StormShadow
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On This Day 41 Years Ago , The Pakistan army decided to enter through Longewala (about 80 km from Ramgarh) and then hoped to capture Jaisalmer via Ramgarh.
The Longewala outpost was held by Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri and his 120 men. Their position was on top of a large sand dune which they had surrounded by barbed wires. The Indian party was in a very strong defensive position due to height of the dune. Also the sandy area was not easily navigable by the vehicles (as well as tanks). Apart from their usual rifles, the Indian men had only one Jeep mounted M40 anti-tank gun. The attacking Pak force had 2800 soldiers, 65 tanks, 138 military vehicles, 5 field guns and 3 anti-aircraft guns. Pakistani forces, led by Brigadier Tariq Mir, attacked Indian outpost on the intervening night of 4th and 5th December 1971. The attack began at 12:30 in the night.
In the first wave of attack, the Pak soldiers killed five out of ten camels of the BSF available to the outpost. Indians had no time to lay a proper minefield -so they hastily laid as many mines as possible near to the outpost. As the column of 65 Pakistani tanks advanced the Indian soldiers patiently held fire. When the tanks were about 20 meters away -the Indians opened fire and using the only anti-tank gun they had they destroyed two foremost tanks in the column.
The outpost was to get support from Indian Air Force but the IAF plane could not fly because they were not equipped with the night vision. So, the outpost was told either to hold ground until dawn or flee. Major Chandpuris men, brave as they were, decided to defend their post. And they did. They held the advance of Pakistani forces until the sun rose above the horizon.
That rising sun brought nightmare for the Pakistani troops. The Indian Air Force sent four Hawker Hunter fighter jets to help the Indian soldiers. Pakistani troops had not planned for this. They had thought that they will easily win the outpost in the cover of night. But as the night waned they found IAF jets hovering over their heads. And then began destruction. For Indian jets the Pakistani tanks proved to be sitting ducks. The desert was open, no place to hide, tanks guns were not able to hit the aircraft and were under fire from the ground Indian soldiers. The Pakistani forces sent messages to ask for air support but the Pakistan Air Force was busy elsewhere. So, Indian jets had no resistance at all.
36 tanks of Pakistan were destroyed or captured, 200 soldiers were killed and 100 military vehicles were destroyed. Arrival of Indian jets had stopped the advance of Pak army -and when Indian tanks arrived -the Pakistani troops were forced to withdraw from the area.
Major Chandpuris men destroyed 12 tanks whereas 22 tanks were destroyed by the Indian jets. Some of the tanks were captured by Indian forces. The IAF attack was led by Wing Commander M.S. Bawa.
Courtesy- Facebook/Indian Air Force
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