AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 5 – War Diary CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 109 of 332 Later, the operations shifted southwards from Sylhet (in Bangladesh) and troops from the 57 Mountain Division were inserted without mishap with the help of Mi-4s from three units -- namely 111 Helicopter Unit, 115 HU and 110 HU. "As the operations progressed, a large number of casualties started landing up with the Mi-4s's return trips as well as by road. Most of the soldiers had apparently suffered mine-blast injuries as the lower half of their bodies had sustained maximum damage. It wasn't a pleasant sight." "Their oozing wounds were barely covered with some gauze. While some of the soldiers were in a coma, some were delirious and required to be sedated. "Our men had suffered so much pain for the independence of other people in a foreign land." The doctors had a makeshift medical assistance room where the preliminary stabilisation of patients took place before they were boarded onto the waiting Dakota and Packet aircraft to be taken to various hospitals right up to Calcutta. "One thing that was wondrous about these doctors was that they worked day and night without rest and did not discriminate between the patients. "Be it an injured POW or an Indian jawan, the priority for airlift was given as per the grievousness of the injury," recalled the air commodore with pride. "Since the Dak wasn't modified to carry patients, we would keep the stretchers on the floor or make the casualties sit, if they could, on the canvas seats in our aircraft. "We also had to ensure smooth rides for them since there was no way to secure the stretchers. The smell of blood, coupled with the smell of ammonia and medicines, still makes me shudder," remembered the veteran soldier. After the war Meanwhile, the end of the war was certain and East Pakistan was capitulating. On December 15, 1971, the 4/5 GR troops who had fought the battle of Sylhet and won hands down had to be airlifted to Agartala (Tripura). They had fought well and deserved to be back to their barracks as soon as possible to recuperate. Young Karandikar was detailed to fly these troops in his trustworthy Dak.