“How like these scattered dying leaves———
Are all that wins the world’s approving smile?
The chivalry of Knightly souls, to whom
Honour and friendship were the crown of Life”

We never know how high we are, till we are asked to rise
And then if we are true to plan our statures touch the skies.
The Heroism we recite would be a normal thing
Did not ourselves the cubits warp for fear to be a King….. Emily Dickinson

The award of battle honour amounts to a unit being recognized collectively for its performance. The 3rd Gorkha Rifles won two Battle Honours after Independence: “Pirkanthi” ( and theatre honour ” Uri ” ) in the first J&K operations of 1948/49,and “Shingo River Valley” ( and theatre honour “J & K 1971″) in 1971. Pirkanthi/Uri was won 2/3rd GR; the double-Victoria Cross paltan; raised in 1890.

Capt Kaptan Singh Rana, L / Nk Purna Bahadur Thapa and Rfn Jas Bahadur Thapa were awarded the Vir Chakras, in recognition of their gallantry in the face of the enemy. 22 were Mentioned-in-Despatches, and 17 got Commendation Cards! 11 were killed in action and 50 wounded, including one officer and two JCOs. 54 enemy corpses were counted on the objective with another 40 estimated as wounded. 2/3rd captured two POWs as well.

The battle-hardened 2/3 Gorkha Rifles captured the Pirkanthi (Point 10930) feature dominating the approaches to Chikothi and Uri along the Srinagar-Domel road and the Haji Pir pass astride the Uri-Poonch axis, after a silent night attack, without artillery covering fire, on the night of 28/29 Jun 1948, under the command of a World War II war-decorated veteran, Lt Col Prem Das, Military Cross;the first Indian Commanding Officer. It was held by Pakistani A and C Companies of the 3 Bagh Battalion, and three platoons ex 2/13 Frontier Force rifles and 1/15 Punjab and 100 Pathan tribals.

Shingo River Valley’ was earned by the “Kanchi” paltan, 5/3 GR, raised in 1963.

Hathimatha massif, located on the western bank of the Shingo River not only dominates the highway Srinagar—Kargil—Leh, but also Axis Kargil-Olthingthong—Skardu.

This feature at the high altitude of 14, 000 feet, can only be ascended via cliff-like approaches and massive rock-faces. The Kanchi captured it along with 19 enemy posts by 17 Dec 1971 in ten days of hard fought close quarter battles, supported by artillery, under the able leadership of Lt Col D S Jaggi, with only a nominal loss of only 14 men. The battalion earned two Vir Chakras, ( Bhanot, and posthumously, Rfn Prem Bahadur Thapa ), one Sena Medal ( Rfn Deo Bahadur Chettri) and two Mentioned-in-Despatches ( Maj Billu Seth and Nk Shankha Bahadur).

Jaggi was commissioned into the double VC paltan in Jun 1956, to take up command of the Kanchi in March 1971.

Both these ops are described in the three regimental history books cited, that, makes for very interesting and inspiring reading, but if one wants to hear straight from the horse’s mouth one must read the account of the Hathimatha battle authored by the then CO, Devinder Jaggi. His book “Kargil and the Kanchi: a Saga of Faith and Fortitude” (marketed by Brig DS Jaggi 375/29 Noida cell 9810448529) is unique in the sense that, no other regimental commanding officer; not even Prem Das; has penned his first-hand story of battle. Though it should be placed on record, that, some one indeed had the presence of mind to snap 2/3rd officers on the captured objective, before it was apportioned by Pakistani army into its side of the Cease

Fire Line, during the jockeying for advantageous position on the hearing of the coming cease-fire in the deep severe winter of 1948! The book, therefore, is a regimental heirloom, one that needs to be read, studied and passed on to all in posterity. It has been written straight from the heart by a simple soldier, in an idiom as simple as those of the brave and unfaltering kanchas whom he commanded and lead from the front in a historic battle, in their baptism by fire. And true to his large heartedness, he has decided to donate the proceeds from the sale of the book priced at Rs 200/- to the 5/3 GR Welfare Trust.

Lt Gen Sagat Singh; who has been acknowledged as easily the ‘best field commander in the sub-continent, of the 1971 Bangladesh war” by none lesser than the then Army Chief FM Sam Manekshaw,MC, says; in Oct 1999, in the foreword to this book on the Hathimatha battle; “…To the readers of this book all these features are now well known because of the extensive media coverage of the Kargil 99 war. In 1971, the army did not have today’s experience of glacial warfare nor did it have the requisite clothing and other equipment. Under those circumstances, the able leadership, sound tactical judgement and achievement by Brig Jaggi are commendable…”.How very true. It is very creditable for a new CO to get hold of his newly raised unit and forge it into a battle-winning machine. The fact that Jaggi did so, speaks volume of his professional competence and his no-nonsense war-like acumen. He commanded like a Tiger, and was on the ball as soon as the balloon went up.

The battalion was rushed from Leh to Kargil for operations, post haste. Much against his tactical wisdom, Jaggi was cajoled, prevailed upon, and ordered by the higher-ups to concentrate his battalion, on a plateau near the air field, which, in the past, had come under observation from the enemy positions. And the inevitable came to pass. 5/3rd was mauled by enemy observed artillery fire and suffered casualties. Not to be shaken by this pre-empting setback and the avoidable fatalities, Jaggi rallied around his kanchas, and went on to evolve a bold and imaginative plan, involving an attack from the rear! He also resolved, in future, to stand up to the higher HQs(GOC 3 Infantry Division), for the sake of the troops. Later, when being tasked for the Hathimatha battle, Jaggi, got the better of the GOC regarding leaving the time and space factor open to him!

The three companies of Pakistani Karakoram Scouts was holding well entrenched defences, stocked , supported by artillery and mortars. Extensive protective mine-fields and wire obstacles had also been laid. In the interest of avoiding effective observed fire from dominating enemy positions, it was therefore, decided to go in for night assaults only, though day light attacks supported by plentiful artillery and mortar fire were also resorted to.

A task force under Maj ( now, retd Lt Gen ) Shankar Prasad, the Second-in-Command, consisting of Alpha Company under Maj ( now, retd Maj Gen) Vinod Bhanot, with 2/Lt ( now Lt Gen) SN Handa .and Lt ( later Col) RS mane set off on their mission on the night of 16/17 Dec 1971. The kanchas negotiated the frozen Gangam Nullah amidst enemy shelling and the anguished wailing of some of soldiers of 18 Punjab; who had been wounded in an earlier attack, and who were being evacuated to the Regimental Aid Post. An enemy MMG opened up from about 200m, despite which the No 1 Platoon assaulted

Temple Post, avoiding the enemy mines by stepping on the stones, boulders and rocks deftly, as only the gurkhas can when nimbly rushing uphill! They were unstoppable there after. The snow clad mountain-tops resounded and reverberated to the repeated blood-curdling battle-cries of “Ayo Gorkhali”. Khukris flashed and bayonets glinted till all the 19 posts were captured, one by one; some attacked, some occupied during exploitation of a captured objective as done by Sub Bel Bahadur. This speaks highly of the motivation of sub-unit commanders down to platoon level. When Platoon Havildar Man Bahadur Thapa was felled by an MMG opening up right front of him, in battle, it got 2/Lt Handa was furious and fired up like the blazes, motivating him to straight-away to lead his platoon during the final bit, capturing Post Number 25 on Hathimatha top, by first light 17 Dec 71, in the nick of time, beating the deadline for cessation of hostilities. A fine first blooding of the Kanchi , this! The very first time, they went into battle, they came out valiantly victorious with all their flags flying high! The biggest compliment for this tremendous achievement of the paltan was paid by a Pakistani JCO captured by Maj Bhag Singh’s company during the capture of Post 20. He said, “ Humne sab raston par taar aur mines lagae hue the. Insan to kya, bakriyon ke liye bhi, us raste par chalna mushkil tha, jdhar se aap ki paltan ne hamla kiya. Hamle ke akhiri dam tak hum ko pata nahin chala. Aap ki platan kji bahaduri kabil-e-taariff hai.”

(5/3rd has been on a roll, since; excelling in all spheres. The Battalion has groomed to maturity, four officers to the two/three star ranks : Shankar Prasad, who on being transferred to the Punjab Regiment, rose to retire as their Colonel, and from AHQ where he was the DG Infantry, after commanding a Corps. He is now very active in the national main-stream visual media. Kuku Puri retired with a chest-full of distinguished service and combat medals, as a Lt Gen from the high office of the DCOAS of the Indian Army! But for him, and his 8 Mountain Division, Op ‘Vijay’ of Kargil 1999 would have gone Musharraf’s Op “Badr” all the way! Bhanot retired as a Maj Gen from the prestigious and high-visibility Delhi Area, where he was seen by the Nation on TV commanding the Republic Day parades on Rajpath and the Army day parades in the cantt parade ground. Earlier, he did extremely well as Delta Sector/Force commander in the highly charged counter-insurgency environment of Doda in J&K, where he got his second decoration! Now , SN Handa is the current DG Infantry, in the rank of Lt Gen! A highly decorated JCO of the unit, Nima Sherpa, is an acclaimed mountaineer of international repute! There are many more feathers……)

With the fall of Hathimatha, 5/3rd had captured the highest number of enemy posts in the sector during Operation “Cactus Lily”. Enemy territory astride the Shingo River upto Gangam Nullah junction and River Shingo Breilman Nullah Junction were in Indian hands.

This, and other interesting and amazing facets of the battle, like the whole battalion collectively and successfully praying for the recovery and life of Rfn who had his abdomen split open by shrapnel: he recuperated fully to retire as a JCO! The copy-book day-light assault of Charlie Company under Billu Seth covered by artillery fire; the captured Pak POW’s requesting for “the jaam” the first (!) thing on being produced before the CO, the choicest Punjabi invective exchanged with CO 18 Punjab by Brig Whig (Commander 121 Infantry Brigade Group), on botching up earlier attempts to take Hathimatha complex; the adventurous but dangerous and exhilarating crossing of the Shingo in a “flying fox”, etc comprise the first part of the book. In the second part, the philosophy of the 5 “P”s to wit, punctuality, perseverance, planning, protocol, and prayers; which more or less is the fusion of the Attributes of Good Leadership and the Principles of Command at the unit level, are discussed and illustrated from incidents from the battle. Many may not agree with ‘prayers’ being one of the five must “P”s. Yet, Jaggi faithfully maintains that it was sincere prayers to the Almighty, that, provided him strength and confidence in his trial with destiny, and ultimately enabled him to build and maintain a will to resolve for a victory under the most trying tactical situations, hostile and inhospitable terrain, and sub-zero freezing arctic-like climatic conditions.

All ranks of The Battalions, along with invited guests and burhos, celebrate the Battle Honour Days every year. This fosters the so called intangible, but in times of stress and difficulty, the fabled ‘regimental-spirit’, which when every thing fails, enables the jawans to stand shoulder to shoulder and beat the enemy! They celebrate in gratitude to God, with faith in their hearts and fortitude in their minds. With all the due solemnity, amidst much military pageantry, full of zest and zeal, special sainik-sammelans cum Durbars, wreath-laying on war-memorials, skits, tableaux, nepali jhanwares, sing-songs to the accompaniment of madals and free-issue rakshi, marunis, pagal gymkhanas, et all… bara-khana, are organized. These functions are a befitting tribute in memory of those who gave their ‘today’ for the tomorrows of the Nation.

You cannot choose your battlefield, God does that for you
But you can plant a standard where a standard never flew….Nathaniel Crane-‘The Colors’.

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