Indian Defence Review

Bhaduria was an enemy strongpoint the battalion had outflanked in its move to Hilli. The enemy pulled out of both the places during the night that followed. The advance of two brigades, 66 and 202, held up so far at these points would resume on 11 December. The ‘Wallajabadis’ of 4 Madras, in partnership with the tank men of 63 Cavalry, had delivered a master stroke that would propel the Indian advance to surge forward to its crowning climax. Instances of unwavering courage were commonplace as the battle raged. A bullet injury couldn’t stop Sepoy Chellaiah Moses from manning his machinegun when the enemy counter-attacked; only a near-direct artillery hit that did him in could. In the same counter-attack, Naik Periappa Balaraman, manning a listening post 600 yards in front of the forward defences with six of his men, imposed maximum delay on the enemy with his LMG, to be shot down in the end when he chose to withdraw.

In the mobile warfare of the theatre, the battalion found itself engaged in the Battle of Bogra (14-16 December) with the rest of 20 Division. A stiff contest which saw intense built-up-area fighting, it culminated with the routing of the entire Pak forces in the northwestern sector of Bangladesh, prior to the surrender of their whole Eastern Army on the afternoon of the 16th at Dacca. 4 Madras had paid the price for its share in the victory with a sizeable casualty toll. The final figures at the end of the war were: 1 JCO and 8 Other Ranks killed; 3 officers, 2 JCOs and 25 Other Ranks wounded; and 1 JCO and 2 Other Ranks missing believed dead. The estimated enemy casualties the battalion caused were 36 killed and 8 wounded.

As 4 Madras fought it out in Northwest Bangladesh, the other two battalions, 8 and 26 Madras, were engaged in the 2 Corps Sector to the Southwest. 8 Madras, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel NH Narayanan, formed part of 32 Infantry Brigade under 9 Infantry Division. The Division, which had launched a successful offensive in Bayra area as early as 20 November, was facing the Pakistani defences of Jessore when the war was declared. Wilting under the probing attacks of the Division the enemy abandoned Jessore by 7 December to fall back to their line of defences along Daulatpur, Khulna and across the river Madhumati. 8 Madras along with a squadron of 63 Cavalry formed one of the two groups of 32 Infantry Brigade, which took up the advance to Khulna along separate axes on 9 December. Skirmishing their way across the many delaying positions of the enemy (often skillfully prepared by demolishing bridges, and making good use of the anti-tank and anti-personnel mines as well as the marshy terrain), the groups linked up with each other by the 10th at Nawapara, a few miles short of the objective, for the final approach. On the 12th the advancing brigade came up against the stoutly held enemy defences at Siramani, a built-up area on the outskirts of Khulna.

Siramani was to witness some of the fiercest fighting of the campaign. The first attack launched by two companies of 8 Madras under Major NK Rastogi, the Second-in-Command of the battalion, with a company of 13 Dogra in reserve, from a northwesterly direction late at night, had to be called off halfway, with the water level rising precariously in a marsh the assault was to go through. Nevertheless, a second assault was put under way by the wee hours of the 13th with the other two companies taking the lead. While B Company attacked from due north, C Company with tanks in support charged from the northeast. The enemy resisted fiercely on both fronts, turning it in to a bitter hand-to-hand combat. The fight lasted more than three hours, and it was past 0700 hours by the time the attackers had made a foothold. Two JCOs of the battalion, Naib Subedars VV Rajan and PC Varghese, met a heroic end in the battle leading the assault from the front. The latter was to be awarded a Vir Chakra.

As the day wore on the unit firmed in on the captured enemy positions, and fought off a powerful counter-attack. The Siramani main defences were now appreciated to be far more impregnable than anticipated, and a divisional attack was planned for the next day. During that night, 26 Madras, fighting its way from the east under 350 Infantry Brigade, moved in and occupied the positions held by 8 Madras, relieving it to join the divisional attack. 32 Infantry Brigade on its part planned a two-phase attack, wherein 13 Dogra was to go in first followed by 8 Madras in the second phase. The attack, after the planning and preparations, was launched only on the morning of 16 December. As it turned out, once the Dogra attack went in successfully the Pakistani garrison surrendered, in anticipation of the capitulation of their whole army that afternoon. The casualty toll of 8 Madras in the operations amounted to 2 JCOs and 5 Other Ranks killed, and 34 Other Ranks wounded.

26 Madras, a comparatively young battalion raised only in 1967, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel VK Singh, was to have its baptism of fire in East Pakistan. This unit too was with 9 Infantry Division and was inducted during November itself, assigned to protect the southern flank of the main divisional thrust along the Chaugacha-Jessore axis. On 23 November the battalion occupied the village of Chuttipur, after forcing the enemy to vacate it by aggressive patrolling. Basing itself in the village they kept the pressure on the enemy by a series of probes and feints, to keep the division’s flank fully protected until actual operations began and the advance progressed towards Khulna. Then following the stalemate in front of Khulna where the advance of 32 Infantry Brigade had got stalled, the battalion was assigned to press home an attack on the Siramani defences from the east on 13 December.

The attack launched in the afternoon that day snowballed into a stiff contest, with the enemy fighting tooth and nail for every inch, immensely benefitted by their built-up area defences. In a do-or die fight the battalion succeeded in gaining a toehold in the end, but for all the tenacity shown, further assault was repulsed. Eventually during the night they occupied the firm base already established by the sister battalion, 8 Madras, relieving them to join the divisional attack later.

The extraordinary grit shown by 26 Madras won them a lot of admiration. Two Vir Chakras were awarded to the personnel of the battalion, both posthumously; one to Subedar R Krishnan Nair for his resolute leadership, when he carried on with the assault even after being wounded; and the other to Sepoy KJ Kristapher who daringly dashed into a single gap in a wall, to lob in a grenade and silence a machinegun, getting himself cut down in the act. Two other men won a gallantry award each, Naik Jacob Mathew a Sena Medal and Sepoy Joseph Stevence a Mention-in-Despatches, for acts of courage which bespoke the noblest in soldiering. Though wounded themselves, they went on to rescue the wounded of the Dogras lying exposed under fire. A shell burst was to deprive Mathew of an arm later.

The battalion lost 2 Officers, 2 JCOs and 12 Other Ranks killed, and 4 Officers, 2 JCOs and 56 Other Ranks wounded during the operations, most of those in the assault on Siramani. Brigadier HS Sandhu, the Commander of 350 Infantry Brigade, obviously moved by the performance of the unit, was to write to its Commanding Officer later:

Words cannot acknowledge the tenacity, resilience, resourcefulness and bravery displayed by all ranks of your unit on the battle field of Siramani. The performance of the unit on its very first outing is laudable and praiseworthy. That such a unit should come out with such flying colours is no mean achievement, and reflects the dedication of all ranks to live up to the traditions of the Thambis. My sincere prayers for the continued success of your Battalion in future battles.

Besides the three units of the Madras Regiment which were operationally committed in East Pakistan, a fourth battalion, 2 Madras, also made its own contribution to the creation of Bangladesh by imparting training to the Mukti Bahini. One of the unit’s companies remained on vigil at the Sino-Indian Border – deployed for the defence of the Lungze Ridge – during the course of the operations, with the Chinese intervention perceived to be a possibility.

For the operations in the Eastern Theatre during 1971, the Madras Regiment won the Battle Honour, SIRAMANI and the Theatre Honour, EAST PAKISTAN 1971.

The contribution of the Madras Engineer Group, along with those of its sister groups, the Bombay and the Bengal ones, to the success of the Bangladesh Campaign was monumental. Aptly described as an ‘Engineers’ War’, the rapid offensive that it was in a riverine country with poor roads and antiquated bridges, could have made no headway but for the traditional skills of the Sappers in improvisation. There were five regiments of the MEG, 3, 4, 11, 13 and 15, besides a company of 203 Engineer Regiment, in action.

Lieutenant Colonel Joginder Singh’s 3 Engineer Regiment supported 23 Mountain Division on the Belonia-Chandpur axis from the Southeast, and later supported the advance of 83 Mountain Brigade Group to Chittagong. In a remarkable show of bridging skills, they helped the medium guns and light tanks of the formation get through a terrain crisscrossed by rivulets, where even light vehicles couldn’t normally make headway. An officer of the regiment, Lieutenant BM Uthappa, was decorated with Sena Medal for exemplary courage on an occasion, when he went out of his way to rescue a trapped crew member of a tank that had run over a mine and caught fire. The officer breached a lane while fully exposed to small arms fire, to get to the tank.

4 Engineer Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel DN Dass, supported 61 Mountain Brigade of 57 Mountain Division from Tripura in the same sector, facilitating the brilliant manoeuvre which saw the Brigade surprise the enemy at Comilla by appearing behind the Mynamati Cantonment. Further on in the Brigade’s final push towards Dacca, the Sappers used local steamers to ferry tanks, guns and vehicles across the river Meghna, and at times improvised bridges out of country boats.

15 Engineer Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel OP Behl, a second regiment supporting 57 Mountain Division – from Agartala – went through the battle of Akhaura, Gangasagar, Brahmanbaria and Ashugang, and was part of the forces engaged in the heli-borne operations at Narshingdi across the river Meghna. Advancing with the division all the way, it was the first Sapper unit to get to Dacca. A classic piece of this unit’s work was the construction of a 400-foot bailey suspension bridge – the longest possible in the category – at Brahmanbaria.

Lieutenant Colonel SK Jain’s 11 Engineer Regiment supported 6 Mountain Division advancing from Pachagarh to Saidpur in the Northwest Sector, breaching mines, repairing roads or launching bridges continually to keep the formation moving.

13 Engineer Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel M Balakrishnan, supported 20 Mountain Division in the battle of Hilli in the same sector, and went on to convert 16 miles of rail track into a class 40 road in a matter of 18 hours. Medium guns were hauled forward over this track for the advance to Bogra.

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A field company of 203 Engineer Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel RS Kalra, supported 9 Infantry Division’s thrust on Jessore and onward to Khulna in the Southwest. After the fall of Jessore on 7 December, the company undertook the repair of the badly mauled airfield there, and re-commissioned it in record time.

The Sapper effort in Bangladesh was to be applauded even by the enemy. After the surrender of the Bogra garrison on 18 December, a Pakistani Engineer officer was to express his admiration to one of his Indian counterparts of ‘the way your boys brought the division virtually on your shoulders over the most indifferent and unexpected approach.’ ‘We’, the Pakistani officer had added, ‘could never imagine that such a large force could ever advance over a route which we had ruled out as impossible’. That said it all of the Sappers’ saga in Bangladesh.

The MEG won the Theatre Honour, EAST PAKISTAN 1971, for the Bangladesh Campaign.