CHANDIGARH: Lt Col Gurcharan Singh (retd), one of the oldest-surviving officers and the longest-serving commanding officer (CO) of the 7th Light Cavalry, which created history by operating tanks at the never-seen-before heights of 11,000-plus feet in the sub-zero temperature to free Zojila Pass of invaders during the 1947-48 Indo-Pak war, turned 96 on Monday.
HT PHOTOArmy officers greeting Lt Col Gurcharan Singh (retired) on his 96th birthday at his residence in Chandigarh on Monday.The regiment celebrated his birthday by cutting a commemorative cake at his Sector-36 residence in Chandigarh. Colonel of the regiment Major General NP Singh, drove down from Kapurthala to join other serving and retired officers of the regiment in celebrating the occasion with the veteran soldier.
Lt Col Gurcharan Singh was also presented a shawl by the Punjab Sainik Welfare Board. Brig JS Arora (retd), director, Sainik Welfare Board, Punjab, who was instrumental in organising the show, also joined in the celebrations, besides Maj Gen GS Malhi (retd), who served in the regiment, was also present.
The veteran fondly remembered being a Major under the command of the legendry Maj Gen Rajinder Singh Sparrow, then Lt Col, when the Stuart light tanks of the regiment blasted the enemy positions at unbelievable heights of up to 11,500 feet under treacherous conditions and freed the crucial Zojila Pass, the gateway to Leh and Ladakh.
After aerial reconnaissance and a lot of planning for the final operation, on October 29, 1947, the 7th Light Cavalry commenced the ascent during heavy snowfall. Getting the tanks up the steep winding path, with rocky cliff faces on one side and a sheer drop on the other, was a herculean task. At many acute bends, tank tracks often overshot the edges of the track way.
On November 1, 1948, dawn broke with an overcast sky. As the guns boomed at 10.30am, three lead tanks debouched into the Gumri Basin with guns blazing, engaged the enemy bunkers on Mukand and Chabutra positions and knocked them out, enabling the Gorkhas to secure the lower reaches of the Gumri Basin.