COLDHEARTED AVIATOR
BANNED
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2010
- Messages
- 5,052
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
Memorial to Shaitan Singh & his men’s last stand at Rezang La gathers dust
REWARI (HARYANA), JUNE 8: Great battles in India are for the history books and memorials, once erected with great fanfare, are left to gather dust. At least, this is what you get to see in this Haryana town where very few seem to know what happened to its Ahir soldiers at Rezang La.
Rare in military history. That’s how official records continue to describe the battle of Rezang La in Chushul, Ladakh, on November 18, 1962. It was the last stand of 13 Kumaon’s Charlie Company: of its 118 men, 114 died defending the frontier against waves of Chinese attacks.
Major Shaitan Singh, who fought till the very end, was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously. Others with him were honoured with four Vir Chakras, four Sena Medals.
But here in Rewari, not many seem to know even about the existence of the memorial. To them, Rewari is home only to the National Cadet Corps. Most people here will tell you that this town has nothing to do with the Army. Not even when you remind them that every November 18, the Rezang La Shaurya Samiti conducts a ceremony to remember its heroes.
The memorial compound, located near the dusty tributary of NH-8 that bisects Rewari, is locked. There’s no sign of the chowkidar. The central structure is crowned by a finger holding the Sudarshan Chakra—the Ahirs maintain they are descendants of Krishna. But wild grass threatens the plaque, dedicated to the memory of the men who died at Chushul.
The Chinese, who embarked on a two-pronged attack to secure Chushul, struck after overrunning all Indian posts north of it.
Without any warning, 13 Kumaon’s three companies—Major Shaitan Singh’s Charlie company was at Rezang La—came under heavy artillery fire. Magar Hill was manned by A and B companies, both artillery positions.
Major Singh held a 2-km frontline with 118 men. But there was no artillery cover or mine protection to stop the huge Chinese advance.
The spot’s remoteness from Gurung Hill and Magar Hill also precluded the possibility of assistance. From the very beginning, Singh’s mission was doomed to failure.
With an advancing Chinese MMG unit mowing down Singh’s soldiers by the tens, one of his men, Naik Sahi Ram, managed to drop more than a hundred Chinese soldiers who had grouped to overrun the platoon. But when Singh embarked on a recovery operation, he was felled by a sniping MMG attack that tore a hole in his back. Compelling his rescuers to abandon him and flee, the injured Major froze to death during the night.
But their brave stand had turned the tide. The 114 Brigade, commanded by Brig TN Raina (who later became Army chief), never faced the expected next attack. The ceasefire came on November 21, 1962. For the 114 Ahir soldiers killed at Rezang La, the Chinese Army lost more than 1,000 troops
Narayanan’s favourite falls to terrorists bullets in J&K
A strange coincidence it is. Even as former President K R Narayanan was cremated on Thursday evening in New Delhi, at distant Bandipore in Jammu and Kashmir, his “most favourite” AsDC Major Gopi Singh fell to terrorists bullets.
Thirty-five-year-old Gopi was in tears when he came to know that Narayanan was no more. He spoke to his friend S N Sahu, director Prime Minister’s Office, who was formerly press secretary to Narayanan. Gopi expressed his desire to come to Delhi to attend his former boss’s funeral.
Gopi Singh Rathore was a rare phenomenon, a rare blend – an army officer , a poet and a man with an extraordinarily sensitive mind, said Sahu.
But fate had other plans. Gopi was not granted leave to attend the cremation, and instead, his Commanding Officer asked him to flush out terrorists holed up in a building at Bandipore. The building was locked from outside and Major Gopi Singh fired at the lock to open it. But in the ambush a militant fired at his face and the major died instantaneously.
Sahu, who worked with Narayanan for 13 years and knew Gopi Singh well during his stint in Rashtrapati Bhavan as AsDC, said Singh was “profoundly” mature for his age. He room was full of books – on literature, horticulture and military strategy.
The unmarried Gopi Singh was a brilliant army officer and was one of the most favourite AsDCs of both Narayanan and First Lady Usha Narayanan. He also served President A P J Abdul Kalam for four months.
“Apart from being an excellent army officer, he had a passion for literature and literary work, read extensively, wrote poetry and had a fine and sensitive approach to life. His first collection of poems had been published in 2002 and President Kalam had received the first copy of the publication in the Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Sahu told DNA.
Apart from his duty as AsDC, he also looked after the Moghul Gardens and had indepth knowledge about plants and flowers in the gardens. “Once when President Narayanan heard him explaining to a foreign dignitary about the history of a plant and giving botanical details about it, he expressed his happiness and commented “Gopi you should have been a horticulturist.”
Sahu said when he came to Delhi a few months back he revealed that he was reading Quran and trying to understand the great Islamic religion.
REWARI (HARYANA), JUNE 8: Great battles in India are for the history books and memorials, once erected with great fanfare, are left to gather dust. At least, this is what you get to see in this Haryana town where very few seem to know what happened to its Ahir soldiers at Rezang La.
Rare in military history. That’s how official records continue to describe the battle of Rezang La in Chushul, Ladakh, on November 18, 1962. It was the last stand of 13 Kumaon’s Charlie Company: of its 118 men, 114 died defending the frontier against waves of Chinese attacks.
Major Shaitan Singh, who fought till the very end, was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously. Others with him were honoured with four Vir Chakras, four Sena Medals.
But here in Rewari, not many seem to know even about the existence of the memorial. To them, Rewari is home only to the National Cadet Corps. Most people here will tell you that this town has nothing to do with the Army. Not even when you remind them that every November 18, the Rezang La Shaurya Samiti conducts a ceremony to remember its heroes.
The memorial compound, located near the dusty tributary of NH-8 that bisects Rewari, is locked. There’s no sign of the chowkidar. The central structure is crowned by a finger holding the Sudarshan Chakra—the Ahirs maintain they are descendants of Krishna. But wild grass threatens the plaque, dedicated to the memory of the men who died at Chushul.
The Chinese, who embarked on a two-pronged attack to secure Chushul, struck after overrunning all Indian posts north of it.
Without any warning, 13 Kumaon’s three companies—Major Shaitan Singh’s Charlie company was at Rezang La—came under heavy artillery fire. Magar Hill was manned by A and B companies, both artillery positions.
Major Singh held a 2-km frontline with 118 men. But there was no artillery cover or mine protection to stop the huge Chinese advance.
The spot’s remoteness from Gurung Hill and Magar Hill also precluded the possibility of assistance. From the very beginning, Singh’s mission was doomed to failure.
With an advancing Chinese MMG unit mowing down Singh’s soldiers by the tens, one of his men, Naik Sahi Ram, managed to drop more than a hundred Chinese soldiers who had grouped to overrun the platoon. But when Singh embarked on a recovery operation, he was felled by a sniping MMG attack that tore a hole in his back. Compelling his rescuers to abandon him and flee, the injured Major froze to death during the night.
But their brave stand had turned the tide. The 114 Brigade, commanded by Brig TN Raina (who later became Army chief), never faced the expected next attack. The ceasefire came on November 21, 1962. For the 114 Ahir soldiers killed at Rezang La, the Chinese Army lost more than 1,000 troops
Narayanan’s favourite falls to terrorists bullets in J&K
A strange coincidence it is. Even as former President K R Narayanan was cremated on Thursday evening in New Delhi, at distant Bandipore in Jammu and Kashmir, his “most favourite” AsDC Major Gopi Singh fell to terrorists bullets.
Thirty-five-year-old Gopi was in tears when he came to know that Narayanan was no more. He spoke to his friend S N Sahu, director Prime Minister’s Office, who was formerly press secretary to Narayanan. Gopi expressed his desire to come to Delhi to attend his former boss’s funeral.
Gopi Singh Rathore was a rare phenomenon, a rare blend – an army officer , a poet and a man with an extraordinarily sensitive mind, said Sahu.
But fate had other plans. Gopi was not granted leave to attend the cremation, and instead, his Commanding Officer asked him to flush out terrorists holed up in a building at Bandipore. The building was locked from outside and Major Gopi Singh fired at the lock to open it. But in the ambush a militant fired at his face and the major died instantaneously.
Sahu, who worked with Narayanan for 13 years and knew Gopi Singh well during his stint in Rashtrapati Bhavan as AsDC, said Singh was “profoundly” mature for his age. He room was full of books – on literature, horticulture and military strategy.
The unmarried Gopi Singh was a brilliant army officer and was one of the most favourite AsDCs of both Narayanan and First Lady Usha Narayanan. He also served President A P J Abdul Kalam for four months.
“Apart from being an excellent army officer, he had a passion for literature and literary work, read extensively, wrote poetry and had a fine and sensitive approach to life. His first collection of poems had been published in 2002 and President Kalam had received the first copy of the publication in the Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Sahu told DNA.
Apart from his duty as AsDC, he also looked after the Moghul Gardens and had indepth knowledge about plants and flowers in the gardens. “Once when President Narayanan heard him explaining to a foreign dignitary about the history of a plant and giving botanical details about it, he expressed his happiness and commented “Gopi you should have been a horticulturist.”
Sahu said when he came to Delhi a few months back he revealed that he was reading Quran and trying to understand the great Islamic religion.
