Battle of Rezang La: 'The Last Stand'

'Bravery and Courage recognize neither victory nor defeat'

- Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo(Retd.)

It has been said that wars are caused by politicians and fought by soldiers. The Sino-Indian war of 1962 was one such war where politicians failed the country in its hours of crisis.

The forceful occupation of peace-loving Tibet in 1950 by the 'expansionist' country which was considered as a buffer zone between India and China for India's strategic defence, but now, it was gone, and what we got was a wide-open front with China. Still ignoring the vicious intentions of the neighbouring country, the then government was making humiliating excuses for her failure in stopping China to absorb that buffer. This attitude itself shows that the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had a casual approach towards China and always had a wishful thought that China will never attack India.

In addition, the political leadership denied the defence forces the critical weapons & equipment needed to defend the borders, besides this, political interference in promotion of senior Army officers destroyed its whole leadership. To add to your surprise, the officers and jawans of the 4th Indian Infantry Division were ordered to build houses instead of training them for war. This was the level the then political leadership stooped to.

Rizang La

On October 20, 1962, the Chinese invaded India in Ladakh and NEFA(North-Eastern Frontier Agency), now, a union territory of Arunachal Pradesh and some parts of Assam.

This article mainly tells about the battle fought at Rizang La in the Chushul sector in Ladakh at a height of about 17,000 feet.

The locality was isolated from the main defended sector, and at this altitude, icy winds were blowing, whatever fruit or vegetable came were frozen hard. It had a more serious drawback, due to an intervening block of the mountain the troops deployed there could not get the artillery support, while the Chinese had the full support of its artillery. 

Arsenal

The following table compares the weapons and equipment available with both sides at Rizang La:

Table 1: Comparison of Arms & Equipment

The Defense

The 'Charlie' company of 13 Kumaon Regiment was deployed at Rizang La consisting of around 120 men, which was divided in 3 platoons, led by Major Shaitan Singh with no reinforcements and communication back with the headquarter.

The Chinese attack came on the cold Sunday morning of 18th November 1962, they were large in numbers but our brave 120 Ahirs were waiting for them.

The Ahirs waited for them to come in their range and opened with everything they had. The gullies were soon full of Chinese dead bodies. Now, failed in the first wave, the Chinese began with shelling Rizang La with a variety of mortars, RCL guns, and rockets to blast the bunkers and sangars, no bunker could survive with such concentration of fire, position after position fell, but there was no thought of withdrawal and our men kept fighting till the last bullet, last breath and that is why this battle is also known as 'The Last Stand'. There were around 1300 Chinese causalities and we had few survivors on our side who were held captive by the enemy and later released after the ceasefire. During the action, Maj. Shaitan Singh dominated the scene of operations and moved from one platoon post to another at a great personal risk sustaining the morale of all the jawans while doing so he was hit by a burst of fire in his arm and another machine gun burst in his abdomen.

Major Shaitan Singh's courage, devotion and supreme sacrifice inspired his company to fight to the last man.

After Ceasefire

When Rizang La was later revisited, dead jawans were found in the trenches still holding on to their weapons, the medical help had a syringe and a bandage still in his hands when a Chinese bullet killed him.

The nation's highest decoration for gallantry, the Param Vir Chakra, was awarded to Maj. Shaitan Singh posthumously.

Other unsung heroes:

1. Naik Hukum Chand, Vir Chakra (Posthumously)

2. Naik Gulab Singh Yadav, Vir Chakra

3. Lance Naik Ram Singh, Vir Chakra (Posthumously)

4. Subedar Ram Kumar, Vir Chakra

5. Subedar Ram Chander, Vir Chakra

They all hailed from the Rewari district of Haryana.

Every man of 'Charlie' company 13 Kumaon who fought and martyred at Rizang La was a hero. As a grateful nation, we all will remember their supreme sacrifice and the name of Maj. Shaitan Singh will live forever in our hearts.

There is a short video on my YouTube Channel summarising the events:

Jai Hind.

If you want to get deeper insights into the 1962 Sino-Indian War, you can read the following books(you can purchase them by clicking on the image):

                  

                                                

References:

1.Param Vir Chakra: Our Heroes in Battle by Maj. Gen Ian Cardozo(Retd.)

2. Don't forget the heroes of Rizang La: The Hindu

3. Himalayan Blunder: Curtain-raiser to the Sino-Indian war of 1962 by Brig. JP Dalvi(Retd.)

4. www.idsa.in