December 5 1971-when 120 soldiers of Indian army fought with 3000 Pakistani army
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
December 5, 1971 has been written in the golden words in the history of India, as on this day, 120 soldiers of Indian army fought with 2000-3000 Pakistani soldiers accompanied by 30-40 tanks on the land of Laungewala. Laungewala had proved to be one of the defining moments in the war.
23rd Battalion of Punjab Regiment, commanded by Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri successfully defended his company locality at Laungewala against massive attack by enemy infantry & tanks. Displayed exemplary leadership and conspicuous courage, he was awarded with Maha Vir Chakra.
During the night of the 4th, 2Lt. Dharam Veer Bhan’s platoon, while on a patrol, detected noises across the border that suggested a large number of armoured vehicles approaching.These were soon confirmed by reports — from the Army’s Air Observation Post aircraft flown by Maj. Atma Singh — in the area of a 20 km long armoured column on the track leading to the post advancing in the general direction of the Laungewala post. Directing 2Lt. Dharam Veer Bhan’s patrol to trail the advancing armoured column, Chandpuri got in touch with battalion headquarters requesting urgent reinforcements and armour and artillery support.
Battalion HQ gave him the choice of staying put, and containing the attack as much as possible, or carrying out a tactical retreat of the company to Ramgarh, as reinforcements would not be available for at least six hours.
Choosing the former, Chandpuri ensured that all his assets were correctly deployed, and made the most use of his strong defensive position, as well as weaknesses created by errors in enemy tactics, he decided to maintain the defensive position of the post.
The Pakistani forces began their attack at 12:30 am. Although massively outnumbering the Indian defenders, and having surrounded them, the Pakistani troops were unable to advance over open terrain on a full-moon night, under small arms and mortar fire from the outpost. This encouraged the Indians not to give up their strong defensive position, frustrating the Pakistani commanders. As dawn arrived, the Pakistan forces had still not taken the post, and were now having to do so in full daylight.
December 5 1971-when 120 soldiers of Indian army fought with 3000 Pakistani army . In the morning, the Indian Air Force was finally able to direct some HAL HF-24 Maruts and Hawker Hunter aircraft to assist the post. By noon the next day, the assault ended completely, having cost Pakistan 22 tanks claimed destroyed by aircraft fire, 12 by ground anti-tank fire, and some captured after being abandoned, with a total of 100 vehicles claimed to have been destroyed or damaged in the desert around the post.
December 5,2021
