bls31
October 21st, 2007, 04:33 PM
Dussera this day is way difference from the Dussera of 9 October 1962
" Tsangdhar DZ at 14,500 feet, a forbidding landscape, surrounded by high features and with the massive Thagla Ridge not far, across the narrow valley of River Namka Chu at first sight did not look very friendly to me. It was early in the month of October, it had not started to snow as yet. However, it was bitterly cold. With no suspended dust particles or haze in the rarefied air every thing appeared unnaturally clear and sharp. The exceptionally bright sunlight had painted the rugged landscape with innumerable light and dark patches with razor sharp edges. The light and dark brown of the rocky landscape, with just a sprinkling of the green of the stilted, by cold, rhododendron bushes contrasting sharply against the deep blue of the clear sky, all this, combined to make the wilderness of Tsangdhar even more harsh. It presented a sight, which was totally alien to any of my previous visual experiences.
What a Dussehra! I walked into Tsangdhar at about 9 on the morning of 9th, the unfamiliar view combined with the effect of the forced march, over the difficult terrain without food or rest and the lack of oxygen did make me feel a bit woolly in the head. It appears that I had no time to worry about these things. Some sketchy entries in my diary indicate worries and problems and very little about personal thoughts, except that Nar Bhadur is looking after me and that I slept under a shelter made of parachute. My worries at this point of time according to the entry were as usual of 73 NL, HD 10 for the charging sets and batteries without electrolyte, essential to provide and maintain communications. I spoke on RT with Maj Ram Singh about the problem. I shifted the Section location to a better site. It had started snowing by evening. There was small arms firing at Bridge IV, also what sounded like mortar fire could also be heard.
It was the next day that the famous skirmish between the Chinese and Major Choudhry and his boys of 9 Punjab took place at Senge-Jong, all happening in view of the Indian Top Brass. Corps Commander downwards had gathered at a vantagepoint from where they had a grandstand view of the action. The Chinese got a bloody nose due to the grit and surprise sprung by the Punjabis. (For details of the action one could refer to Chapter XV of Brig Dalvi’s Book ‘HIMALAYAN BLUNDER’)
Dates Change time changes , on 21 October 1962 at this time I was slowly trudging along with some of my boys , having abandoned the Brigade HQ at Trijunction of India Bhutan and Tibet on the morning of 20 October once the Chinese had disseminated the Seven Brigade, making a short work of it. All of us tired, hungry our last meal was on the 19 evening, sleepless and miserably cold at that height, the dark creping fast as it does in mountains , with the fear of the enemy following close behind . Possibly it were the prayers of those waiting for us back home that brought us back. BLS
" Tsangdhar DZ at 14,500 feet, a forbidding landscape, surrounded by high features and with the massive Thagla Ridge not far, across the narrow valley of River Namka Chu at first sight did not look very friendly to me. It was early in the month of October, it had not started to snow as yet. However, it was bitterly cold. With no suspended dust particles or haze in the rarefied air every thing appeared unnaturally clear and sharp. The exceptionally bright sunlight had painted the rugged landscape with innumerable light and dark patches with razor sharp edges. The light and dark brown of the rocky landscape, with just a sprinkling of the green of the stilted, by cold, rhododendron bushes contrasting sharply against the deep blue of the clear sky, all this, combined to make the wilderness of Tsangdhar even more harsh. It presented a sight, which was totally alien to any of my previous visual experiences.
What a Dussehra! I walked into Tsangdhar at about 9 on the morning of 9th, the unfamiliar view combined with the effect of the forced march, over the difficult terrain without food or rest and the lack of oxygen did make me feel a bit woolly in the head. It appears that I had no time to worry about these things. Some sketchy entries in my diary indicate worries and problems and very little about personal thoughts, except that Nar Bhadur is looking after me and that I slept under a shelter made of parachute. My worries at this point of time according to the entry were as usual of 73 NL, HD 10 for the charging sets and batteries without electrolyte, essential to provide and maintain communications. I spoke on RT with Maj Ram Singh about the problem. I shifted the Section location to a better site. It had started snowing by evening. There was small arms firing at Bridge IV, also what sounded like mortar fire could also be heard.
It was the next day that the famous skirmish between the Chinese and Major Choudhry and his boys of 9 Punjab took place at Senge-Jong, all happening in view of the Indian Top Brass. Corps Commander downwards had gathered at a vantagepoint from where they had a grandstand view of the action. The Chinese got a bloody nose due to the grit and surprise sprung by the Punjabis. (For details of the action one could refer to Chapter XV of Brig Dalvi’s Book ‘HIMALAYAN BLUNDER’)
Dates Change time changes , on 21 October 1962 at this time I was slowly trudging along with some of my boys , having abandoned the Brigade HQ at Trijunction of India Bhutan and Tibet on the morning of 20 October once the Chinese had disseminated the Seven Brigade, making a short work of it. All of us tired, hungry our last meal was on the 19 evening, sleepless and miserably cold at that height, the dark creping fast as it does in mountains , with the fear of the enemy following close behind . Possibly it were the prayers of those waiting for us back home that brought us back. BLS