Kargil War Thread - VI

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ArjunPandit
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ArjunPandit »

^^is this available as pdf???might be easier to print and put at home
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by disha »

Vips wrote:No doubt this lady is either a Lutyens circuit pasand JNU pass-out or a jhola wali journalist, or a congressi or just a frustrated socialite b i t c h who dares to disrespect a national hero.
Who is the "lady"?
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ramana »

Old article on IAF in Kargil

IAF in Kargil
Highlights the M2K sorties
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by wig »

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu ... 90168.html

20 years on, Kargil braveheart then Lt Balwan Singh, Maha Vir Chakra, of 18th Battalion, The Grenadiers, recounts capture of Tiger Hill.
from the above
One such brave officer, who was awarded Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) for his service, is Colonel Balwan Singh Panghal. He was a lieutenant during the Kargil War and an indispensable part of 18 Grenadiers unit, under whose command the Army had successfully launched the assault on the Tiger Hill
and
Col Balwan Singh Panghal, who is posted in sub-area Ambala now, shared memories of the war and the efforts that went in to capture the Tiger Hill and turn the tide in the country’s favour.
Belonging to Sasroli village in Jajhar district of Haryana, Col Panghal became a household name across the country in general and Haryana in particular at that time.
Giving details of the operation, Panghal said, “Firstly, our platoon was given the task of capturing Tololing post, from where the enemy was continuously monitoring our movement and was attacking the Srinagar-Leh national highway. Moving through a difficult terrain in a freezing weather, we managed to get back Tololing in 22 days but we lost our two senior officials in the assault, Lt Col R Vishwanathan and Major Adhikari, and 23 other soldiers.”
“After that, we were assigned the task to get back the Tiger Hill. We started the operation on July 2, 1999, and on July 4, after a five-hour fierce gun battle, we claimed it back but lost nine soldiers,” the Colonel said.
He, along with 24 other soldiers, had led the assault on Tiger Hill and it was the most difficult part of the operation, as several other assaults had been unsuccessful.
“When we started the assault, firstly only seven soldiers managed to reach one of the posts on Tiger Hill and they killed 30 to 35 Pakistani soldiers, but out of these seven soldiers, six died and only Sepoy Yoginder Singh Yadav (now Subedar) managed to come back in critical condition. During the final assault, we managed to capture the Tiger Hill without losing any soldier,” he stated.
It was his planning and the crucial information provided by Sepoy Yoginder Singh Yadav after returning from the enemy post which enabled Col Panghal to capture the Tiger Hill.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Rakesh »

ArjunPandit
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ArjunPandit »

Today is the punya tithi of saurabh kalia..hope IA took adequate revenge to what was done to him...
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Pratyush »

Saurabh Kalia and his patrol went missing in the first half of May IIRC.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by nam »

You have to give it to the Paks for Kargil. They correctly assessed that airpower even if employed would be very inaccurate given the heights and nature of the terrian where a miss of few mtrs means bombs falling off in to the valley!

You either have to low flying for which stinger was deployed or use LGB where was in process of application and not in large numbers within IAF!.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Aditya_V »

They had the Afgan civil war experience which made them develop such tactics
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Karan M »

Actually they never anticipated IAF would be involved heavily or India would use airpower to the extent it did.
When it was brought up by PAF folks, the PA guy in charge bragged about a Stinger on every peak.
Once IAF moved to medium alt bombing or area strikes (with napalm for instance), the Pak Army guys were shocked and morale plummeted.
nam wrote:You have to give it to the Paks for Kargil. They correctly assessed that airpower even if employed would be very inaccurate given the heights and nature of the terrian where a miss of few mtrs means bombs falling off in to the valley!

You either have to low flying for which stinger was deployed or use LGB where was in process of application and not in large numbers within IAF!.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Aditya_V »

Karan M wrote:Actually they never anticipated IAF would be involved heavily or India would use airpower to the extent it did.
When it was brought up by PAF folks, the PA guy in charge bragged about a Stinger on every peak.
Once IAF moved to medium alt bombing or area strikes (with napalm for instance), the Pak Army guys were shocked and morale plummeted.
nam wrote:You have to give it to the Paks for Kargil. They correctly assessed that airpower even if employed would be very inaccurate given the heights and nature of the terrian where a miss of few mtrs means bombs falling off in to the valley!

You either have to low flying for which stinger was deployed or use LGB where was in process of application and not in large numbers within IAF!.
The accurate bombing of their camps in Muntho Dhalo had a huge impact in PA abandoning the large number of peaks in the Batalik sector.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by wig »

https://www.timesnownews.com/columns/ar ... war/448691

How IAF quietly buried Pakistan's hopes during Kargil War
extracted from the article
then, two videos emerged after the war; they tell you the story of damage the IAF had caused. The first was Muntho Dhalo, the triumph of the Pakistani worker-ant. In grainy black-and-white, you saw the video of the 70 snow tents the Pakistan Army had pitched. Everything their soldiers needed in the Batalik sector -- food, fuel, ammunition and medicines -- all came from there. You saw the tracks to the toilets, a distance away, the three-four soot-stained bomb craters, strangely L-shaped, it was all so unreal. It would have taken weeks, even months to do what they had done. You admired their audacity.

An Air Force officer, part of the unit that dealt with it in mid-June in 1999, was showing me the footage. "Now look at this," he said with his finger on the fast-forward button. The next video showed what twenty-four 250kg bombs had done. There was nothing left, just a sea of black, a stain in the snow. You could only imagine the inferno, the fuel tanks and ammunition exploding, Pakistan's hopes quietly buried.

There's the Tiger Hill video. It is 07:12:40 on the camera clock and you can see, from very high up, what looks like tiny ants scurrying for safety. They are Pakistani soldiers on top of Tiger Hill; they've seen the fighter-bombers, they're running for the comparative safety of their bunkers. And then, 20 seconds later, comes the explosion, a cloud of smoke. It's the end.

The IAF officers I met spoke of the morality of altitude; they also spoke of flying above the bubble. They could see the US-supplied Stinger missiles whooshing towards them, coming close but thankfully, not close enough. They weren't happy moments. One IAF officer flying a Canberra told me of an enormous jolt when the missile struck; he'd saved the aircraft from crashing with enormous difficulty. When he landed and asked his navigator to assess the damage, he was told there was nothing wrong, absolutely nothing on the aircraft's left side. Was it all imagination, a fleeting nightmare? And then, he walked to the other side and almost keeled over. The missile had torn apart the right side of the Canberra. How could he have flown the plane? How could he have made it to Srinagar?
and
Just after Muntho Dhalo, I visited the IAF base in Srinagar, met officers involved in the operations. A group captain, very helpful, showed me around. I sat in a fighter cockpit, imagining what it was like for a pilot taking on targets, destroying Pakistani sangars with laser-guided bombs. I thanked him for his time and left. Group Captain (now Air Chief Marshal) BS Dhanoa is today chief of the Indian Air Force.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by SaiK »

Lot of details here... please read (i haven't yet)

https://theprint.in/opinion/kargils-lit ... es/263391/
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by kancha »

Had done a twitter thread four years ago, chronicling the day to day progress of the air operations during the Kargil War. The discussion above reminded me of the same. Sharing it here for those interested.
Link
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Karan M »

kancha wrote:Had done a twitter thread four years ago, chronicling the day to day progress of the air operations during the Kargil War. The discussion above reminded me of the same. Sharing it here for those interested.
Link
Amazing work Harpreet. You truly are a one-man army. Salute.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by kancha »

Karan M wrote:
kancha wrote:Had done a twitter thread four years ago, chronicling the day to day progress of the air operations during the Kargil War. The discussion above reminded me of the same. Sharing it here for those interested.
Link
Amazing work Harpreet. You truly are a one-man army. Salute.
Thanks Karan Ji
Just doing my bit
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by g.sarkar »

Deleted.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by wig »

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/ ... 08962.html
Kargil tales: This Army driver gunned down 29 Pakistani soldiers
Retired Havaldar Ram Ratan Mahto, 56, is a Kargil war veteran with 29 kills to his name.
extracts
Recalling the Kargil war, Mahto, said he was alone at the Motor Garage with a Light Machine Gun during which he spotted the enemy moving towards his unit around 12.30 at night. “I thought that if they succeeded in reaching the unit, they may cause severe damage. I opened fire on them emptying all the three boxes of bullets. I managed to kill all 29 people in the troop,” he said.

Later that night, after confirming the identity of the deceased, Mahto was hailed as a hero. “The senior officers lifted me on their shoulders and started dancing,” he added.Mahto said that even though he averted enemy attacks 18 times during the Kargil War, he got injured in the 19th attack.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Amber G. »

Meanwhile IIT Kanpur today - Unveiling of Kargil soldier statue at the SAC crossing on the occasion of Kargil Divas. Jai Hind.

(Photo from IITK director's Abhay Karandikar's FB Page)

Image

Another photo with the director etc: <picture>
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by UlanBatori »

The newspapers mention an Army video making the rounds
Documentary recently released by the Indian Army; released on July 23 .. video also shown during a Saturday event in Dilli attended by PM
Mentioned because of an error in giving credit for the liberation of Jubar and Tharu in Batalik sector.
The actual liberation was done by 1 Bihar battalion on the nights of July 6 and 7 (Jubar) and July 8 (Point 4927 and Kala Pathar) and Tharu (night of July 9): Army has promised to correct the video to recognize this.
1 Bihar then linked up with 1/11 Gurkha Rifles after that, per Brigadier (retired) O.P. Yadav, commander of 1 Bihar.

Heroes all. But can we get this video publicized?
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Aditya_V »

Do you guys have the Geographical address for Jubar, Tharu and Mantho Dhalo
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ramana »

IDSA book on 20 years after Kargil:


https://idsa.in/book/kargil-past-perfec ... -uncertain
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Haresh »

What was the highest battle fought at Kargill?
I read somewhere it was 16,500 Ft is this true?

My interest is mountaineering and I read somewhere on BRF that the Indian army has fought battles at 18-20,00 ft does anyone have any information on this please?

Thanks in Advance.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by manjgu »

come on haresh..internet is littered with stories of siachen, op meghdoot, bana post episode etc, kargil etc.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Haresh »

manjgu wrote:come on haresh..internet is littered with stories of siachen, op meghdoot, bana post episode etc, kargil etc.
Thank You for the clues, a Bit of quick Google research on Bana Post & Operation Rajiv has answered my question
"The Quaid Post was located at an altitude of 22,153 feet (6,752 m)"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rajiv

HAWS definately produces the right men for the job.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Vips »

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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/livefist/status/129 ... 52033?s=20 ----> Tarzan's "BUNDOLO!" was code word for mission accomplished in the IAF Mirage 2000 strikes in Kargil and how a low/slow Foxbat mission made ALL the difference. Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar's (retd) most detailed word on his angry Kargil cockpit 21 years ago.

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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/PrapancaMAnudan/sta ... 07969?s=20 ---> Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar (retd) giving due credit to two of his fellow airmen (Air Marshall Ahluwalia & adventurous & brand Foxbat run Air Marshal B.J. Thakur (retd), who laid the foundation for the success of crucial mission i.e. Tarzan's Bundholo (Muntho Dhalo).

https://twitter.com/livefist/status/129 ... 87265?s=20 ---> "When we needed the MiG-25 to fly lower and slower to film the targets, most pilots refused. But one agreed. And his Foxbat flight made all the difference." War pilot Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar (retd) pays rare tribute to what changed the game in Kargil.

Image
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Rakesh »

The Su-30 in the background is the K variant and first Su-30 to join the IAF. Serial # SB-001.

https://twitter.com/Amitraaz/status/129 ... 97536?s=20 ----> A-70M Reconnaissance Camera of the IAF's MiG-25s.

Picture by Sanjay Simha.

Image
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ramana »

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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ramana »

One day will tell why it happened from KudreMukh.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by Rakesh »

Click on link below to read the twitter thread...

https://twitter.com/SpadeX95/status/134 ... 00096?s=20 ---> We all know about Captain Vikram Batra, but let's talk about Captain Naveen Nagappa.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by sudeepj »

Old television series about the Kargil war. Notable for many first person interviews/snippets. Very stilted commentary typical of how english was spoken in that time. There is a 5 min clip of Flt Lt Nachiketa too.

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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ramana »

Thanks SudeepJ
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ramana »

I found an account by Lt Gen Mohinder Puri who was commander of the 8th Divison during Kargil.
He wrote a book titled "Kargil Turning the Tide".

http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spot ... -the-tide/


Image

http://www.indiandefencereview.com/wp-c ... ranges.jpg

A few paras caught my eye.
1) 8th Division was oriented to do counter-insurgency in Valley and was turned around to fight enemy intrusion. So change of mission.
2) Immense schedule pressure due to public opinion
3) Despite being in Valley the troops needed 10 days to acclimatize to fight in the high altitudes. So delay even if troops are available.
It was indeed my professional privilege to command the ‘Forever in Operations’ 8 Mountain Division during Operation Vijay, our response to Pakistan’s Operation Badr. I had been in command of the Division in the Kashmir Valley for over a year, where it had been deployed since 1989 for Operation Rakshak to fight militancy, when Pakistan’s misadventure in Kargil started unfolding in May 1999. The task was daunting as it came with the challenge of reorienting the Division operationally from counter-insurgency to conventional operations virtually in no time and to deliver success almost instantly in view of the tremendous pressure of public opinion at home to ‘taste victory’, and a strategic imperative to complete the operations well before the onset of winter. Since the operations had to be conducted at extreme high altitudes averaging 15,000 ft, troops had to undergo three stages of acclimatisation lasting 10 days or more to be able to give off their best.
4) In April 1999 there was Corps wargame where this officer planned the exact same maneuver that the Pakis did later and it was dismissed as unviable by the 'control staff' or umpires. Yet one month later these very heights were occupied by Pak troops and lots of resources spent and soldiers were killed.
In early April 1999, the Corps war game was to be conducted for which I had been nominated as the commander of the enemy forces. I had completed my reconnaissance of the Ladakh sector and had interacted at length with the local commanders. In the Kargil sector my plan in essence was to launch a pre-emptive attack at selected places with the aim of securing tactical features which would improve the defensive posture and draw adequate reserves and a reaction from the Valley. Ironically, the plan envisaged capturing areas like Tiger Hill and Tololing, which a month later were in possession of the Pakistani forces and had become household names in India. War games are meant to validate our defensive or offensive plans and should take into consideration enemy actions that appear tactically feasible. Unfortunately, in the war game not much attention was given to this manoeuvre, with the ‘control staff’ opining that the operation was not tactically sustainable or viable. I was quite surprised that no serious thought was given to the “enemy” plan and the control staff disposed it off for its unviability, an action we were to regret a month later.

Yet Gen V.K. Malik titled his book from Surprise to Victory! I don't think the KRC report brought out this fact.

Looks like a collective failure of higher command. And let the young soldiers die to retrieve their inaction.
Those umpires should have been cashiered out after Kargil.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ramana »

This article which came first should be read before the above:

http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news ... side-view/
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by viveks »

It will be awesome if we attack PoK now just as the Taliban is trying to take over Afganisatan. The Afgan government is going to fall. They are talking about sharing power. They are going to fall
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by jamwal »

Image

Why were Pakis carrying gas masks?
ramana wrote:I found an account by Lt Gen Mohinder Puri who was commander of the 8th Divison during Kargil.

Yet Gen V.K. Malik titled his book from Surprise to Victory! I don't think the KRC report brought out this fact.

Looks like a collective failure of higher command. And let the young soldiers die to retrieve their inaction.

Those umpires should have been cashiered out after Kargil.
Gen Malik's book isn't a great source. He blames just one Brigadier Surinder Singh for the entire fiasco and mentions intelligence agencies in passing. Only Jaswant Singh gets a few lines for insisting that IA doesn't cross border.
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Re: Kargil War Thread - VI

Post by ParGha »

Jamwal, that is a very good question. I must have seen that photo dozens of times, but I never thought to ask that question. In the mountains, every ounce matters — you don’t carry anything that you think isn’t going to be used. Something is really fishy.
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