Hrishabh Tiwari
25/06/2021
Two neighbours with a lot in common and much to contrast; crowded cities, humongous population, gleaming infrastructure, gazillion bucks worth of trade, 3,488 km of shared land border and the teachings of Buddha may seem to bring these to-be superpower countries together but not often the case. The democratic India and the autocratic regime China might have vital economical relation but the two nation never see eye to an eye over the border and military issues. Both the countries are only separated by a petty margin when it comes to the strength of Armed Forces but as far as superiority is concerned India Armed Forces have time and again sent the Chinese PLA back packed with a bloody nose.
India have had to fight at every stage, be it confronting and overthrowing British for the independence or waging in a full-fledged battle with Pakistan and China for defending its own territory, Indian Armed Forces have never backed down an inch. 1947-48 war with Pakistan had cleared all the doubts about the bloodshed that the future held for these two newly independent neighbouring nations but the surprise came from Peking in 1962, the Indo-Sino war that concluded with China capturing a cosmic 38,000 sq km of Aksai-Chin. The forfeited war was a humiliation to India and its forces.
Indian Forces were however very quick to realise the mistakes that led to the mislay of 1962, and soon they started piling up the artillery and acquiring newer weapons to not let any rival nation replicate the shade of 1962. On the other hand, Pakistan and China devised a plan to bring India on negotiating table by waging it into a two front war. In the early 1965, Pakistan Army started clashes with Indian soldiers in various sectors of Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan, its main plan was to occupy Kashmir while China was attempting to capture Sikkim to cut North-eastern states from mainland India. At both these points there existed vulnerable corridors which if captured could hurt India badly. A dreadful war broke out between India and Pakistan starting August 1965 after months of skirmish culmination but the staggering performance from land, sea and air by the Indian Armed Forces didn't let Pak and China succeed in their foul intentions.
At that time, Sikkim was a monarchy state and it wanted to remain independent despite constant bullying and browbeating by Peking (Beijing) and annoyance from Delhi. After the 1965 war, India had taken an edge over Pakistan but on eastern front China maintained a permanent stay abutting Sikkim border, which had led to various brawls between soldiers of both the camps but never had there been a bullet fired. But things were to change after troops of both nations clashed at Nathu La over laying of barbed wire fence. The Indian Army troops months ahead of the clash had decided to lay three layered barbed wire fence but once the fencing began on August 20, 75 Chinese soldiers carrying bayonet-fitted rifle came till the border to protest but soon returned. A long chain of diplomatic coercing set off by Chinese threatening India of a 'grave consequence'.
On September 7, when the work of upgrading the barbed wire to concertina coil was afoot, 100 Chinese soldiers rushed to the fencing and thence a scuffle ensued, beaten up by the JAT soldiers of Indian Army, Chinese resorted to stone-pelting which was responded equally. Four days later when the work resumed, Chinese PLA troops once again tried breaking the fence led by their political commissar (only person who could speak English) , when the CO Lt Col Rai Singh went to have a talk with them, he was met with gun fire that resulted him being grievously injured. Seeing their CO, officers and soldiers hit, Indian troops responded with artillery and smoked every Chinese post in vicinity. Indian Army and Chinese PLA both suffered a lot of casualty but India had taken the revenge of 1962. An edgy peace prevailed at Nathu La until October 1, when another skirmish broke out in Cho La, Indian Army led by Lt Gen Sagat Singh proved its mettle once again and defeated the Chinese twice in a fortnight. Later Lt Gen Sagat Singh decided to have a permanent presence in the Sikkim corridor. The audacious decision of Lt Gen Singh to hold a permanent camp at Nathu La and Cho La proved beneficial in 1971 war. Had China had control over Nathu La sector, it would have linked easily to East Pakistan and severed north-east from mainland. In the 1967 war, more than 300 Chinese soldiers died while 88 Indian brave soldiers fell in the line of duty but taught the Chinese PLA a much important lesson-Never mess with India.
The build-up to the 1967 war
Referred to as "Sher-e-Kashmir", founding leader of the 'All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference' and the 1st elected Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 1948 after its accession to India, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was the pivot around which the whole politics of Kashmir revolved since partition but by virtue of politics he has been seen as a rebel leader who had been proponent of 'Article 370' (then Article 306A), infact he was very instrumental in the drafting of Article 306A. In 1953 he was deposed and arrested for brief time and again detained in 1958 on the charges of being a Pakistani agent. For what he meant to the Kashmiri people can be decoded by the fact that on his release from house-arrest in 1964, a swarm of over 20,000 Kashmiris gathered to see him.
After his release, he had been touring various countries and often made controversial remarks over Kashmir, in one of the article written by him in an American magazine, he advocated for the 'self-determination' of Kashmir which allured a heap of approval praise from Pakistan and equal criticism from Indian government. Since the 1962 Indo-Sino war, the American foreign intelligence agency CIA had been taking great intrest in the Asian military strategies and policies and Abdullah was drawing a lot of attention for his Pakistan favoured comments. He was getting very close to Chinese CCP leaders and Pakistani government. During one of his visit to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1964 he met a CIA agent whom he talked through the Pakistan-China's maturing plans to attack India in the late summer of 1965.
India had have had problems with Pakistan for forever but China had been creating newer problems by digging border related issues. Pakistan too was not left alone from the aggressive invasion of China, the then President of Pakistan Muhammad Ayyub Khan on a stopover in Delhi in 1959 had proposed a plan to Indian government to fight the Chinese together but the plans were rejected on the context that it favoured Pakistan in Kashmir settlement. In the coming years, Pakistan and China joined hands to counter India. The growing bitter rivalry between India-Pakistan was only helping China's plan to disintegrate India as it tried and succeeded in 1962. After the Indo-Sino War, India underwent a lot of changes, politically and militarily. Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri took over as prime minister of India after the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. India also had to turn towards Soviets for artillery and weapons dropping its non-aligned status, while India was trying to recover from the shock of 1962, Pakistan was on a rise militarily and economically, it was also receiving all possible military aids from USA for its anti-communist ideologies which favored USA in countering the Soviets.
The news of Pakistan-China joint attack on India shell-shocked the CIA, the pundits at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), Virginia, USA started brainstorming the impact of to-be fought war between India-Pak-China on international politics and the ways it would resolve. They predicted the war to break out somewhere in August-September of 1966 with Pak-China on one side and India on the other as stated by Sheikh Abdullah. IDA also predicted the pattern of the dual front war, firstly Pakistan would attack in Kashmir by land and then wage into an aerial war thereafter China will start invading into eastern parts of India. The war would conclude after reaching to a settlement dialogue between warring nations led by USA and USSR. Even the hypothetical plan's layout drafted by IDA seemed very worrisome and if Pak-China had succeeded in their motives, it would have changed the face of South Asia for forever.
Starting August, 1965 Pakistan began to infiltrate the troops from Azad Kashmir Regular Force into Kashmir under codenamed 'Operation Gibraltar' to cause uprising among local Kashmiris against Delhi. But after the failure of the mission, Pakistan pursued with the conventional war and attacked Akhnoor. However it is to be noted that the attack took place a year prior to what government run private think-tank agency IDA had predicted. The reasons were pretty simple, India was on a streak to upgrade its military capabilities, be it procuring weapons from Soviets or increasing the man-strength of the army, Indian government led by Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri was leaving no stone unturned. The traditional .303 rifles used in 1962 were started to be phased out and newer 7.62mm SLRs (Self-loading Rifles) were being inducted. Pakistan was in a rush to attack as the weapons procured from western countries and USSR were still being inducted and soldiers were yet not fully used to the switch. Had Pak attacked any later, it would have met a newer and improved Indian barrage.
India in response to the Operation Gibraltar, attacked Haji Pir Pass which was earlier under Pakistan administration in Kashmir and captured it by August 28. The subsequent aerial war broke out between the two nations, there had been many individual excellency in the 1965 war and one of them embraced the story of CQH Abdul Hamid who had single-handedly destroyed seven Pakistani tanks. The battle of Asal Uttar saw the largest tank battle to take place since World War II. As the Indian forces started to gain momentum after initial Pak's success, China began to organize areas of Tibet and amid the war in the west, it served notice to Indian Defence minister YB Chavan to dismantle all the posts and bunkers inside TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region formed by grouping Tibet, Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang provinces). The main purpose of this intimidation was clearly directed to disable India in pulling out troops from North-east and deploying them in western Pakistan where a plan to attack Lahore was afoot. China began to rack up troops against India abutting the Sikkim border, the 1965 war just as it seemed to settle once again bubbled up.
The theatre of war drama had seemingly moved towards the east, the corridors which had handful of Chinese infantrymen was now brim packed with People's Liberation Army troops. After the partition in 1947, all the princely states were deciding on whether to join India or Pakistan but one small north-eastern monarchy wanted to remain autonomous, Tashi Namgyal, the king or the Chogyal of Sikkim had sought autonomy from Pandit Nehru against the will of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who wanted Sikkim to integrate with India. However he was not held for long, in the year 1950 Sikkim Royal Chogyal signed a treaty with India to become Indian protectorate against Chinese intimidations.
As the focus of the 1965 war moved eastward, 46 year old Major General Sagat Singh was closely monitoring all the Chinese build-up, through his primary field binoculars, he could see new trenches dug up, tent camps and bunkers being made. On the Sikkim border there's a significant pass in the Himalayan peaks that co-joins Sikkim and China. Situated on the Indo-Tibetan border 14450 ft. above sea level, Nathu La is one of the most important Himalayan passes in the country. Nathu means 'listening ears', and La means 'pass', it is famous for its picturesque beauty and beautiful environment.
Major General Sagat Singh was commanding the 17 Mountain Division in Sikkim but much before that he had caught everyone's attention more so of the Portugal government which had offered a reward of $10,000 to anyone who brings head of Sagat Singh. The Lisbon (Capital of Portugal) walls were all plastered with the posters of 'Wanted-Man Sagat Singh'. No man had the guts to turn him in and the elite officer lived to tell his side of the tale, on the decisive day of December 19, 1961 Maj Gen Sagat Singh along with his men from Parachute Regiment stormed into Goa to liberate it from the Portuguese rule.
Under the codenamed 'Operation Vijay' to liberate Goa, Major General Sagat Singh along with his PARA regiment men were airdropped in Panaji on December 19, 1961 where he was assigned the task to overtake Panaji. The Portuguese forces were surrounded by all sides and they offered to surrender, Sagat Singh was welcomed by the people of Goa as the liberators, something that irked the Portuguese government that they priced his head. Not only the liberation of Goa, the triumph list goes on and on for the gutsy officer of the Indian Army who had an important role to play in the 1967 war.
Bringing the attention back to the war in West Pakistan, Indian Forces were knocking at the door of Sialkot and Lahore, Pakistani administration rushed to China to meet Zhou Enlai (top grade leader of CCP) and Marshal Chen Yi to discuss the situation and seek China's help. Pakistan had earlier planned a short term war but China was adamant to create a prolonged war situation between India-Pak, it even advised Pakistan to be ready to lose Lahore in order to win big. China was plainly not in a mood to enter the war directly, however the diplomatic intimidation and browbeating never doused. On September 22, UNSC unanimously voted demanding India and Pak to reach a ceasefire which both the warring nation agreed to. India's leadership felt that the spectacular triumph over Pakistan was far from easy and Pakistan too was completely exhausted of resources and economy to sustain a longer war, hence Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ayyub Khan agreed to a ceasefire.
The war in the west may have stopped but the already lamentable relations between Indo-Sino was on a verge of collapse and China was leaving no opportunity to intimidate India of a '1962 like war'. While India was fighting off Pakistan in the west, China accused India of stealing 800 sheep and 59 yaks that had crossed over to India from Tibet. On September 24, 1965 the then opposition leader Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee herded a flock of 800 sheep to the Chinese embassy in Delhi having placards, "हमको खाओ संसार को बचाओ" written over them which Peking sighted as a move backed by the Indian government to insult China. Peking also complaint that Indian soldiers had kidnapped four Tibet inhabitants, which was countered by Indian gov stating they came on their own will to escape from torturous situation in Tibet and take asylum in India, however they are free to go back.
'The lovely level pass' or in local dialect Jelep La situated above 14,500 ft had been an important trade route and a way for refugees to commute between Sikkim and Tibet, while the build-up at Nathu La after the 1965 war was significant, Jelep La wasn't too far from the eyes of China, slowly and steadily PLA troops started camping at this pass too. In 1965, Jelep La was under the command of 27 Mountain Division led by Major General Harcharan Singh while Nathu La was commanded by 17 Mountain Division led by Major General Sagat Singh Rathore, these two divisions fell under the 33 Corps of the Indian Army. According to the plans devised by the 33 Corps commander Lt Gen GG Bewoor, in case of any escalation to a war, 17 and 27 Mountain Divisions would leave the Nathu La and Jelep La pass respectively and take a defensive offence position some 9-10 miles inside the Indian territory at Chhangu and Lumthu respectively. This plan was unacceptable to Major General Sagat Singh and he even called it 'absurd and stupid'. As the situation was growing tense, Chinese PLA crossed LAC in Ladakh and killed 3 Indian Policemen. The PLA troops in Nathu La and Jelep La had gathered in large numbers and started aggressive demonstration, they even accused Indian Army of disturbing peace along LAC. Amid all this, an order came from 33 Corps to vacate the Jelep La and Nathu La pass in order to avoid engaging China in a war.
The situation in India was very gloomy, one side we had just declared ceasefire with Pakistan and on the other China was trying its best to engage India in a war. Maj Gen Harcharan Singh in accordance to the orders vacated the Jelep La while Maj Gen Sagat Singh was adamant and stayed back at Nathu La defying the Corps Commander's order. Had Major General Sagat Singh vacated Nathu La, China would have got an opportunity to dominate the Siliguri corridor often called as 'Chicken's Neck' and disintegrated North-eastern states from mainland. China soon occupied the Jelep La but were irked seeing Sagat Singh still holding the Nathu La, the Chinese thence decided to wait for the right opportunity to occupy Nathu La. Over the next two years many minor skirmishes broke out between India and China, even the diplomatic war continued. China had used the 1965 Indo-Pak war to its advantage in expanding its control in TAR and Sikkim border regions. The Chinese Communist Party leaders and Mao Zedong's PLA troops were now waiting eagerly for the perfect opportunity to take over Nathu La.
Watershed is a land area that channels and drains all the rainfall and streams to a common outlet such as river, water poured at any point in watershed would run to the deepest point of the region. The border passes of Nathu La and Cho La were along the watershed region between Sikkim and China. The Chinese never accepted the McMahon line and there had always been clashes along the watershed sourced to the unmarked borderline, since the precise location of the border wasn't set, the People's Liberation Army wanted to creep into the Indian territory as far as possible, the tactics that they employed in the 1962 war. The patrolling platoons of Chinese PLA would often try to invoke the Indian troops in Nathu La by lauding the victory of 1962, there had been many loudspeakers set up in the Chinese camp that blared the repeat of '1962 lesson' in Suddha Hindi but no soldier of 17 Mountain Division paid heed to as they were used to more colloquial language.
In June 1967, two Indian diplomats Vijay and Raghunath were accused of spying and gathering vital information from prohibited military zone, the Indian government and the two diplomats in their defence stated that they were only clicking pictures of a temple ruin which was very close to the "prohibited military zone", thereafter they were abducted by the PLA soldiers without any reason. However China declared them spy on the context that they were trying to create a topographical map of the illicit zone. The two Indian diplomats were expelled and deported back to India. A tit-for-tat situation followed when Indian government accused Chen Lu-Chih, a Chinese embassy secretary of gathering intelligence and carrying out subversive activities in India. Unlike China, India didn't hold a court trial instead ordered to deport the first secretary. Just in another 72 hour, Indian MEA took a bold move and deported Hsieh Cheng-Hao on the same charges.
Following day after the order to deport Chinese diplomats, a mob led by political parties gathered outside Chinese embassy in Delhi and tried to break in, the mob smashed windows, tore down Chinese flag and assaulted the embassy staff including Chen Lu-Chih and Hsieh Cheng-Hao who were rushed to Hospital, this incident meant a similar treatment for India diplomats in Peking, the safety of diplomats in Peking was a matter of concern, the whole embassy was under siege, the neighbouring diplomats who came to deliver food were too refuted back by PLA soldiers surrounding the embassy. The tension among the countries were at its peak, the gloomy clouds of war were around the corner and at any moment a battle would break out.
War in the east: Nathu La and Cho La
Starting August 1967, Battalion of Grenadiers led by Lt Col Rai Singh occupied the Nathu La post to take over the defence from the outgoing battalion, the 2 Grenadiers battalion was under the 17 Mountain Division commanded by Lt Gen Sagat Singh Rathore. The 2 Grenadier is part of the elite Grenadiers regiment that is one of the largest secular forces in the world, it comprised of Jats, Ahirs, Gujjars, Meenas, Shaurashtriyans, Khaims, Rajputs, Muslims, Dogras and others, The activities from the Chinese troop increased vaguely after 2 Grenadiers took over, they even crossed the border and began to dig trenches and on calling out by the Indian Army, they went back after filling back the trenches. These everyday theatrics had antagonized Lt Gen Sagat Singh and he ordered Lt Col Rai Singh to mark the border by laying barbed wire following the watershed principle of the McMahon line.
On August 20, Lt Col Rai Singh and his men from 2 Grenadiers battalion began the work to lay the three layered barbed wire along the ridgeline of watershed. Just then few Chinese soldiers rushed towards the border and demanded the border work to stop but unmindful of the PLA soldiers the laying of the fence carried on. On August 23, three days later Company Commander Bishan Singh and Lt Col Rai Singh were strolling around and monitoring the laying of barbed wire when a cluster of Chinese soldier aggressively marched towards the fence, there may have been close to 75 soldiers carrying bayonet-fitted rifle along with a political commissar accompanying them. Political commissar usually accompanied the Chinese troop as he was the only person who could communicate with Indian officers in English, he can be identified by the distinct red cap worn and the red book carried by him. When the Chinese troops came closer to the border, the political commissar started murmuring few slogans from the 'red communist book', which was followed by the unison chanting by the 75 Chinese soldier present there. Surprisingly there was no firing from Chinese soldiers who looked hell bent to stop the fencing work, the Indian troops had a sigh of relief once the PLA troops went back briefly, had there been any firing by the Chinese, a sure shot war would have broken out.
Lt Gen Sagat Singh realised that there was no demarcation in many regions along the watershed to separate the Indian territory from the Chinese soil, even if the Chinese intruded there would be no way to send them back except for using arms. On September 2, 1967 Lt gen Sagat Singh ordered to send one JCO (Junior Commissioned officer) along with a 15 soldier team to monitor the situation at far end of the watershed where the borders weren't demarcated yet, and once again the Indian troops found themselves surrounded by the Chinese soldiers, "Chini, Chini" they shouted to proclaim that the Indian troops were standing on the Chinese soil. Indian soldiers tried to explain the impudent Chinese troops that they were standing on the Indian side only but to no avail. Few abuses and foul colloquial words were exchanged between the blabbermouth Chinese and Indian soldiers, but this time the young Indian troop was in no mood to entertain any Chinese shenanigans, jolting and body pushing started between the two sides in the region claimed as their own by both the camps. Lt Col Rai Singh standing at the outposts of Nathu La was witnessing the brushing between the two groups through his binoculars. Both the groups were heavily armed and matched to headcount, inexplicably no bullets were fired and the Chinese resorted to the first move; a long walk back to their bunkers.
India believed the watershed line to be the border between India-China whereas China even protested the Indian presence in Sikkim, before the things go any awry Lt Gen Sagat Singh, Commander of 17 Mountain Division decided to lay concertina coils and upgrade the barbed wire. On the chilly, ridiculously cold morning of September 5, Indian soldiers once again started the work on the border fence. By this time, you can well predict what would follow next, unsurprisingly the Chinese soldiers crept till the fencing and stood dogging the shadows of Indian men, once again Lt Col Rai Singh was in two minds whether to continue the work and face the Chinese in a possible gun-fight or to withdraw the work until further orders arrive from Division headquarters. The work stopped briefly and Chinese men went back only to return in the night, a desperate Chinese patrol crossed the fencing from the southern outposts in Nathu La and dug up a few trenches. The next morning, as per orders the work to lay concertina coils over fencing began, the Chinese troops started pouring buckets of water to show the altered watershed line.
On September 7, Chinese PLA soldiers amassed at the fencing, 60-70, an Indian soldier counted them to be close to 100, they had come up surely with a motive to create a scuffle and the Jat soldiers of Indian Army didn't disappoint them. Taller, muscular and robust 'Jats' were sure to overpower the 'Lilliputian-Chinese' soldiers, the Indian soldiers swung hard at the nimble Chinese troop, fisting, pushing, hurling abuses at each other, both the sides were in a ugly 'mob-fight'. The Political commissar, a little fleshy and better built tried to join the scuffle but he was pulled by the collar and thrown to taste the mud, he got a broken nose and shattered glasses as a handout for joining the clash. At the end of the day both the sides were badly bruised, while Indian camp had the upper hand in the fight, Chinese succeeded in averting Indian men from laying the fence for one more day. The PLA was unlikely to forget the incident that day especially after what happened to the Senior Political commissar, Lt Gen Sagat Singh and Lt Col Rai Singh wanted to finish the fencing work as early as possible because they knew despite the hard training to restraint from using weapons, Indian soldier would not back down from taking the extreme step, if challenged. On the night of September 10, Lt Gen Sagat Singh had a meeting with the 112 Corps Commander Brigadier Madan Mohan Singh Bakshi and Division commander Sagat Singh asked all the officers present in the all important meeting to be ready for a war if the situation goes out of hand. The weapons, artillery and the troops that were called in close to Nathu La starting August were also told to be on their toes.
While the work of demarcating the border via fencing was afoot, the erection of communication lines were equally important, in case of a battle situation Indian command headquarters would have a way to communicate with the forward post, for this purpose, starting second week of September, the telephonic wires were being stretched to the outposts of importance. In the meeting that took place on September 10, Lt Gen Sagat Singh had instructed the Commanding officers to be away from the enemy fire line inside their bunker while soldiers and company commander lead the task of laying the fence. The next morning the work resumed and once again Chinese troops were ready with rifle slung on their shoulders, there may have been close to 150 Chinese men watching closely while 120 Indian were completing the work. The situation was so tensed and at that moment nothing could have been predicted, Lt Col Rai Singh sitting in the bunker was watching 'loud argument' between the two sides, he was not an officer who would throw his men in the fire and watch it from the colder side, Lt Col Singh ran out of patience and went closer to the fence to stand firmly beside his men.
The Chinese kept a poker face and watched as the concertina coils were laid over the barbed wire, Lt Col Rai Singh reached the fencing area but to his surprise, the PLA troops along with their Political commissar miraculously decided to move back to their bunkers, something major was stirring in the 'Chini camp', Lt Col Singh had whiffed that they were to witness yet another scrimmage but even he wouldn't have thought what the morning of September 11 had in its bag. It was around 7.50 am, the Chinese men went back to their bunkers, laid their hand of the LMGs (Light Machine Guns), MMGs(Medium Machine Guns) and mortars and indiscriminately rained fire over the serene Indian soldiers of the 2 Grenadiers. In the first 7 min of firing, 70 soldiers had lost their lives while Lt Col had taken major blow and he fell wounded on the ground. It wasn't a battle between two professional armies rather a massacre from 'satanic slaughtermen'.
Meanwhile a young daredevil officer Major Harbhajan Singh of the Rajput Regiment was watching the events unfold from his bunker, he tried to give cover fire to the 30 odd soldiers who were trying to escape the Chinese MMGs. Before any orders from the Division Commander Lt Gen Sagat Singh, they would not have been able to use the heavy artilleries, however Major Harbhajan Singh devised a plan to climb the slopes and enter the Chinese bunkers to stop them from firing, this plan as twisted as it seemed was a walk towards the death. Company Commander Bishan Singh tried all his best to stop but seeing the 'josh and anger' of Major Harbhajan Singh, Company commander gave permission to the young Major to walk the one way path that led to only one destination. Sappers, Sepoys and the Pioneers along with Major Harbhajan Singh and Captain PS Dagar started the climb to the 'north shoulder', where the Chinese MMGs and mortars were placed. On their climb, Major Singh and his men drew heavy fire from the Chinese machine guns, several of the troops were mowed and those few who managed to climb inside the bunkers used their bayonet-fitted rifle to launch a physical assault. In the fight that made Major Harbhajan Singh, the "Hero of Nathu La" saw Baba Harbhajan assaulting more than 5 Chinese men with his bayonet but while leading to stop the MMGs, he received heavy bullet shots and breathed his last. Captain PS Dagar too fought with gallant and pinned down 3 Chinese men before he fell giving the supreme Balidan.
The things were to become even awry once the communication between the forward post and the artillery officers broke down, time was running out, if artilleries weren't used, Indian would lose Nathu La too. Lt Gen Sagat Singh himself walked towards the forward post, herding back those Indian soldiers who had abandoned their posts and ran away amid the raining fire from Chinese. Army Chief General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam was away on foreign visit and it would have taken more than 5 hours to get permission for the use of artillery, Lt Gen Sagat Singh took upon himself and ordered to use the artilleries and thus stepped towards avoid another 1962 situation where Indian leadership had always delayed timely decisions.
Hell broke loose once the artillery guns set up at the observation post started blaring and shelling towards the Chinese bunkers. Momentarily Chinese PLA would have regretted their decision to open fire at the Indian soldiers. By the time the bombardment ended, more than 300 Chinese soldiers had been killed and more than 500 PLA men were lying flat on the ground grievously injured, the Chinese bunkers that had rained fire in the morning were smoked to ashes by the day end of the fourth day. Because of lack of observation, and the steep incline west of Nathu La, most Chinese shells fell behind the forward defenses, and did not harm the Indians. The Nathu La war had cleared all the myths, the world had cultivated about the invincibility of the People's Liberation Army, not only Indian Army had avenged the 1962 war but also given a befitting fightback and a bloody nose to the Chinese. As usual, Chinese started terrorizing the Indian government of a aerial fight and using jets for bombing Indian territories, this clearly showed the pain and bruise Indian men had given to the PLA. The Chinese request of a ceasefire was accepted and India collected the bodies of the soldiers who died in the Chinese territory and in a ceremony gave them the final salute, they deserved.
The Battle of Cho La
China's miscalculation in the Nathu La Battle had costed them lives of more than 300 troops while Indian Army too had lost close to a company, the morale of the troops was still beaming bright. Lt Gen Sagat Singh knew China would not take the hard pill so easily, hence he ordered all the forward post abutting India-China border to stay on high alert. Cho La, a much smaller land mass as compared to Nathu La, covered by two peaks on either sides, it is a barren flat land with no signs of vegetation, the boulders or fine rocks mark this terrain that separates India and China. The tension was sky high since the Nathu La battle and the defenses of both camps were waiting with their fingers on trigger and eyes on the enemy, it seemed as if a wild cat is getting ready to pounce on its prey.
On the west stood the taller mountain feature known as Pt 15450 resembling its height in feet while on the east Pt 15180 marked its presence. The observation posts of both the nations were along the border line at the mountain peaks barely 10 to 12 ft apart from each other. In the rear stood twin huts which Indian Army had erected in order to call for a reinforcement if needed. On September 29, 1967 two company of 10 J&K Rifles were to descend to the base and two Company from 7/11 Gorkha Rifles battalion would reinforce at Cho La and the two mountain peaks, but there began a minor scuffle between the troops of 10 J&K Rifles and PLA atop Pt 15450 a day prior to the return, the hustling began relating to a 30 feet boulder that Indian believed was on the watershed line whereas Chinese PLA claimed it to be in their territory, once again the matter seemed to go out of hand involving a minor border issue. A fist fight began between three Indian soldiers and 2 Chinese men that soon expanded to the whole platoon, luckily no bullets were fired that day and bruised troops came back to their camps. A company of 7/11 Gorkha Rifles led by 2nd Lieutenant Samuel replaced J&K Rifles at the Pt 15180 and subsequently Pt 15450 was occupied by another Gorkha Rifles company led by Lieutenant Ram Singh Rathore.
On October 1, after the Gorkha rifles platoons replaced the 10 J&K Rifles, Naib Subedar Gyan Bahadur Limbu who was in charge of a sentry post at the Pt 15450 walked up to the boulder to take a view of the whole situation, seeing him close to the boulder Chinese men stood at a handshake distance warning him of a repercussion, if he didn't walk away. Gorkhalis being themselves started to place their foot on the boulder which irked the Chinese badly, a Chini soldier standing a feet away swung his bayonetted rifle hard towards Naib Subedar Gyan Bahadur Limbu, seeing his senior bleeding, a Gorkha sepoy brought out his Khukri and slashed the arm of the Chinese soldier who had bayonetted Gyan Bahadur. The situation had gone out of hand to the point that Chinese soldier rushed towards their camps and came back raining fire from their rifles, Indian soldiers were once again caught in the middle, it seemed as if the Chinese had in hand orders to start gun-fight. The brawl had grown into a skirmish, since the Gorkha soldiers had replaced the J&K Rifles company, they were running low on ammunition, outnumbered by the Chinese troops Gorkhalis were taking shelter behind the rocks to escape the blank range volley of fire from Chinese.
Lance Naik Krishna Bahadur and Debi Prasad Limbu along with their buddies jumped right into the bunkers of the Chinese, shouting the war cry "Jai Maha Kali, Ayo Gorkhali", the young Gorkhas flashed their Khukri towards the Chinese gunmen who were triggering the MMGs, the Gorkhas moved lightning quick slashing the throats of Chini soldiers, in an exceptional display of hand to hand combat, Gorkhas had scythed through the forward defence of Chinese PLA. But the valour of the small platoon of Gorkhas was not enough to beat the myriad of Chinese soldiers, one by one, the Gorkhali bit the bullet and fell on the ground trying to safeguard their territory. The Chinese troops seemed to be getting a better of the Indian side and they started their walk to capture Pt 15450, Lieutenant Ram Singh Rathore too perished to the Chinese bullets, the Gorkha company was left with no officer to command, but Gorkhas weren't going to give in so easily, Gorkhas on the Pt 15180 started to fire from the MMG towards the Chinese trying to occupy Pt 15450 in the Indian territory. The plans of Chinese PLA was thence thwarted, but few surviving Chinese soldiers had taken over the Point 15450, by evening the brigade commander gave permission to launch a counterattack to recapture the Pt 15450. A large troop climbed the Pt 15450 to only find the Chinese soldiers already flee away seeing the mammoth Indian troops coming to hunt them, by morning the Indian soldiers had once again captured the lost peak.
Over next couple of days, Indian and Chinese Army collected the bodies of their soldiers, the sacrifice of the Indian soldiers had not gone in vain, they had succeeded in not conceding an inch of land to the Chinese. A Chinese officer seeing the bravery of Debi Prasad asked his counterpart who had gone to collect Debi Prasad's body, "Who the hell was he?" The Chinese PLA had been beaten twice in a gap of 15 days, losing more than 400 troops in Nathu La and Cho La battle, they had been taught a fitting lesson. After the storm of Cho La, there remained an uneasy peace for the years to come, it was the foresightedness of Lt Gen Sagat Singh that Nathu La was intact in the Indian territory.
Nathu La proved to be a vital point once again in the 1971 war with Pakistan, had it not been the prudence and prescience of Lt Gen Sagat Singh and officers of Indian Army, China-Pakistan consortium would have hurt Indian Army once again. There had been many heroes in the 1967 war, few are remembered while few forgotten, if not much we as patriots can help revive our forgotten history, pay our respect to the real heroes who have sacrificed their all for this great nation.
अंत का पता नहीं
पर जीत नज़दीक है।
मौत का भय नहीं
ये जीत का संगीत है।
ये नया जोश है
नया आक्रोश है।
न मौत का अवधान है
बस जीत का प्रावधान है।
शत्रु में संत्रास है
जीत का यह रास है।
हार का इरादा नहीं
जीत ही लक्ष्य है।
जीत एक राग है
नया उन्माद है।
जीत एक संघर्ष है
एक नया हर्ष है।
Source: Extracts from Watershed 1967, India's forgotten Victory over China-A book by Probal Dasgupta