Whenever you will be sacrificed in battle
on the pages of history and hearts
Your name will be
New Delhi: Whenever it comes to the Indian Army or say our brave soldiers, our chest becomes wide with pride. Don’t know how many wars have taken place since independence, but the never-give-up spirit of our brave battle-bankers defeated the enemy. Martyred for mother earth but never let its honor come under fire. In this episode, we have appeared in front of you today with the next episode of ‘Shaurya Gatha’ series. In the first episode of the series ‘Operation Meghdoot’, you learned about how our brave Ranbankurs had snatched Siachen from the neighboring country Pakistan. In today’s episode we will talk about the Rejangla war that took place in the year 1962. In this war that took place on 18 November 1962, our 120 soldiers were outnumbered by 1300 Chinese soldiers. We definitely lost the war, but the battle of Rejangla reminded the soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army of China of their grandmother. Let us tell you in detail about the Rejangla war, the sequel of Shauryagatha.
Soldiers of 13th Kumaon Regiment were sent to Chushul
20 October 1962, ie about 63 years ago from today. The People’s Liberation Army of China had stabbed the dagger of deceit on India’s back. Chinese soldiers started the first war with India. Due to this move of Chinese soldiers, the 13th Battalion of the Kumaon Regiment was deployed on the Chushul sector of Ladakh. The Chushul sector is just a short distance from the Line of Actual Control. Chushul becomes more important in view of the border dispute between the two countries. The command of the soldiers of the Kumaon Regiment was in the hands of Major Shaitan Singh at that time. He completely defended the Chushul sector. In view of the Chinese attack, the 13th Kumaon Regiment was sent to defend the Chushul sector. Most of the jawans in this were from Haryana. The conditions at Chushul were just the opposite for these jawans. These soldiers had never even seen snow fall. In fact, he was called to Chushul from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir with two days’ notice. Due to such an early call, he did not get a chance to acclimatize to the altitude and cold.
Our 120 soldiers were lying heavily in front of more than 1300 Chinese soldiers
With the soldiers of the 13th Kumaon Regiment reaching Chushul, the Indian Air Force aircraft arrived with weapons and ammunition carrying the soldiers of the 47 Ahir Regiment. These newly recruited jawans were brought directly from training. They were not nurtured by the icy cold and blowing winds of Ladakh. The cold there was such that even the bones would suffocate. But the Indian Army had full faith in these new soldiers. The battle of Rejangla in 1962 had to be fought on his shoulders. With the arrival of 47 soldiers in Major Shaitan Singh’s troop, the number in the Kumaon Regiment reached 120. This company of 120 soldiers was named Charlie. After this, the soldiers of this company were left near Rejangla, located in the south-east of Chushul. Rejangla is situated at an altitude of 5000 feet from the ground. The soldiers of India had not adapted themselves to the environment there, but their enthusiasm was getting heavy on this shivering cold. On the other hand, the Chinese soldiers had full experience of such a situation. China had more than 1300 soldiers at that time.
‘There is no question of backing down’
The year 1962 and 18 November. This was the date of Rejangla war when our soldiers were challenged by China. On this date, when Major Shaitan Singh, who was leading Charlie Company, came to know that the Chinese troops had launched an attack, he sought help from his seniors. Shaitan Singh asked the seniors to arrange for more soldiers. The seniors looked unable to help. Not only this, he asked Major Shaitan Singh to retreat with his army. The seniors felt that our first priority was to save the soldiers. But to retreat meant to show the back to the enemy. After this, Major Shaitan Singh held a meeting with his soldiers. All the soldiers also said that there was no question of retreating. Will face the enemies till the last breath. After hearing this, Major Shaitan Singh also sent a message to the seniors that he would not back down.
18 November 1962 and the war started at 3:30 am
On 18 November 1962, at 3:30 am, there was some movement from the Chinese side near Rejangla. It didn’t take long for the Indian soldiers to understand that they were Chinese soldiers. Major Shaitan Singh immediately ordered that as soon as the enemy’s army starts action, you too should attack it. Talking about Chinese soldiers, they had state-of-the-art weapons and ammunition. At the same time Indian soldiers were not so equipped. They had arms and ammunition from the Second World War, which many people had termed as useless. Apart from airguns, our jawans had three not three gun buses. They had to be loaded after every shoot. His fingers were also frozen in the severe cold. Even in the meantime, Shaitan Singh did not let his spirits go down. He said that you stay frozen and continue the war.
China was attacking but there was no fear here
Where once there was peace, suddenly firing and ammunition started being thrown from both the sides. There was a lot of firing from both the sides. Although Indian soldiers were less in number, but they had spread the dead bodies of Chinese soldiers in continuous firing. This action created a stir in the Chinese army. All his tricks started failing. He changed his strategy. Around 5 am, Chinese troops started attacking the Indian bunkers with mortars and rockets. Indian bunkers were finding it difficult to escape. Indian soldiers started retreating due to the attack of Chinese soldiers. But Major Shaitan Singh kept his spirits up. Indian soldiers also started getting martyred in the attack of China. The remaining soldiers also decided that today is the day of their martyrdom. But there was no fear of death in those soldiers.
The war ended at 8 o’clock, Indian soldiers had released sixes
After the action taken by Indian and Chinese soldiers on each other, smoke and dead bodies were scattered all around. When the smoke cleared, the Indian soldiers saw the Yaks coming from afar. He has his own alpha soldiers who are coming to help him. But it was not so. He was not a soldier of Alpha Company but a Chinese soldier. He was coming carrying weapons on the mountain cow. He started making his mark taking every Indian soldiers with the target. Major Shaitan Singh was also injured in this attack. He continued the fight again after getting bandaged. His entire unit along with the Major fought with the Chinese soldiers till their last breath. This war ended after 8 in the morning.
In the history of India, the war of Rejangla is called the biggest war ever. In this, almost every soldier had sacrificed his life in this war. Every jawan was a hero under the leadership of Major Shaitan Singh. Talking about Major Shaitan Singh, he continued the fight despite being injured. On one hand he was fighting and on the other hand he was encouraging the soldiers. His hand was hurt but he continued to fire the air gun with the help of a rope. After all, he became a martyr while fighting. But you will also be proud to read about the bravery and bravery of him and his soldiers.