If death strikes before I prove my blood,
I swear to God, I’ll kill death!
-Cap. Manoj Kumar Pandey
Kargil war was fought between India and Pakistan between May and July 1999. Main cause of war was the infiltration of Pakistani troops and militants in the Kargil, Dras and other parts of Indian border. This war was the only instance of a direct armed confrontation between two nuclear states. Indian response to this infiltration was termed Operation Vijay.
Events Leading to War: There was a long calm between the two states after the war of 1971. During 80’s there was no major conflict. However, heavy military involvement along LOC continued from both the countries. During the late 90’s, Pakistan developed a new strategy to occupy Indian side of LOC. Instead of directly engaging in combat with India, they started to support infiltrators in crossing the border, by giving cover fire. This was named Operation Badr. The main aim of these infiltrators, often Pakistani soldiers, was to occupy barren land and ridges inside India.
On 3rd May, 1999, Pakistani intrusion was reported by shepherds. The patrol sent by Indian army to investigate this report was captured and executed. On May 9, Pakistani army heavily shelled ammunition dump in Kargil, officially beginning the war.
The War: Kashmir is a mountainous region with high altitude peaks. The only connectivity to captured posts was through National Highway ID. Though India had mobilized 200,000 troops, but due to the terrain the mobility was extremely difficult. Pakistani intruders were at high peaks and thus at a very advantageous position. They could easily monitor any Indian movement on the highway. Also, they were equipped with mortars, artillery and anti-aircraft guns and their posts were heavily mined by anti-personnel mines. All this combined made Operation Vijay very difficult for India.
First priority of Indian troops was to gain control of peaks in the vicinity of NH 1D. Thus Tiger Hills and Tololing Complex in Dras became primary targets for India. Apart from these important peaks, there were numerous points which were merely given a number for identification. Capture of these points was important to regain control of highway. By mid-June, most of these points were captured and the Tiger hill was eventually freed on 4th July.
After gaining control of hills over-looking highway, second target of Indian troops was to drive invading force back across LOC. To achieve this target, India involved artillery Bofors FH-77B field howitzers. However, due to the inaccessibility of terrain and enemy being invisible in most fronts, the Bofors as well as Air support proved to be ineffective. The only to clear the posts from intruders was direct frontal attacks on peaks where temperature ranged from -11 to -15 C. This resulted in some heavy casualties to India.
Two months into the conflict, Indian troops had slowly retaken most of the ridges that were encroached by the infiltrators. According to official count, an estimated 75%–80% of the intruded area and nearly all high ground were back under Indian control.
Following the outbreak of armed fighting, Pakistan sought American help in de-escalating the conflict. However, President Clinton refused to intervene until Pakistan had removed all forces from the Indian side of the Line of Control. Following the Washington accord on July 4, where Sharif agreed to withdraw Pakistani troops, most of the fighting came to a gradual halt, but some Pakistani forces remained in positions on the Indian side of the LOC.
The Indian army launched its final attacks in the last week of July; as soon as the Drass subsector had been cleared of Pakistani forces, the fighting ceased on July 26. The day has since been marked as Kargil Vijay Diwas (Kargil Victory Day) in India. By the end of the war, India had resumed control of all territory south and east of the Line of Control, as was established in July 1972 as per the Simla Agreement.
War Heroes: The war was fought in extremely harsh conditions and saw some exemplary display of courage, grit and sacrifices from Indian soldiers. As per official Indian reports, 527 Indian soldiers laid their lives protecting their motherland in Kargil War and 1363 were wounded.
Manoj Kumar Pandey: Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey was born on 25th june 1975, in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. He was commissioned in 1/11 Gurkha Rifles.
Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey took part in a series of boldly led attacks during ‘operation Vijay; forcing back the intruders with heavy losses in Batalik including the capture of Jabbar Top. On the night of 2/3 July 1999 during the advance to Khalubar, his platoon came under heavy and intense enemy fire from the surrounding heights. Captain Pandey was tasked to clear the enemy positions before day. He quickly sent one section to clear the enemy positions from the right and himself proceeded to clear the enemy positions from the left. Fearlessly assaulting the first enemy position, he killed two enemy personnel and destroyed the second position by killing two more. He was injured on the shoulder and legs while clearing the third position. Undaunted and without caring for his grievous injuries, he continued to lead the assault on the fourth position urging his men and destroyed the same with a grenade, even as he got a fatal burst on his forehead. This singular daredevil act of Captain Pandey provided the critical firm base for the companies, which finally led to capture of Khalubar. The officer, however, succumbed to his injuries.
Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey, thus, displayed most conspicuous bravery, indomitable courage, outstanding leadership and devotion to duty and made the supreme sacrifice in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.
Yogendra Singh Yadav: Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav, 18 Grenadiers, in the wee morning hours of 04 July 1999 was part of the Commando 'Ghatak' Platoon tasked to capture three strategic bunkers on Tiger Hill. The approach was a vertical cliff face, snowbound at 16,500 feet. Grenadier Yadav was trained in mountain climbing and volunteered for the job. His task was to fix ropes which could be later used by his company to climb. Half-way up, an enemy bunker opened up machine gun and rocket fire. His Platoon Commander and 2 others fell to the heavy volume of automatic fire. He himself was hit by 3 bullets in shoulders and groin but displaying superhuman strength and resolve, he climbed the remaining 60 feet, all by himself and reached the top. With rare grit and courage, he crawled up to the bunker critically injured and lobbed a grenade killing four Pakistani soldiers and neutralising enemy fire.
Grievously injured, but with reckless disregard to personal safety, Grenadier Yadav now charged on to the second bunker and neutralised it, killing three Pakistani soldiers in hand to hand combat. This extraordinarily gallant act motivated the rest of the platoon which charged onto the enemy to capture Tiger Hill.
For his sustained display of the most conspicuous personal bravery and gallantry of the highest order in the face of the enemy, Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest medal for gallantry. Due to his efforts, tri-colour was hoisted on Tiger Hill top on 4th July. This victory proved very vital in the final outcome of war.
Sanjay Kumar: Rifleman Sanjay Kumar of 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles was the leading Scout of a team tasked to capturing Area Flat Top on July 4, 1999 during the Kargil war. The area was held by Pakistan military. Having scaled the cliff, the team was pinned down by machine gun fire from an enemy bunker, about 150 meters away.
Kumar, realizing the magnitude of the problem and the detrimental effect this bunker would have in the capture of Area Flat Top, crawled alone up the ledge, along a flank, and charged towards the enemy bunker through a hail of automatic fire. Almost instantly he took two bullets in his chest and forearm that left him bleeding profusely.
Though bleeding from the bullet wounds, he continued the charge towards the bunker. In hand-to-hand fighting, he killed three enemy soldiers. He then picked up an enemy machine gun and crept towards the second enemy bunker. The enemy soldiers, taken completely by surprise, were killed by him as they fled their post. Inspired by his act the rest of the platoon charged, assaulted the feature and captured Area Flat Top.
Vikram Batra: Captain Vikram Batra was born on September 9, 1974 in Ghuggar village near Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. Batra joined the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun in 1996 in Jessore Company of Manekshaw Battalion, and was commissioned in the Indian Army as a Lieutenant of the 13 Jammu & Kashmir Rifles at Sopore, in Jammu and Kashmir.
Captain Vikram Batra and his Delta Company were given the task of recapturing Point 5140. He and his men ascended the sheer rock-cliff, but as the group neared the top, the enemy pinned them on the face of the bare cliff with machine gun fire. Captain Batra, along with five of his men, climbed up regardless and after reaching the top, hurled two grenades at the machine gun post. He single-handedly killed three enemy soldiers in close combat. He was seriously injured during this, but insisted on regrouping his men to continue with the mission. Inspired by the courage displayed by Captain Batra, the soldiers of 13 JAK Rifles charged the enemy position and captured Point 5140 at 3:30 a.m. on 20 June 1999. His company is credited with killing at least eight Pakistani soldiers and recovering a heavy machine gun. He was killed when he tried to rescue an injured officer during an enemy counterattack against Point 4875 in the early morning hours of 7 July 1999.
Batra's Yeh Dil Maange More! (My heart asks for more!), erstwhile a popular slogan for a Pepsi commercial, became an iconic battle cry that swept across the country and remains popular with millions of Indians, invoked at patriotic public events, in memory of the war and the soldiers, and as a symbol of the indomitable spirit of Indian patriotism and valor in face of future attacks.