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archive: The Battle of Tiger Hill

The Battle of Tiger Hill

General Ashok K Mehta
Rediff On Net
July 7, 1999


    Title: The Battle of Tiger Hill
    Author: General Ashok K Mehta 
    Publication:  Rediff On Net
    Date: July 7, 1999 
    
    Tiger Hill has lived up to its name. The army is in the habit of
    giving places names that either carry a resemblance or convey the
    degree of difficulty. Tiger Hill was apt in both respects. 
    
    Without blunting the brilliance of the three-pronged assault on Tiger
    Hill, its quick and relatively easy capitulation came as a surprise,
    even anticlimax. Estimates of Pakistani resistance ranged from 'it
    would be reinforced' to 'defended last man last round' and
    'counter-attack'. Nothing like that happened. As troops closed in,
    Pakistani soldiers fought and slipped out. Interestingly, there has
    been no counter-attack by Pakistan on any of the posts it has lost so
    far. 
    
    Tiger Hill is to Drass valley what Machchapuchchere is to Pokhra in
    Nepal, commanding all its surveys. Both are sheer cliffs ending in a
    pinnacle. No one has ever dared to defile the sanctity of
    Machchapuchchere by climbing the top. But Tiger Hill was desecrated by
    Pakistan. 
    
    Over the last two months, it had become a mountain both deified and
    dreaded, a symbol for testing the Indian army resolve. The media had
    made it the leit motif of Indian military skill and cunning. From
    Tiger Hill, Pakistan artillery could pick out targets on the road, and
    ad-lib correct the fire. Together with Tololing and Point 5140, Tiger
    Hill is the pivot and opening for Mashokh and Drass. But it could only
    be taken after the heights on its east were first captured for
    lodgment at equivalent heights. 
    
    It was vital to engage Tiger Hill from as many directions as feasible
    regardless of the degree of difficulty. Before the assault, Tiger Hill
    was kept pulverised day and night by air, artillery and direct firing
    weapons, demoralising and degrading Pakistan defenders. Three
    battalions -- 18 Grenadier, 8 Sikh and 2 Naga -- together with
    paracommandos pressed the attacks on the night of 3, 4 July. The enemy
    was outfoxed by the cunning of the assaulting troops. As they closed
    in to the top, the crack and thunder of Bofors slowed down. Both the
    Bofors and the multi-barrel rocket launcher blasted the face of Tiger
    Hill. Nearly 30,000 rounds were fired on and around Tiger Hill. The
    IAF used laser-guided bombs in precision attacks. 
    
    The honour of scaling and silencing Tiger Hill went to the Grenadiers.
    These 'Grinders' captured the post after a hand-to-hand combat.
    Surprisingly, the toll for Tiger Hill was small -- five killed and ten
    wounded.
    
    At 6 in the morning, Lt Gen Krishan Pal, GoC 15 Corp, called Army
    Chief, Gen V P Malik and gave him the good news. General Malik
    congratulated Maj Gen Mohinder Puri, GoC 8 Mountain Div, the formation
    with the motto 'Forever in Operations', and one Malik had himself
    commanded earlier. Puri told Malik that fighting was still going on
    along a ridge in the northwest near Point 4875. Puri had, by then, put
    on Tiger Hill, previously held by 50 Pakistanis, more than 150
    Grinders on top. Tiger Hill was covered with Pakistani dead bodies. 
    
    Meanwhile, mopping-up operations continued beyond Tiger Hill and Point
    4875 was captured without loss by the Jat and J&K Rif battalions. So
    accurate was artillery fire that Point 4875 has been renamed Gun Hill. 
    
    The conquest of Tiger Hill complex won an instant unit citation of
    gallantry for 18 Grenadiers. Its capture last week along with the
    seizure of the Tololing Heights last month has given the army two
    launch pads of formidable heights to eliminate remaining intrusions.
    The domination by observation and fire on the Leh road has been
    significantly reduced leaving a few pockets in Kaksar. 
    
    These key lodgments on recaptured heights in Drass are both a wedge
    and fulcrum for operations towards Mashkoh in the west and Kaksar in
    the east. But the biggest prize is for artillery. Their Observations
    Posts, Ops, can now see across the LoC and do to Gultari what Pakistan
    was doing to Drass. 
    
    By capturing Tiger Hill and Point 4875 and extending the long arm to
    the LoC, the intruders in Mashkoh may get trapped. One exit route
    across the LoC is blocked by Indian posts at Marpola. The other is
    glaciated. What is possibly left is northwest of Point 4875. 
    
    The battles of Tiger Hill and Tololing will go down as epic
    engagements in the history of high altitude mountain warfare, replete
    with daring assaults, cunning and close combat of extraordinary order.
    In Batalik too, battles are being fought with equal ferocity and
    finesse. 
    
    These are the first-ever integrated air-artillery-infantry battles on
    the subcontinent. These have also used the most sophisticated
    munitions of war and age-old techniques of fighting in the mountains.
    It is estimated that the artillery is costing between Rs 1.5 and Rs 2
    crore a day and the Indian Air Force a little more. But this is not
    too big a price to pay for teaching Pakistan a lesson.
    



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