Poonch Link up day

By M S Nazki

Poonch Link up Day and we are not military historians but this is all about historic link up!
-‘This is all about battle bridges: That day in 1944 and later in 1947 something was going to happen!’
-‘We cannot leave your men to stand unmoving on the board and hope to win. A soldier must first step upon the battlefield if it means to cross it.’
-‘The central theme is familiar. Tribal forces with support from the army of Pakistan attacked and occupied parts of the princely state forcing the Maharajah to sign the Agreement to the accession of the princely state to the Dominion of India to get Indian military aid. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 47 on 22 April 1948!’
-‘Battle field scenarios are different and this one was absolutely different! It was a a great and successful link up but before I come to the story which we have done over and again for the past twenty years but this time we thought we would do it differently!’
-‘So here we start an unsuccessful link up’s!’
-Many historians, with an ‘if only’ approach to the British defeat, have focused so much on different aspects of Operation Market Garden which went wrong that they have tended to overlook the central element. It was quite simply a very bad plan right from the start and right from the top. Every other problem stemmed from that.’ Antony Beevor, Arnhem1944!’
-‘It was the link up from the air and the soldiers on foot with rifles in hand that mattered! The link up was planned by none other than a Field Marshall (I do not have name him)but still will, Bernard Montgomery!’
-‘Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944 By Antony Beevor is a very good book on Military History to read. We are not military historians but what we do is based on facts with all the books we have in shelfs!’ There are plenty in my at least and whatever I earn, I spend on grains and books!’ That is enough till my fingers stop working on keyboards and scream! So far they are perfect and on the ball!’
-‘A few extracts of an unsuccessful operation Market Garden I will state in brief:
-‘Polish paratroopers could not have been more different. They were not like the British who just wanted to make the best of a bad war by joking and referring to any battle as ‘a party’. Nor were they like the Americans who wanted to finish it quickly so that they could go home. The Poles were exiles, fighting for the very survival of their national identity. An American officer who saw them in training described them as ‘killers under the silk’. Polish patriotism was nothing like the rather embarrassed British equivalent: theirs was a burning, spiritual flame…… Antony Beevor, The Battle of Arnhem: The Deadliest Airborne Operation of World War II!
-‘It is only when one faces death, observed one of the men there, that one realises the great value of life.’
-Many historians, with an ‘if only’ approach to the British defeat, have focused so much on different aspects of Operation Market Garden which went wrong that they have tended to overlook the central element. It was quite simply a very bad plan right from the start and right from the top. Every other problem stemmed from that.’ But someone was!’
-That is what I wanted to write about General Bernard Montgomery World War-II in 1944!’

• ‘But in 1947 something else was to happen, a sequence of wars were to begin and they did!
  -This is also called the First Kashmir War. The war started in October 1947 when Pakistan feared that the Maharajah of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu would accede to India. Following partition, states were left to choose whether to join India or Pakistan or to remain independent. Jammu and Kashmir, the largest of the princely states, had a predominantly Muslim population ruled by the Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh.’ ‘A soldier while on advance thinks that I wish the enemy would hesitate to shoot when they see me, but he also thinks that you can’t expect humanitarianism on the battlefield.’
  -‘The fronts solidified gradually along what came to be known as the Line of Control. A formal cease-fire was declared at 23:59 on the night of 1 January 1949.  India gained control of about two-thirds of the state (including Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh) whereas Pakistan gained roughly a third of Kashmir (POK and Gilgit–Baltistan). Most neutral assessments agree that India was the victor of the war as it was able to conquer about two-thirds of the Kashmir including Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh.
  Jammu-Poonch Link Up:
  -Jammu Poonch Link up on 21st November 1948 was the climax of Kashmir war during 1947-48 when the whole 250 Kms long strip in the south of Pir Panchal was liberated by the Indian Army in spite of great resistance and fourteen months siege of Poonch town by Pak forces.
  -Major General Akbar Khan of Pakistan Forces who led the operation against India in 1947 under the code name of ‘General Tariq’ wrote in his book ‘The Raiders in Kashmir’ that the Jammu Poonch link up was the biggest defeat of Pakistan sponsored forces in 1947-48 during Kashmir war.
  -This day every year is celebrated by the Indian Army with the active participation of the people of Poonch with pride to remember the sacrifices of Martyrs of the 1947-48 Kashmir war. This year an elaborate programme has been finalized by Commander Navdeep Singh Barar of 93 INF Brigade in collaboration with the public of Poonch.
  -Poonch principality had become a centre of disturbances immediately after 15th of August 1947 AD. Sardar Mohd Ibrahim Khan, the member of Praja Sabha from Bagh, Sudhnutti who was earlier sent to England by Raja Jagat Dev Singh of Poonch on his expenses for Bar Act Law was practicing at Srinagar.
  -He rushed to Poonch and started underground activities against the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in June 1947. Initially he organized about 60,000 ex-servicemen of the Poonch principality (who participated in the second world war) and motivated them for revolt against the scattered Maharaja’s forces operating in Poonch principality. In the last week of August 1947 Ibrahim Khan went to Pakistan, met Raja Yaqoob Khan of Hazara, the officers of Pakistan government and finally the Chief of NWFP Sardar Abdul Qayoom Khan and sought their armed help for revolt against Maharaja’s forces in the state.
• Pakistan Government not only provided arms and ammunitions, contingents of armed forces but also allowed about 30,000 tribe-men to participate in revolt against the government of Jammu and Kashmir.
  -At that time there were only two battalions of Dogra forces in the Poonch area, one at Bagh under the command of Colonel Malook Singh Hakal and other one was stationed at Palandri under the command of Brigadier Krishan Chand.
  -These forces were further scattered in the whole Poonch principality. By assessing the situation that this small contingent of Dogra force can easily be eliminated, Sardar Ibrahim Khan along with the contingent of Pakistan forces, local ex-servicemen and tribes-men (Afradies) of NWFP started a big offensive in Poonch area against scattered Dogra forces.
  -Therefore these Dogra forces were not in a position to stop the big thrust of Pak sponsored attack and started retreating towards Poonch town.
  -Upto 3rd of October 1947 the whole area of Poonch principality except Poonch town was captured by the rebels and Pakistani forces. On 24th October 1947 Sardar Ibrahim Khan declared the formation of ‘Pakistan occupation Kashmir Government’ at Plandri in Poonch principality.
  -In these circumstances, Brigadier L.P Sen of Indian forces stationed at Uri was directed to move towards Poonch via Haji Peer for the relief of Poonch town.
  -Due to the burning of an important Chanjal bridge in the base of Haji Peer, the Indian offensive brigade could not move towards Poonch.
  -Only Brigadier Sen, Lt. Col. Pritam Singh and Kamaun battalion marched on foot towards Poonch and reached the town on 20th November 1947. After assessing the situation Brigadier L.P Sen after directing Lt. Col. Pritam Singh to command Poonch garrison left back Uri on the same day. Immediately after the return of the Uri Brigade, the raiders again cutoff Uri-Poonch road.
  -The people residing in the city were badly harassed and demoralized. About 50,000 people in the city were under the siege. These included 40,000 refugees who migrated from the rural areas of Poonch Illaqa.
  -They were facing a great accommodation problem. Every nuke and corner of the city was occupied by migrants. All the Government and non-Government buildings were fully occupied by them and thousands of people were living without shelter.
  -The refugees whose kiths and kin were brutally slaughtered by the enemy were full of sorrows. Even in the city the life of the people was in danger. There was a vacuum of administration.
  -The officers were either shifted to safe places in Pakistan or migrated towards the Indian side. The law and order situation was bad to worse. The goonda elements started looting and harassing the innocent people. Fortunately there was about 6,000 qtls of food grains available in the Government stocks at the time of siege, which was distributed among the people.
  -But after some days the scarcity of food grains started in the city. There was no link with the rest of the country. Therefore, it was not possible to provide food to very body.
  -Apart from the food grains there was an acute shortage of cloth, grocery items, salt, medicines, milk, oil etc. The salt was being sold at Rs. 40 per kg which was beyond the purchasing capacity of common man. Instead of taking food the poor people were compelled to eat even the roots of the bushes. The same was the condition of animals in the city.
  -There were about 6,000 milch cattle in the city. Since all the surrounding areas were under the occupation of the enemy and no grass was available, therefore, the people sold their milch animals even at the rate of Rupees five cows.
  -But nobody was ready to purchase these cattle. Therefore, the cattle started dying of hunger and the epidemic broke out due to the unhygienic conditions prevailing in the city. The proper medical care and even life saving drugs were not available, hundreds of people died in the absence of medicines.
  -By this way, the siege of Poonch city was painful. The construction of the Air Field was completed within a period of seven days near Poonch town.
  -By this way in the first week of December 1947 Poonch city was air linked with the rest of the country when the first Dakota landed at Poonch by Air Commodore Mehar Singh. In the first flight Sheikh Abdullah and Gopala Swami Ayer visited Poonch, met people, heard their problems sympathetically and so the public residing in the besieged city got some relief.
  -After consolidating his forces, Pritam Singh started an offensive on the enemy from April 1948 onward. Colonel Malook Singh with Dogra contingents assaulted Krishana Ghati and captured it.
  -Then Mulouk Singh captured Khanater, Salootri, Degwar, Serian posts and reached upto to Madarpur bridge. Dogra Hawaldar Krishan Singh and constable Buaditta fought so gallantly in these battles that they got Virchakar. On 10th of April our forces assaulted the Khari Dharmsal picket and captured it. On 13th of April Indian forces snatched Chhaga piquet from the enemy.
  -On the other hand, the operation rescue was started from the Jammu side to link Jammu with Poonch in the month of March 1948. On 18th of March determined Indian forces captured Jhanger after killing 300 enemies.
  -On 12th April 1948 our forces snatched Rajouri from Pak sponsored forces. Upto 20th June 1948 the Indian forces under the command of General Kulwant Singh compelled the enemy to vacate Thanna Mandi, Dhera Gali, Budhal, Buffliaz and Surankote.
  -On 14th October Pir Bardeshwer and on 26th October Pir Kaleva in Rajouri were captured the Indian forces under the leadership of Brigadier Yado Nath Singh and Lt. Col. Jajgeet Singh Arora stormed Bhimber Gali and snatched this important pass from Pakistan.
  -The advance continued on 19th November, Pir Topa was captured by Brigadier Umrao Singh of 19th Infantry Brigade. On the other hand, the forces of Poonch garrison under the command of Lt. Col. Chadnan Singh started to advance from Poonch town towards Pir Topa.
  -After crossing Panj Kakrian ridge reached Dhanina Pir on 20th November by killing more than one hundred Pakistani forces stationed there. On 21st of November the forces of Umrao Singh started advancing from Topa towards Dhanina Pir, reached there on the same day and completed the Jammu-Poonch link up.
  -This had become possible only due to the strong defence of Poonch town by Brigadier Pritam Singh who kept holding the town for 16 months in spite of repeated attacks by two Brigades of Pakistani forces, the 60000 rebel of Poonch principality and 3000 lashkar of Afridi tribes.
  -He fought such a courageous and determined battle during this period that enemy could not dare to take even one post from Indian jawans rather Pritam Singh captured all surrounding areas like Gulpur, Jhullas, Dokhri, Chajja, Kanuyian, Khanater etc before the operation Link-up.
  -By this way, the 14th month siege of Poonch city was vacated. This was the biggest loss suffered by Pak sponsored forces in this sector. The nefarious design of Pakistan of capturing Poonch by besieging the city of Poonch was foiled by the Indian army with the help of the patriotic public of this region.
  It was a great link up indeed unlike Operation Market Garden, Allied pursuit of Nazi Germany’s forces across France, and strategic airborne attempt to advance into Germany during World War II, from September 17 to 27, 1944. Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery persuaded the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, to approve a two-part airborne-armor assault and to divert supplies to support it. Operation Market landed three airborne divisions at separate locations to seize road bridges along a route through the Dutch towns of Eindhoven, Nijmegan, and Arnhem behind German lines. These bridges were to be held open for the British Second Army advance led by XXX Corps (Operation Garden). U.S. losses totaled 3,996 dead, wounded, or missing, while British and Polish losses were 11,000–13,000 dead or wounded and 6,450 captured. German casualties numbered 7,500–10,000.
  The fiercest warriors do not carry a sword to the battlefield; instead, they are armed with wisdom. In the Poonch link up the Indian warriors were at their fiercest best!