Kargil War: What (unavoidable) tragic events unfolded behind the scenes on the battlefield?

- Eyesight-Hershal Pushkarna

- July 26: Kargil Victory Day - The zeal of Indian soldiers when firebrands proved to be nowhere more than archaic weapons

- Even if a fierce battle is fought with weapons, but in the end it is won by the heroes! Our troops in the Kargil war proved it.

This unknown and shocking fact began on October 14, when General Ved Prakash Malik took over as the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. After taking over the reins of the army, the newly-appointed commander met the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Committee on Security / CCS in person and gave them a report on military security. Under this system, General Malik met the then Prime Minister. Some senior CCS officials were also present. During the closed-door conversation, when General Malik was asked about the ground forces, he replied, "The zeal of the Khushkin Dal is iron, but the body has decayed ..."

General Malik's answer was short, but to-the-point. The one who says a lot in a few is also true. When he took over as Khushki-Senapati on October 14, the condition of our armor was poor. A lot of the weapons were antiquated. The Army classifies its weapons into Generation-1, Generation-2 and Generation-2 according to age criteria. Weapons purchased thirty to twenty years ago are said to be of Generation-1, weapons of twenty to ten years and ten or less years after abandonment fall into the 3rd and 4th classes respectively.

On October 19, most of the weapons in the armies' arsenal were of the first generation. There was no new shopping for years and there was no sign of it happening. Because the defensive budget allotted to the Indian Army in the year 18-9 is only Rs. 12.5 crore. The amount seemed to be exactly the same as putting cumin in the camel's mouth. Excluding the cost of military bases, vehicles like lorries and jeeps, maintenance of weapons, new constructions, rations, salaries, allowances, etc., only Rs. With this meager amount of money, it would be ridiculous to go out in the international market to shop for expensive weapons.

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The matter was serious. Why resist with antiquity and limited weapons if the flint and sparks against Pakistan ignite a fierce war? War does not happen, so optimism that it will not happen should not nurture any country in terms of defense. Conversely, being prepared 24x7 for battle should follow the unwritten rule. General Ved Prakash Malik kept proposing to the central government to modernize the arsenal corresponding to the same copybook strategy, but nothing came of it. The country's coffers have been at an all-time low as foreign investment in India has been declining for seven years. There was a huge fiscal deficit. Where to allocate more budget to the dry forces in such circumstances?

A year or so passed like this. On October 18, General Malik met again with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Committee on Security / CCS. He said that a total of 50,000 troops had to be released in order to alleviate the financial constraints of the land force. The National Rifles reported that the force had to make up for the loss from its arsenal because it did not have enough rifles. He also pointed out that the possibility of war with Pakistan had increased after India's nuclear test in Pokarna on May 17 and 18.

Of course, in the end it didn't happen. On May 12, Pakistani military as well as mercenaries secretly set up bases in vacant Indian outposts on high mountain fronts like Kargil, Dras, Batalik, Tololing, Kaksar, Khalubar, Kukarthang etc. We were literally caught asleep. However, now is the time to deprive the enemy of sleep. On May 6, 19, the government officially declared a cross-border battle to drive out Pakistani infiltrators. The name of the enemy's cleansing campaign was chosen: Operation Victory!

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In Kashmir, Kargil, Dras, Batalik, Tololing, Kaksar, Khalubar, Kukarthang, etc. The trumpet of war was blown on the nearby Line of Control, but when was our readiness for resistance? As noted earlier, many of the weapons were antiquated, as were cartridges, rifles, artillery, bulletproof vests, and warm clothing, protecting them from the cold at an altitude of 15,000 to 18,000 feet. There was not enough stock of rifles to be sent to fight on the Kargil front as well as to be sent. Therefore, the weapons previously given to the National Rifles were recalled.

Operators of heavy as well as medium machine guns need a device called a laser range finder to measure the distance to the target, which we did not have there. In the ongoing war, there were not enough radio sets to communicate with the Plateau camp — and they were even more primitive! A special weapon-locating / weapon locating type radar is essential for every dry force to pinpoint exactly where the enemy has positioned his howitzer cannon in a flat area behind a high mountain.

We didn’t even have that. Proposed purchase two years ago. Luckily, the work went ahead with the approval. But the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has come out on top, saying that we will build weapon locating radars at home on an indigenous basis. After this guarantee, there was no question of buying imported radar. But it is unfortunate to note that the DRDO did not keep its promise, so due to the lack of weapon locating radar, our troops could not find the hideout of the crop artillery in the war.

Now let's talk about the deadly Bofors Howitzer, which was bought on the 17th and was raging on the battlefield. Under Operation Victory in Kargil, the defiant Bofors got a chance to show their firepower, but a political hurdle arose. It so happened that a total of 210 Swedish-made Bofors howitzers were procured for the Indian Army in the 19th century when a scam of Rs 5 crore took place. The Bofors cannon remained at the center of the political battlefield for years after that. Bofors, a cannon manufacturing company, was blacklisted for misconduct. That is, all dealings with him were stopped.

This situation became the hurdle for Operation Victory. The critical question is how to get the spheres needed for the Bofors cannon as well as the spare parts needed to repair the damaged Bofors. This requirement cannot be met by any other arms manufacturer other than the Bofors Company of Sweden, for which the firm has been temporarily excluded from the blacklist. With this proposal, General Ved Prakash Malik met CCS. The Bofors brand got a green light to buy 1pp millimeter diameter spheres, but when the Bofors company itself was blacklisted, the dry forces tried a straightforward, key-crooked move. A South African company has taken Bofors shells for Rs. At a hefty price of 3,000!

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Overcoming all these and so many other unnecessary challenges, Operation Victory went ahead. But was it any less difficult to deliver heavy artillery at an altitude of 15-16 thousand feet above the ground? Some of the many examples of Mission Impo Sibal dealing with physical-mental torture to go:

One of our troops was assigned to deliver a 105 mm field gun to the mountain front at Tololing. The entire cannon, weighing about 2,000 pounds [2,000 kg], cannot move an inch with manpower. So the cannon parts were separated and delivered to the designated place.

It happened on the Tololing front that the atmosphere changed when the last of the cannon and the main parts (funnel) were only 200 meters away from their destination. Enthusiastic and cool winds began to blow. The temperature dropped below zero as the rains subsided. The bodies of the Sangopang soaked soldiers began to freeze in the unbearable cold, yet they did not deviate from their duties. It would be awkward for us to move forward in the snow when our knees are bent, while here a 200 kg weight barrel of such a road cannon had to be dragged on a steep mountain slope with a sharp angle. In all, 150 sharecroppers were engaged in the Bhagirath work for two days (and nights) in a row, during which they could not even get Annie's grain or even drinking water. He quenched his thirst with a handful of white snow.

On another mountain front, our 100 hardworking soldiers sweated for two days in the bitter cold to make the 75/24 Pack Howitzer type mountain cannon reach great heights. When an Indian Army battalion named Hanif was in dire need of 120 mm diameter mortar shells, the soldiers formed a human chain to carry him on a mountain ladder. A young man carries a 5 kg mortar on his shoulder and crosses a distance of 5 km. He gives a heavy load to the other jawan standing there and the young man walks 3 km and gives a third 'kho'. Never before in the history of the war had a heavy weapon been carried as a relay race.

Believe it or not, many other examples like this have been established by our grandchildren at the lofty heights of the Himalayas. He made the motto of Karma Hi Dharma in the true sense. As a result of the tireless work, steadfast morale and boundless patriotism of the soldiers, the artillery of the dry forces deployed a total of 200 cannons and multi-barrel rocket launchers in the hills of Kargil, Dras, Batalik, Tololing, Kaksar etc. During the 6 days of Operation Victory, the weapon fired a total of 450,000 rounds / rockets at the enemy.

At one stage, there was such a fierce battle on the front of Tololing, Pointer 4875 and Tiger Dhillon that our cannons started eating 1,200 deafening 'khonkhara' every five minutes to pierce the enemy targets. The overcrowding work was carried out near the cannons, which resulted in excessive heat and wear and tear of some of the drains. About 70 per cent of the Indian arsenal's stockpile of heavy machine gun and light machine gun cartridges was used during the Kargil war for the benefit of the enemy.

Pakistan was finally defeated in the Kargil War on July 6, 19 and India was defeated. The glory of victory goes to the heroes who poured their blood on the glaciers, the heroes, the heroes and the heroic warriors who turned the tide of war in India's favor even with antiquated and limited weapons. General George Payton, a full-fledged US general who led the US military in World War II, said, "Even if war is fought with weapons, it is won with heroes!" The sentence he vindicated.

Of course, the 22nd milestone of Operation Victory also reminds us of the anonymous heroes who worked hard for days in the background of the battlefield, enduring unbearable chills, forgetting hunger and thirst and sweating and supplying arms from 1 to 12 thousand feet high. The country will be indebted to him for his role in ensuring India's victory.

Jai Hind! Jai Hind Ki Sena!