Farhan Akhtar-led '120 Bahadur' hit the theatres on Friday, November 21. Inspired by a true story of 120 Indian soldiers taking on thousands of Chinese PLA soldiers during the 1962 war at Ladakh’s Rezang La pass. The heroic stand, in which the Indian soldiers of the Charlie Company, 13 Kumaon Regiment, fought to the last man and last round to defend the critical area, was led by Major Shaitan Singh Bhati, PVC, played by Farhan in the movie.
Directed by Razneesh "Razy" Ghai and written by Rajiv G. Menon with dialogues by Sunit Arora, '120 Bahadur' is expected to honour an eternal chapter in modern India's military history. While the Bollywood drama hits theatres across the country, the handful of survivors from the Charlie Company who lived to tell the tale is back in focus.
Battle of Rezang La and Major Shaitan Singh's men
Honorary Captain Ramchander Yadav and Havildar Nihal Singh, two survivors of the brutal war, worked in close quarters with Major Shaitan Singh. While Yadav carried the Major's radio, Nihal Singh was his personal guard.
Ahead of the battle, Major Singh discussed with his men how they would not get any artillery support because of the mountains behind them. Yadav, in 2012, recollected how withdrawal came into the fore, but the jawans and the JCOs said they did not intend to leave Rezang La. "We have the blessings of Lord Krishna," they reportedly said.
Yadav, in the past, had spoken to the media along with his old friend Nihal Singh, elaborating on how the Charlie Company terrorised the PLA at Rezang La despite being outnumbered one to fifteen. Both Ramchander Yadav and Nihal Singh vouched numerous PLA personnel were killed during the battle. Yadav, during the interaction, described that the falling Chinese "were lying scattered like berries in a market" all around them.
Ramchander Yadav had revealed that his comrades were forced to switch to close-quarters combat with the PLA when they confirmed a fifth wave of attack was imminent. Indian machine gunners thwarted four waves of attempted enemy advances from the bunkers, but the Chinese threw everything they had at them in the fifth wave. During the intense fighting, he reportedly saw Naik Singh Ram, who was later awarded the Vir Chakra, smashing the heads of two PLA soldiers together. He also witnessed the PLA leaving a bayonet sunk to hang a helmet on the snow near the head of Ram after he fell. It was a mark of respect.
Major Shaitan's men learnt they were being encircled after yaks started to show up behind them. The bovines were being used to carry machine guns by the PLA. The Indian soldiers repeatedly stabbed the enemy with their bayonets, but the thick parkas meant they were ineffective, and this forced the likes of Singh Ram to focus on the comparatively unprotected necks and heads of the Chinese.
What happened when the battle ended
Ramchander Yadav used the sling of his out-of-ammo rifle to tie the Major to his belt. This tied their bodies together at the waist. He started to roll through the snow for about 400 yards. He told Indian Express that his idea was to get someone from the company headquarters below for help to get the Major down. But when it was 8:15 by the Major's watch, he noticed that the Major was no longer alive. He took off the Major’s gloves and slid the body between boulders to hide it so that it remained safe until someone could come to fetch it. Then he made his way down.
Havildar Singh reportedly saw his commanding officer taking his final breath on the battlefield. Interacting with the media on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war, the Havildar recollected how he disassembled his out-of-ammo light machine gun (LMG) to pieces and threw it away so that the PLA couldn't use it during the battles to come.
Bleeding and stunned, he laid helpless in the bunker when the Chinese soldiers arrived. They pulled Singh out and tried to communicate in English. When their attempts to get the names of his Commanding Officer and Brigade Commander from him failed, Nihal Singh was given first aid and taken as a Prisoner of War (POW), he told the Indian Express in an interview in 2012.
The Havildar was taken to the Chinese posts by around 5:00 PM. He understood there was a realistic chance for him to slip away as his captivators were fatigued and were very much invested in conversations to keep their morale up. He waited for the sun to set and chose his moment smartly. Instead of sprinting and raising an alarm, he slowly moved away from the enemy, one step at a time. Yadav told Indian Express that he was at least 500 metres away when he heard the PLA firing shots into the air to signal others of his escape. "I slowly sneaked out from there. When I walked almost 500 metres, they fired three shots in the air," he said.
Nihal Singh kept walking through the snow until he reached the headquarters on the afternoon of November 19. "On November 22, we were admitted to a hospital in Jammu for advanced treatment," he said.
