AFVOA Newsletter 03 of 2020

Section 4 – War Diary CV 2 No. 03 / 2020 Page 40 of 167 We were surprised within 15 minutes by the enemy artillery fire coming onto us. Immediately, the troops tried to disperse and lie down. Realizing the white cloth on our helmet was making us easy target, our commanding officer Lt. Col. GS Rawat immediately ordered it to be removed and to advance at a greater speed. We were able to escape the enemy fire without any casualty. We had to negotiate many nullas and thick growth of sarkanda grass. Our boots remained wet till completion of our task. We crossed two villages which were deserted due to Artillery shelling, on our way to Khoje Chak (our objective), a well-fortified and defended company locality. The infiltration was smooth till midnight. Enroute, hundreds of villagers were running away towards the mainland. We had to stop them and organized a peaceful, respectful stay for them till we completed our task. We were reorganizing till 3 tanks joined our column. The troops were asked to mount on the tanks (ad hoc dangerous arrangement) and move forward. Once we reached out destination, we dug down on either side of the track and deployed machine guns tactically facing the enemy. We saw two jeeps approaching us. Immediately Company Commander alerted the machine gun detachment. The officer who was driving the leading jeep tried to get away. We opened fire and the officer was badly injured. The others surrendered with their arms. The officer appreciated the soldiers of the Indian Army and uttered “Well done Major, I have ensured that all my soldiers have withdrawn from Khoje chak, you will find it empty”. He was really a great soldier, praise worthy who sacrificed his life on the battle field.