BRAVE - PVC STORIES (1962 WAR)Major Hoshiar Singh
Basantar Nala, Shakargarh Sector, Pakistan
15-16 December 1971
It is a chilly winter night. Across the shadowy sugar cane and wheat fields that the soldiers of 3 Grenadiers have already crossed flows the Basantar Nala. The water is not in spate and has taken on a gentle, white glow in the moonlight. Looking at its sublime stillness, one cannot guess just how frigid it is. Only after one dips the foot in and the wetness seeps into leather boots and socks, pricking the soles like hundreds of sharp needles does one realize it.
The 120-plus men of Charlie Company (led by Major Hoshiar Singh) and the 120
of Bravo Company (led by Major S. S. Cheema) wading across the river are oblivious to its beauty and, to an extent, even the coldness. What concerns them more is the nearconstant shelling right in their face and the minefields that they know the Pakistanis have laid out on the other side, which they will have to cross to reach their objective—the village of Jarpal. The orders for the two companies are to attack around midnight and capture Jarpal from east and west.
In their parkas, helmets and ankle boots, with small packs on their back, the soldiers splash across the freezing nala in silence. Each time the ice-cold water lashes the skin it feels like a knife cutting into flesh. After a while their exposed bodies go numb and the men trudge on, water up to their knees, weapons held above their heads to protect them from getting wet. They carry 7. 62 mm rifles and Sten guns while the radio operators have their pistols. Each of them has at least two grenades, if not more. These will be required in the close combat that is expected to follow. Their faces are smeared with mud and gunpowder from the shelling they have endured.
A grim-faced Maj Hoshiar Singh is standing by as his men go across one by one—trousers soaking wet, his Sten gun in his arms and head covered by a balaclava. He is known for not wearing helmets. The map of Jarpal stamped on his mind, he knows he has to attack in the dark; the enemy has to be taken unawares.
It is going to be a long night. What he does not know is that his company will be fighting one of the fiercest battles ever fought by the Indian Army, not just in terms of attack but also for the number of vicious counterattacks that come from the enemy.
Colonel (retd) Cheema, Sena Medal, who later commanded 3 Grenadiers, now lives in Jalandhar. He is preparing for a lecture on the ‘71 War to Army units. He has his maps, notes and slides ready and is brushing up his memory.
He and Maj Hoshiar Singh were young company commanders together in 1971 and he remembers with a chuckle how both were so eager to face action that fateful day when their commanding officer Col V. P. Airy was to announce which companies would attack the Jarpal area. ‘Hoshiar and I were sitting next to each other,’ he says. ‘He turned to me and said he was going to be really upset if his company was not included in the attack. I told him if my company was not picked up I would go and have it out with the CO!’
When the announcement finally came, the two officers looked at each other and smiled. Both the companies would be participating in phase one of the attack. Hoshiar Singh’s C Company had been ordered to attack Jarpal from the east and Cheema’s B Company was to attack from the west. Their wishes had come true. Now the time had come to prove their mettle.
The two officers had been good friends since the ‘65 war, when Hoshiar Singh was a lieutenant and Cheema the battalion adjutant. The task given to their battalion then was to attack a village in the Bikaner sector and evict the enemy holed up there. Lt Hoshiar Singh was sent out for a reconnaissance mission where, on his own initiative, he went dressed as a local riding a camel. He mingled with the Pakistanis and boldly went behind enemy lines, coming back with crucial information about their placement and location. Based on this adventurous outing on 5 October 1965, he briefed the CO in great detail, disclosing the exact enemy position, for which he got a mention in the dispatches. Hoshiar Singh had earned a good name for himself in 1965, but his true calibre would show up in the action in 1971.
The capture of Jarpal
After the men of 3 Grenadiers had crossed the international border, their first objective was the capture of Bhaironath temple, a Hindu temple where the enemy had positioned a platoon-strength of soldiers and three Sherman tanks.
By the time the Indian forces reached the village, it had been deserted by all civilians, who fearing an attack had fled. Shortly after the attack, the Pakistani soldiers fled too, leaving their tanks behind, which were captured by the Indian Army. The battalion then marched on to Bhagor Khurd and then across the first minefield to reach Fatehpur and Dinga Narain Pur. It was decided they would cross the Basantar Nala to establish a bridgehead. The plan was that 16 Madras would capture Saraj Chak in phase one while Jarpal and Lohal would be captured by 3 Grenadiers in phase two of the brigade attack.
The night the men of Cheema’s B Company and Hoshiar Singh’s C Company were wading across the freezing Basantar Nala was D-day. They had been given the task of capturing Jarpal from west and east by 12. 30 a. m. on 16 December. It was a Herculean task. Not only was the area around Jarpal village heavily mined, it was also occupied by a company of the enemy, which sat there with its deadly machine guns ready for action.
The moment the attacking companies crossed the nala, emerging with soaked clothes, they encountered a minefield of about 1500 yards. Though the mines were embedded in the soil, they were easy to identify since the Pakistanis had wired the mined area on both sides to warn their own tanks and soldiers and to keep cattle out. Luckily for the infantry, most of these were anti-tank mines which wouldn’t explode under a man’s weight and the soldiers could cross these patches at night. The forming-up place or FUP where the men had to assemble and then proceed on their company missions was 1500 yards from Jarpal. It was very difficult to identify the objective at night because of the dark and enemy fire. ‘We were told by the CO, “naak ki seedh mein chalte raho (keep walking straight),”’ remembers Col Cheema. And that was exactly what the soldiers did, supported by their own artillery and mortar attack, which was aimed at keeping the enemy down.
Col (retd) S. S. Punia was the mortar platoon commander during the operation. He now lives in Gurgaon and, when the battalion celebrates Jarpal Day, sits down to have a drink with his old colleagues who fought the war with him. He remembers how he was asked to deploy his mortars after the minefield was cleared. ‘Our mortars could fire up to 6 km and we used them to neutralize the enemy that night while the B and C Companies attacked Jarpal. It was a fierce fight, ‘ he remembers. ‘We fired a record number of 800 bombs that night and during the counterattacks. The Pakistanis were chased away and those who were hiding in bunkers were made prisoners of war.’
Around 12. 30 a. m. on 16 December, the company commanders sent the signal to their CO saying that east and west of Jarpal had been captured. The men then dug trenches and settled down to defend what they had won. Reports had already started coming in that the enemy would go in for a massive offensive to take back its territory. Maj Hoshiar Singh and Maj Cheema both knew that the toughest part of their task was yet to begin. 16-17 December The Pakistanis launch a record number of six counterattacks to reoccupy Jarpal, but all of these are beaten back by the men of B and C Companies. The enemy soldiers start coming in wave after wave, starting at 3. 30 a. m. on 16 December; the moment one lot is beaten back, another appears. Though each attack is neutralized by the men, the fatigue of fighting almost constantly with little or no time to rest and recoup is getting to them.
This is where Maj Hoshiar Singh and Maj Cheema stand by their side and egg them on with their words and action. Between attacks they eat the field rations they are carrying and drink tea that is quickly prepared in the trenches and sipped from their canteen caps, tiffin boxes and whatever else they can lay their hands on. Then comes startling information from a listening post that Maj Hoshiar Singh has created near the Gazipur Reserve Forest, south of Jarpal, about 400 m away from where the soldiers have dug their trenches. The men radio Maj Hoshiar Singh, saying they have noticed activity in the forest and are certain the enemy is planning to attack from that side. Maj Hoshiar Singh tells them to stay very quiet and to not open fire as it would warn the enemy about their presence. Instead, he orders them to fall back and join up with the rest of the company.
Meanwhile, he informs his CO on the radio set of the coming massive enemy attack and he would need artillery support to beat it back. He also ensures that his men are on alert and have taken cover in the trenches they had dug during the daytime. The soldiers are strictly warned to keep silent with no movement, no coughing, no sneezing, etc. For hours, they wait in complete silence, their hands clasped firmly around their rifles, faces dark with fatigue.
Around 4 a. m. the final attack comes as expected. The Pakistani army has attacked Jarpal with two companies of 35 Frontier Force Rifles that are led by Col Mohammad Akram Raja, the CO. Maj Hoshiar Singh allows the enemy soldiers to get closer even as his men watch impatiently, rifles cocked. He orders them to not open fire till he says so. It is only when the enemy soldiers are in the range of 100-50 yards that he yells out: ‘Fire.’
All hell breaks loose as his men give it all they have got— medium machine guns (MMGs), light machine guns (LMGs), rifles, mortar, the artillery starts firing at the advancing enemy soldiers, who are taken completely unawares. It is a bloody sight with the men screaming in pain as bullets and shells whip into their bodies. Each man, from either side, gives it all he has. Amidst war cries, exploding shells, mortar bursts, bullets and exchange of abuse, the fight continues well into the morning.
Maj Hoshiar Singh is hit by splinters from an artillery shell and his leg is badly injured. He refuses to be evacuated, despite being told to by his CO. Supported by a soldier, he continues to move from one trench to another, encouraging his tired men to not give up, inspiring them to hold on to their strength and courage. When an MMG gun jams, he climbs into the trench and, fixing it himself, he uses it to keep up the firing. The firing is called off only after all enemy activity has ceased. As many as 42 Pakistani soldiers are taken POW. When a final count is done in the daylight, 89 of the enemy are lying dead in front of the C Company trenches. Col Cheema remembers how Captain Bhatt, the adjutant of Pakistan’s 35 FF, had told him: ‘There are 350 lying dead and wounded with us, and now we will have to re-raise 35 FF.’
Amongst the dead are five officers, including Col Raja, who was leading the attack. He has been hit by an MMG burst right in the face and has died a hero’s death. His arms are frozen in the position in which he had been holding his Sten gun. Col V. P. Airy later writes a tribute for Col Raja on the basis of which he is given Pakistan’s second highest award for gallantry—the Hilale- Jurat.
Maj Hoshiar Singh has displayed personal bravery and dauntless courage, with complete disregard for personal safety in the face of heavy odds, for which he is awarded the Param Vir Chakra. He is one of the rare few to have won the medal alive. Col Hoshiar Singh was born on 5 May 1936 in a small village called Sisana in Haryana’s Sonipat district. He studied in a local school, later attending the Jat Higher Secondary School. He was a good student and an outstanding sportsman; an excellent volleyball player, he represented Punjab in the nationals. A senior officer of the Jat Regimental Centre noticed his excellent game at a match and implored him to join the Jat Regiment, which he did. He was enrolled into 2 Jat and later commissioned into 3 Grenadiers. Those who knew him remember him as a simple, down-to-earth man who was very fond of eating halwa-choorma but when it came to war tactics, he was said to have the cunning of a fox. After the capture of Jarpal when asked to indicate the location of his company, he did not do it from where the company was stationed. Instead, he moved 200 metres towards the enemy before firing the 2- inch illuminating mortar so that the enemy, if it was watching, would get confused. He conveyed the coordinates to his own CO on the radio set. He was a ground soldier and his field craft and understanding of enemy behaviour was one of the major reasons for the success in Jarpal. It was said that he could read the enemy’s mind like a book.
Brigadier (retd) Randhir, who served with Hoshiar after the war says that while Hoshiar was a natural leader, he was also much loved by his battalion and a big favourite with his jawans and JCOs. He would always be by their side, constantly monitoring and supervising what they were doing. He also did not like punishing his men; he preferred to correct them with genuine affection. He knew his troops very well and could tell exactly how each man would behave in a particular situation. He went on to become a full colonel and died of a heart attack on 6 December 1998. Of his three sons, two are serving in the Army, and his wife, Dhanno, lives in Delhi with her son’s family.
Brig. Randhir remembers the first time he went to join the battalion in early 1972 as a young officer. A ceasefire was in place, hostilities had ceased and though Jarpal was still to recover from the deadly shelling it had faced, sugar cane and wheat were growing in the fields, he says. Maj Hoshiar Singh and Maj Cheema were still holding fort at Jarpal after having chased the enemy right up to Barapind. He still remembers a prominent board that had been put up by the 54th Division just beyond the international border. It was a tribute to the big fight put up by the division, specially 3 Grenadiers, in capturing strategically important territory in Pakistan. It said: ‘You are now entering Pakistan. No passports required. Bash on regardless.’
SIACHEN—1 9 7 1
Siachen glacier, named after the pink sia blossoms that bloom across Ladakh in the summer months, has been called
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