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A GOOSEBUMP WAR STORY FROM A SENIOR INDIAN ARMY OFFICER

ByPratyusha Mukherjee

Jan 1, 2023

There is always an extra thrill to listen the stories of the war from the war heroes in their physical presence.

Lt Gen Utpal Bhattacharya , PVSM,AVSM, former Director General of Engineering Services of Indian Army trained Mukti Bahinis.

He shared his experience with Pratyusha Mukherjee.

Calendar says 51 years , but I feel it was just yesterday ,the record says it was from 3rd December to 16th December 1971. As far as East Pakistan is concerned their journey through the hell commenced on the night of 25th/ 26th march 1971,  “the moment the Presidential Aircraft of Gen Yayah Khan crossed the Indian airspace and with a booming drunken voice ordered- shoot out the Bengalis, to the then East Pakistan marshal law Commander Lt Gen Tikka Khan, the infamous The Operation Search Light”.

Hence the East Pakistani refugees started pouring in to the various states of India, mainly West Bengal, Tripura , Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya. I was posted in my Field Company in Mizoram (Lungleh). I was alerted in the month of June to move to Dimagiri on a short notice for training the ‘Mukti Bhahinis’. I was there by the 1st week of July 1971. Dimagiri is situated just across the Chittagong Hill Track and the Karnaphali river separating the two countries. It was one of the major entry points from East Pakistan to India , where from a hillock one could see the stream of unfortunate Refugees wading through the Karnaphali river and entering into the secured Indian Territory for their safety. The Indian administration had put up a check post their to separate them under two categories,ie., the elderly people, ladies and the children and the other category were the RMP( Recruitable Male Population) meaning able bodied men in the age group 18-35years who could be trained to take on certain combat duties.

My colleague an Infantry Officer was getting them ready with some dose of weapon training and I of course  being a Sapper officer teaching them about the demolitions, how to handle explosives, basically boat burning and earth scorching. This continued till the month of August. My parent unit which was in NEFA,as on today’s date which is a hot sector( Tawang) came down to Silchar in Assam and I joined them in August. From here my Regiment moved to Agartala and subsequently it was clear that we were going to be a part of the “Great Eastern Thrust” and on the thrust line was – Agartala- Gangasagar- Akhaura- River Teetas- Comilla- Bramhanbaria- Ashuganj- River Meghna- Bhairab Bazar- Daudkhundi- Narayanganj- River Sitalakha- Dhaka (the Epicenter)

Starting on 3rd December from Agartala we had some intense combat engagement near Gangasagar ( L-NK Albert Ekka got the PVC here). In the battle at Gangasagar, Akhaura, Ashuganj and Bhairab Bazar our Engineering Field Company did various Sapper task namely- Mine Breaching , Rafting, Bridging and of course Track Construction for the movement of our Guns and other advancing Infantry. The speed of the operation picked up after Bhairab Bazar , ie., from 9th December onwards as Pakistan Air Force was wiped out from the skies by our Air Force Fighters and interceptors. And I remember that we reached the home bank of River Sitalakha on the 15th December at about 2’o clock at night and the epicenter Dakha was only 20Km away. And as we all know16th December 1971 was the great surrender by Lt General  A K Niazi to our Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen J S Aroura. The next day, the rest of Pakistan Defence Forces ( by then they were all POWs) surrendered under the leadership of Maj Gen Rao Farmanali to our Corps Commander Lt Gen Saggat Singh at the Rammana Maidan.

 

Thereafter there was no time for celebrations as the Indian Army was busy in ensuring that the Mukti Bhahinis don’t start taking revenge against the Non Bengalis, whom they used to call Razakars. Also our Engineering tasks continued till March 1972 in  terms of constructing certain demolished bridges and clearing mine fields all over Bangladesh and finally I got back to India in March 1972.

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