Fortitude at Rezang La

The topic for this write up was being provided by Captain Vinu,and also some information was submitted by hm.Devdeep Ahuja further researched about it and prepared this article.

Fortitude at Rezang La

At 14,230 feet height, Chushul, a small village on the Sino – Indian border was manned by the ‘Ahir’s - C’ Coy of the 13 Kumaon when a full scale war broke out between the two nations in Oct 1962. The Coy had been airlifted from Hyderabad on 24th October to defend the Rezang La ridge, which was the home to highest air strip in the world at 16,000 feet.

For these gallant soldiers, war with the enemy also meant a combat with the elements of nature. None of the 123 soldiers had been acclimatized to the biting cold and were asked to hold fort against the Chinese soldiers who were fully acclimatised and comfortable in their thick, padded uniforms and were confident of their numbers and superior weapons.

The expected Chinese attack on Rezang La came on November 18th in the morning. It was the end of a very cold winter night, with light snow falling. The icy winds howling through Rezang La were biting and benumbing. More than the thin air and cold, the location of Rezang La had another serious drawback. It was crested to Indian artillery because of an intervening feature, which meant that they had to make without the protective comfort of the big guns. In the dim light of the morning, the Chinese were seen advancing through nullahs to attack both the platoons of 13Kumaon.

In the first counter offensive, both the platoons littered the nullahs with the Chinese dead bodies using their LMG’s, grenades and mortars. The Chinese used heavy artillery fire for their attack second time around and their reinforcement of about 350 soldiers again advanced through the nullahs. This time the third platoon opened fire on the invaders and within minutes, again the nullahs filled up with Chinese dead bodies.

Unsuccessful in their two attempts, the Chinese then encircled the three platoons with fresh reinforcements of about 400 men. They resorted to heavy shelling on the Coy from all the sides. Major Shaitan Singh, the Company Commander, displayed exemplary leadership and courage in the battle. Unmindful of his personal safety he moved from one platoon post to another and encouraged his men to fight. While moving among the posts he was seriously wounded, by a sniping Chinese MMG. But he continued to fight along with his men. While he was being evacuated by two of his comrades, the Chinese brought heavy machine gun fire on them. Major Shaitan Singh sensed danger to their lives and ordered them to leave him. They placed him behind a boulder on the slopes of a hill, where he breathed his last.

All the soldiers fought valiantly till their last. Of the 123, 109 laid down their lives while the other 14 were seriously injured. But an estimated 800 Chinese soldiers were killed in this battle. This was a genuine ‘last man-last round’ defence. On this horrific battle, Major-General Ian Cardozo, in his book ‘Param Vir, Our Heroes In Battle’ writes, “When Rezang La was later revisited, dead jawans were found in the trenches still holding on to their weapons... every single man of this company was found dead in his trench with several bullet or splinter wounds. The 2-inch mortar man died with a bomb still in his hand. The medical orderly had a syringe and bandage in his hands when the Chinese bullet hit him... Of the thousand mortar bombs with the defenders all but seven had been fired and the rest were ready to be fired when the (mortar) section was overrun.”

Major Shaitan Singh’s supreme courage, leadership and exemplary devotion to duty inspired his company to fight almost to the last man. For his service to the nation, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, posthumously. The other heroes who were awarded the Vir Chakra in 1962 defending Rezang La were Naik Hukum Chand (posthumous), Naik Gulab Singh Yadav, Lance-Naik Ram Singh (posthumous), Sub. Ram Kumar and Sub. Ram Chander. All hailed from the Rewari district of Haryana, where a Rezang La memorial has been placed in their memory in Gudiani village.

The remembrance of this famous battle just brings to life the tradition of Indian Army. of fighting to the last drop of blood, which places life secondary to Honour of our Motherland.

Hail the Indian Army.