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In view of its proximity to the border, it was decided that the Kamalpur post should be captured as a preliminary operation by the Mukti Bahini with the support of regular troops. The post was accordingly first attacked after saturated artillery bombardment. The assaulting troops almost reached the mouth of the Pakistani bunkers, but when the supporting fire was lifted they were mown down by machine-gun fire. The attack had to be called off because of heavy casualties.
Maj Vatsa of the engineer company personally destroyed these mortars with the aid of landmines he carried. While preparing to blow up a fourth mortar, he was mortally wounded”¦
Thereafter, the post was put under siege by a tight cordon of about two battalions. Supplies and reinforcements on the way to it were interrupted by roadblocks to the south. Subsequently, the Pakistani bunkers were engaged by direct artillery fire, and the locality was subjected to heavy artillery and mortar fire intermittently day and night.
Kler had been closely observing the enemy tactics and had noted that he kept his heavy mortars in a central position and moved them up to support any threatened sector. He therefore decided to go for the mortar battery. He infiltraed 1 Maratha Light Infantry into an area where the mortars were likely to be deployed in the event of an attack on Kamalpur. A feint attack was launched on it.
As expected, the heavy battery moved out of Bakhshiganj in thick early morning fog and deployed in the middle of the ambush. As the fog lifted, the ambush became alive and the mortar battery was mowed down. Four mortars were destroyed, their vehicles set ablaze and heavy casualties inflicted. Some of the enemy got away through sugarcane fields. Maj Vatsa of the engineer company personally destroyed these mortars with the aid of landmines he carried. While preparing to blow up a fourth mortar, he was mortally wounded by a stray bullet from a canefield.
Notes:
- A powerful group of Mukti Bahini guerillas were under Siddiqi, whose headquarters were at Tangail.
- The main tasks of the parabattalion were (a) to capture the bridge and the ferry site across the river to prevent the enemy from escaping towards the south, (b) to capture Tangail, (c) to link up with the local detachments of Siddiqi, and (d) after linking up with the Indian brigade, moving from Jamalpur to Dacca.
After accomplishing its task, 1 Maratha Light Infantry pulled back with just one casualty. It was then that Kler decided to lay siege to Kamalpur and break down its will to resist. Hoping that the intervening period would have worn down the enemy, it was decided to attack again. It was a silent attack from the northeast, and the assaulting troops had almost closed in on the bunkers when someone coughed or made some noise and the enemy machine guns came alive resulting in heavy casualties. Perhaps if the attack had been pressed home, and at the cost of many more casualties, the post might have been captured. But Kler was not prepared to write off one-third of his force even before the operation had begun, thus jeopardising his ultimate aim.
The third attack met the same fate. The failure of two successive attacks and the resultant casualties dispirited the attacking troops, and the higher command developed second thoughts about Kler’s ability to handle live operations, especially since he belonged to the Corps of Signals and considerable resentment existed against higher command appointment of other arms officers in the Indian Army.
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