Battle of Longewal

1971 Indo Pak War

In 1971, Major K N Chandpuri

Was occupying a defensive position at Longewala,

a small hamlet in Rajasthan situated in

the Thar desert. The rest of the battalion was at

Sadhewala, about 17 km to his north-east.

He had no armour and artillery support.

On the night of December 4/5th, Lieutenant Vir reported noises from across the border suggesting a major armour movement

Shortly afterwards, Lieutenant Vir reported a

very large number of tanks consisting of Chinese-built

T-59 tanks, plus a squadron of US-built Shermans and other vehicles crossing the border and heading

towards Longewala.

Soon the Pakistanis started shelling the Longewala position by medium artillery

guns from across the border, killing five

BSF camels.

The tanks then attempted to assault and started closing in. It was at this juncture that Sepoy Bishan Dass, with his detachment of pioneers, started placing anti-tank mines along the route of the assaulting tanks. He unfortunately made the supreme sacrifice in the process, but not before blowing off the tracks of three tanks.

A tank destroyed by mines thrown along its tracks by Sepoy Bishan Dass.

When leading Pakistani tanks crept forward within effective RCL range , the RCL detachments ordered to fire. Once RCL gun scored a direct hit on a T-59 tank which immediately burst into flames while the other knocked out a jeep carrying a senior officer.

The RCL guns again opened up and knocked out two more tanks

but, in the bargain Sepoy (later Naib Subedar) Mathra Dass suffered

a machine gun burst from another tank and was severely wounded.

One of enemy's infantry assaults, too, had been checked due to the

sheer courage of Sepoy Jagjit Singh who continued firing his light

machine gun from the open till he was killed by a tank round.

The platoon under Subedar Rattan Singh took the brunt of this very

assault with great fortitude.

Every soldier performed his duty, including the cook Bhagi Ram

who ferried ammunition to the gun positions without a break.

Two charred Pak Army T-59s. These tanks can still be seen today at Longewala at the exact same spot.

The IAF pilots at Jaisalmer airfield had to wait for day break

to launch any operations. The first sortie of two Hunters appeared over Longewala

and spotted tanks all over,

some on the sand-dunes, some heading towards Ramgarh and some just bogged in the sand.

Flying low, the sortie leader rocketed the first tank,

a T-59 creeping up towards Chandpuri's defended locality,

and scored a direct hit.

The fight between the IAF and the Pakistani armour began.He then knocked out five other tanks.

The IAF, having immobilised all enemy armour near Longewala, spotted a train carrying tanks, guns, other assorted vehicles and infantry towards

Khairpur railway station in Pakistan. The Indian Air Force blasted off train and the station by rockets and cannons.

A Chinese-built T-59 tank, of Pakistan's 22nd Cavalry, destroyed by RCL gunners of the 23

Punjab.

Meanwhile, Major Chandpuri's position had been reinforced by Lieutenant Vir's patrol by 11:00 a.m., and, soon after, two companies of 17 Rajputana Rifles, a troop of AMX-13 light tanks and some artillery support was also made available to Major Chandpuri.

The tough way to battle. Artillery Gunners push a 25 pounder field gun through loose sand as field artillery tractor engines seize. For supporting

Longewala, Indian Gunners heaved their guns throughout the night and by dawn they were in super charge range.

After midday, the enemy made one last effort

to capture Longewala which, by then,

had been considerably reinforced. A battalion attack supported by

armour and artillery was launched but, this too,

was beaten off by the combined, relentless efforts of

'A' Coy 23 Punjab, the Indian Air Force and deadly artillery.

The enemy lost the initiative and the will to fight and soon

abruptly broke contact and

commenced withdrawing towards Gabbar,

some 25 km inside Pakistan. During the battle,

Major Chandpuri's men had completely destroyed 12 enemy tanks and

the Indian Air Force accounted for 25 tanks and a railway train.

The Pakistani retreating force was seen moving with only eight functional tanks

out of a totally 59 tanks.

The frantic convulsive movements of Pakistani tanks caught in the open by Hunters from the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the battle of Longewala. The insert shows three destroyed Pakistani tanks.

Indian jawans pose for the camera atop an abandoned Pak Army T-59, captured after the Battle of Longewala.

An abandoned Pak Army T-59 tank from the aftermath of the Battle of Longewala.

Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (3rd from left), commander at the epic Battle of Longewala, held Pakistan troops and tanks at bay till the arrival of the

Indian Air Force.

Ritu Bagga (Realtor)

3018-Calgary Trail South, Edmonton (AB) T6J-6V4 Cell : (780) 907-3000