“Even God Lends a Hand to Honest Boldness – Meanander ’’ Brigadier Rattan Kaul 4 / 5 G R { F F } {Brigadier Rattan Kaul was commissioned in 4/5 GR {FF} and was Rifle Company Commander during 1971 Operations. He was seriously injured in the Battle of Sylhet} History in The Making Some Respite or History in the Making. Gazipur Tea State near Kalaura of Sylhet District of then East Pakistan, defended by a company plus of 22 Baluch, had been annihilated on the night of 4/5 December 1971. A tough nut to crack, the resistance was fierce, for Pakistani's knew that after the failure of attack by 6 Rajput, a day earlier, they were in for another one very soon with more vigour and force. After the assault 15 dead bodies of the enemy had been counted and at least 40 of their wounded soldiers, including their company commander, were reported to have been carried away. We too suffered heavily; Major Shyam Kelkar, our Second-in-Command and 10 other ranks had made the supreme sacrifice. Four Officers; Major‘s Yashwant Rawat, Virender Rawat {Both Company Commander‘s}, two young officers, two JCO‘s and 57 other ranks were wounded. With attack on its Gazipur position, 22 Baluch was completely disorganised; lost communication with its sub units and left for Sylhet without giving any orders; to meet us again at Sylhet, two days later. Pakistani‘s vacated Kalaura, which was occupied by the battalion by mid-day 5 December. With Kalaura, key to the defences in this sector, Juri secured {59 Mountain Brigade}, road to Fenchuganj / Maulvi Bazar was open to own troops. 59 Mountain Brigade had 4/5 GR {FF} and 6 Rajput at Kalaura , 9 Guards were on Juri axis. 81 Mountain Brigade, of the division {8th} had reportedly contacted Maulvi Bazar. Sylhet now appeared to be 8 Mountain Division‘s final objective. 4/5 GR {FF} was the only battalion in the division having achieved successes in two decisive battles {Atgram and Gazipur} and it appeared Kalaura was to be a sojourn but unknown it was history in the making on 7 December 1971.... by Four Five {4/5 GR{FF}}. The Depleted Team. The Battalion had fought two decisive actions at Atgram and Gazipur; purely with Khukri's; wiped out B Company 31 Punjab {Pak Army} at Atgram including Company Commander {Major Alvi; posthumously awarded Pakistan‘s bravery award- Hilal-e-Jurat}; caused disintegration of the 22 Baluch at Gazipur. Khukri, as a weapon of Gurkha, had struck deep into the enemy psyche, which Paki‘s were unlikely to forget. However, Battalion by now, had suffered heavy casualties {7 Officers, 3 JCO's {Junior Commissioned Officers} and 92 other ranks} out of which 3 Officers, 1 JCO and 13 other ranks were killed and rest seriously wounded including Second -in- Command. Leave parties, reinforcements had not fetched up and strength of a rifle company had come down to 53-62 persons, with a platoon barely having 20 persons. Pakistani Deployment And Defence Strategy Pakistani Deployment in Sylhet Sector. Pakistani‘s had two brigades of its 14 Infantry Division in the Sector {General Officer Commanding {GOC} Major General Qazi Majid}, with its Headquarter at Bhairab Bazar. Its one brigade was deployed outside Sylhet District with second Infantry Brigade {313; Brigadier Iftikar Rana} at Maulvi Bazar, covering approaches from Dharmanagar/Shamsher Nagar - Kalaura / Juri. Initially it was also to look after the approaches to Sylhet with 31 Punjab under its command. It also had 22 Baluch {Lt Col Yasin} {Gazipur and Kalaura}and 30 Frontier Force {Lt Col Amir Mukhtar}, covering/defending axis Shamsher Nagar - Maulvi Bazar. 31 Punjab {Late Lt Col Riaz Hussain Javed; Battalion Headquarter at Charkhai} was also initially under this brigade and looking after Eastern approach {Atgram/Karimganj œ Charkhai}. Brigade also had Wing Frontier Corps less two companies, 210 Mortar Battery {120 mm Mortars} and Battery 105mm Howitzers {4 {Lahore} Battery}. On 1 Oct 1971, 202 an adhoc Infantry Brigade {Brigadier Saleemullah} was created with its Headquarter at Sylhet and tasked to defend Sylhet town and guard approaches from North {Dauki} and East {Atgram/Karimganj œ Charkhai}. 31 Punjab ex 313 Brigade, 91 Mujahid, 31 Field Regiment {Artillery} Company 12 AK Battalion, two Companies of EPCAF and half Wing Frontier Corps {Two Companies of Khyber Rifles and one company of Bajour Scouts/Thal and Tochi Scouts} were part of this brigade {202}. 31 Punjab were placed under command of 202 Brigade in the beginning of December after having been mauled at Atgram, vacated Charkhai axis and relocated at Sylhet {Khadim Nagar}. 500 Razakar‘s, mostly Bihari Mohajirs, had been incorporated with regular troops. Not much was known about deployment before 1 Oct 71, probably held by garrison/static units or 313 Infantry Brigade located at Sylhet and moved to Maulvi Bazar. By first week of December 1971, Brigadier S A Hassan was sent to Sylhet. To Shillong Meghalaya Barak River To Silichar To Dumchara BOP NH 44 NH 53 Dauki IB o Natanpur BOP Panchgram . Badarpur Surma R Sarkar Bazar Atgram D B Banga o . Charkhai Zakiganj o oKarimganj To Chatak !! A OSylhet X 31 Punjab Kushiara R C 202 Atgram- Karimganj Salient o Juri IB NH 44 o Maulvi Bazar X !! 5 Dec 22 Baluch . Dharmanagar 313 oGazipur Kalaura Kaila Shahr N 5 Dec AN To Saistaganj To Agartala Sketch Showing Pakistani Deployment in Sylhet Sector Before 7 Dec 71 Actually Lieutenant General Niazi, Chief Martial Law Administrator, East Pakistan gave orders to GOC 14 Infantry Division to re-deploy 313 Brigade on Coronation Bridge over River Meghna, enroute to Dacca. This would have caused command and control problems for the division; 202 Infantry Brigade looking after a vast area and defending as many as five axes. He {Niazi}, therefore, decided to send one brigadier to look after the defences of Sylhet, while GOC 14 Infantry Division could suitably employ 202 Brigade to cover major axes. Brigadier Hassan, found himself amongst two more brigadiers {Rana and Saleemullah} and being the senior most officer took over command of Sylhet Sector, to coordinate ”Sylhet Fortress Battle‘ as envisaged by East Pakistan Military Command Dacca.. GOC 14 Infantry Division, however, did not allow 313 Infantry Brigade move to Coronation Bridge and instead moved it to Sylhet, Niazi terming it as disobedience of his orders. Fortress Sylhet. By 6 Dec 71, key points in the Karimganj- Atgram salient {Eastern Axis} and Gazipur- Kalaura {South-eastern axis} were already in our hands. Further South {Southern Axis}, 81 Mountain Brigade had captured Munshi Bazar by 5 December 71 and by next day {6th} Maulvi Bazar had been isolated/contacted. Pakistani 313 Infantry Brigade with its units had withdrawn to Sylhet; on 7 Dec . This move to Sylhet had not been anticipated or known as on date and came as a surprise. It had been expected that this brigade would fall back to —Coronation Bridge on Meghna“ for the defence of the Meghna crossing; an approach to Dacca, making progress of IV Corps operations across Meghna towards Dacca very difficult. Around this time (6th / 7th ) Headquarters Eastern Command is reported to have intercepted a Pakistani wireless transmission that one of the Pakistani brigades in the area, around Sylhet, had been ordered to move out from its location to an unknown destination. This information created an opening for planning an airborne or heliborne assault to capture Sylhet. If this brigade {313} had reinforced Sylhet; it needed a viable and strong force to capture Sylhet. Noted Pakistani Defence Analyst and Historian Major General Fazal Muqueem in his book —Crisis In Leadership“ mentions the situation as such; "After the fall of Shamsher Nagar, Sylhet had come under heavy pressure from the North and the East. On December 7, 202 Adhoc Infantry Brigade in Sylhet {created on 01 Oct 71} was reinforced by 313 Brigade which had operated in Sharmshernagar area". Terrain and Approaches to Sylhet. Sylhet Town, a district, communication centre was approachable from four directions from India; Meghalaya, Cachar District {Shillong- Dauki and Atgram-Karimganj- Charkhai} Northern Tripura {Dharmanagar}and an important place from military and geographical point of view. Its fall would be a severe set back to Pakistani‘s, with potential of international repercussions. The sketch above shows the deployment of troops before 7 December 71 in Sylhet; 31 Punjab looking after the area. The other troops, as they withdrew, took defences inside and around Sylhet, process which continued till 7/8 December, when nearly six battalions strength of troops defended Sylhet holding strong points and defended localities. Reconnaissance and Support elements had been pre-positioned at various open places, crossing places from 7 December itself, to deny and intrusion of our forces. They had also observed withdrawal of own regular troops from Atgram œ Charkhai axis in end November, axis given low priority and troops redeployed. Even 1 East Bengal Brigade under Colonel Zia- ul-Rehman {later General and President of Bangladesh} deployed along this axis did not deter Pakistanis from readjustment. Strategy and Overall Planning Of First Ever Heliborne Operations Strategy and Overall Plan of Heliborne Operations. With plethora of intelligence information, Pakistani troop movements and vacation of Kalaura, plan of 8 Mountain Division capturing Sylhet with a heliborne operations, with ground forces {two brigades} moving along axes to link up, was mooted. This was on the presumption and information that as a result of our multi pincers, threat towards Dacca, troops from Sylhet had been withdrawn and Pak troops deployed along various axes leading to Sylhet evicted, badly mauled, disintegrated and there would be no or nominal resistance for the heliborne force.