BY Arvind Sharma & Mohinder Puri
The 28th Course “Get Together” at NDA in June 2006 was attended by approximately 40 Officer’s and their spouses. During the Reunion, an idea was mooted that the Course should present a memorial to the Alma Mater that would have some linkage to the Course as also have high visibility to all visitors to the Academy. The idea was unanimously accepted by all present. Suggestions/proposals for the memorial were sought from all Course mates (CMs). Meanwhile, the 28th Course yahoo group on the internet had taken off well and membership was steadily growing. Resultantly, ideas were tossed around and animated discussions on every proposal took place amongst those who were internet savvy. Finally, everyone agreed that we should build a memorial to the battle of “Tiger Hill”. The clinching argument was that 8 Mountain Division, which had captured Tiger Hill, after having moved from the Srinagar valley, where it was involved in counter insurgency operations, was commanded by Maj Gen Mohinder Puri (5052/J), our esteemed course mate; he had earned laurels in OP VIJAY and made us proud of his achievements. After deliberations, in consultation with the NDA authorities, it was decided to construct it in front of the Cadet’s Café.
A write up on the “Capture of Tiger Hill”, in the words of Maj Gen Mohinder Puri, is given below:-
“The 1999 Kargil war was foisted upon the country by the Pakistan army as part of its continued efforts to wrest Kashmir by any feasible method. The operation was already underway while our Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was in Pakistan on a ‘journey of peace’.
We were into the third week of our operations, having earlier evicted the enemy from the Tololing Ridge and other equally important ridges and features which were directly dominating the Srinagar – Kargil - Leh National Highway (NH); some only by observation and others both by observation and fire. My policy, of “ridge hopping” to first eliminate the threat to the NH and subsequently get on to the Line of Control (LC) so as to restore its sanctity, was paying dividends. Since Tiger Hill and Pt 4875, which was tactically a more important feature, were in depth, the need to address them was given a lower priority. However, their importance could not be relegated as it was essential to clear them for restoring the LC in the Dras and to some extent in the Mashkoh Sectors.
On 26 June, I warned Commander’s 192 and 79 Mountain Brigade (Mtn Bde) to be prepared to capture Tiger Hill and Point 4875, respectively. Tiger Hill was well known and due to the media hype, it had gained considerable importance and perhaps become a household name. In fact, every news item of the day had a mention of the significance and importance of Tiger Hill.
The attack on Tiger Hill was to precede the attack on Point 4875 by a day, as I felt that this would divert enemy attention from Pt 4875. Tiger Hill at a height of 5062 m is by far the most dominating feature in the Dras Sector and overlooks the Mashkoh Valley; to an extent the Matayin Bowl and most importantly the Dras village and the NH. It is an awesome massif and a vital position for the enemy to hold. Tactical importance apart, its capture was to have a huge psychological impact on the enemy and of course, our entire nation. For the media and the countrymen, names like Tololing and Tiger Hill held more appeal than, say, a feature named Pt 5140 or Pt 4875. If the feature had been called “Mole Hill” or “Rat Hill”, it perhaps may not have attracted the type of media attention which it did. The attack was planned for night 3/4 July and 18 GRENADIERS was allotted to 192 Mtn Bde for the task, with 8 SIKH providing the firm base and a company as reserve. Recce commenced in full force and CO 18 GRENADIERS appeared confident of executing his task. A multi directional attack was planned from three directions. A company with the Ghatak Platoon was to attack from the NE, another company was to attack from the East and a third company from the SE.
The enemy opposition was appreciated to be around a weak company. The initial criticality was the approach march, which from the firm base would have taken the full night.
However, during discussions for finalization of the plan, it was decided that the battalion should be so positioned that the approach march would be considerably
reduced. On the eve of the attack as the battalion commenced their move, the artillery opened up with a massive support of direct fire of Bofors and the multi barrel rocket launcher (MBRL); this spectacle was surprisingly witnessed by a large number of members of the media. We should have anticipated this large attendance,
particularly since the objective was being pulverized with massive artillery support. The sight of the artillery rounds falling on the objective made an awesome sight which remains etched in my memory till date. It had started raining lightly by the time I reached the operations room of HQ 192 Mtn Bde and as the night progressed, rain fell heavily and all our thoughts were for the men going iprogressed, rain fell heavily and all our thoughts were for the men going in for the attack. At Tiger Hill it was snowing.
Tiger Hill was divided into a number of smaller objectives. As you look at the feature from the South, the peak was called the TOP; prominent cuts on the East and West were named TOOTH and V CUT respectively; the Western Spur was again divided into a number of parts from East to West viz , INDIA GATE, HELMET and ROCKY KNOB ; and the South East side was called TONGUE. The terrain was extremely rugged and at places, closer to the objective, the gradient was extremely steep, even up to 70-80 degrees! The move till 0400h went undetected, except some ineffective fire from TONGUE, which was secured by the company on the SE approach. By first light, the company on the Eastern approach, also secured TOOTH which was found abandoned. Around 0630h, both the Ghataks and the company on the East were close to the TOP, but finally the Ghataks beat them to it. With complete surprise, the battalion had secured the TOP. However, soon an immediate counter attack followed which required reinforcements from 8 SIKH. After a day and night of intense fighting, we finally had the complete feature in our control. It was an exhilarating moment and I would like to record some of the spontaneous reactions of the personalities involved, particularly since the date and time of the operation was known only to the Corps Commander. At around 0700h on 08 July, Commander 192 Mtn Bde rang me up to convey the good news of the capture of TOP. I asked him for a reconfirmation of the news and when he assured me of the success in capturing the formidable Tiger Hill, I rang up the Corps Commander to inform him of the developments. He in fact had made it a point to always ring up before a major operation and convey his good wishes for our success. It is difficult for me to record his emotions on hearing the news, but I could feel it in his voice. Jokingly, the first sentence he spoke was to tell me to have a bath in champagne. He rang up the COAS, who in turn rang me up to convey his compliments on the success of the operation. At about 1000h, the Army Commander along with the Corps Commander arrived at my HQ. The former was visibly touched by the achievement of the Division and embraced me on getting down from the helicopter. Later in the Operations Room he presented us with a token gesture of two bottles of champagne; with a case of the same being delivered at the Officer’s Mess, which was promptly sent to 192 Mtn Bde.
The nation rejoiced the capture of Tiger Hill and its impact was felt in the political field as well as in the stock market! We lost 22 of our gallant men; a heavy price to pay. We recovered 32 bodies of the enemy including of two officers. Many more were seen in the deep ravines which could not be recovered. One of the Pakistan Army officer killed was Capt Kamal Sher, who fought most gallantly and was appropriately given the highest gallantry award by his country. 18 Grenadiers had fought gallantly in the capture of Tiger Hill and was awarded one Param Vir Chakra , one Maha Vir Chakra and a number of other gallantry awards.”
As regards the memorial, once the basic idea had been frozen, efforts were made to obtain actual photographs of Tiger Hill. These photographs were obtained and sent to Krishin Advani (5043/J) in Pune, who thereafter discussed the idea with the JJ School of Arts in Mumbai.
From JJ School we got a few options in the form of photographs of models and then one was selected being most depictive of the unfurling of the tricolor on this formidable feature. After approval by us, JJ School got it constructed through a contractor. Krishin’s elder son, Ajay was posted as a Squadron Commander at NDA at that point in time; he spent considerable time and effort to ensure that the memorial came up as envisaged by us.
The cost of the whole project was working out to approximately Rs 6 Lakhs. It was decided to collect a minimum of Rs 5000.00 from each CM; the names of all those who contributed would be engraved on a plaque and installed at the memorial site; it was also decided to include the names of all CMs who had departed for their heavenly abode; some of the CMs voluntarily contributed more so that the costs could be met. Once the funds started pouring in, the go ahead was given. Kishin Advani got busy with JJ School and monitored the progress on a regular basis and ensured that the installation was done in time for the inauguration. The memorial was finally dedicated to the National Defence Academy, our Alma Mater. on the 22nd of November year 2006, the year in which the Army Coursemates had completed 40 years of their commissioning in Indian Army.
The photographs of the unveiling ceremony have been included in the Photos Section of this E - Book, Slide Show as also there is a video on the subject in the video section , however, some of the photos sent by Ashim Choudhury are placed below :-
NOTE – THESE PHOTOGRAPHS HAVE BEEN PROVIDED BY ASHIM CHOUDHURY
