Bharat Rakshak

Sounds like a bloody incompetently-run campaign if the C^4I was left intact to do that after all the "skies opening up".

Just a practical point.

Patel bhai, description about Lord Shiva is too good. I can relate to the destruction. But if you gave the conversion between the animals and instruments of death, it would be much easier to understand. Thank you.

Maan gaye YIP, that rendering had my hair standing on an end!
BTW what is Dhara?

Let me take the liberty to answer that. Dhara is a Sanskrit word (if I am not wrong), it means land/earth. And its pronounced like dhAra & not like dhAAra (a brand of oil which means stream). I am sorry if I am not very clear, but thats the best I could do.

Nitpick, it is dharA and not dhArA/dhAra. dhAArA is incorrect.

added later:

I mean incorrect in terms of itrans syntax.

Superb post YIP. You are raising the bar !

Thanks Manne. I was just trying to explain how not to pronounce it. I never said that it should be pronounced as dhAAra. I always had problems with word stress.

er, what happened did someone unleash 1000s of MIRVed SLBM warheads on pak and bd ? and followed it up with a bio attack ?

thats one extreme way of political reorg I guess

There wont be anything left to reorg. Except the soil so rich in TNT that it could be used to make fireworks.

Multani mitti (fullers earth) is good for beauty treatment. adds the special "glow" to the face.

YIP Ji, Shathakoti Pranaamam. Very nicely put. There is enough stuff for another Veda Vyaasa to write on, and this one reminds me of several epic war narrations.

I second that Bhavani. I didn't understand the followup either.

For those who uncomfortable with the references to religion, you can look at things in a different way. In Tamizh it is said, "Saadhu mirandal kaaDu koLLadu," (Anon). "Even the forests cannot contain the roar of the peaceful." Going by the use of the word "saadhu" of Sanskritic provenance this may not be a very old saying and may even be borrowed from another culture.

Oh YoGi(c) Powerd one all I can say is

namo rathebhyah rathapatibhyashcha vo namo
namah senabhyah senanibhyashcha vo namo
namah kshattribhyah sangrahitribhyashcha vo namo

(Salutations to you who are in the form of chariots and those who own them. Salutations to you in the form of armies and the leaders of such armies. Salutations to you who are in the form of those who teach the chariot driving to others, and those who drive the vehicles themselves.)




Dhara ... means (good) earth

Dhaara---> means flow , vortex etc

like in

'Sawan ka mahina pavan kare shor....
........
Lata:
Maujhwa kare kyaa jaane, humko ishaara
Mukesh:
Jaana kahaan hai poochhe, nadiyaa ki dhaara .. From Milan Movie,

Religion? What religion? This is history and epics guys. We Indians waged wars and described them with such imageries. What is wrong with that?

I agree you need a little background on the epics to get the imageries, but isn't that part of the culture?

the two greatest wars in ancient indian history were fought by a mix of people, demi-gods and gods. so I dont see any problem.
also some of vishnu's avatars were meant for war - Narasimha for one ..ready to rip anybody a new one. and Shiva was always willing to fight. powerful rishis like Parsuram were also not averse to it.

but my fav is Rishi Agastya who swallowed a demon and burped happily

Parshuram was terrific. He was a Brahmin by birth but he was a Kshatriya by deeds (karma). He provides an example as to how a person should deal with the corrupt and protect the weak. Though he had quick-silver temper he's the best. IIRC he wiped Kshatriyas from face of earth not once not twice but 17 times. I am not very sure if its 17 or 21. Please enlighten.

I think it was 21 times.

parasura avatar finishes after he meets lord Rama, After the marraige of Rama with sita. he comes roaring into the marraige hall of rama , the reason of his anger is that lord rama breaks the sacred bow of Shiva.

In the contemporary world of mass media, Pakistanis fighting in Bangladesh first heard of the attacks on Pakistan from breathless BBC and CNN reporters. The onset of another India-Pakistan war at this time was no surprise, and international media were prepared. Indians, too, were for the first time seeing what their military was doing to Pakistan. The awesome conflagrations in Karachi harbor and Sui Gas works, in particular, were manna from heaven for international media who were always on the lookout for a spectacular disaster to boost their ratings.

The effect on the Pakistanis in Bangladesh was as predicted by Gen Tomar. Their morale, already brittle from the strains of the last several months, now collapsed totally. It was not as if the Pakistanis were cowards. They would have willingly fought the Indians, but this was not their place or their war. Entire units deserted their posts, and made harbor wards in their desperation to catch the first ship home. They were too frantic to get back to Pakistan to even consider the little matter of India’s throttling naval blockade of Bangladesh. Bangladeshi units and populace were severely discombobulated by their hostility towards the now seriously unpopular Pakistanis; their contempt of the ruling junta that had brought about the turn of events; and by their animosity to the overbearing power of India’s military.

Lt Gen Bandhukwala, an astute veteran of countless CI campaigns, soon caught on to the changed tenor of his campaign. A glory seeker would have seized the opportunity to unleash his formations in a spectacular dash to Dhaka, crushing any remaining opposition in his way. But Bandhukwala grasped that the essence of his mandate was to rebuild the India-Bangla relationship. Humiliating the strife-weary Banglas, already seething in animosity at perceived Indian hegemony, would have been totally counterproductive to India’s true aims on the Eastern Front. So Bandhukwala changed tack dramatically, within hours of the initial fire assault. His appreciation was that any opposition to his army would be from the jehadis and some hard core junta supporters. The majority of Bangla army and populace would be ready for an honourable rapprochement that included reinstatement of their own democratically elected leaders. So Hormaz entered Bangladesh through West Bengal, and instructed all his corps and division commanders to personally take charge of their formations advances. The intended pincers were now converted to a slow advance with a series of public ceremonies for reestablishing contacts with “estranged” Bangla army units, who were allowed to use the opportunity to declare their allegiance to the constitutionally elected government currently operating from exile in Calcutta. His altruism, however, did not stop him from using the opportunity to address the festering problem of ULFA and jehadi camps in Bangladesh. These experienced some tender loving care; joint forces units also fanned out in the chaos to hunt for any remaining nukes.

By the second day itself, the Bangla military junta had sensed the winds of change, and was sending out feelers to Norway for an exile package. The Indian government, with its hands full on the western front, was quite willing to look the other way while these negotiations got underway through the auspices of the Norwegian embassy in Dhaka. The exiled Bangla leadership began to make public noises about reclaiming their mandate; the situation on the eastern front was fast becoming one a post-conflict consolidation.

The picture was totally different on the Western Front.

The median age of Pakistani population at the time of the war was 28 years. This ment that most Pakistanis, and all soldiers of the Pakistani army grew up on an diet of unceasing hositily towards India and all things Indian. They were indoctrinated on the evilness of Hindus; on what they did to East Pakistan; on how they raped and massacred muslims in Kashmir, Ayodhya and Gujarat. The Pakistani soldier is a simple person – he may not buy into complicated theology, but he does rely on his religion for getting him though his harsh, brutal life. He also loves his country in spite of all the imperfections of the ruling system, because that is the only type of rule he knows about. Pakistanis were also keenly aware of Pakistan’s role in the terrorism in Punjab, Kashmir and other places in India, and were genuinely terrified of what the Indians would do to extract their revenge.

The Indian soldier in the west fought out of a sense of discipline; for the izzat of his regiment; for the abstract ideals of duty, honour, country. The Pakistani soldier, on the other hand, fought for survival; for home; for the only way of life he knew. He fought with the desperation of a cornered animal. He fought for every inch as if it was the last that could be ceded before national dissolution. He fought like a man possessed for every MG nest, bunker, height, water line obstacle. When Indian artillery gouged huge craters and evaporated entire platoons, others would step in to fight from the rubble. Taking a page out of the jehadi brethrens’ war manual, the regular army soldiers strapped on mines to their bodies and infiltrated Indian lines. Every Indian armoured advance was greeted with a storm of the derisively termed Butter Chicken anti-tank missiles. Pakistani artillery, way outmatched in numbers, quality and firepower, relied on old fashioned human observers to mount shoot and scoot attacks on Indian concentrations. Scrappy F-7s rose, kamikaze like, to face off against gorillas of F18Is, Su30MKIs, M2ks, and Jaguars. Refurbished Mirages 3s tore holes in Indian formations before going out in a blaze of glory.

The Indian soldiers fought hard and honourably, like they always do. They were highly motivated, disciplined to rock hardness, trained to a fine edge, and equipped with the best equipment their country could afford (after kickbacks, of course).

The fighting was primal in its ferocity. Vajra met vajra. Irresistible force met immovable object.

India’s army of decision, the proud Southwestern Command, was stopped cold in its tracks. Pakistan’s 34 Corps, augmented with 11 Infantry division from the west, fought off the combined assaults of the two pivot corps – India’s 10 and 1 Corps could barely make a dent in Pakistan’s first line of defence in southern Punjab and northern Sindh.

Lt Gen Avadhesh Kumar Jaiswal was in a towering rage. He had spent the last two days screaming alternately at the two hapless pivot corps commanders. Lt Gen Dushyant Saha, GOC of the Bhatinda based 10 Corps, was the current target of his ire. Gen Saha was seeking time for a deliberate assault, and time was a precious commodity that Avadhesh knew he had in very short supply. Save the elegant theory for your ****** IDSA fellowship, madarchod! Angry spittle sprayed Saha’s face. Then, abruptly, Gen Jaiswal went from combustible wrath to an even more terrifying glacial calm. Okay, Gen Saha. I order your units to take up defensive positions. Since you have proved to be incapable of breaking through a simple DCB line, I will now use 41 Arty to shoot 606 IBG in. Start making plans to open up lanes for 606. It will go in with Brigade plus frontage.

How come this noisy thread went quieter than Sindhughosh? At least tell me you got my latest allusion!

It maybe the Operation Rudra Tandav hangover

YIP there isn't much to chew on (no not asking you to spend the next five hours creating a scenario down to the platoon level - and even that would not be enough). As for enlivening the scene how about blue and red teams offline and posting the final scene a little later instead of working at this breakneck pace?

What happened to Shankarji? He complained about the access problem, and didn't see him around Is the access problem still exist? Or did George Achayan kill his creative spirit?

next epsode in 3 days time -please bear till then - access problem still exists -getting time out message most of the time trying to log on to BR -can some you it guys please help

off topic:

I have been having this time out issue since more than a week or so.

Curiously, I can access BR from home but not from work. No, there are no restrictions at work. I can access BR from home without any hassles.

Different ISP's at home and at work.So today, in utter frustration, I set a crack network SF team on it.

Even the ISP people are unable to access it from their offices.Now, the ISP heavy artillery is also now working on it with a report promised tomorrow.

Lets see what happens as a result of these investigations.

Isnt it interesting that any allout Indian engagement with TSP reduces to an anticlimax with certain defeat and even destruction of TSP? Yet TSP keeps tilting at India hoping to bring it down. I think they hope to recreate the exploits of the Ghaznis and Ghoris etc. What they dont realize is that such razzas worked in a pre-modern, pre-industrial age.

The help and instigation they get from outside powers is for TSP to be a nusinace and a hindarance to India so that it gets bogged down and doesnt compete with them.

Crossing the Pabbi - 1

It was the third day after the major offensive started. Major Ahmed Makkar was rather tense. His company was at the head of a thrust westward from Jammu, with the objective of capturing the main artery linking Rawalpindi to the south. The thrust entered enemy territory across the LOC near Barola, leaving the rugged hills on the left. There was fierce fighting and considerable loss of life. They charged straight east, aiming to the small town of Kharain. Makkar's company passed the town on the left and set to secure the rail and road passing through the north of the town.

The Grant Trunk Road and the main railway line from Rawalpindi to Lahore passes through Kharain. The throughfare from the city of Jhelum to Kharain passes through the infamous Pabbi forest, where there was a number of terrorist camps existed before the ruse of crackdown by Musharraf. Satellite imagery also indicated some assets of the Pak military in the hills, so it was critical to secure the hills and protect the right of way. This link was very critical to maintain the supply chain once Lahore and the area to the south are occupied. By the evening, Makkar's company settled down in the plains northeast of the town, while soldiers of another battalion was right outside the town trying to occupy it. Another unit was approaching Dinga to the right of it, ready to join the sweep from that area.

Though IAF had practical air superiority, the scare of a PAF Air attack was not fully eliminated. PAF still have a good portion of its Airforce left, but according to reports, they were occupied further south, defending the heartland. But it was sure the thrust will get sufficient attention once they try to cross the Jhelum. In the previous days, Jaguars of IAF had pounded the Pabbi forest to such an extent that, the commanders were confident that the resistance will be minimal. But the day will prove that they were mistaken.

Major Makkar got his tactical advice over his SATHI device, which helped him co-ordinate his movements with the other units in vicinity. Air and satellite recce during the day has reported no activity in the Pabbi, and the plan was to roll the tanks of the 82nd AR that is right now at Baganwala over the GT road and spread them to cover the thrust through the pass. Once the pass is secure, it was the intention to do a sweep over the forest, and leave it secured. He went to grab some much needed sleep, after confirming the details of tomorrows operation.

The morning broke with the sound of tanks of 82 AR. There was only one squadron available, consisting of 8 tanks, after suffering losses during the push from Jammu. They took positions to cover the infantry advance, and Makkar's men moved forward. Battle for crossing the Pabbi has begun.

When the company neared the elevated road from Kharain to Dinga, they found a party that didn't look like Pak military. However, the company was surprised when suddenly the men jumped down the other side of the embankment, took positions and started firing. This took Makkar's men by rather surprise. They have not seen any civilian resistance yet, but they have not crossed any major towns either. A few of the men were already wounded before the company could mount a counter attack. The attackers were rather protected by the elevated road, and Makkar's men had to take cover behind ridges in the field. The firefight continued for around half an hour, until the party retreated suffering major casualties. Seeing the road secure, the company tried to cross it, and advance to the rolling hills hardly 200 metres away. And it is then all hell broke loose.

Light artillery and mortars started firing from beyond the hillocks. The shells hissed and went above the heads of the advancing company, landing amidst the units in the rear. Machine gun fire started ripping the road around. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that, many men had no time to react before their bodies were torn apart by the fire. The company jumped back behind the embankment and ducked for cover. Then Makkar realized that he had walked into a Paki trap. There were mortars dug up on the hillocks, so well camo'd that the Jags could'nt take them out, and there were machine gun posts on the slopes leading to the fields, which are now peppering Makkar and his rear guards. Makkar now realized the Pakistani plan. This is their first line of defense for Jhelum and eventually Rawalpindi/Islamabad. He cursed the recce guys who gave the all clear, and tried to raise command on his SATHI, while his men valiantly faced the machine gun fire and tried to fight back. Makkar could see that the fate of the other units in that area is not too better either. Then he heard firing from the tanks from his side. Right now they were not so effective as the location of the mortars were not exactly known. He has requested air support, but did not get any confirmation. Now the only ways out seemed to be to direct the artillery fire for effect.

Makkar took a moment to take stock of his men. Out of the 97 people he begun with, around fifty were either dead or seriously wounded. The rest are doing their level best to fight back, but their machine guns are not really effective against the enemy who are at a vantage point. Makkar now concentrated in locating the landing of the shells and provide feedback to the gunners in the rear. He tried to locate the machine gun locations in the forward positions and made mental notes of each one. He was not too much worried about the mortars, because he was too close, and they are likely to aim to the targets further away. He cound count at least fifteen machine gun positions active. They are in a deadly trap until those are silenced. His machine guns were trying hard, but not making much effect on the heavily dug up enemy.

Makkar now noticed a shed built out of rocks around 100 metres in front, to the left. He realized that that sched provided enough shelter from the machine guns, while it will bring those gun positions at a better sight. So, he made a plan. Several granades rose from the lines, arced up and exploded harmlessly on the field in front. Taking the cover, Makkar ran to the sched. He got precious few seconds of cover by the enemy confusion. But even before he reached the safety of the shed, he started getting enemy fire, took a few indirect hits before reaching safety. Now the enemy saw what he is upto, and unleashed the fury on the shed. The wooden parts torn away, but the stone foundation held, protecting Makkar.

Now Makkar could fire on the gun positions directly, sufficient to make them duck for cover. Though he has practically lost use of his left arm, he unleashed a furious attrack on the gun positions, providing a recess to his men behind. Two men took this opportunity to lug up and set a machine gun position at the shed. Once the machine gun started firing, the enemy fire came down considerably. Whatever left of the units behind now slowly moved up and set up proper positions behind the road, adding more firepower that side. The conflict now came to a stalemate, and the rate of fire reduced. Each side kind of waited for a breakthrough. Makkar turned to his SATHI to key in his report. What he found was not encouraging. No news on air support. The tank column in vicinity is practically gone. The situation of other units in the line, was also not different. The Paki line of first defense is working. Makkar had hardly 25 men now, himself wounded and bleeding. The situation is in fact bleak.

To be continued..

Well gurus, I am holding on, in the enemy trap, with no air support in coming hours. I don't know if the Howitzers that came in from Jammu yesterday can target the hills. I don't know if Pinaka's are available around. I don't know if the bozzos will send a Prithvi in to save us. I request the commanders who know the whole picture to send in whatever help that can be.

-Makkar.

P. S. If no help comes within a reasonable time, I would be forced to device ways within my means, if you get what I am saying.
-M

Good scenario Dileep...just the name of Major Ahmed needs amendment.....If he is Ahmed he can not be Makkar.....and if Makkar than no Ahmed.......

Well, he is a mallu Muslim, not a punjabi. His name is pronounced Makkaar.

Major Ahmed had received a 1GB terrain countour file of his operational area before the offensive began, loaded into the CF(compactflash) slot of his SATHI using a 2GB Lexar card. After finding a sheltered spot away from the intermittent fire, he pulled up the terrain viewer application and loaded the file....it took a few seconds to read and initialize the initial view, centered on his starting point.the inbuilt GPS antenna got his current position and sent data to the viewer so that the initial screen was centered on his current position. finally selecting two extra zoom levels gave him the view he wanted.

taking the stylus he started another application called AR-MARK developed by a small pvt co far to the south in pune in collab with ARDE and IA arty training school. Selecting the target locator mode, he switched to the terrain viewer and started using it as a whiteboard, marking out the PA positions he had found so far, probable locations of the distant artillery fire with short handwritten notes that the system on the fly OCRed into computer text.

Fifteen minutes of hard work..the AR-MARK transmitter module was initiated and the relevant data to indicate the location in the terrain map and all his new annotations were encrypted and compressed using a 512bit AES FPGA....it flew out into the batallion packet radio network and within 1 minute to the Corps HQ 50km behind the Feba.

Brigadier Dhande took one look at the data on his console inside the Corps HQ bunker and got on the phone to Colonel Sharma of the independent Pinaka Unit detached from the 2nd Arty div and assigned to his Corps.

Twenty minutes later a convoy of large x-country trucks started moving down a village road to get nearer the frontlines, a few kms inside pakistan.
They carried a strange looking box shaped structure on their backs, with 230mm tubes inside. they drove fast and calls over the radio cleared the way ahead of masses of trucks civilian and military mixed with APCs moving towards the border.

In the lead truck's control cabin, Colonel Sharma had received the same data via Corps HQ and was devising his plan.

In the opposite direction, empty trucks passed at speed, scurrying back to fetch the thousands of tons of supplies needed at the front, ambulance trucks also came occasionally bringing IA and PA casualties to better medical care, once they passed a convoy of open trucks carrying sullen looking POWs about 800 of them, guarded by MPs with trigger fingers set and ready. Masses of homeless and refugees passed sullenly beside the road - orders were to shoot or bulldoze anyone seen blocking the road else let them pass into the periodic checkpoints where they were frisked for arms. young men were sent to holding areas, older people, women and kids to refugee camps setup by NGOs on orders of GOI.

Devastated and smoldering villages and towns were seen, still reeling from the ferocity of the IAs massed arty onslaughts earlier, a stray dog or two mournfully guarding their former homes. the orders had been clear to the arty, any village or town offering resistance was to be obliterated regardless of civilian casualties.

TV channels had been allowed limited access accompanied by chaperons to selected areas. a NDTV crew trying to bluff their way into a banned area had been summarily held without food and water for 3 days before being dumped cold and hungry 20km from delhi and told to foot it back to their HQ. Angry protests from the CPI(M) notwithstanding, many armymen now took a grim delight in being rough with their baiters in the media. A BBC TV crew had the unfortunate occurence of having their Qualis lightly rammed by a speeding Tatra 8x8 Brahmos TEL on the delhi-Chandigarh road and ending up in the mud of a roadside wheat field. A CNN crew had their Qualis and $150K of video equipment stolen by the "local thieves" whilst stopped for tea at a rural dhaba near Kalka. the said Qualis was returned after 21 days after the local police "found" it parked infront of the PS with a thank you note from the thieves and a single red rose


[Dileep can carry on]

IAF station Pathankot
---------------------------
The situation report recieved from ground was far from encouraging .Major ahmeds desperate plea for air support was yet un answered . Group captain vikash doshi was feeling helpless since most his jaguars were already commited else where and he had almost no real offensive punch left .The situation at ambala was more or less same The sudden infantry offensive has streched the resources of western air command to the limit . He looked around in desperation to do something for those stuck up infantry guys and his eyes fell on the six spanking new Hawk 132 s parked on the tarmac .They have been recieved just few days before full hostility broke out .

He made his decision . A quick check on tac net confirmed no pakistani air support in the target area . His flight time to battle zome would be less than 30 minutes and apart from him all other five were fresh pilots just out of air warfare school hyderabad and barely 50 hrs flying time on the hawks . It had to be a simple close air support mission with no fancy moves straight in and straight out at 1000 ft .

The hawks were there for a very specific purpose -to train the very young pilots the rudimentary aspects of a high performance combat aircraft like Jaguar but today they will be called upon to do a far more demanding role so will be the brave men who will fly them into danger

In 1964 royal airforce specified requirement for a new initial jet trainer to replace the folland gnat. The speecat jaguar was originally intended for this role but it was soon realised it would be too complex an aircraft for initial jet training. Accordingly hawker siddley aviation began a much simpler strictly subsonic trainer the HS 1182 it was to have tandem seating and would be capable of carrying armaments which would enable it to be used as weapons trainer and also in light combat role .

Renamed Hawk in 1973 the aircraft first flew in 1974 .It entered RAF service in 1976 replacing gnat and hawker hunter in the advanced training and weapons training role respectively .

Hawk 132 was the variant recently inducted into indian airforce and a smaller number have been requistioned by the navy for their sea harrier and mig 29k advanced training programme . The six lined on the tarmac were latest batch assembled at HAL.

A quick briefing and group captain vikash doshi along with his 11 best student pilots too to air after getting nessecery clearence from tower as well as the Phalocn circling high overhead 225 kms away somewhere over plains of punjab.

All the hawks took off with max permitted take off load of 5700 kgs and quickly acclerated to 500 knots with their single Turbomeca adour mk 951 engine roaring to generate 23 Kn of thrust pushing them to their live close air support operation . They were not carrying and air to air weapons but three of them were armed with 57 mm rocket pods with 12 rockets each and the other 3 were carrying a single 500 kg napalm bombs and that is the best Group captain doshi could under the limitations .

The Phalco kept watch from a distance and will soon vector two su-30 mkis returning from mission deep inside pakistan to provide the nessecery air cover in about 10 minutes time .

The only time in recorded history hawks have been used in combat was by indonessian air force in east timor way back in 2003/2004 but that was against poorly armed militia -this time the indian hawks would take on a mass of highly trained infantry soldiers equipped with man prtable sams and ack ack units -it will not be cakewalk .

Vikash doshi pushed the thougts out ofhis mind as started taking in status report of his students and encourage them to take on the most difficult mission of their lives . It was not fair but then in war vary few things are fair.

Lance Naik Satinder Kullar finally passed into unconsciousness and slumped into the stretcher

"Quickly, move him back!" shouted a burly Grenadiers havildar

Satinder was past caring now, the blood flow from his wounds had been high, despite the new coagulant that had been hurriedly applied by the first line medics.

"Waheguruji ki khalsa..." muttered a Maratha and a Allahabadi together as Satinder was taken back to the rear towards the mobile surgery. This was the golden hour, he had been found quickly enough, unlike wars before, Satinder would live.

The Regimental statement would later say "Lance Naik Kullar, heedless of his own safety crossed the Dhongri Nullah in the Pabbi sector under intense fire and rescued three wounded comarades pinned down by murderous fire from hills on the opposite bank"

Satgaonkar and Alam moved forward to the hurridly thrown together defences at the nullah's edge. Captain Roy was still there, refusing to go, besides - it was quiet now, some respite from the crippling fire following the faltering of his first three attacks up the bundh. He had ordered the two of them to take Kullar back to the lines, he himself was wounded, Kumar the medic had patched him up too. To no avail, the bullet that went through his head as he tried to talk to Satgaonkar came unheard, but the large group of irregulars that now stormed across the nullah was not

uttering fierce cries to the almighty, they surged across firing wildly from AK-47's under cover of more precisely directed HMG's further up the bundh. Someone had calculated that a charge now might break the Indian advance, but just in case... he had held back his regulars.

Alam stood up in the cacophony "Do not take my God's name!" he screamed and opened up with his INSAS LMG. Satgaonkar, never one to be left out, rapidly joined in with his regular INSAS, and for reasons that neither would be able to explain later, they charged back at the oncoming horde.

The jehadis faltered, long enough for their fate to be sealed. Kumar, the medic picked up the Carl Gustav in the hands of a dead comerade and fired into the melee. The projectile struck a rock and splinters flew everywhere.

200 meters to the right along the nullah, a platoon of Gorkhas emerged from the scrub to see Alam's charge, and fired up by the sight and enraged at their own Lietenant's recent death, they sprinted across kukris drawn and waded into the scattering Jehadis with fierce war cries

Alam fell exhausted and wounded at the machine gun nest on the crest of the bundh, by then Limbu and Dorji had leapt in and made short work of the four man gun grew. Behind them on the banks, kukris flashed and struck faster than rifles could be trained on targets.

Major Rajan had now gained the bundh crest with the rapidly forming unit behind him, and he took stock of the situation. It had not taken more than a second for him to decide to commit the remaining elements of alpha and charlie companies to the attack once he saw the two grenadiers in the midst of the irregulars.

Three of the five machine gun nests on this flank had now been taken by the momentum of the counter attack. The assault by the irregulars had been broken - he had not paused to order the Gorkhas to sheath their kukris, it was not wise to stop them mid way through. The regular PA elements were now regrouping, he could just see them now on the next ridgeline through the trees, leaving the jehadis to fend for themselves. No problem, the kukris had work to do still. He barked an order to the mortar detatchment on his personal combat radio, who promptly started to interfere with the regrouping on the next crest.

In his stone hut further along the salient, Makkaar kept sending updates on his Saathi, whilst along a dusty road further back, the great trident of lord Shiva moved inexorably to its launch point...

Col sharma reached his desired point, a shallow valley next to a deserted burning village named Smithsganj after some long dead british DC. The big green trucks swerved off the highway and headed up a narrower dusty road to a fallow area which had been left uncultivated to regain some fertility. nearby tracts were heavily into wheat farming. His advance team of site engineers had moved ahead on the road in their motorbikes and radioed him the chosen location.

Jumping down from the high cabin he saw his men emerge from the convoy and with the familiarity of long experience begin setting up a firing position. His command truck moved 300mts away up the road to escape counterbattery fire , after waiting a while he left Major Ramdas in charge of the 8 TEL vehicles, the 10 reloader vehicles, the 2 maintainence trucks and the two fuel tankers and jogged up the road to the command truck, holding his sathi and a radioman jogging with him. Around the position a platoon of regular IA who travelled with them for security sited their LMGs and Shipon positions and lay silent.

Dusk was on the horizon when the final calculations were done - the data file from Corps HQ was parsed by another application that took into account their own current GPS location and came up with a automated fireplan. Few seconds later the short range radio link sent out the word - the TEL operators activated the automatic control and the rectangular boxes began to turn and incline skyward. Two hydraulic jacks at the back sank deep into the soil to stablize the launcher vehicles.

3:14 PM - "Fire now" Col Sharma said softly and reached for a bottle of water.

sheets of flame spouted from the dormant tubes as one by one, large black painted projectiles erupted and soared in a graceful arc into the horizon - their solid fuel rockets leaving a clear trail of white waste gases.

In all 64 rockets were fired - all at the target areas indicated by the Majors initial report on the network. As they soared to their max range, the IMI tracejectory correction devices kicked into gear and made minute and continuous adjustments to the tailfin...keeping the CEP very low.

45 seconds after firing, the entire convoy of vehicles had hastily started up
and moved to a position about a kilometer down the highway where the plan was to spend the night unless called out again. Workmen busied themselves overseeing the tube reload process.

Nearby in a muddly field, large tank transporter semi-trailers were unloading their cargo - a regiment of T90M tanks that had just arrived from jabalpur area. The whine of high caliber diesel engines and thick fumes blanketed the area.

On the highway, trucks roared bumper to bumper with lights on in a unending convoy stretching 30km back to the jump off logistical nodes on the indian side of border. Sometimes a truck would stall - blocking the road temporarily, BRDO bulldozers sited every few km rushed to the scene and unceremoniously dumped the truck into the ditch. the march went on. Twice that evening, 2 ship formations of PAF mirages came roaring down the highway and destroyed a few trucks using cluster bombs and rockets. in return the organic AD of a tank regiment that happened to be refueling nearby let loose a salvo of 4 of VL_Mica that shot down 2 of the Mirages. A third flew into a power line after being bounced by a lurking Mig29S and chased like a rabbit. The 4th managed to escape at treetop level on afterburner.

Later that evening Col Sharma noted the distinct profile of a Akash AD regiment driving up the road and turned in for a few hrs of well earned rest.

Alam lay in the trench with Satgaonkar by his side, feeding him water and gur from his pouch. Kumar had bandaged him, he would be ok. The mobile op theatre had many more pressing cases. The remnants of Bravo company were ordered to hold the bundh whilst Rajan had moved forward with Co's Alpha and Charlie up to the next crest which had been cleared after the mortars with grenadiers at the end of a bayonet.

Down the bundh, the flies had already been buzzing around the heaped corpses. There had been no time yet to clean up, except the Gorkha's had quickly moved the Indian dead to the rear after the medics had patched up the wounded of both sides. The jehadi fallen lay where they were, sprawled on the dusty ground, waiting for the 72 to escort them to the other world. Tomorrow, work parties would see to them once the gates of heaven were found to be barred.

Behind the clump of trees on the far bank, an MP was questioning the jehadis who had survived - mostly by running from the Gorkhas as fast as possible to Alpha Co's line. Not all had made it. Most were broken men, horrified at the realities of mechanized information warfare. Some held out defiantly - these were earmarked for further interrogation by Military Intelligence.

Alam looked skywards, he was very tired. Across the horzion, great flaming arcs followed by dense white smoke snaked across the sky

"what is that?"

"tandav" replied Satgaonkar quietly

Makkaar and Rajan saw the snake trails in the sky too, both smiled grimly. Little while longer my valiant men... little while longer Rajan thought to himself

fifteen minutes ago, a detachment of the Poona Horse in their new T-90's had begun to form up and prepare for the breakout. Expecting Rajan to have cleared the hills on the flank, the tanks were cleared to follow in the wake of the tandav that was now only moments away...

ALPHA FLIGHT - 50 KMS FROM BATTLE ZONE'
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-alpha flight turn left 290 -aquire target visally before engaging -friendlies in close proximity - report before commencing attack run - no manpad reported - expect heavy ground fire - over and out

Group captain Vikash sharply backed his agile hawk and lined up for his attack run on enemy soldiers who has embraced his country men in a deadly embrace .

- alpha flight this is lead - target is ridge line at 290 climb to 5000 and engage in sequence - alphal1/2/3 goes in first at 2 minute interval followed by by 4//5/6 with napalms -be careful with the napalms guys lot of friendlies in the area
- roger that sir replied the fresh pilot students one by one -all of them very very excited at the chance of firing live weapons ina real combat for the first time -for some it may also be the last time

Aboard the Phalcon air battle controllers sat hunched over the twin rows of situation control dispalys sectorwise displaying the air /ground battle scenario for 400 miles arond but nothing grabbed their attention more than the 11 student pilots with their instructor getting blooded for the first time to save the lives of their brother in arms who they have never seen in their lives .

100 kms to the south west siera fligth of 2 Su-30 MKI s turned north east at 35 000 ft and punched in their afterburners to join the battle .They were not carrying any air to ground ordanance but still has a pair of R-77 and R73 each enough to prevent any pakistani mirageor falcon running interfearence with the hawks in close support situation . It would take them just under 4 minutes to reach grid sector victor alpha and then they wil stay at that altitude giving an impenetrable top screen for the hunters below

The hawks came in one by one and dived on the remaining machine gun posts .The effect of this concerted line of sight rocket attack neutralised
the gun positions immediately . The armour piercing warhead s boring thru thin concrete rock walls of samngars and exploding on impact .Within 3 minutes by the time the rocket strike was over all the pakistani gun positins have fallen silent and regrouping pakistani regulars stunned at the quick change of fortune .

One of the hawks did not return to join the pack- flying officer nirmal pandey and ranjeev singh the last of three rocket armed hawks was surprised to see a pencil thin stream of smoke leaping out of one of the bunkers -it was the unmistakable signature tune of deadly stinger missile and their end came very quickly and very brutally . The light sam with fragmentation warhead hit the tail pipe and tore of the hawks tail in a fury or fire and shock. None of the pilots could eject though they tried and the small aircraft crashed into indian line a ball of fire .

This galvanised the the regrouping pakistani regulars and they rushed down the ridge as a last ditch effort to salvage the offensive and then looked up

- alpha 4/5/6 comence napalm run
and in came the deadly fire curtain one by one the 3 500 kg cannisters of thickened petroleum jelly burst open the now regrouped paistni soldiers and the soapy fluid stuck to their clothes ,their skins ,their weapons and their ammo boxes and then it ignited ina curtain flame over a nearly a sq km in area with a loud WHOOSH sucking up all the air ,scorching the lungs and burning the skin and clothes ,burning the ammo and the bones and the flesh in a deadly man made inferno.
Not all the soldiers died instantly but most were in terrible agony with more than 70 percent burns they did not have any fight left in them . So when the hawks came down again and again and opened up with their 30 mm aden nose gun - the quick death was a relief to many .

Shankar - liked that last touch. Allus nice to the see the Pakis barbequed . Nice, very nice. Story is picking up........

By the time the lead tanks of the Poona Horse reached the strike zone, there was little left of the PA units that had once been there. Pinaka had struck, only some half crazed shell shocked living dead seemed to be around. They were quickly rounded up by the following Madrasis deploying swiftly from APC's.

The breakthrough was swift. Rajan watched the tanks in the distance seize the bridge and cross roads, cutting off the remnants of the PA up in the hills ahead. He sighed, he wouldn't have to press ahead now and lose even more men. He could wait it out now. He watched the smoke rise from a cluster of T68's that had vainly tried to hold up the attack. They thought their luck was in when Pinaka missed them... they hadn't known about the Poona Horse, their own UAV's had been blasted out of the sky earlier by a new hunter-killer version of Nishant.

Rajan turned his scope now to the other hillside. Black and scarred, with dots and smudges that had once been men. Napalm... does it smell like victory?

On a lower slope slumped against a blasted tree, Rifleman Limbu slumped back sobbing uncontrollably. His uniform soaked in blood. Not his own. The shock of killing with abandon finally hitting him. Dorji held his friends head, calm but far away. What they had seen today they would never forget.

By daybreak the bridgehead had been totally secured, two more pontoon bridges had been thrown across and the vast column of trucks and APCs that snaked back 30km, temporarily halted was on the move again ...fanning out to supply units in action. MedEvac Dhruvs throbbed through the pre-dawn darkness , unseen, on their missions of mercy. Distant flashes of heavy arty indicated the hot battle going on 15km ahead. sometimes the banshee screech of turbojet engines indicated Jaguars and Mig27s flying back and forth on ground attack sorties. Far above, again unseen prowled the big Flankers, radars turned off and waiting patiently for the prey...cueued the Phalcons, which maintained a rotating station
300km behind the moving feba.

On the slopes the stumps and burnt branches of adult trees now marked the devastated landscape. here and there human parts and bits of materials like clothing and rifles were the only remnants of the reinforced jihadi-PA batallion that lived on this ridge some hours ago.

Like an angel of death, the Pinaka had come and taken away so many souls....

Major Makkar watched with satisfaction the message on his SATHI. Help is on the way. The pain and the loss of blood are getting to him now. He was still crouched down in the cover of the stone foundation of the shed. There was sporadic firing of the guns, otherwise everything was quiet. Now he is in a dilemma. He is barely 150 metres away from the enemy position. the Thandav is about to begin. He trusted the technology, but he is not far enough. He got to retreat at least another 100 metres. But there was no features that could offer cover from the machine guns. the only possible place is the next bund around 200 metres in the rear. Behind hat is now in the firing line of the mortars on the hiltops. However, if he retreats, definitely the pakis are going to advance to his current position.

He ordered to raise cover fire from the embankment. One by one, the machine gun positions and men were retreated to the rear bund. The Paki's had no clue and they thought the Indians are going to run away. They tried to take out the retreating party, but the carefully aimed cover fire managed from Makkar's vantage point defeated that. At last only four positions left on the embankment, and they were there to stay. The firing made one more surge, a few more explosions, and Makkar was back at the embankment.

Now, eleven brave men held back the barrage of fire, dangerously close to the fury to be unleashed. Makkar could barely move. He has patched up his left arm, but it hung lifelessly now. The wound on his calf hurt badly, and he could move only by hobbling on one leg.

He too saw the arcing smoke trail. He kept watching it, counting moments. At the right moment, he yelled his order, and all the men ducked, abandoned their guns, and lied down flat, close to the stone wall of the embankment. Makkar took a moment too long making sure that all his men have taken proper cover. Then something hit him hard above his pelvis. He slumped down, and the last thing he remembered was someone pulling sharply on his right hand, drawing him to the safety of the nook. He did not hear the Tandav. He will also not know how his men carried him to the rear just before the Hawks unleashed Hellfire which burnt up the very place the fought the bloody battle.

The next thing Major Makkar remember was the angelic face of the young nurse at the military hospital at Ambala, and he heard the sweetest words in the sweetest language he ever knew. Then he read the sweetest e-mail he ever read from the two souls praying for him from a village in Malappuram district in Kerala. The only disappointment he had was that he couldn't cross the Pabbi after all.

And he received the best reward his country can offer from his supreme commander on 26th January at a podium in front of Rajpath.