Remembering Operation Meghdoot: How Indian Army took Siachen, forty years ago

A special mention must be made of the DGMO, Lt Gen Somanna. Commissioned into the Brigade of Guards in December, 1949, Lt Gen Somanna is often forgotten in popular retellings of the Siachen story, but was among the most important planners.

Also, the stellar role played by 4 Kumaon and 19 Kumaon must also be mentioned whenever the story of the highest battlefield on earth is told.

Exercise Walnut Cracker

Around 17 days before the Army launched a preemptive operation to occupy certain heights around Siachen Glacier, the top brass of HQs 15 Corps gathered in a war game at the headquarters in Srinagar to fine-tune the bold move. Exercise Walnut Cracker, as it was named, war-gamed the operational and logistical aspects of the eventually world-famous Operation Meghdoot.

Amit K Paul, the author of the book Meghdoot: The Beginning of the Coldest War (2022), has written in detail about Operation Meghdoot and the preparation for it. Writing for the Indian Defence Review, Paul says that among those who were present for the war game in the operations room of HQs 15 Corps on March 26, 1984, were the Northern Army Commander Lt Gen ML Chibber, Corps Commander Lt Gen PN Hoon, and MGGS Northern Command Maj Gen Amarjit Singh.

GOC 3 Infantry Division Maj Gen Shiv Sharma, Commander 26 Sector Brig VN Channa, CO 19 Kumaon Lt Col DK Khanna and CO 1 Vikas Lt Col Pushkar Chand were part of the Blue Land Force in the war game, Paul wrote.

Among the Red Land Force, denoting the enemy (Pakistan), were Commander 114 Infantry Brigade, Brigadier Moti Dhar, Col (Int) HQs 15 Corps, Colonel PK Jain, GSO 1 (Int) HQs 15 Corps, Lt Col MU Ali and CO 14 Dogra, Lt Col AK Budhiraja.

The opposing forces were tasked with occupying Bilafond La, Sia La and patrolling up to Indira Col. Indira Col is the northernmost point and has an altitude of 5,764 metres in the Siachen Muztagh in the Karakoram Range. There are two Cols present in this region. One is in the eastern region, and the other is in the western region. The American mountaineer Bullock Workman named Eastern Col Indira Col in 1912 as one of the names of the goddess Lakshmi.

Incidentally, Fanny Bullock Workman proposed in 1913 to name certain peaks on the Saltoro Range after King George, Queen Mary, and Lord Hardinge, but the Government of India and the Survey of India did not accept these names.

Paul wrote that it was anticipated in the war game that Pakistan may react to the Indian pre-emptive strike by crossing the Saltoro Ridge, South of Bilafond La, and cutting off or interfering with the Indian line of maintenance to the forward-deployed troops. This threat was analysed and dismissed because of Pakistani troops near the area.

Like clockwork

The eventual permission for Op Meghdoot was given by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after the Army brass made a comprehensive presentation on the Operation to the then Defence Minister R Venkataraman.

Eventually, the operation worked like clockwork due to the meticulous planning done beforehand. Maj R S Sandhu and Captain Sanjay Kulkarni of 4 Kumaon, with one platoon, were dropped by helicopter about three kilometres short of Bilafond La on April 13. The pass was secured in the next few days, a delay caused by inclement weather. Sia La was occupied by April 17.

The Army record of Operation Meghdoot mentions that a foot column led by Capt PV Yadav reached the Glacier subsequently after an extremely strenuous four-day march over extremely inhospitable terrain. The column set up Camps I, II and III to maintain newly established posts on the Glacier.

19 Kumaon’s foot march over Zojila Pass

In March 1984, another Kumaon Battalion earmarked for the operations in Siachen Glacier had accomplished a rare feat.

As per Army records, the entire unit moved on a man-pack basis, on foot during winter, from its permanent location in Khrew in Kashmir valley to the base of Siachen Glacier led by its CO, Lt Col DK Khanna.

After capturing Zojila in November 1948, it was the first and only time an Infantry battalion had marched across the snow-bound Zojila during winter.

This feat of 19 Kumaon was definitely a terrific example of grit, discipline, and mental toughness. Such a vast distance in the world’s toughest terrain, at such an altitude and forbidding climate, was covered on foot with complete battle loads.