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May 24th, 2013, 08:07 PM
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Story
Sandeep Unnithan New Delhi, October 18, 2012 | UPDATED 20:56 IST
1962 Indo-China war veteran Brigadier Lakshman Singh shares his experience Tags: Indo-China war (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/advanced_search.jsp?searchword=Indo-China%20war&searchtype=text&search_type=article) | 1962 war (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/advanced_search.jsp?searchword=1962%20war&searchtype=text&search_type=article) | 1962 Indo-China war (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/advanced_search.jsp?searchword=1962%20Indo-China%20war&searchtype=text&search_type=article) |
It's been nearly a half-century to the day but Brigadier Singh's recollection of the events of October 20 is as clear as the sunlight that streams into the living room of his third floor flat in Greater Noida.
He sits in a chair, ramrod straight, occasionally stopping to wipe a tear as he narrates the start of the India-China war of 1962. At 5 a.m. on October 20, Brigadier Singh, then a Captain, was awakened by a barrage of mortar shells. China's war against India had begun. Airburst rounds, designed to kill infantry, whistled through the air and exploded around the headquarters of the Indian Army's 7 Brigade at Rongla in Arunachal Pradesh.
The post was less than a kilometer away from the Chinese positions in the Namka Chu valley. Captain Lakshman Singh, the brigade's 'sparrow', as the communications officer was called, put his snow boots on and ran out.
file:///C:\DOCUME~1\BLS~1.OMS\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\cl ip_image001.jpgIndo-China war veteran Brigadier Lakshman Singh.
The men of his signal unit sheltered behind boulders but on seeing Captain Singh, gathered courage to man their posts. Singh rushed to man his duty station, to provide communication between the headquarters and its forward-deployed battalions and companies.
The Brigade was the sharp edge of the Indian Army's 4th Infantry Division based in Tawang. The Brigade had been leapfrogged to sit on the border claimed by India. It was cold and it was over 14,500 metres above sea level. Headquarters was nothing more than three hastily erected stone bunkers.
The assumption was that the Chinese would not attack; (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/leadership-failed-india-in-1962/1/224243.html) the railway line to Lhasa had not been completed Indian intelligence believed. But now frantic radio messages from Indian positions strung over a 12 mile front radioed back to their headquarters: They were under heavy attack.
An entire Chinese division or three brigades with over 12,000 soldiers, swiftly advanced through the solitary 7 Brigade's platoons, companies and battalions. These building blocks of the brigade collapsed under the Chinese onslaught.
When the Indian radios fell silent, it was taken to mean that they had been overrun. There was no brigade left to command after three hours: 493 soldiers died and 60 were captured alive. The Battle of Namka chu was the Indian army's worst defeat in the border conflict.
file:///C:\DOCUME~1\BLS~1.OMS\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\cl ip_image002.jpgNov (1962) Officers of Indian Army make a field visit to asses the situation during the war with China. Mi-4 helicopters are visible in the background.
Singh saw Brigadier John Dalvi in the command post. The tall handsome officer usually had an enigmatic smile. Today, his face had turned ashen as his command disintegrated. Soon, the HQ was crowded with casualties.
A young Lieutenant with a few soldiers, the company commander, protecting the Brigade HQ walked in soon after, dazed, still pointing his revolver. He informed Brigadier Dalvi that the Chinese were just 200 metres behind and in hot pursuit. The order to abandon the Brigade HQ was sounded.
Brigadier Dalvi and his officers left the headquarters to regroup at Tsangdhar. He was captured by the Chinese less than two hours later, but Lakshman Singh did not know this. His signals company stayed behind and were instructed to leave after shutting down the radio post.
"Everybody has gone," Singh said in his last message over the wireless set. "I am closing down the post." Singh led his signals group of 40 men away from the shattered brigade headquarters.
file:///C:\DOCUME~1\BLS~1.OMS\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\cl ip_image003.jpgOn 20th October 1962, a Bell 47G was lost on the Tsangdhar ridge. Pilot was Sqn Ldr Vinod Kumar Sehgal with Major Ram Singh as crew. The helicopter was on a rescue mission. The wreckage was captured by PRC forces.
He last saw a solitary goat tethered to a tree, bleating in fear. The men carried their rifles, some ammunition and a blanket but no food. They trekked across a wasteland of defeat-crashed helicopters, air-dropped rations and retreating Indian soldiers; the group moved towards the Division Headquarters at Tawang (http://cms.indiatoday.in/itcms/Chinese%20agencies%20financing%20ISI%20to%20cause% 20mayhem%20in%20North-East:%20RAW%20report) , 60 km away.
When they realized that this vital town too was under threat from the Chinese, they changed direction and headed towards Bhutan. After a painful ten-day trek through rugged mountains and in biting cold, and skirting Chinese patrols, the group reached the Himalayan kingdom safely.
Singh had delivered his 40 soldiers safely from the enemy. It was one officer's small victory in the backdrop of his army's defeat.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/i-led-40-men-to-safety-brigadier-lakshman-singh-82/1/225265.html
Story
Sandeep Unnithan New Delhi, October 18, 2012 | UPDATED 20:56 IST
1962 Indo-China war veteran Brigadier Lakshman Singh shares his experience Tags: Indo-China war (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/advanced_search.jsp?searchword=Indo-China%20war&searchtype=text&search_type=article) | 1962 war (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/advanced_search.jsp?searchword=1962%20war&searchtype=text&search_type=article) | 1962 Indo-China war (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/advanced_search.jsp?searchword=1962%20Indo-China%20war&searchtype=text&search_type=article) |
It's been nearly a half-century to the day but Brigadier Singh's recollection of the events of October 20 is as clear as the sunlight that streams into the living room of his third floor flat in Greater Noida.
He sits in a chair, ramrod straight, occasionally stopping to wipe a tear as he narrates the start of the India-China war of 1962. At 5 a.m. on October 20, Brigadier Singh, then a Captain, was awakened by a barrage of mortar shells. China's war against India had begun. Airburst rounds, designed to kill infantry, whistled through the air and exploded around the headquarters of the Indian Army's 7 Brigade at Rongla in Arunachal Pradesh.
The post was less than a kilometer away from the Chinese positions in the Namka Chu valley. Captain Lakshman Singh, the brigade's 'sparrow', as the communications officer was called, put his snow boots on and ran out.
file:///C:\DOCUME~1\BLS~1.OMS\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\cl ip_image001.jpgIndo-China war veteran Brigadier Lakshman Singh.
The men of his signal unit sheltered behind boulders but on seeing Captain Singh, gathered courage to man their posts. Singh rushed to man his duty station, to provide communication between the headquarters and its forward-deployed battalions and companies.
The Brigade was the sharp edge of the Indian Army's 4th Infantry Division based in Tawang. The Brigade had been leapfrogged to sit on the border claimed by India. It was cold and it was over 14,500 metres above sea level. Headquarters was nothing more than three hastily erected stone bunkers.
The assumption was that the Chinese would not attack; (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/leadership-failed-india-in-1962/1/224243.html) the railway line to Lhasa had not been completed Indian intelligence believed. But now frantic radio messages from Indian positions strung over a 12 mile front radioed back to their headquarters: They were under heavy attack.
An entire Chinese division or three brigades with over 12,000 soldiers, swiftly advanced through the solitary 7 Brigade's platoons, companies and battalions. These building blocks of the brigade collapsed under the Chinese onslaught.
When the Indian radios fell silent, it was taken to mean that they had been overrun. There was no brigade left to command after three hours: 493 soldiers died and 60 were captured alive. The Battle of Namka chu was the Indian army's worst defeat in the border conflict.
file:///C:\DOCUME~1\BLS~1.OMS\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\cl ip_image002.jpgNov (1962) Officers of Indian Army make a field visit to asses the situation during the war with China. Mi-4 helicopters are visible in the background.
Singh saw Brigadier John Dalvi in the command post. The tall handsome officer usually had an enigmatic smile. Today, his face had turned ashen as his command disintegrated. Soon, the HQ was crowded with casualties.
A young Lieutenant with a few soldiers, the company commander, protecting the Brigade HQ walked in soon after, dazed, still pointing his revolver. He informed Brigadier Dalvi that the Chinese were just 200 metres behind and in hot pursuit. The order to abandon the Brigade HQ was sounded.
Brigadier Dalvi and his officers left the headquarters to regroup at Tsangdhar. He was captured by the Chinese less than two hours later, but Lakshman Singh did not know this. His signals company stayed behind and were instructed to leave after shutting down the radio post.
"Everybody has gone," Singh said in his last message over the wireless set. "I am closing down the post." Singh led his signals group of 40 men away from the shattered brigade headquarters.
file:///C:\DOCUME~1\BLS~1.OMS\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\cl ip_image003.jpgOn 20th October 1962, a Bell 47G was lost on the Tsangdhar ridge. Pilot was Sqn Ldr Vinod Kumar Sehgal with Major Ram Singh as crew. The helicopter was on a rescue mission. The wreckage was captured by PRC forces.
He last saw a solitary goat tethered to a tree, bleating in fear. The men carried their rifles, some ammunition and a blanket but no food. They trekked across a wasteland of defeat-crashed helicopters, air-dropped rations and retreating Indian soldiers; the group moved towards the Division Headquarters at Tawang (http://cms.indiatoday.in/itcms/Chinese%20agencies%20financing%20ISI%20to%20cause% 20mayhem%20in%20North-East:%20RAW%20report) , 60 km away.
When they realized that this vital town too was under threat from the Chinese, they changed direction and headed towards Bhutan. After a painful ten-day trek through rugged mountains and in biting cold, and skirting Chinese patrols, the group reached the Himalayan kingdom safely.
Singh had delivered his 40 soldiers safely from the enemy. It was one officer's small victory in the backdrop of his army's defeat.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/i-led-40-men-to-safety-brigadier-lakshman-singh-82/1/225265.html