AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 4 – War Diary CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 37 of 237 Kakaram, took it from me and carried it. This Helmet and Kakaram saved me from a possible hit, two days later. MOVE FORWARD FOR REAL ACTION At Tangail 85 Infantry Brigade was halted on the banks of the Turag river.The enemy had demolished the bridge and was holding the far end in strength.To maintain the momentum,the General Officer Commanding the 101 Communication Zone Area, gave orders to our Commander 167 Mountain Brigade, to pursue the enemy relentlessly , to hasten the fall of Dhaka. Commander 167 Mountain Brigade coordinated with 85 Brigade, for the induction of a company group to cross the river stealthily. The self contained company group was to be self sufficient for three days and tasked to establish a road block on Road Jeydebpur –Dhaka to ambush Pakistani troops. Jeydebpur was a major Ordinance Depot,stocked with all varieties of ammunition. It was well protected with a complement of Armour. Pak expected only the Mukhti Bahini to oppose in the area. The induction of regular troops would certainly surprise the Pak forces, as Jeydebpur was a mere 20 kilometers from Dhaka. FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE Commander 167 Mountain Brigade wanted 9 Bihar to take on the assignment. Surprisingly, their commanding officer had reservations and the commander turned towards our CO and asked him “Are you ready?”Ltcol Nair agreed to take on the operation,and the fortune fell on our lap. All available support was promised. My C company was behind the leading batallion 1 MLI. I was thrilled, when our CO told me that, we are going for action!! My request to lead the operation was agreed to. The administrative and operational requirements were quickly tied up. I obtained valuable advice,from Major Satish Nambiar, company commander of 1MLI, for handling the MuktiniBahini Guides . Our river crossing was executed without any mishap due to our stealth and the deception, We followed the berms of the rice fields and marched on compass bearing to hit the road. It was a pitch- dark silent night. Our orders to the “Smokers”to leave behind cigarrettes was a good move as no one coughed. We saw an approaching vehicle with a search light on patrolling duty and firing machine gun bursts at random. The vehicle movement indicated the approximate layout of the road a 2000 yards away as being on a higher ground in comparison to the rice fields. I and Naib Subedar Khajoor singh,proceeded ahead to select the ambush site,leaving clear instructions to the rest, to remain doggo and move to the ambush site only on my orders. We crossed the road, by spreading the rain coat and did a hop step and jump to reach the far end to ensure that there are no traces of mud marks left on the road.Few minutes later, we heard marching sounds of an