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Defence & Security
Mahesh

14/04/24 07:22 AM IST

Operation Meghdoot

In News
  • On April 13, 1984, the Indian Army mounted the secretly planned Operation Meghdoot, and took control of the Siachen Glacier.
Exercise Walnut Cracker
  • Around 17 days before the Army launched a preemptive operation to occupy certain heights around Siachen Glacier, the top brass of HQs 15 Corps gathered in a war game at the headquarters in Srinagar to fine-tune the bold move.
  • Exercise Walnut Cracker, as it was named, war-gamed the operational and logistical aspects of the eventually world-famous Operation Meghdoot.
  • GOC 3 Infantry Division Maj Gen Shiv Sharma, Commander 26 Sector Brig VN Channa, CO 19 Kumaon Lt Col DK Khanna and CO 1 Vikas Lt Col Pushkar Chand were part of the Blue Land Force in the war game.
  • Among the Red Land Force, denoting the enemy (Pakistan), were Commander 114 Infantry Brigade, Brigadier Moti Dhar, Col (Int) HQs 15 Corps, Colonel PK Jain, GSO 1 (Int) HQs 15 Corps, Lt Col MU Ali and CO 14 Dogra, Lt Col AK Budhiraja.
  • There are two Cols present in this region. One is in the eastern region, and the other is in the western region. The American mountaineer Bullock Workman named Eastern Col Indira Col in 1912 as one of the names of the goddess Lakshmi.
  • ncidentally, Fanny Bullock Workman proposed in 1913 to name certain peaks on the Saltoro Range after King George, Queen Mary, and Lord Hardinge, but the Government of India and the Survey of India did not accept these names
  • The Army record of Operation Meghdoot mentions that a foot column led by Capt PV Yadav reached the Glacier subsequently after an extremely strenuous four-day march over extremely inhospitable terrain.
  • The column set up Camps I, II and III to maintain newly established posts on the Glacier.
19 Kumaon’s foot march over Zojila Pass
  • In March 1984, another Kumaon Battalion earmarked for the operations in Siachen Glacier had accomplished a rare feat.
  • As per Army records, the entire unit moved on a man-pack basis, on foot during winter, from its permanent location in Khrew in Kashmir valley to the base of Siachen Glacier led by its CO, Lt Col DK Khanna.
  • After capturing Zojila in November 1948, it was the first and only time an Infantry battalion had marched across the snow-bound Zojila during winter.
  • This feat of 19 Kumaon was definitely a terrific example of grit, discipline, and mental toughness. Such a vast distance in the world’s toughest terrain, at such an altitude and forbidding climate, was covered on foot with complete battle loads.
Source- The Hindu

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