Braving the decisive battle for Point 4100

Col Bhalotia, Commanding Officer of the 12 J&K Light Infantry, was monitoring the operations and relay commands. His radio set crackled to life as Brig Devinder Singh, Commander, 70 Infantry Brigade, detailed the operation.

It was 7 pm and the order came: “Tipu for Sultan: 5 PARA has begun descent from Point 5287. Halt troops till 9 pm at location spring. No move forward till artillery crunch.” As night fell, deafening booms of the Indian guns filled the empty mountains. The Pakistani guns’ reply was a measured one as shells screamed over the Indian positions atop the Khalubar ridge and down the Yaldor nallah. “The Pakistanis are firing blind now as they have lost their observation posts.They are firing into areas they expect the Indian assault to come from,” said an Army officer.

By 8 pm, it was time for the Bofors to grab the limelight. Red balls of fire arched across the star-strewn sky with increasing regularity. To pin down intruders and curb intervention in the 5 PARA assault, tracer bullets fired by the 1/11 Gorkha Rifles left red streaks across the valley spanning Khalubar Ridge and the Kukarthang-Tharu ridge. The LMG position next to Col Bhalotia’s tent opened up with a startling `rat-a-rat’.

By 8.30 pm all positions — enemy-held and Indian — were firing machine-guns to intimidate any assault to their positions under the cover of darkness. At 9 pm, came the artillery crunch: 10 minutes of intense firing on a 300 m by 300 m area. An artillery officer came on the line: “Golf to Sultan: We are now going to obliterate Point 4100.”

Eight hundred rounds of 160 mm (30-kg shell) heavy mortar, Bofors 155 mm howitzers, 105 mm field guns, 120 mm mortar and multi-barrel rocketlaunchers were fired in 600 seconds. The intruders could flee nowhere as a network of Indian observation posts was directing fire onto all four sides. No escape this time by running into reverse slopes. The entire Point 4100 area was lit up by the flash of exploding shells.

At 11.30 pm an officer of the 5 PARA came on line. “Alpha for Sultan: Enemy is firing from Point 4100. Cannot locate positions. Over.” One of the main reasons, Indian troops could not locate Pakistani positions was because their machine-guns had special fittings on their barrel snouts that prevented muzzle flash in the night.

The Indian guns trailed into silence but Pakistani guns opened with a vengeance. Five hundred shells were fired up and down the nallahs flanking Khalubar ridge and over Indian positions held by the 12 JAKLI and 1/11 GR atop the Khalubar.

At 3 am, the mountains fell into total silence. The night-long vigil has been worth it: at 5.30 am comes the victory signal: “Alpha for Sultan: Point 4100 taken. Casualtysuffered minimum. Three cheers.”