Kargil Vijay Diwas – Remembering Col. M B Ravindranath and the Indian Army (all forces included) specially those who made the supreme sacrifice in service of our nation during the Kargil War in 1999.
This day, 26th July, 1999,
will ever be etched in the annals of the bravery of the Indian Armed forces,
and befittingly the entire nation will join the Indian Army in commemorating
this momentous occasion of Kargil विजय दिवस
every
year on this very day. On the occasion of the 21st anniversary of
the Kargil Vijay Diwas, it is a great honour and privilege for me to share this
post as a mark of my reverence to all the armed forces, particularly the
martyrs, who won this victory for us from the jaws of the death which they
faced while battling at the Kargil peaks, which the enemy had occupied. The
valour of our armed forces in this dreadful war, in which the enemy were
majorly at an advantageous position by virtue of their deceitfully occupying
the peaks of mountain tops in Kargil, can best be exemplified by its comparison
with the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who, in his
famous poem, portrays the bravery of the 600 men of the Light Brigade,
who marched into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell, to safeguard the safety and integrity of the nation even to their own peril. True to the traditions of the Indian Armed forces, more than 500 (527
to be precise) sons of India made their supreme sacrifice fighting the enemy, who
were trenched advantageously on the vantage point on top of the Kargil hills,
while protecting our motherland to win the dreadful war, which was as
treacherous a valley of death as the one faced by Lord Tennyson’s Light Brigade.
One of the major turning
points in the victory of the Kargil War was shaped by the battle of Tololing,
which the Indian army won under the command of Col MB Ravindranath - a fellow alumni
of Sainik School Bijapur. Most tragically, we lost many precious lives in this
battle. Tololing peak is a dominant position, which overlooks the strategic
Srinagar-Leh highway. The Pakistani Regular Army and the Pakistani
Mujahedeen, had infiltrated into India and had occupied this peak. The enemy
was comfortably perched on top of the Tololing peak, which gave them a major
advantage. Reclaiming the Tololing peak from the enemy was strategically of
great importance, which was however one of the toughest challenges for the
Indian Army due to rugged terrain of the hills and so also the vantage
position, which the enemy had occupied on top of the peaks.
Three attempts were made
for capturing this peak and the last successful attempt was led by our Sainik
School alumni – Colonel MB Ravindranath under whose command the Tololing peak
was captured. It was in the very early hours of 13th June, 1999 - at 4.10
a.m., that Colonel M.B. Ravindranath, commanding officer of the 2 Rajputana
Rifles, sent a radio communication to the commander of the 8 Mountain Division
- Major-General Mohinder Puri, who was camping some 20 km away, that his troupe
had successfully captured the Tololing peak. Colonel Ravindranath’s message
was a simple but profound one which said "Sir, I am on Tololing
Top." The significance of this Tololing victory can best be
understood from the fact that the Army Chief, Gen. V. P. Malik, in a departure
from traditions and protocols, personally called the commanding officer of the
unit, Colonel Ravindranath, and said "well-done" and complemented
Ravindranth and his men for their valour in successfully winning back the
Tololing Peak from the control of the enemy. The importance of the capture of
the Tololing peak is best understood in hindsight. Once the Tololing was captured
from the enemy, it took just six more days for the Indian troops to notch up a
string of back to back successes in evicting well-entrenched Pakistani army and
their handlers from the four nearby outposts. These outposts subsequently became
a house hold names, courtesy the media - Point 4590, Rocky Knob, Hump and Point
5140. The Tololing capture in a way also led to the recapture of another
strategically important hill peak the Tiger Hill, which too is now a house
hold name in India.
In the hard fought
battle of Tololing, India lost Major Rajesh Adhikari who was posthumously
awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second highest military honour. The company
of Grenadiers led by Major Adhikari had attempted a dare devilish assault
to try and capture Tololing. Unfortunately, they were stopped just 15 m short
of the ridge. It was at this point that Major Adhikari and two of his men made
their supreme sacrifice in the hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. The
incessant firing from the enemy and the loss of Major Adhikari and men, pushed
the Grenadiers back, compelling Captain Sachin Nimbalkar, aged just 23 years,
and his men to push back and perch behind a large rock on a cliff for three
days, at a height of 15,000 ft. up.
It was at this point that
the Indian army decided to use their artillery firepower – Bofors Howitzers and
medium-sized guns. For those of us who have witnessed the heavy firing of these
guns during this battle, their image and the fire power of the Bofors guns will remain etched in
our memory. It was during this period of heavy artillery shelling on the enemy
post by the Indian army that they also planned for fresh assault and organised
the required logistics for the renewed attack, which was worked out
thoughtfully. The 18 Grenadiers, who had shown exemplary valour in taking on
the enemy from a weak position, were asked to hold on to the three positions on
different ridge lines, which they were compelled to retreat in the face of the
relentless firing from the heavily equipped enemy who held the strategic height
advantage for inflicting heavy casualty on the Indian forces. The Grenadiers
were ordered to provide a fire base to soldiers of a battalion of the
relatively fresh 2nd Rajputana Rifles (2RR) regiment, who were now assigned the
task of capturing the Tololing Top. 2RR assault, under the command of Col
Ravindranath was to be launched from the firm foothold that the Grenadiers had
established on slopes of three ridges, which was about 300 metres below the
enemy's positions.
Col Ravindranth – the commanding officer of 2RR, had analysed and learnt from the previous attacks that were carried out
by the Grenadiers. He had accordingly prepared his men to face any eventuality. The date for the final assault was chosen and
Col Ravindranth prepared his men for that final assault on June 12. His men
were given all necessary training and preparation for nearly a week by
conducting mock operations on a nearby ridge, which had similar features as
that of the Tololing, which they were tasked to capture. Ravindranth prepared a
model of the final assault and the strategies for the assault was worked out on
this sand and stone model, which was prepared based on the information gathered
from the reconnaissance of the Tololing heights from different directions.
He also ordered his men to test fire all their weapons and ammunition, so that
it ruled out any aberrations of a defective ammunition. His men carried heavy
ammunitions physically up the slopes below Tololing and his men included among
others the washer men, cobblers and even barbers of the battalion. The
situation was such that it needed four people to support one soldier in this
battlefield. One of the men who was handpicked by Col Ravindranth for the mission
was a young officer Lt Parveen Tomar, 23, who was commissioned just five months
in to their regiment. He was aptly called the baby of the battalion. The
team chosen by Col. Ravindranth consisted of 90 determined volunteers, which
included among others Lt Tomar and even sportsmen, mostly athletes who had told
Ravindranath that they want to prove that they are not good just in peace time
but also in war. A day before the chosen date for the main assault, June 11, Col
Ravindranth asked his officers and men to write letters to their family and
these letters were left behind with friends to post in case some of them didn't
return. On the day of the assault by around 8 PM, on June 12, The 2 RR assault
team was ready for the task and were perched behind big boulders just about 300
m short of their main target – Tololing peak. Shortly before the charge, their
commanding officer, Col. Ravindranath gave a final pep talk to his men. "I
have given you what you wanted. Now, you have to give me what I want." It
was a charged atmosphere and the men were waiting for this opportunity to prove
their mettle. They were so charged up that it is said that a JCO, Bhanwer Singh
with confidence oozing all across the battalion said to his CO – Col Ravindranath,
"Sir, come to the Tololing Top in the morning. We will meet you there."
Such was the confidence of 2 RR men who were ready to capture the Tololing Peak
for their mother land at all costs.
Having faced earlier
setbacks and so also loosing men, a well measured decision was taken that frontal
attack was the only option to evict the enemy and capture the peak. However, unlike
earlier attempts, this attack was well prepared and lessons of the past were learnt.
Before the battalion could go on a frontal attack, as many as 120 artillery
guns pounded the Tololing ridges incessantly, firing at least 10,000 shells. The
resulting damage inflicted on the hills was so severe that one of the ridge
line near Tololing Top, which was at the receiving end of the artillery fire
got the name "Barbaad Bunker" by the troops. Col Ravindranth
men were getting ready for the frontal final assault. Three characters from the Epic Mahabharata - Abhimanyu",
"Bhim" and "Arjun" were among the soldiers who were climbing
up the peaks getting ready for the assault. One of the officers - Lt. Vijayant,
of 2RR was playing patriotic songs from the Hindi Movie Border on his Walkman
to pep up his platoon. The momentous occasion came for the battalion to go for the assault when the artillery fire
died down. The assault team of 2 RR Battalion, charged quickly. They had
planned their move with one team heading straight up and another went around a
lower ridge to cut off the enemy's retreat. A platoon of Grenadiers had in the meanwhile positioned itself to provide covering fire and prevent intruders on
nearby ridges from coming to the aid of the enemy. They used craters made by the shelling for
cover as they inched up the slopes one at a time climbing the steep ridges by digging
in bayonets for leverage and resorting to intermittent firing as they inched
closer to the peak. The battalion moved slowly and by midnight, they were still
progressing at very low pace since they were constantly under the fire of the Pakistani
machine gunfire, which was fired incessantly by the enemy, who were positioned
at the advantageous position on top of the hill. Around this time a reserve
platoon, led by Major Gupta, attacked the enemy from the rear side and closed
in on the Top. In the ensuing bitter hand to-hand combat with the enemy intruders,
Gupta and six of his men were killed. Bhanwer Singh, the JCO who had extended
the invitation to Colonel Ravindranath, was one among those who were martyred. But then in
their ultimate sacrifice they had ensured that the Tololing Top belonged once
again to India.
Once Tololing
fell, the enemy's resistance on other nearby ridges faded. By June 13 morning,
the Rajputana Rifles had recaptured "Barbaad Bunker" about 100 m
south west of Tololing and Point 4590. By June 14, the Hump was taken by the
Grenadiers. In the next three days, all points in nearby ridges were back in
Indian hands. When the outcome unfolded at the top of these peaks it was seen
that the war zone was littered with bodies of Regular Pakistan army from the Northern
Light Infantry. Colonel Ravindranath, our school buddy who was one year senior
to me in Sainik School, was awarded the
Vir Chakra for his role in this battle. Even when the 2RR was celebrating
their unimaginable victory in the face of certain death, the soldiers remained
sombre having lost their comrades, who had made their supreme sacrifice in
service of their motherland. Press reports have suggested that later that day, Col.
Ravindranath, who is known for his exemplary leadership and for his calm and
composed nature could not hold his emotions and wept in his tent as he counted the casualties
that his men faced in this victory. Such was the significance of this
victory that once the heights above Drass valley became free from
intruders a critical section of the 510-km long Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway became
very safe. "Tololing being bang on the road, it choked our throats," is
what a field commander stated and added. "that pressure is now off."
This victory helped the Indian Army to the final Kargil victory and a cease
fire was announced with the Indian Victory on 26th July 1999. The Tololing
victory news was all over the print and electronic media and one such coverage
in the Times of India, Delhi edition, was an erroneous news of the death of Col
MB Ravindranath, who was declared dead while capturing the Tololing. Through
our school friends, I managed to get a confirmation that the news was grossly
wrong and he was alive and had exemplarily led his men to the Tololing Capture.
There is a belief that if someone is
declared dead while he is still alive, he will go on to lead a long life, so I thought
about our dear Ravindranath, but the almighty felt he could not live without
him by his side and snatched him from us. Col Ravindranath died of a massive
heart attack on 8th April 2018. Today while the nation is
celebrating the Kargil Vijay Diwas, our school friends in Davanagere, the
native place from which Col Ravindranath hailed, gave a befitting tribute to
our war hero whose images I am privileged to share.
Today is also another day to remember. One of our classmate Col Ajit
Bhandarkar, about whose valour and martyrdom I have written earlier has now
been immortalised through a monumental biography book which has been painstakingly
researched and published by his wife Veer Nari, Mrs Shakuntala Bhadnarkar. This
book – The Saga of a Brave Heart : Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, Shaurya Chakra, was
released on this occasion today - 26th July, 2021, at
the National Military Memorial, Bangalore.
Long Live Col
Ravindranath, Col Ajit Bhadarkar and all the brave soldiers of the Indian Army
who have made their supreme sacrifice in service of their mother land.
Jai Hind Jai
Hind ki Sena.
This day, 26th July, 1999,
will ever be etched in the annals of the bravery of the Indian Armed forces,
and befittingly the entire nation will join the Indian Army in commemorating
this momentous occasion of Kargil विजय दिवस
every
year on this very day. On the occasion of the 21st anniversary of
the Kargil Vijay Diwas, it is a great honour and privilege for me to share this
post as a mark of my reverence to all the armed forces, particularly the
martyrs, who won this victory for us from the jaws of the death which they
faced while battling at the Kargil peaks, which the enemy had occupied. The
valour of our armed forces in this dreadful war, in which the enemy were
majorly at an advantageous position by virtue of their deceitfully occupying
the peaks of mountain tops in Kargil, can best be exemplified by its comparison
with the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who, in his
famous poem, portrays the bravery of the 600 men of the Light Brigade,
who marched into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell, to safeguard the safety and integrity of the nation even to their own peril. True to the traditions of the Indian Armed forces, more than 500 (527
to be precise) sons of India made their supreme sacrifice fighting the enemy, who
were trenched advantageously on the vantage point on top of the Kargil hills,
while protecting our motherland to win the dreadful war, which was as
treacherous a valley of death as the one faced by Lord Tennyson’s Light Brigade.
One of the major turning
points in the victory of the Kargil War was shaped by the battle of Tololing,
which the Indian army won under the command of Col MB Ravindranath - a fellow alumni
of Sainik School Bijapur. Most tragically, we lost many precious lives in this
battle. Tololing peak is a dominant position, which overlooks the strategic
Srinagar-Leh highway. The Pakistani Regular Army and the Pakistani
Mujahedeen, had infiltrated into India and had occupied this peak. The enemy
was comfortably perched on top of the Tololing peak, which gave them a major
advantage. Reclaiming the Tololing peak from the enemy was strategically of
great importance, which was however one of the toughest challenges for the
Indian Army due to rugged terrain of the hills and so also the vantage
position, which the enemy had occupied on top of the peaks.
Three attempts were made
for capturing this peak and the last successful attempt was led by our Sainik
School alumni – Colonel MB Ravindranath under whose command the Tololing peak
was captured. It was in the very early hours of 13th June, 1999 - at 4.10
a.m., that Colonel M.B. Ravindranath, commanding officer of the 2 Rajputana
Rifles, sent a radio communication to the commander of the 8 Mountain Division
- Major-General Mohinder Puri, who was camping some 20 km away, that his troupe
had successfully captured the Tololing peak. Colonel Ravindranath’s message
was a simple but profound one which said "Sir, I am on Tololing
Top." The significance of this Tololing victory can best be
understood from the fact that the Army Chief, Gen. V. P. Malik, in a departure
from traditions and protocols, personally called the commanding officer of the
unit, Colonel Ravindranath, and said "well-done" and complemented
Ravindranth and his men for their valour in successfully winning back the
Tololing Peak from the control of the enemy. The importance of the capture of
the Tololing peak is best understood in hindsight. Once the Tololing was captured
from the enemy, it took just six more days for the Indian troops to notch up a
string of back to back successes in evicting well-entrenched Pakistani army and
their handlers from the four nearby outposts. These outposts subsequently became
a house hold names, courtesy the media - Point 4590, Rocky Knob, Hump and Point
5140. The Tololing capture in a way also led to the recapture of another
strategically important hill peak the Tiger Hill, which too is now a house
hold name in India.
In the hard fought
battle of Tololing, India lost Major Rajesh Adhikari who was posthumously
awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second highest military honour. The company
of Grenadiers led by Major Adhikari had attempted a dare devilish assault
to try and capture Tololing. Unfortunately, they were stopped just 15 m short
of the ridge. It was at this point that Major Adhikari and two of his men made
their supreme sacrifice in the hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. The
incessant firing from the enemy and the loss of Major Adhikari and men, pushed
the Grenadiers back, compelling Captain Sachin Nimbalkar, aged just 23 years,
and his men to push back and perch behind a large rock on a cliff for three
days, at a height of 15,000 ft. up.
It was at this point that
the Indian army decided to use their artillery firepower – Bofors Howitzers and
medium-sized guns. For those of us who have witnessed the heavy firing of these
guns during this battle, their image and the fire power of the Bofors guns will remain etched in
our memory. It was during this period of heavy artillery shelling on the enemy
post by the Indian army that they also planned for fresh assault and organised
the required logistics for the renewed attack, which was worked out
thoughtfully. The 18 Grenadiers, who had shown exemplary valour in taking on
the enemy from a weak position, were asked to hold on to the three positions on
different ridge lines, which they were compelled to retreat in the face of the
relentless firing from the heavily equipped enemy who held the strategic height
advantage for inflicting heavy casualty on the Indian forces. The Grenadiers
were ordered to provide a fire base to soldiers of a battalion of the
relatively fresh 2nd Rajputana Rifles (2RR) regiment, who were now assigned the
task of capturing the Tololing Top. 2RR assault, under the command of Col
Ravindranath was to be launched from the firm foothold that the Grenadiers had
established on slopes of three ridges, which was about 300 metres below the
enemy's positions.
Col Ravindranth – the commanding officer of 2RR, had analysed and learnt from the previous attacks that were carried out by the Grenadiers. He had accordingly prepared his men to face any eventuality. The date for the final assault was chosen and Col Ravindranth prepared his men for that final assault on June 12. His men were given all necessary training and preparation for nearly a week by conducting mock operations on a nearby ridge, which had similar features as that of the Tololing, which they were tasked to capture. Ravindranth prepared a model of the final assault and the strategies for the assault was worked out on this sand and stone model, which was prepared based on the information gathered from the reconnaissance of the Tololing heights from different directions. He also ordered his men to test fire all their weapons and ammunition, so that it ruled out any aberrations of a defective ammunition. His men carried heavy ammunitions physically up the slopes below Tololing and his men included among others the washer men, cobblers and even barbers of the battalion. The situation was such that it needed four people to support one soldier in this battlefield. One of the men who was handpicked by Col Ravindranth for the mission was a young officer Lt Parveen Tomar, 23, who was commissioned just five months in to their regiment. He was aptly called the baby of the battalion. The team chosen by Col. Ravindranth consisted of 90 determined volunteers, which included among others Lt Tomar and even sportsmen, mostly athletes who had told Ravindranath that they want to prove that they are not good just in peace time but also in war. A day before the chosen date for the main assault, June 11, Col Ravindranth asked his officers and men to write letters to their family and these letters were left behind with friends to post in case some of them didn't return. On the day of the assault by around 8 PM, on June 12, The 2 RR assault team was ready for the task and were perched behind big boulders just about 300 m short of their main target – Tololing peak. Shortly before the charge, their commanding officer, Col. Ravindranath gave a final pep talk to his men. "I have given you what you wanted. Now, you have to give me what I want." It was a charged atmosphere and the men were waiting for this opportunity to prove their mettle. They were so charged up that it is said that a JCO, Bhanwer Singh with confidence oozing all across the battalion said to his CO – Col Ravindranath, "Sir, come to the Tololing Top in the morning. We will meet you there." Such was the confidence of 2 RR men who were ready to capture the Tololing Peak for their mother land at all costs.
Having faced earlier
setbacks and so also loosing men, a well measured decision was taken that frontal
attack was the only option to evict the enemy and capture the peak. However, unlike
earlier attempts, this attack was well prepared and lessons of the past were learnt.
Before the battalion could go on a frontal attack, as many as 120 artillery
guns pounded the Tololing ridges incessantly, firing at least 10,000 shells. The
resulting damage inflicted on the hills was so severe that one of the ridge
line near Tololing Top, which was at the receiving end of the artillery fire
got the name "Barbaad Bunker" by the troops. Col Ravindranth
men were getting ready for the frontal final assault. Three characters from the Epic Mahabharata - Abhimanyu",
"Bhim" and "Arjun" were among the soldiers who were climbing
up the peaks getting ready for the assault. One of the officers - Lt. Vijayant,
of 2RR was playing patriotic songs from the Hindi Movie Border on his Walkman
to pep up his platoon. The momentous occasion came for the battalion to go for the assault when the artillery fire
died down. The assault team of 2 RR Battalion, charged quickly. They had
planned their move with one team heading straight up and another went around a
lower ridge to cut off the enemy's retreat. A platoon of Grenadiers had in the meanwhile positioned itself to provide covering fire and prevent intruders on
nearby ridges from coming to the aid of the enemy. They used craters made by the shelling for
cover as they inched up the slopes one at a time climbing the steep ridges by digging
in bayonets for leverage and resorting to intermittent firing as they inched
closer to the peak. The battalion moved slowly and by midnight, they were still
progressing at very low pace since they were constantly under the fire of the Pakistani
machine gunfire, which was fired incessantly by the enemy, who were positioned
at the advantageous position on top of the hill. Around this time a reserve
platoon, led by Major Gupta, attacked the enemy from the rear side and closed
in on the Top. In the ensuing bitter hand to-hand combat with the enemy intruders,
Gupta and six of his men were killed. Bhanwer Singh, the JCO who had extended
the invitation to Colonel Ravindranath, was one among those who were martyred. But then in
their ultimate sacrifice they had ensured that the Tololing Top belonged once
again to India.
Once Tololing
fell, the enemy's resistance on other nearby ridges faded. By June 13 morning,
the Rajputana Rifles had recaptured "Barbaad Bunker" about 100 m
south west of Tololing and Point 4590. By June 14, the Hump was taken by the
Grenadiers. In the next three days, all points in nearby ridges were back in
Indian hands. When the outcome unfolded at the top of these peaks it was seen
that the war zone was littered with bodies of Regular Pakistan army from the Northern
Light Infantry. Colonel Ravindranath, our school buddy who was one year senior
to me in Sainik School, was awarded the
Vir Chakra for his role in this battle. Even when the 2RR was celebrating
their unimaginable victory in the face of certain death, the soldiers remained
sombre having lost their comrades, who had made their supreme sacrifice in
service of their motherland. Press reports have suggested that later that day, Col.
Ravindranath, who is known for his exemplary leadership and for his calm and
composed nature could not hold his emotions and wept in his tent as he counted the casualties
that his men faced in this victory. Such was the significance of this
victory that once the heights above Drass valley became free from
intruders a critical section of the 510-km long Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway became
very safe. "Tololing being bang on the road, it choked our throats," is
what a field commander stated and added. "that pressure is now off."
This victory helped the Indian Army to the final Kargil victory and a cease fire was announced with the Indian Victory on 26th July 1999. The Tololing victory news was all over the print and electronic media and one such coverage in the Times of India, Delhi edition, was an erroneous news of the death of Col MB Ravindranath, who was declared dead while capturing the Tololing. Through our school friends, I managed to get a confirmation that the news was grossly wrong and he was alive and had exemplarily led his men to the Tololing Capture. There is a belief that if someone is declared dead while he is still alive, he will go on to lead a long life, so I thought about our dear Ravindranath, but the almighty felt he could not live without him by his side and snatched him from us. Col Ravindranath died of a massive heart attack on 8th April 2018. Today while the nation is celebrating the Kargil Vijay Diwas, our school friends in Davanagere, the native place from which Col Ravindranath hailed, gave a befitting tribute to our war hero whose images I am privileged to share.
Today is also another day to remember. One of our classmate Col Ajit Bhandarkar, about whose valour and martyrdom I have written earlier has now been immortalised through a monumental biography book which has been painstakingly researched and published by his wife Veer Nari, Mrs Shakuntala Bhadnarkar. This book – The Saga of a Brave Heart : Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, Shaurya Chakra, was released on this occasion today - 26th July, 2021, at the National Military Memorial, Bangalore.
Long Live Col Ravindranath, Col Ajit Bhadarkar and all the brave soldiers of the Indian Army who have made their supreme sacrifice in service of their mother land.
Jai Hind Jai
Hind ki Sena.
