Hindustaniyat Of Shaitan Singhs Company Vs the Shaitaniyat of Rezang-la.
In the first week of February 1963, a Ladakhi shepherd was trying to find his goat. Temperature was still below -10 degrees. Right in front of his eyes were the frozen bodies of the Indian soldiers. All had multiple gunshot wounds. A few were shot in the head at point blank range. They had fought an epic battle nearly 4 months before. It was fought on this day in the year 1962.
This was the battle of Rezang-La, considered as the bravest and the best last man standing battle of all time. This is the story of Major Shaitan Singh and 122 veer Ahirs of the 13 KUMAUN Regiment
On the fateful night of 18 th November 1962, the Chinese army of nearly 2000 personnel attacked Rezang La to capture it. Refusing to abandon the post, Maj Shaitan Singh decided to fight back with whatever ammunition they had and later with their hands. In total more than 5000 Chinese troops attacked the post but failed. That night 114 Indian soldiers killed 1300 enemy soldiers and saved the post but lost their lives. Entire company was wiped out. 6 were taken POW but later escaped and reached their village near Rewari in Haryana.
Initially the Government of India thought that the Charlie company abandoned their post and considered the entire company as “Absconding”. The survivors had to face the wrath of their fellow villagers as the entire village saw them as “Bhagoda”. They were thrown out of their village. It was much later that they earned their respect back.
Maj Shaitan Singh was awarded Paramvir Chakra for this act of valor. Remembering all the 114 braves on the day they attained veergati.
There has never been and will never be another tale of raw courage, bravery and valour as was displayed by the ‘Veer Ahirs’ during the battle. It was because of these 120 soldiers who held their position that night that Laddakh was saved. Today, we go to Laddakh for adventure trips on our bikes without even knowing what our soldiers did to protect every inch of the Indian land…
JAI HIND…🇮🇳💪🙏
From an Alumni: In 1962, we had WWII 303 rifles. No automatics. No winter clothing. No artillery or armour support or air cover.
Nehru with his anti-West/non-alignment between cold war countries thought China would be a friend. He was fooled and betrayed.
I was on the Bhutan border with food and supplies cut off. My college Lt. Bedi lost his life in the fighting at Bomdila.
We learned the lesson of war the hard way. It is too serious a matter to be left to politicians ❗
By 1965 we were prepared. Won decisively‼️I was in the Amritsar-Lahore sector. We captured Dograi, the last Pakistan fortification on the border and were within 10 km from Lahore when cease fire was called. Sastry left the decisions to our military leaders.
GRP_VCare2Dare 