Fifty years on, still fresh in my mind is the day I jumped out of the Helicopter on December 9, 1971, amidst the Sylhet Garison with bullets flying around, and rushing forward to my Company. The Battle of Atgram 20/21 November 1971, where we with Khukris wiped out B Company 31 Punjab Pakistan Army. By December 5, 4/5 Gorkha Rifles (F F) had fought two battles and secured Kalaura, rail-road head leading to Sylhet, as its fall would be a severe setback to Pakistan. Information had indicated Sylhet Brigade had moved out and Sylhet occupied very lightly.
Sylhet was thus selected as the objective of 8 Mountain Division. Actually, Sylhet was defended by Pakistan’s two brigades (202 and 313). Later, had also joined on 7/8 December. Sylhet was to be a fortress and a third Brigadier was sent to coordinate the defensive battle.
Sylhet was lightly held and a directive was sent to Division to capture/secure Sylhet with a heliborne operation and two brigades link-up with the force. The 4/5 GR (FF) will be the Battalion: Maj Gen K V Krishna Rao informed.
On December 7, CO, Lt Col (later Brigadier) A B Harolikar, MVC informed, “battalion is planned to be heli-landed same afternoon at Sylhet to capture/secure Sylhet, with link up within 12-24 hours”. At 10 AM, Brig Quinn, CO (Harolikar), Group Captain Chandan Singh, flew over Sylhet and selected a landing site near Mirpara, close to the railroad bridge over Surma River on the outskirts of Sylhet. Battalion moved in the afternoon by helicopters with pouch ammunitions and Shakarpara’s for 48 hours.
After taking off, first to land at 3 PM was a portion of Charlie Company (Malik), who were fired upon by Pakistani troops with mounted MMGs. They went straight charging with the war cry ' Ayo Gorkhali' in the direction from where the firing and war cries of' ‘Allah -0 -Akbar' were heard. After 40-45 minutes, CO's party and Bravo Company also landed. At 4 AM, Alfa and Delta Company’s landed amidst artillery fire, but by daybreak, Battalion had concentrated.
The dilemma for the Battalion was to either go for compact defence or a wider aggressive one. CO opted for later and tasked us to occupy wider offensive defence, lay ambushes, raid enemy, establish roadblocks, cut off road communication and harass Pakistanis. Two companies were deployed forward (A and my Company, D) and the rest of the Battalion was deployed around the landing ground.
An hour or so after the last light Pakistan launched a counter-attack on forward localities, which was repulsed. On December 9, a Pakistani convoy was ambushed. Just after the last light came the concerted artillery fire on forward Companies, followed by a counter attack by Pakistanis. Low on ammunition, limited support of guns, Allah-O-Akbar shouts were countered by Ayo Gorkhali.
On the morning of December 11, we received air support, engaging Pakistani positions in front of Alfa and my Delta Company. In between, I intercepted conversations of Pakistan’s wireless setup with Urdu diction penetrated up to Imam’s net (Top Officer). The conversation revealed reasonable information.
At about 2 PM, CO informed us that after the last light, both roadblock companies (Alfa and Delta) were now to concentrate with the Battalion. Soon, after dark, my company (Delta) was attacked by a battalion. During the counterattack, I was standing outside my trench giving details on wireless to CO. Suddenly, I felt an electric current when a few bullets hit my left arm and grazed my abdomen. After the attack was repulsed, I along with the other injured walked to the medical post. It was a serious injury and I was evacuated the next night and was hospitalised for seven months.
There was no activity between December 12 to 14, except exchange of fire. On the morning of December 15, about 1000-1500 Pakistanis led by two officers carrying a white flag were seen moving towards the Battalion. They were told to return and send their commander to negotiate the surrender with our brigade commander. The modalities of surrender were completed at 3 PM, surrender was signed with a ceremonial surrender on December 16 morning.
The Battalion had endured and entered the 10th day. The surrender of the entire Sylhet Garrison of three Brigadiers, over 107 officers and over 6300 soldiers took place.
At the time of surrender, Battalion strength in Sylhet was about 300-350 soldiers. In the three battles that were fought, we lost many comrades including the second-in-command. His replacement, Major (later Maj Gen) Ian Cardozo, stepped on a mine injuring his ankle and was saved by our doctor, Capt Sengupta. This brought continued misfortune on this appointment and we changed the designation to Vazir, which holds even today.
After the surrender of the Pakistanis, the Battalion troops entered the town and saw weapons thrown on the road. For this outstanding first-ever heliborne operation of the Indian Army by 4/5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), the task of 8 Mountain Division had been accomplished. The division had fought five battles out of which three were fought by 4/5 Gorkha Rifles (FF)(Atgram, Gazipur and Sylhet). Sylhet was awarded as Battle Honour and East Pakistan, 1971 as Theatre Honour to 4/5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force).
(Brig (Retd) Rattan Kaul 4/5 GR(FF), defence management expert, was assault Company Commander at Atgram (Nov 20/21, 71) and Forward Road Block Commander in the Battle of Sylhet. He was seriously injured in the Battle of Sylhet.)
