NAGPUR: The chilling battle in freezing heights of Tololing peak that proved to be a turning level within the Kargil battle remains to be etched in blood in subedar (retd) Roshan Lal’s thoughts. “My comrade Naik Birendra was concentrating on an enemy bunker along with his rocket launcher when a bullet struck him within the head. He died immediately. In the midst of battle, loss of life of a colleague doesn’t scare you, it ignites a thirst for enemy blood.I fired with ferocity, directing my wrath in direction of the Pakistani bunker with my INSAS rifle,” recollects Lal.
“Goli lagne se aadmi turant nahin marta, marne se pehle kuch der bahut tadapta hain, sar pe lag jaye to baat aur hain” (One doesn’t die immediately except shot within the head. The sufferer writhes in agony earlier than dying), he mentioned, whereas recalling the battle. Whereas the wounded have been being evacuated on stretchers, the sight of fellow troopers’ trauma made them hit the enemy with vigour, mentioned Lal, whose battalion, 18 Grenadiers, was among the many items that captured the Tololing high.
They fought for 15 days, dislodging Pakistani troops from the height. Lal was injured simply two days earlier than the tricolour was unfurled on the peak. Retired as a subedar, Lal, hails from Jammu, now works at Bhonsala Army College, Nagpur.
“We wished to climb the hill shortly and tackle the enemy in a close-quarter battle, however our legs froze. Just a few paces up, left us breathless because of the treacherous altitude. The biting chilly and snow made it worse,” says Lal. Twenty-five years after the battle, Lal remembers the battle for Tololing minute by minute.
Indian troopers climbed up the hill, dealing with a barrage of bullets from enemy bunkers atop. “An enemy shell fell in the course of a gaggle of troopers, killing 15 of them immediately. I noticed their limbs ripped aside by the explosion. It was grotesque to see physique elements strewn throughout. A few of them could possibly be saved, although,” he mentioned.
Lal additionally witnessed a Mi-17 helicopter hit by enemy fireplace at Tololing. “The chopper spun and collapsed on the hills. “It’s gone, we exclaimed,” he says. The chopper was flown by Squadron Chief Rajiv Pundir, who was on an assault mission. The helicopter assault was adopted by artillery shelling on Pakistani positions because the infantry moved ahead. The troops primarily moved at night time, taking cowl behind rocks, says Lal.
Two days earlier than the ultimate battle, Lal was injured after three bullets hit him. “I used to be busy serving to in evacuation when a soldier identified that my little finger was dangling. I noticed {that a} bullet had hit my palm, grazing a finger, and snapping one other. One other spherical hit my thighs and a bullet lodged in my flesh. The third pierced the bone of my decrease leg. I attempted to get down alone and descended 200m until my colleagues took me out on a stretcher,” he says. Lal says as he tried to stroll, however couldn’t. Blood had clotted inside his thick winter gear, hampering motion. Exhausted, he sat down and was evacuated on a stretcher.
Lal’s battalion suffered casualties earlier than capturing Tololing and Tiger Hills together with different troops. Considered one of them was the battalion’s second in command, Lt Colonel Ramakrishnan Vishwanathan, who was shot when he went to retrieve the physique of Main Rajesh Adhikari, who was posthumously awarded Maha Vir Chakra.
