THE SOUL-STIRRING STORY BEHIND ‘INFANTRY DAY’ BY MAJ GEN RAJ MEHTA ----------------- How one soldiers grit and resolve saved Kashmir for India and how a ‘grateful’ nation paid him for his deathless sacrifice for the Idea of India – the moving story of Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Rai, MVC (Posthumous), 1 SIKH ---------------------- “Cometh the hour, cometh the man”. Iconic phrase used by Sir Walter Scott in his book, ‘Guy Mannering’, 1815. *** Throughout recorded history, it is well documented that success has many claimants; defeat none. Applied to the Kashmir Valley and its immediate environs when its future hung in the balance during the October 1947 Pakistan sponsored invasion of Jammu and Kashmir, there are several brave hearts who could stake a claim to saving Kashmir for India. The first claimant that comes to mind is Brig Rajinder Singh, Chief of Staff, J&K State Forces. Ordered on 22 October 1947 by Maharaja Hari Singh to rush to Uri to fend off the invading Kabailis, he tried combating them at Garhi with his scratch force of a hundred odd Dogra militiamen. Making no headway, he blew up the Iron Bridge at the Uri Nullah (now named after him), thereby imposing a two day delay on them. On 24 October 1947, he died fighting at Dewan Mandir, Buniyar. He was posthumously awarded India’s first MVC. The next person who comes to mind is the bravest-of-the-brave National Conference worker of Baramula, Mir Maqbool Sherwani. Riding his Triumph motor cycle, this patriotic and dynamic 35 year old Kashmiri tirelessly helped the inhabitants of the ancient city (founded 2nd century BC) and surrounding areas to flee, probably saved thousands of lives. Face-to-face with the Kabailis who desperately needed intelligence on J &K state and Indian Army dispositions en route to Srinagar, their terminal objective, he deliberately misled them for four days, till 26 October 1947. Realising that they had been misled, the furious Mahsuds captured him at Sumbal, Baramula, on 7 November 1947. “Join us, and we will spare your life”, they proposed. Scoffing at them, Sherwani vocalised his last prayers. “Naya Kashmir Zindabad! Sher-i-Kashmir Zindabad!” were his brave dying words as the tribals nailed him to a cross, mutilating and finally shooting him dead. His story is beautifully documented in the book “Death of a Hero” written by Mulk Raj Anand in 1963. Another claimant could well be Maj Somnath Sharma, who, on 3 November 1947 led his Kumaonis to battle at Badgam, outside the Srinagar airfield, with one hand in plaster. The airfield was saved but he died fighting, receiving India’s first PVC posthumously. Outside the valley, the names of Brig Mohammad Usman, MVC (Posthumous) the saviour of Jhanjar/ Naushera, whose funeral was attended by PM Jawaharlal Nehru, of Brig Pritam Singh, MC, the saviour of Poonch, are equal contenders for claiming the honour of saving Kashmir. Yet, amongst all these names of deserving brave hearts, there is one that commands Alpha position…the name of Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Singh, MVC, (Posthumous), 1 SIKH, whose guts and grit on that late afternoon of 27 October 1947 outside Baramula, saved Kashmir for India. This is his stirring story. It is also the story of how his deathless feat of arms came to be associated with Infantry Day. The Invasion In his book, “Kashmir –The Storm Centre of the World”, well known academic and politician, Balraj Madhok, wrote that Pakistan had decided to put concerted pressure on the Maharaja of Kashmir to accede to Pakistan and had made a three-fold strategy for the purpose. It included a stringent economic blockade, stepping up of pro-Pak propaganda amongst the Muslim population and officials in the state to cause internal dissension. Side-by-side, preparations were also made for a direct assault. The economic blockade was easily implemented as most routes into Kashmir were from the Pakistan held areas. Along with this, a virulent Pakistani propaganda offensive was simultaneously launched. The tribals, recruited mainly from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas were armed by the Pakistan Government and led by its officers. They entered the State on the night of 21-22 October, 1947. Muzzafarabad fell without firing a shot, the largely Muslim component of the State forces joining the rebels after killing their Hindu officers. The almost immediate of occupation of Domel thereafter, brought both the roads leading to Srinagar from Rawalpindi and Abbottabad under the control of the invaders. The road to Srinagar thus lay open on 23 October 1947, with the marauders poised to enter the State at several points along the newly demarcated India-Pakistan borders. All that now lay between them and their coveted prize was the limited, widely dispersed J&K State force. It may be recalled that the Maharaja was still to take a call on future of his kingdom. That he finally chose to sign the Instrument of Accession with India resulted in the just-in-time induction of the Indian Army and, thereafter, the deathless courage, resolve and bravery of the Indian Armed Forces. The Accession and Entry of the Indian Army into the Valley Faced with calamitous news of the fall of his frontier towns and their rape, plunder and pillage by the tribal Mahsuds, Afridis and Pathans, Maharaja Hari Singh departed from Srinagar for Jammu, and, on 26 October 1947, signed the Instrument of Accession with India effective 27 October 1947. This cleared the way for Indian Armed forces to legally induct into J&K. Lt Gen SK Sinha, who was Governor in Assam and in J &K, was then a major serving on Military Operations staff. He recalls in his well written memoirs that the then GOC, Delhi and East Punjab Command, Lt Gen Dudley Russell, chose 1 SIKH, then doing Internal Security duties around Delhi to lead the Indian Army entry into Kashmir. He did so because, during a visit, he had been very impressed by IC-12 Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Rai, the CO, and his superb rapport with his troops. The Battalion was seen off at Palam airport by Maj SK Sinha, who also handed over the Operation Order from Army Headquarters to the cool and calm CO. Four DC-3 Dakota aircraft of No 12 Squadron took off at 0500 hours for Srinagar on 27 October 47. No. The balance aircraft needed for the move of the troops had been hastily requisitioned from civil airlines flying Dakotas. The squadron had no choice but to commandeer them to assist in the induction as it had few assets of its own. The first and second wave of Dakotas carried C Coy under Capt Kamaljit Singh and D Coy under Maj Harwant Singh, MC. Lt Col Rai traveled in the leading aircraft, whose civilian pilot was Biju Patnaik, later Chief Minister of Orissa (now Odisha). The creation of the IAF air bridge which pumped in troops and war fighting materiel into Kashmir was a remarkable feat of arms seldom written about in the annals of history. Lord Mountbatten who had been Chief of Combined Operations and Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia in World War 2 stated that in all his war experiences he had never heard of an air lift of this nature being put into operation at such short notice. It was India’s finest hour in terms of combined operations. Chroniclers of those times record that the people of Srinagar had been gazing at the sky for hours in expectation of the sight of the aircraft suddenly emerging from behind the snow covered Pir Panjal range. “It was comparable to the thrill created in French hearts by the emergence of Allied planes over the French sky on D-day in 1944”, some said. Biju Patnaik recalled that his orders were not to land at the dirt strip at Srinagar if the airfield had been taken over, and, instead, land at Jammu. He circled the airfield once, and, finding no enemy activity courageously landed on the cusp of history. He had landed just in time and at the behest of the brave CO, Lt Col DR Rai. Race to the Swift - to Baramula and to Destiny Rai, on landing at Srinagar at 0830 hours on 27 October 1947, had approximately 120-130 soldiers with him, with a section of 3 inch Mortars. His written orders (cheerfully violated by him) were not to land if he felt that the airfield was occupied. If he landed without opposition, he was under orders to site himself at suitable defensive positions around the airstrip. The intuitive leadership skills of this 34 year old officer and his stunning prescience – a quality the French term as Coup d’ Oeil - the ability of being able to look over the horizon and get a sense of what the enemy may be up to - made him willfully disregard his orders and rush to Baramula, the frontier town which rumours told him had been torched and destroyed. He needed to confront the enemy as far away from the airfield as he could, to facilitate build up of forces. Embussing speedily, he and his men were off for their encounter with Kashmir’s destiny. Balraj Madhok recalls that he wanted to stop the Sikh troops near his residence for water and refreshments but was curtly admonished: “Sat Sri Akal…Do not detain us. We will quench our thirst with the blood of the enemy”. Rai reached the outskirts of the town in the early afternoon, and cautiously probed forward to establish contact with the raiders. Nearing the town, he drew intense fire and chose to fall back to a small hillock at Mile 32. His operational decision to send his main force back to Mile 17 at Pattan, where the low lying hills overlooking the road afforded better defensibility was timely and battle winning. Maj (later Col) Harwant Singh, MC, who was the next senior to him and was Delta Company Commander was given this critical task, which the seasoned officer interpreted brilliantly and later executed with panache as the officiating CO. It was not surprising that Lt Col Rai himself chose to keep in contact with the enemy at Baramula along with just 1 JCO and 20 men to cover the withdrawal of his main body to Pattan. The tribals had started probing the Sikh defences in order to outflank and destroy them, besides continuing their drive to Srinagar. This author has commanded the Baramula Division in 2003-2005 and has traced the last moments of the deathless Col Rai and his men on foot; has spoken to survivors of the Baramula holocaust in which 11,000 men, women children, Nuns and paramedical male and female staff were brutalized in those few days in October 1947. The death of this bravest-of-brave son of India makes for harrowing reading. Deploying one section worth of his men on the hillock, Rai had sent out small patrols astride the hillock to prevent its outflanking by the raiders. He chose to lead one himself, in the most likely area of enemy advance. To do so, he had to go about 200 yards across the Srinagar-Baramula road; in visual contact with his men on the hillock, and in what was then an open paddy field with no construction around, only scattered scrub and high grass in the uncultivated areas. His intention was to work his way to a position of relative height advantage and then take on the probing Kabailis. It was 1730 hours. In the gathering darkness of early winter, his deployed soldiers suddenly heard a single shot and saw Col DR Rai fall down. He died as he fell; shot at close quarters through his skull by a hidden Kabaili raider. The Sikh lion had moved on - dead, yet deathless. In the fierce skirmish that followed; his men battled bitterly, most dying on that bare little hillock. By that time, the 1 SIKH main party under Maj Harwant Singh had reached their new main positions unhindered and had deployed. In real terms, the subsequent battles at Pattan and Shelatang routed the raiders and broke their backs, although the Indian Army paid a heavy price for their success. Kashmir had been saved for India; largely due to the sagacity of one brave heart who disobeyed orders and wrote his own – with the blood of his and his soldiers sacrifice. The statement, ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man’ had been proved unerringly right… His proud arm, the Infantry, today celebrates this day as INFANTRY DAY. Lt Col DR Rai’s MVC citation reads: “Lieutenant Colonel Dewan Ranjit Rai was the Commanding Officer of 1 Sikh. Immediately on landing at Srinagar, on 27 October 1947, he appreciated that it was imperative to hold and oppose the raiders as far away as possible from the vital city of Srinagar and its adjacent airfield. As very little time was at his disposal, he personally conducted reconnaissance and operations at such personal risk that he was eventually killed. By his complete disregard of personal danger and his determined and inspired leadership, the raiders were stopped sufficiently far away to enable a build-up for the eventual decisive defeat. The officer gave his life in a successful endeavour to save Srinagar by displaying courage of the highest order.” Gazette Notification: 2 Pres 50, 26.1.50. The fact that the Army earned 5 Param Vir Chakras, 47 Maha Vir Chakras and 284 Vir Chakras during the J&K operations of 1947-48 stands as stark testimony to their selfless deeds. The Armed Forces will continue to live and die cheerfully for Naam, Namak and Nishan…The basic training and mindset of the Indian soldier wearing any uniform is that the Idea of India is worth living - and dying for. As stated above, the day of martyrdom of Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Rai is celebrated by the Indian Army as Infantry Day. No better tribute can be paid to the man, to 1 SIKH and to the proud Regiment of Infantry than to be so intimately linked to this feat of arms against all odds – a feat that directly contributed to saving Kashmir for India. The memorial to 1 SIKH was completely revamped and spruced up in 2004 and was visited on 27 October, 2004 by HE the Governor of J and K, Lt Gen SK Sinha, PVSM, along with senior State Cabinet members. The General recalled the story as he had witnessed it as a young Major, moving the assembled audience of soldiers, officers and civilians. Since that event, the memorial is visited by a VIP on Infantry Day and the bravery of Col DR Rai and the troops of 1 SIKH recalled. 2412 words Maj Gen Raj Mehta, AVSM, VSM (Retd) 10 July 2012/REVISED OCTOBER 2013 [Gen Raj Mehta has had four tenures specifically in the Kashmir Valley/Doda region between 1997 and 2005. A version of this article has appeared in South Asia Defence and Strategic Review, a niche, Delhi based magazine on defence matters with wide readership in India and abroad.] .
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 04:34:56 +0000
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