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When Lt Col Adi Tarapore showed rare courage and Army ate Pakistani sugarcane in 1965 war

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On the 52nd anniversary of the 1965 war, here’s an excerpt from Amarinder Singh and Tajinder Shergill’s book ‘The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce’.

A stream of vehicles including tanks, were seen to be cut off from Pasrur. These were engaged by C Squadron 17 Horse but the railway embankment and trees on the roadside gave a great deal of protection to the traffic on the road. Major A.R. Khan who had reached the objective with thirty men had no communication with the other companies that had not left the FUP. He decided to occupy some of the abandoned Pakistani defences but the village could not be cleared.

Lieutenant Colonel Adi Tarapore requested the Brigade commander for permission to move A Squadron out of Wazirwali to reinforce C Squadron in Buttar Dograndi. By this time, enemy anti-tank missiles from behind the embankment had begun to engage tanks. The Commander of 1 Armoured brigade asked 2 Lancers to relieve A Squadron 17 Horse in Wazirwali. On relief, the squadron reached Buttar Dograndi. As A Squadron 17 Horse moved towards Buttar Dograndi, Lieutenant Colonel Adi Tarapore passed a message to his Adjutant, ‘Hello 25, let us join them,’ and moved with A Squadron. Brigadier K.K. Singh ordered 4 Horse to cover the gap between the two regiments. C Squadron 4 Horse less one troop came under the command of 17 Horse at 1600 hours. Brigadier K.K. Singh sent the following message to 17 Horse, ‘You have done a very fine job this morning. Congratulations.’

Enemy tanks and anti-tank missiles now began to take on the few tanks in Buttar Dograndi. When Lieutenant Colonel Tarapore was with Major Verinder Singh near the village at 1530 hours, the CO’s tank, Khushab, was pierced by one shot and Amarjit, a crew member, was wounded – Lieutenant Colonel Tarapore decided to evacuate the crew in the Adjutant’s tank. C Squadron by this time was left with only four operational tanks. A Squadron was moved back about 1000 yards into cover in sugarcane fields from where it could dominate the village, while the battalion headquarters and 8 Garhwal withdrew to Jassoran. The enemy tanks were in pursuit but A Squadron destroyed two of them and the others went back. C Squadron was asked to withdraw and except for one tank, they managed to pull back six out of the seven tanks that had assaulted at Buttar Dograndi and also carried back twenty-eight wounded and killed infantrymen of 8 Garhwal on their tanks. They were not aware that in the hurry to evacuate the crew of Lieutenant Colonel Adi Tarapore’s tank, his damaged tank, Khushab, had been left behind.

It was decided that Buttar Dograndi must be held as a base for an infantry attack on Chawinda. At about 1630 hours the redoubtable Major A.K. Khan collected his battalion from Jassoran and moved it forward to the location of A Squadron 17 Horse, north-west of Buttar Dograndi. The battalion put in an attack at about 1730 hours with B and C Companies, with tanks of A Squadron giving direct fire support, firing only high explosives and machine guns. The assault was successful although the enemy parties had crept back into the village. With no radio communication, the battalion gave a very light success signal around last light. A Squadron harboured about 1000 metres north-west of the objective in order to be immediately available at first light.

Lieutenant Colonel Tarapore at Jassoran, seeing the attack on Buttar Dograndi going well, dismounted for a cup of tea with other members of his regimental headquarters. At about 1730 hours, a medium artillery shell landed next to the Adjutant’s tank, killing the CO on the spot as well as two men from 9 Dogra. Captain Jasbir Singh, the regimental signals officer and the son of an ex-Commandant of 17 Horse, was mortally wounded. The command of the regiment devolved on the second-incommand, Major K. Girdhar Singh. 17 Horse lost a very fine battle Commandant on that day; Lieutenant Colonel Adi Tarapore was later awarded the Param Vir Chakra for his courage in leading his regiment through several battles.

17 Horse had destroyed thirteen enemy tanks during the day. C Squadron that had come back with four runner tanks and four damaged was put in reserve. After the effort put in by its crews and that of the splendid 601 EME battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel H.S. Banga, by the morning of 19 September, they had their full complement of fourteen tanks! Four tanks went to battle the next day on 17 September; Second Lieutenant V.K. Kapoor (later Lieutenant General) led this troop and Second Lieutenant V.T. Patil was one of the tank commanders, the troop comprised one tank of C Squadron 17 Horse and three tanks of headquarters 1 Armoured Brigade Command Troop loaned to 17 Horse! Lieutenant General V.K. Kapoor who had been in operations throughout had this to say about his squadron commander at a seminar:

We were led by Major Verinder Singh (later Brigadier), who was a brilliant squadron commander and totally fearless. The troops of the squadron were amazing and courageous. Every evening without fail, the squadron would get together and offer ‘Ardas’. The troops always retained a sense of humour. Lying under a tank at night when Pakistan heavy artillery pounded us, the men would laugh and say, “see how high this heavy tank is bouncing!”

8 Garhwal Rifles decided not to hold the village but occupied a position among tall crops to the north of Buttar Dograndi; this would prove to be a very fortunate decision the next day, however, A Squadron 17 Horse did not know where they were! A Company was on the east-facing Chawinda; C Company was on the west and D Company in depth on the north. The battalion remained without its RCL guns, mortars or MMGs because these had not yet fetched up. This was the third night without the battalion B-echelon bringing cooked food for the men who had consumed their ‘shakarparas’ and had to subsist on sugarcane from a Pakistani field in the vicinity. Nevertheless digging continued through the night. Although A Squadron 17 Horse was on the north-west of the village, there was no communication with 8 Garhwal.

2 Lancers was deployed with C Squadron covering the eastern and south-eastern flank of Phillora. A Squadron was in reserve but with its tanks under repair in Phillora. During the afternoon the regiment was allotted the additional task of the defence of Wazirwali. C Squadron headquarters and later on the regimental headquarters, also decided to move to Wazirwali. By this time 16 Cavalry was down to only nine ‘on-road’ tanks. The regiment was provided with an element of 4 Rajputana Rifles to hold Khakanwali as a pivot supported by five Centurions under Major Ravindran. The other four tanks were employed under the regimental headquarters to hold the line of West Hasri Nullah from Changarian to the railway line.

This excerpt is from the book ‘The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce – 1965 India–Pakistan War’ by Amarinder Singh and Lieutenant General Tajindar Shergill which was published by Roli Books in 2015.

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