Army Day: Battle Of Longewalla Through The Lens Of An Army Veteran From Odisha | OTV News

Cuttack: As the Army Day celebrations wind up within the nation with the setting of the solar on Friday, an Indian Army veteran from a nondescript village, Jatamundia beneath Banki block in Cuttack takes a visit down the reminiscence lane to painting the gallantry of the bravehearts within the Battle of Longewala of 1971.
The Battle of Longewala is among the first main engagements within the western sector in the course of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and etched within the historical past books of the nation’s wonderful historical past courtesy of J.P. Dutta’s 1997 movie ‘Border’. It highlights the heroics of Major Chandpuri and the Indian Air Force ‘Hunters’ destroying the Pakistani tanks.
Indramani Beura, as soon as a veteran of the Indian Army faintly remembers the precise date of his retirement, however his outdated reddish eyes sparkle with satisfaction whereas remembering the 1971 Indo-Pak struggle, particularly the battle at Longewala in Rajasthan alongside the International Border (IB), which he was part of.
Indramani joined the Army as a Sepoy and was deployed within the 412 Medical Battalion. In 1971, he was tasked to get hooked up with the Dogra Regiment stationed at Longewala. After round six months, the orders of the struggle got here and he was to march to Kishengarh, from there with your complete regiment.
However, simply after a day they reached Kishengarh, they obtained the information of a really giant drive of Pakistani tanks and infantry that had crossed the border and had been headed south in direction of Longewala. Following the event, they had been once more ordered to return to their earlier base as quickly as potential.
Just after his return, what he noticed made him cringe in concern. “Though every army man’s heart is made of steel, the fear of losing the battle as the consequence of his death grips every soldier’s sub-conscious mind sooner or later,” Indramani mentioned.
“The huge Pakistani regiment with more than 40 tanks were nearing Longewala and we had to dig bunkers to cover us from Pakistani assault,” he mentioned.
But being Pakistanis, they had been fooled by the sign cables laid down close to the IB and thought it as land mines. They halted their march offering alternative for the lone platoon holding the fort to purchase treasured time earlier than the ‘Hunters’ got here flying and took out the enemy tanks.
Finally, the Pak drive misplaced the battle and their losses as counted within the Indian territory had been 37 tanks, 200 assorted automobiles, a lot different gear, and over 100 useless.
The historic day makes Indramani proudly say, as soon as a military man, all the time a military man.
(Edited By Suryakant Jena)

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