THE STORY OF INDIAN WARFARE | November 1, 1948: Tanks at 11,500 feet - Battle of Zojila

The starkly beautiful region of Ladakh lies to the northeast of Kashmir and is connected by a scenic road from Srinagar to Leh, which passes through Kargil via the 11,553-foot-high Zojila Pass – one of the highest passes in the world, whose name aptly means ‘The Pass of Blizzards’. In 1947, Pakistani raiders had attacked Kashmir, striking at Srinagar and in the Jammu sector. While these actions are well known, the Ladakh region, too, saw equally fierce fighting and eventually was virtually saved by a hair’s breadth with the capture of Zojila Pass.

At the time of Partition, the area of Ladakh was lightly held by members of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces who were strung out in penny packets across this vast, barren region. Pakistan launched its offensive here in conjunction with actions in the Kashmir Valley. The Pakistani raiders were aided by the locals of the Gilgit and Chitral forces and a British officer, Captain William Brown. They entered Baltistan in November 1947, overran the small Kashmir State Forces garrison, and by the end of the month, captured the capital city of Gilgit, almost without a fight. Flush with success, the Pakistani raiders, along with members of the local Gilgit and Chitral Scouts, then moved towards Skardu and Leh – the two main townships.

Ladakh was thrown into panic as the refugees streamed in from the captured Northern Areas, carrying tales of atrocities. Most of the State Forces fell back to Skardu, a small town which guarded the approach to Leh. The town was held by a small garrison of around a thousand men under Lieutenant Colonel Sher Jung Thapa. Skardu was attacked by the enemy in early January, but each of the attacks was determinedly beaten back. Besieged on all sides and heavily outnumbered, the garrison would hold on for over eight months before finally capitulating on August 14, 1948.

While Skardu was grimly holding out, the enemy bypassed the town, moved towards Kargil and Drass and captured both towns by the end of May 1948. Even worse, the enemy captured the crucial Zojila Pass and thus cut off the land link from Srinagar to Kargil, Drass and Leh. With the capture of Zojila, Leh could only be reached by air or via a 400-kilometre-long route from Manali. The fall of Leh, and with it all of Ladakh, seemed imminent.

As the threat to Leh intensified, it was decided to reinforce the small garrison there. A small detachment of 2 DOGRA under Major Prithi Chand, along with 70 volunteers, marched out from Srinagar and, after a month-long trek through snowstorms, avalanches and blizzards, reached Leh on March 8, 1948. Each man carried additional rifles and weapons, and, using the State Forces personnel already there, they formed a local defence force. A makeshift airstrip was constructed, and on May 24, 1948, a single Dakota landed on the highest airstrip in the world. That aircraft was piloted by Air Commodore Meher Singh and had General Thimayya on board, such was the importance of Leh. With the airfield operational, additional forces were flown in and the defences reinforced to withstand an enemy attack.

Though Leh was reinforced, the town was still effectively isolated as the capture of Zojila Pass had cut off the entire Ladakh region from the valley. The pass had to be recaptured, but it would be a tough nut to crack. It was held by a Pakistani battalion with three main positions: Mukand Ridge and Chabutra Ridge – on the right and left shoulders – and a depth position on Machine Gun Ridge. At those forbidding heights, it could not be assaulted, and the enemy was dug into well-sited positions in the natural caves of the mountainside, which were virtually immune to air or artillery fire.

The first attack to recapture Zojila went in on September 11, 1948 with 77 Para Brigade. Two successive infantry assaults were launched, but both failed in the face of heavy fire. The enemy was too well dug in, and air and artillery attacks had no effect. As September was drawing to a close and winter was setting in, time was running out. If the pass held for just a month or two more, it would become impossible to capture it in winter, and then Leh would have automatically fallen. The entire Indian operation in this sector depended on the capture of Zojila.

Thimayya realised that the only way to eliminate the enemy from their positions would be by using the direct fire of tanks – but no tanks had ever reached these heights or operated at such altitudes before. Yet it was decided to take the chance, and a squadron of Stuart Mark 6 tanks of 7 LIGHT CAVALRY was moved from Akhnur to Zojila. The turrets of the tanks were removed to reduce weight, which would enable them to cross the numerous small bridges en route. Bridges were reinforced, tracks were hurriedly widened, and the tanks trundled up the long, difficult climb towards Zojila. An eight-kilometre length of track was widened by cutting into a sheer rock face in just 20 days by engineers of the Madras Sappers. It is a credit to the drivers that not a single tank gave way to mechanical failure or was stuck on the slushy, narrow tracks, even though the move was made purely by night to ensure secrecy. By 15 October, the squadron was in position, the turrets were refitted, and the stage was set for the historic assault on Zojila. Even in the last stage, the tanks had to be physically pushed by jawans along the steep gradient to bring them into position for the final assault.

Operation 'Bison', the codename for the attack, was scheduled for 20 October, but when all was ready, it began to snow. Zojila lived up to its name. The Pass of Blizzards was hit by raging snowstorms, and twice the operation was postponed because of the weather. Finally, D-Day was set for November 1, and with winter worsening, it was literally now or never.

On November 1, in spite of another raging snowstorm, General Thimayya gave the order to attack. Beneath a leaden sky, with snowflakes swirling all around them, the tanks rumbled across the start line at 10:15 a.m. As the tanks roared through, with Thimayya in the leading tank, the infantry attacked from the flanks and on the shoulders of the pass. The poor visibility and atrocious weather actually aided the element of surprise, as the enemy did not expect an attack in these conditions. With the infantry moving along the flanks, the tanks sprayed the pass with machine-gun and high-explosive fire. The sight of the tanks unnerved the enemy, and in a panic, they fled, leaving behind their dead and dying and vast stocks of equipment. Tanks and infantry swept through the pass, the tanks firing into the bunkers and caves, and the infantry clearing the shoulders. By the next evening, it was all over, and on November 2, the tricolour was raised once again on the windswept pass.

The appearance of tanks at these heights shocked the enemy and was perhaps the most important factor in the victory. Never before or since have tanks been used at such altitudes, and the operation was a masterpiece of innovative tactics. The rejuvenated troops surged forward in sub-zero temperatures in some of the worst terrain imaginable, and on 16 November captured Drass. On November 23, the leading troops entered Kargil, and the same day linked up with Leh. The long isolation of Leh was over. Leh and Ladakh were saved.

The capture of Zojila was perhaps one of the most important operations of the 1947–48 Kashmir War. Had it failed, all of Leh and Ladakh would have been lost and perhaps Srinagar as well. And it was just in the nick of time. A month later, on the night of 31 December, the ceasefire came into being. The ceasefire prevented the Indian Army from recapturing Skardu and the Northern Areas, which were occupied by the invaders, but Leh, Ladakh and two-thirds of Kashmir remain in Indian hands. The tanks that rumbled in at 11,500 feet perhaps helped shape the geography of the nation.

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