New Delhi: The Indian Army has built a memorial for its 20 personnel killed while valiantly fighting Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15, official sources said on Saturday.
The memorial, located at Post 120 in eastern Ladakh and inaugurated earlier this week, mentions the heroics of the 'Gallants of Galwan' under operation 'Snow Leopard' and the way they evicted the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the area while inflicting "heavy casualties" on them in "hand-to-hand combat".
Post 120 lies along the Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) road. The names of all the 20 Indian Army personnel were inscribed at the unit-level memorial.
Giving a brief account of Operation "Snow Leopard", the Army mentioned in a plaque at the memorial that Colonel Babu led the 'Quick Reaction Force' of 16 Bihar Regiment and attached troops tasked to evict a group of Chinese troops from the general area in 'Y nala' (a junction) and stop them from moving further to Patrolling Point 14.
"The column successfully evicted the PLA OP from Y Nala and reached PP14 where a fierce skirmish broke out between the IA (Indian Army) and PLA troops. Col B Santosh Babu led from the front and his troops fought gallantly in hand-to-hand combat, causing heavy casualties to the PLA. In the ensuing fight twenty 'Gallants of Galwan' achieved martyrdom," the Army wrote.
