| Fauji BeatA battle that sprung surprise -Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri |
| Thursday, 07 February 2008 | |
 How could Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, a company commander of 23 Punjab, with only 70 men under his command, beat back an attack by a Pakistani brigade supported by a regiment of tanks? Though it sounds incredible, it did happen on December 5, when his truncated company was occupying the Laungewala post in Rajasthan in the 1971 war.According to our plan, two brigades of the division located at Jaisalmer were to launch an attack into Pakistan. The third brigade under the late Brig RO Kharbanda, which was nominated to defend Jaisalmer Bulge, too had to launch three limited attacks to divert the enemy from our main thrust. Thus what Brig Kharbanda was left with were two rifle companies, one each at Laungewala and Sadewala. Laungewala was the least likely route of the enemy's ingress. It was against this setting that the Pakistanis started shelling the Laungewala post with medium artillery little after 2.30 am on December 5, and by 3.30 am the post was surrounded by the enemy. This was followed by a series of attacks by the enemy. All of which were beaten back. In the morning, our Air Force also came into action and targeted the enemy's armour. At 9.30 am when the IAF planes had gone back to the base to refill, one enemy tank, which was coming straight on to the post, got bogged down in the sand. Several brave men of our company were honoured with gallantry awards in this battle. Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (now a retired Brig) won a Maha Vir Chakra. His unit, 23 Punjab, was awarded the Battle Honour of Laungewala and Theatre Honour of Sind. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
