Order of Battle, 13th Kumaon  at the Battle of Chushul, 1962

v.1.0 March 1, 2005

Ravi Rikhye

[This is a work in progress and should be considered more as a collection of notes than a finished article.]

The Chinese attacked C Company, 13 Kumaon Regiment at Rezeng La from three sides. Of 118 men, 109 were killed, five wounded made POW, and four escaped. Of these one was the mortar section commander, who lay unconscious after being wounded and managed to escape Chinese attention long enough to sneak through what was now enemy territory to return. Two escaped only because they were trying to get their mortally wounded commander, Major Shaitan Singh, to safety. Realizing he was done for, he ordered the men to leave him and to save themselves. The Chinese too made a great sacrifice. While no good record exists of their losses, it is likely 6-800 were killed the  Battles of Gurung Hill and Rezangla. Estimates at that time were of 1000 killed, but these were probably too high, as we will discuss.

There is no doubt the PLA suffered badly. The original  estimate is based on various data including the number of field dressings found on the battlefield by the Indian Red Cross who came the following spring to recover their dead.  The Chinese were, after all attacking, and had to overrun each and every Indian position by assault. The 3" mortar section supporting C Company alone fired 998 of its 1006 shells before being cut down, at Chinese soldiers advancing without cover. At Gurung Hill the Indians had artillery cover and direct fire from tanks, and 1/8 Gorkhas forced back a 4 battalion attack thanks to the fire support. The Chinese had no counter-battery capability; and they made repeated attacks, which must have added to their losses.

Foreign readers may be surprised to learn that the Indian Army would leave infantry to fight without heavy weapons or artillery support, particularly in the face of overwhelming odds. This is, however, how the Army has always done things. It was only in 1999 that, for the first time, Indian troops at Kargil received what would be considered by any large army to be a modest amount of fire support.

  • 13 Kumaon Regiment HQ Track Junction [Lt. Col. H.S. Dhingra] [Covering South flank of Spanggur Gap]
    • Company [Track Junction, brigade reserve; south of airfield]  [Major Girish Sinha]
    • Company [Magar Hill]
    • Company [Magar Hill]
    • C Company [Rezang La] [Major Shaitan Singh]

The Importance of Rezang La [work in progress]

Chushul protects the Indus Valley from a Chinese offensive from Rudok. The approach to Leh is via the Indus Valley. The southern approaches to Chushul were protected by 70 Brigade, and 114 Brigade protected Chushul along a 40 km front.

For the Chinese, to get

Rezang La is the pass in the Rezang massif, about 11 km south of the Spanggur Gap. The massif, about 2 kilometers long, dominated the Indian line of communications between Dungti [70 Brigade] and Chushul.

Any Chinese attempt to cut the lines of communication between the northern subsectors [Delta Sector] and 70 Brigade

Chinese Dispositions [Estimated]

  • Regiment [+] deployed against Spanggur Gap
  • Regiment [-] deployed against Rezang La
Battle of Rezeng La

C Company [Rezang La][Major Shaitan Singh, KIA]

  • 7th Platoon [Jemedar Surja Singh, KIA]
  • 8th Platoon [Jemedar Hari Ram, KIA]
    • 1st Section [Naik Hukum Singh]
    • 2nd Section [Naik Raghu Nath]
    • 3rd Section [Naik Chandgi Ram]
  • 9th Platoon [Jemedar Ramchandra, KIA]

    • 3-inch Mortar Section [Naik Ram Kunwar, WIA survived]
      • No. 1 Position crew killed in 0435 Barrage
      • No. 2 Position crew killed after 0505 attack begins

        Commander reconstitutes crews

      • - No. 1 Position [Lance Naik Siri Ram, KIA]
      • - No. 2 Position [Naik Surat Singh, KIA]

    Chronology November 19th

    Unless indicated, from  L.N. Subramaniam in the Bharat Rakshak Monitor www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE3-3/index.html

     

     

  • 0200 Chinese detected approaching ? Platoon
  • ?? Chinese patrol cuts C Company's land wire lines to Bn HQ
  • 0435 All Platoons come under mortar/artillery barrage
  • 0455 Barrage ends
  • 0505 7th and 8th Platoons report being under attack
  • 0515 Both platoons beat back attacks
  • 0555 Up to this time there are some skirmishes
  • 0655 Sunrise; artillery barrage resumes
  • ?? Chinese infantry attacks 7th and 8th Platoons
  • 0800 Chinese use green signal light to announce 7th and 8th Platoons overrun
  • ?? Major Shaitan Singh takes 9th Platoon [minus 2 LMG] to make his stand at 7th Platoon's position; he moves north; 600 yards into the 1100 yard journey, an unseen MMG opens fire, killing him and 31 men from company HQ and 9th Platoon. [His end is told differently in another account.]
  • 2200 Though Indian positions adjacent to Rezeng La report last of Indian machineguns silence [official unpublished history], we may doubt the accuracy of this as it seems unlikely anyone survived to fight 12 hours after the last platoon was wiped out.

    Jagjit Singh, then Brigade Major, tells the story differently. He wrote his book twenty years after the battle, and he talked to the survivors. Jagjit Singh says that with 7th and 8th Platoons overrun, the Chinese concentrated their artillery on No. 9 Platoon, which was rapidly annihilated even before the Chinese infantry assault. Major Shaitan Singh was now down to four men from his command post and at this point was wounded in the arm. The men persuaded him further resistance was pointless. He agreed to leave the battlefield, but as they were moving out, the little party was detected. In the ensuing firing, two men were killed and Major Shaitan Singh wounded again, this time in the abdomen. [L.N. Subramaniam speaks of a hole in his back, indicating the bullet/s passed through him.] The two men continued to take him downhill, dodging fire and hiding behind rocks. Realizing he was dying, he ordered the two men to leave him and return to the battalion so that someone at least would be left to tell of C Company's battle.

  • Detailed Accounts of Battle for Chushul:

    Trishul - Ladakh and Kargil 1947-1993
    Brigadier (Retd) Ashok Malhotra
    New Delhi: Lancer Publishers, 2003
    pp 186, Rs. 595

    The Saga of Ladakh
    Major General Jagjit Singh
    Delhi: Vanity Books, 1983
    pp 155, Rs. 65

     

     

    Seventy men from C/13 Kumaon were of the Ahir caste, including the company commander. A memorial was erected at Rewari, Haryana, with their names.

    The Ahirs by caste are cattle herders, and thus intermediate between the higher castes and lower castes.

    We are unclear if the Rajputs claim Major Shaitan Singh as one of their own on account of his birthplace being Rajasthan and his subsequent fame as a warrior. Equally, however, since we are not experts on caste, we don't know if the Ahirs of Haryana claim him because so many of C Company's men were from the area.

     

    Citation for Award of Param Vir Chakra to Major Shaitan Singh

    CITATION

     1.        Major Shaitan Singh was commanding a company of an infantry battalion deployed at Razangala in the Chushul Sector at a height of about 17,000 feet. The locality was isolated from the main defended sector and consisted of five defended platoon positions. On 18 November 1962, the Chinese subjected the company position to heavy artillery, mortar and small arms fire and attacked in overwhelming strength in successive waves. Against heavy odds, our troops beat back the enemy attack. During the action, Major Shaitan Singh dominated the scene of operations, and moved at great personal risk from one platoon post to another sustaining the morale of his hard-pressed platoon posts. While doing so he was seriously wounded but continued to encourage and lead his men who, following his brave example, fought gallantly and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. For every man lost by us, the enemy lost four to five. When Major Shaitan Singh fell disabled by wounds in his arms and abdomen, his men tried to evacuate him but came under heavy machine gun fire. Major Shaitan Singh ordered his men to leave him to his fate in order to save their lives. 

    2.   Major Shaitan Singh`s supreme courage, leadership and exemplary devotion to duty inspired his company to fight almost to the last man.

    C/13 Kumaon was awarded an unprecedented number of medals for a single company in a single battle:

    • 1 Param Vir Chakra [Compare to: Medal of Honor, VC]
    • 8 Vir Chakras [US Silver Star equivalent]
    • 4 Sena Medals [US Bronze Star equivalent]
     

    Major Shaitan Singh Bhati , son of Lieutenant Colonel Hem Singhji, was born on 1 December 1932, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He was commissioned in the Kumaon Regiment on 1 August 1949.

    http://www.rajputsamaj.net/lestweforget/shaitansingh.htm

     

    Partial Muster of C/13 Kumaon at Rezeng La

    L/Nk Dharam Pal L/Nk Mahendra Singh
    Naik Rup Chand Sepoy S???? Singh
    Sepoy Ram Mehar Singh Naik Ram Sarup
    Sepoy Mahadeva L/Nk Ramji Lal
    Naib Subedar Surja Singh L/Nk Hukam Singh
    Sepoy Lal Singh Naik Lalu Ram
    L/Naik Ram Singh [POW] Sepoy Ramjit Singh
    Sepoy Jaya Pin?? Sepoy Ja??rai Singh
    Sepoy Surat Nath Singh Sepoy Ram Dayal
    Sepoy Bharat Singh Sepoy Daya Ram
    Sepoy Ram Kumar Sepoy Mari Mal
    Sepoy Ram Sarup Sepoy Raman
    Sepoy Ram Pal Sepoy Chhaju Ram
    Sepoy Balbir Singh Sepoy Duli Chand
    Sepoy Ram Dev L/Nk Baldev Singh
    Jemedar Raghunath Sepoy Tara
    L/Nk Kalu Ram L/Nk Brij Lal
    Havaldar Ram Narayan Sepoy Surat Singh
    Sepoy Par?? Bhati Sepoy Ram Nath
    Sepoy Laxmi Narayan Sepoy Shai Ram
    Sepoy Rup Chand Sepoy Hazari Lal
    Sepoy Sri Krishna Yadav Sepoy Deep Chand
    Sepoy Bansi Lal Sepoy Gian Chand
    Sepoy Tara Chand Sepoy Ramji Lal
       

     

    Ranks

    Naib Subedar  [JCO, equal to 2nd Lt. in most armies] Platoon Commander. Till 1965, also known as Jemedar, which is why in different accounts the reader will find the three platoon commanders refered to either as Subedar [functionally equivalent to 1st Lt], Naib Subedar, or Jemedar.

    Havaldar [Three stripe Sergeant]

    Naik [Two stripe Corporal]

    Lance Naik [One stripe Lance Corporal]

    Sepoy [No insignia, Private]

    Please note in the Indian Army the US rifle squad is called a section.

    Company TOE [In progress]

    Rifle Platoon

    • Platoon Commander
    • 2" mortar man

    Rifle Section

    • Section Leader
    • Assault Group [7 riflemen]
    • Support Group [1 LMG (Bren) gunner, 1 No. 2 gunner]

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    All content © 2005 Ravi Rikhye. Reproduction in any form prohibited without express permission.