AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 5 – War Diary CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 65 of 332 instrument panel and went through his shoulder and got buried in back rest behind him. Another bullet or shard of the Perspex creased Sagat’s forehead. I was just two feet behind the pilot’s back rest! Very close . Fg Offr Jeetu Sahi immediately took over controls, climbed rapidly and landed back at Brahmanbaria. After surveying an open stadium, next to a stream south of Brahmanbaria as a suitable launch pad, we returned to Agartala, where Sidhu was evacuated to Teliamora field hospital. I discovered later that there were 38 bullet holes in that helicopter! Wow - and only one person who got injured was Sidhu. Sagat was “Monk” like, absolutely unfazed, didn’t even blink. Later, we heard 10 Bihar (or perhaps 18 Rajput) boasting that they had shot down a Paki Alouette. I then took my lot to Brahmanbaria stadium. When we landed there and shut down, we saw hundreds of dead bodies near the river side where we had landed. We asked the locals what had happened and they told us that the Pakistan army had rounded up all the people from the village, as well as Prisoners of War, and shot all behind their head before withdrawing. It was my first horrifying sight of wanton Paki genocide that left an ever-lasting impression in my mind. For our SHBO that evening to Raipura, I split up the helicopters in two groups of four. We had planned two landing sites, once again large paddy fields devoid of crop, across