ON THIS DAY FORTY TWO YEARS AGO -ON 15 DEC 1971

       ON THIS DAY FORTY TWO YEARS AGO

                            ON 15 DEC 1971



   ( Remembrances   of a VETERAN received just a few minutes back)







..................December 15 we fought the toughest battle in six tree area. I was at Parbat Ali after providing firm base for the capture of Parbat Ali, I got a desperate call from Maj Alhuwalia to report back to the battalion. We ran across few sand  dunes and reached the battalion. Alhuwalia showed me a clump of trees at a distance of approximately two kilometers from the bn headquarters and directed me to report to Lt Col Basanth singh at that location. When I reached that location, there were many causalities lying near a small village huts waiting to be evacuated, few were dead, others were bleeding to death, Maj Arora was shot, Capt Bedi was blown over a mine field, Capt Bahadur was killed and lying in a mine field, Captain Sen Gupta, the Arty op was badly injured and his TA was killed, Capt Shahi  was badly injured,A company O group was shattered in arty fire, Pakistani air OP was flying over us and started registering our location and the enemy arty fire intensity increased with great accuracy. Col Basant Singh appeared cool and in soft voice he told me that he is stalling the attack and directed me to hold on to the objective at any cost, he placed B company and shattered A coy under my command till he arranged  company commander for B coy, he ordered Maj Virk to take over B company with immediate effect, unfortunately it did not materialize till next day, there was some personality clash between Maj Alhuwalia and Virk. Soon the arty fire metamorphosed in to waves of barrage, Chandra it was really frightening at the initial stage, but the desert sand absorbed the arty fire gradually we regained confidence, we held on to six tree area while neighbouring battalion ,as enjoying  Pakistani fire power demonstration on us, the fire power demonstration continued till late in the evening, we suffered few causalities and we soon got them evacuated them under the cover of darkness, by 16 Dec  there were rumors about end of war. After the war six tree area became a tourist spot for VIPs. We had to make expensive snacks for the VIPs and we enjoyed snacks and cool drinks when they left the location, during their visit they advised us how to fight the battle and modern tactics etc etc. Bastards every one can advise & make grandeur plans with two eggs omelette in the stomach  Tough age is catching up the memory of 71 war is vivid in my mind. I rang up most of our war veterans including Col Basant Singh. The sad aspect is that ALL OF US who are alive today are a forgotten entity even  the Battalion is also oblivion  of our existence yet they celebrate the Battle Honour Day on this very day every year.....................