Where the Eagles dare!
ANN DESK
Battle of Op Hill! Everyone was a stranger that night and so was the strange fight to the finish! 1965 had some bullet and bomb scorchers and this was one of the biggest explosions that shook the nuts and bolts of Pakistan grand slam plans!
-‘OP Hill is located on the Mendhar Ridge which dominates the Line of Control, occupation of OP Hill denies access to our own (Indian) rear areas and provides protection to our lines of communications. Pakistan occupied it and we had to free it’! Needless to mention it was!
-‘The inter-battalion boundary passes through OP Hill. The Pakistan Generals referred to this complex as ‘Chu-e-Nar’ and attached great importance to it. Consequently they occupied it at the first opportunity, finding it vacant. A captured diary of a Pak officer revealed that ‘Chu-e-Nar’ was awarded the Banner of GOC 12 Inf Div of Pakistan, the Pak formation respectively for the sector at that time.’ It still is!’
-‘ Before I proceed, let me talk you through 12th Infantry Division of Pakistan. The 12th Infantry Division is the largest Pakistani Army infantry division and is currently based in Murree, Punjab close to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The Chinar Division’s headquarters are located in the Murree Hills Cantonment. The brigades of 12th Division are deployed all across Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir and the Line of Control. With 6 Infantry Brigades, First Divisional Artillery brigade and a number of supporting units of Air Defence, Supply, Engineering, Signals and Remount and Veterinary Corps under its command, 12th Infantry division is the largest division of Pakistan Army. The division was formed in 1948, from troops allocated to Pakistan from the old British Indian Army. It was the first division sized formation to be created by the Pakistan Army (the three prior ones, 7th (Golden Arrow), 8th and 10th infantry divisions predated Pakistan). The division went into combat against the Indian army in Kashmir. A notable action was the recapturing of Skardu from the Indian forces, accomplished with help from tribesmen from the tribal areas. In between the wars the division was active on the ceasefire line, where fighting broke out on several occasions. In 1965 the division undertook Operation Grand Slam, where under the command of 7th Infantry Division, it attacked Chamb. Although its performance was greatly lauded at the time, its commander Maj-Gen Akhtar Hussain Malik was privately criticized by General Ayub Khan, for abandoning several posts in Poonch which were then taken by the Indian army, and for losing the strategically vital Hajir Pir Pass (this would not be retaken until after the ceasefire). Six years later, the division went into action again, this time in the Poonch-Rajouri sector. During the war, it was commanded by Maj-Gen Mohammad Akbar Khan!’
-‘Down the long corridors of documented history there are many sagas of bravery, raw courage and fighting in the face of insurmountable odds which adorn the great history of our army. The Battle of OP Hill is one such operation which was demonstrative of the valor and steadfast resoluteness of the brave Indian soldiers who passed away into oblivion with the words ‘For your tomorrow we gave our today’!
-‘ Those who fought it very distinctly remember, OP Hill was an Indian post prior to the 1965 Operations. Vacated by the Indians due to operational commitments, it was occupied by the Pak soldiers. The Pak commanders, realizing its tactical significance, due to its vantage significance overseeing the Mendhar Valley held the post even after the termination of the 1965 war and the consequent Cease Fire Agreement on 23 Sep 1965. A Pakistan OP ( observation post) was deployed on the post who directed lethal and effective matchlock shelling on the road axis Mendhar – Balnoi and the Balnoi Base. India reported the violation to the UN. After parleys and discussions with the UN Observers failed, 25 Inf Div decided to evict the enemy from this position. Commander 120 Infantry Brigade was assigned the task to do that. Subsequent to the receipt of orders and quick formulation of plans, a battalion attack was launched on the night of 6/7th Oct 1965, this attack failed. The lessons learnt were applied for the second battle fought on the night of 02/03 Nov 1965 in which OP Hill was captured, though at a very high cost!’! But the battle was legendary for more than one reason!’
-‘OP Hill was the scene of a bloody and historic battle fought 56 years ago. Bloody it was, because of its intensity and violence which left heavy casualties. This battle is a classic example of an Infantry Brigade capturing a Battalion defended area in one night in mountainous terrain. The battle itself is a tribute to the valor and determination of the attacking infantry and Support Artillery!’
-‘I’m not Tennyson who created words with his magical poetry when he wrote the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’, just I will recite those words, ‘cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them, volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, yet they rode on’! But if I have to recreate that magic of that night, ‘everything that the enemy had in form of the machine gun barrels sending spit fire and the guns landing left right and center, these men climb full well knowing as to what would happen at the target end! Had to be a hand to hand, fist and dagger fight (call it bayonet fighting). It was!’
Perhaps at that time in the night the gossip would have been like this on the forming up place (FUP if I’m not wrong), ‘wound or Injury or maybe we never meet after the assault? Whatever happens I am your co-warrior; I was born to fight this battle with you.’ That night many friends said ad they assaulted the OP Hill, with one aim, ‘Aaj to marenga, yah mit Jayenge, OP Hill par Kal hamara hi OP hoga, Chalo Chalen, dekhte hain kitne pahunchenge aur kitnon ko yaad Rakhegi Duniya’! Everyone of us remembers them in Mendhar and will do so forever!
In 1965 General Ayub Khan forgot one thing, though he was a good friend of our former Field Marshal KM. Cariappa and the latter told him something on the last day of the 1965 Indo–Pak war. The 36-year-old Squadron Leader KC Cariappa was flying near the border and was shot down. A few moments later, he emerged from the wreckage of the war plane and was taken prisoner by the Pakistan army. Like all the officers, he gave his name, rank and unit number and nothing more. The information was relayed to Pakistan Army headquarters at Rawalpindi. An hour later, his captors came rushing to a small cell where he was kept prisoner to know if he was the son of Field Marshal KM Cariappa, the first Indian chief of armed forces after Independence. KM Cariappa was first appointed as the chief of all three services and later made Army chief. He told them that he was indeed the son of the military legend and they returned. KC Cariappa was never sure of what happened after that but he was worried that his family would not know about his arrest in Pakistan.’ These are old stories but still matter because they will eventually do so in future!
‘A battle starts with the self, and if we lose that there can be a battle with another, Imran Khan should be knowing this because in every battle a human being is a loser just for a bullet head it matters less since the shell drops off. What does it cost in defense industries in the world, perhaps peanuts but human blood costs more! Lead does not!’
169 Field Regiment Gunners always strike me and in this battle they did an exceptional job! The regiment was raised as 169 Field Regiment in Naushera on 1 November 1963 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel HS Dhaliwal. The class composition of this unit is ‘Maratha’ with the war cry ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ki Jai’. The regiment is presently a medium regiment. The Battle of OP Hill took place after the ceasefire came into effect on 23 September 1965. OP Hill was a Border Observation Post in the Bhimber-Gali-Mendhar Sector, 20 km south west of Poonch. This Observation Post (OP) was being used by the Pakistanis to direct accurate artillery fire. To avoid isolation of Balnoi from Mendhar and Krishna Ghati, capture of OP Hill was imperative. 120 Infantry Brigade was tasked to evict the enemy from this strategic location. Following a failed battalion level offensive by 2 Garhwal on 6 and 7 October 1965, a full-fledged brigade attack was mounted on 2 November 1965. After a grim battle lasting 2 days, the enemy was dislodged. For its actions, the 169 Mountain Regiment along with 5 Sikh Light Infantry, 2 Dogra, 7 Sikh and 2r Mountain Composite Regiment (Artillery) were awarded the battle honor ‘OP Hill’.
If you want to see what happened 56 years ago then go and see the names of the fighters who charged up the OP Hill on the magnificently made war memorial! A few against many is always at times as to get into dreams of valor and determination. Here the fight was live and not a cinematic interpretation!
But I will still make an attempt to describe the battle, ‘the starless sky was casket-black and brooding. Even the clouds seemed morose. Gelid (frozen) hands clasped algid (cold) steel as we gazed upon our foe who was relentless with cannons and the machine guns. Everyone was moving up but some were falling by the bites of the invisible vipers hissing in air! Suddenly the clouds cleared. Their bayonets glimmered cruelly under the eerie moon. The monsters swarmed and swayed below us like corn in a field, yet it seemed there were more of them than a thousand bushels could hold. Our commander raised our proud pennant aloft in defiance. It represented our dreams, our lives and our salvation. If it was taken, OP Hill was ours, the enemy was wrong! We were right up there on OP Hill with tricolor fluttering! But the worst possible thing was that some of them gossiping at FUP (forming up place were not amongst the victorious! The memorial at Balnoi signifies a lot! ‘For our tomorrow they gave their today’ Remember that!
By: M S Nazki
