On the afternoon of 7 July, the team was told to prepare for battle. (Representative photo: PTI)
LUCKNOW: Hours after 13 JAK RIF veteran Captain Vikram Batra and his men crushed the enemy at an altitude of 16,087 feet to capture Point 4875 Mushkoh Valley, a team of Agra-based paratroopers was airlifted to Ladakh . Led by a Major from Agra, the men were ordered to capture Point 4700.
On the afternoon of 7 July, the team was told to prepare for battle. The Para Company commander was initially instructed to build a base camp near the Bakarwal (grazing area) of the Mushkoh Valley until the remainder of his men joined him. However, their mission soon changed to capture Point 4700, which was about 5 km away. Unaware of the high altitude, the Major made the bold decision of taking only 30 men, from non-combatant grounds such as cooks, laundry, clerks and even unqualified men, to reckon the area and clear the area. Were there to understand and help the attacking team. Reserve your energy for a quick and decisive attack.
“Since Point 4700 and the area on its side was unknown to them, the officer was prepared to sacrifice himself and non-combatant men to gather critical information on the Ground Zero situation and enemy setup, which would give the attack team an advantage. Could have been,” said an official.
“It was the evening of July 8, when the team had left for the mission. It was a deep dark night with bone-chilling chills, shivering and challenging steep climbs. They walked all night and covered most of the distance. During the day, the team hid to avoid being seen by enemy soldiers and rested behind huge boulders and walls of ice. However, seeing his men exhausted, the team leader decided to continue the Reiki mission with his shadow ‘friend’ the next morning and asked the rest of the team to stop at Point 4700 and guide the attacking team. The second night was forgiving for both. . To keep themselves warm and avoid falling victim to hypothermia, the leader and his friends slept in a sleeping bag after reaching a distance of 800 meters from Point 4700,” he says.
Hailing from a village in Agra, he is the second generation officer of his family to join the Indian Army. His father had retired as Subedar.
“Extremely tired, the para assault team approached both. Taking them further to capture altitude at night could have been fatal. Each man was carrying a load of 30-40 kg, that too on a steep climb. Such physical challenge is at times unbearable. Therefore, taking a resolution to attack early in the morning, rested in the night. With the energy gained, they started moving towards the height. The Major was advancing with a radio operator and a paratrooper behind him, but the terrain was such that his hands were not on his weapons and suddenly the enemy opened fire on him. Bullets crossed to his left and right. In the encounter, the Major along with the radio operator lost his balance and slipped into a gorge but was saved by a boulder. Though the paratrooper engaged himself in retaliatory fire, a bullet was later found in his chest with a gunshot point towards the enemy. Meanwhile, the Senior JCO (Junior Commissioning Officer) of the company assumed the team leader and the radio operator to be dead and informed the Headquarters over radio. However, the Major who heard the message on his radio called the headquarters and explained his position,” said a paratrooper officer.
“The situation became more complicated for Radio Man and Major as they attempted to climb back, as Scarry was forcing them to go down. Moments later, they both saw each other in the thick darkness of the terrain. and lost in confusion due to physical exhaustion. His men were shouting to guide him, but the Major could not locate him due to the echo in the valley. Unknowingly, he started walking towards the enemy, but with whom did he approach Unsure of what he was doing, he decided to stand there. Meanwhile, Radio Man somehow managed to get back into the team, where he was given immediate medical aid, while Second in Command (2IC) Led by three men, a Major rank officer – armed only with grenades and three ropes of 300 feet in length. Each came down, and was traced hours later.”
Elaborating further, the official said, “The team leader was taken back to the headquarters. After being debriefed by his superiors, he was given another team to lead and was asked to capture the altitude with a two-sided attack, as the first team was already close to point 4700. In the end, the Para team captured the heights. The 2IC was given the Army Chief’s Commendation for its voluntary act of rescuing its leader and recovering Gopal’s body. The paratrooper was posthumously awarded the Sena Medal.
On July 11, at around 10 pm, both the teams led by Major advanced towards Peak 4700. The guns of the enemy troops came to a sudden halt at around 2:30 in the morning of 12 July after heavy shelling. By 4 am, the Para team informed the headquarters about the capture of the peak. Upon arrival at the scene, they saw a large number of war-like stores, gas masks, blood-stained clothing and a large stockpile of ammunition.
(The names of the team members have been withheld by TOI for security reasons, as many of them are still serving in the Indian Army)
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