slopes of the same spur. After the artillery fire lifted, MMGS from the firebase ( Commanded by Captain Vikram Batra) fired tracer rounds to assist the assault companies in maintaining the proper direction.
- By attacking from two sides the battalion managed to divide the enemy's attention. But when the companies came close to the objective, they were pinned down by the accurate small arms and MMGs fire from point 4875. Despite valiant attempts, the companies could not make progress.
- When the daylight came the soldiers found themselves strung on the mountain in the open.
- The forward observation officers with “A” company and “C” company, Captain B.S. Rawat and Captain Ganesh Bhatt, respectively, then pounded the objective with artillery fire for several hours. Faggot missiles used to destroy some enemy Sangars. The company assaulted the enemy position once again and were able to capture Flat top by the afternoon of 5th July.
- In close quarters, rifleman Sanjay Kumar and Shyam Singh displayed outstanding valour. The Next day, the enemy subjected these troops to heavy artillery shelling and intermittent MMG fire. Additional reinforcements were sent under Major Vikas Vohra and Captain Vikram Batra. Heavy fighting continued near the objective.
- It became clear that the enemy location immediately to the north of the Point 4875 would have to be captured. Captain Vikram Batra volunteered to undertake this task and lead his men to accomplish the mission. He made the supreme sacrifice to accomplish the mission.
- The bodies of a large number of Pakistanis soldiers had been recovered during the prolonged battle.
- On the feature, 13 JAK Rifles remained deployed to assist 2 Naga and 17 JAT in their missions.
ZULU SPUR
When Pakistani failed to honour the agreement to withdraw completely to its side of the LOC operations was launched to clear the pockets of resistance.
The Importance of Zulu Spur: Zulu Spur located in the Mashkoh sector. The main features of Zulu Spur included Tri-Junction, Zulu ridge Line and Sando Top. The complex dominated the area across the LOC.
- The attack was planned by Brigadier M.P.S Bajwa commander 192 Mountain Brigade, was divided into two phases. In phase 1, 3/3 Gorkha Rifles was designated to capture Tri-Junction.
- The operations began on 22 July, with C company under captain Hemang Gurung, leading the assault. When he sustained grievous injuries Major S.Saini, the second-in-command , came forward to finish the job.
- Captain Amit Aul (son of Brigadier AN Aul, commander of 56 Mountain Brigade) and Rifleman Dhan Bahadur and Dinesh Gurung showed exemplary bravery in evicting the enemy and clearing the sangars.
- D company under Major Pallav Mishra now surged forward to assault the base of Zulu spur. The forward observation officer, Captain Nandan Singh Mishra of C company who was part of the assault team on Tri-Junction volunteered to join D company.
- He brought down effective artillery fire, which enabled the assault echelon to close in with the enemy. Despite stiff resistance D company secured this objective on 24th July.
- Phase 2 was launched by the 9 Para (SF) when a firebase for this phase had been secured.
- 9 Para (SF) was reinforced with troops from 3/3 Gorkha Rifles and, together they drove the enemy out of Zulu Spur. Sudhir Kumar and Naik Kaushal Yadav showed exceptional gallantry in this action.
BATALIK SECTOR: Here the Pakistanis intruded 08-10 Km in the unheld areas. These ridgelines -Jubar- Kukarthang- Khalubar and Point 5203 -Churubar Po vary in height from 15000 feet to 16,800 feet.
The Khalubar
The Importance of Khalubar
- The Padma Go-Khalubar ridgeline dominates Junk Lungpa in the east, Gragrio Nala in the West the Kukarthang feature to its south-west and Muntho Dhalo, the logistic base of the enemy, in the northwest.
- The Khalubar ridge was the hub of enemy defences in the Batalik sector
The operations
- On 30th June 22 grenadiers launched the initial assault on Khalubar. Three expert mountaineers from a Vikas battalion (comprising troops of Tibetan origin) assisted 22 grenadiers in their assault up the steep and rugged slope. They had to overcome stiff enemy resistance before they could secure two small footholds on the Khalubar ridgeline, south of Point 5287. The battalion could not make any headway, But Major Ajit Singh's company managed to hold on to top against all odds. Very soon, the reserve battalions, was inducted to enlarge the footholds secured by the Grenadiers and also to capture Khalubar.
- The 1/11 Gorkha Rifles Battalion inducted into the Batalik sector on 9th May to participate in the initial operations. Towards the end of June 1/11, Gorkha Rifles remained busy in degrading the enemy's defences at Jubar and Churubar Sispo, West of the Khalubar ridge. On 2nd July the Battalion moved from Yaldor to a forward assembly area at the foot of point 4812. The build-up of the attack was completed the next day. Meanwhile, the brigade artillery comprising field, Bofors, and 130 mm high -explosive shells destroyed enemy sangars and disrupted his communications and supply lines. After climbing up a mountainside for seven hours, the Gorkhas reached their objective on the Khalubar ridge. Some of the heroic deeds of valour were witnessed in this part of the battle.
- The capture of area bunkers, the enemy position immediately south of Khalubar, by Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey and his men facilitated the capture of Khalubar.
- The commanding officer, Colonel Lalit Rai linked up with Ajit Singh of 22 grenadiers. Lalit Rai's Knee was seriously injured, but he continued to lead his men who have to fight with the enemy at close quarters for the next three days.
- Some others who fought gallantly included Naik Gyanendra Kumar Rai and Havildar Bhim Bahadur Dewan. The battalion eventually cleared the enemy from Khalubar on 6th July and linked up with 12 JAK light infantry deployed in the south.
- The enemy suffered heavy casualties and left behind a huge quantity of weapons including US-made stinger missiles.
PADMA GO
Stangba, Point 5000 and Dog Hill lie on the Padma Go ridge that runs north from the Khalubar -point 5287 complex.
Importance of the Feature: It was necessary to evict the enemy from this ridge line so that operations to the west of the Khalubar – Point 5287 complex could be carried out unhindered.
- One column of the Ladakh scouts launched an attack on Point 5000 on 30th June. Despite having to negotiate steep escarpments and waist-high snow at places, the column succeeded in capturing the objective.
- The Padma Go objective was softened over the next few days with concentrated artillery and infantry mortar fire.
- In the renewed attacks on 5-6th July, Dog hill was captured despite stiff resistance and a foothold was established on Stanga North.
- In this battle, Naik Subedar Tashi Chhepal displayed exemplary bravery and leadership.
- Two columns under Major John Lewis and captain N.K. Bishnoi attacked the formidable Padma Go feature. The objective was captured on 9th July. The Ladakh scouts then went on to seize Point 5229, close to the Loc.
- The Loss of the Point 4812- Khalubar-Point 5287 -Padma Go ridgeline broke the back of the enemy defences in the eastern part of Batalik sector.
Jubar, Tharu and Kukarthang
- With the recapture of the point, 4812 - Khalubar- Point 5287 -Padma Go ridgeline, the enemy's routes of maintenance and withdrawal were seriously threatened.
- The 70 Infantry Brigade was well placed to tackle the Jubar, Tharu and Kukarthang complex from the west.
- 1 Bihar was tasked to recapture the Jubar complex. The attacks on Jubar and Tharu were preceded by concentrated artillery fire. In an innovative action, the division employed some 122-mm Grad multibarrel rocket launchers in a direct firing role to pulverize enemy defences. Direct hits shattered several enemy sangars.
- on Jun 29th, 1 Bihar launched its attack. Phase I of the attack went off as planned and the Pakistanis were driven out from their sangars on the Jubar Observation Post(OP) on 30th June.
- A counter-attack by the enemy was repulsed after inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy.
- Jubar Top, immediately north of Jubar Op, proved to be a tough nut to crack. The standoff lasted for 5 days. Artillery and infantry motors of 1 Bihar hit the enemy's ammunition dump behind Jubar and it blew up completely. This caused panic among the Pakistan Soldiers on Jubar Top and they began to thin out thereafter. A fresh attack was launched on the night of 6th July. Major KPR Hari led the attack under the cover of heavy enemy artillery and small arms fire. He and other members scaled a cliff face leading to Jubar top from an unexpected direction. Undetected they reached within 50 meters of the enemy's position and captured Jubar on 7th July.
- on 9th July Bihar added another feather to its cap by recapturing the Tharu feature (Point 5103) After an arduous climb to over 15,000 feet: the battalion then linked with the 1/11 Gorkha Rifles at Kukarthang ridgeline. Tharu is a dominating feature on the Kukarthang ridgeline)
Kukarthang
- The attack on Kukarthang was launched by 1/11 Gorkha rifles on 8 July. A devastating punch in the form of concentrated artillery and mortar fire set the stage for the attack.
- on 8th July A company captured point 4821, and despite heavy artillery and automatic fire of the enemy D company was able to secure Ring Contour. Both these enemy positions were en route to Kukarthang Top.
- By the 9th of July the Kukarthang ridge, which till recently appeared daunting was cleared of all enemy positions.
