India's Most Fearless 3 , livre ebook

SHIV AROOR RAHUL SINGH

INDIA S MOST FEARLESS 3
New Military Stories of Unimaginable Courage and Sacrififice
PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
Introduction
1. I Had Never Seen Such Fierce Fighting
The Galwan Clash of June 2020
2. I m Not Leaving This Cockpit
Group Captain Varun Singh
3. Get as Close as Possible before Dark
Subedar Sanjiv Kumar
4. Where the Hell Is His Leg?
Squadron Leader Ishan Mishra
5. I Have Never Touched Anything That Cold
Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal
6. They Were Coming to Behead
Sepoy Karmdeo Oraon
7. Whatever We Do, It Has to Be Now
Lance Naik Sandeep Singh
8. The Seas Will Break Your Ship
Captain Sachin Reuben Sequeira
9. This Time Holi Will Be with Blood
Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh
10. You Have Five Minutes on the Seabed
CPO Veer Singh and Commander Ashok Kumar
Illustrations
Footnotes
2. I m Not Leaving This Cockpit
3. Get as Close as Possible before Dark
4. Where the Hell Is His Leg?
7. Whatever We Do, It Has to Be Now
8. The Seas Will Break Your Ship
9. This Time Holi Will Be with Blood
10. You Have Five Minutes on the Seabed
Acknowledgements
Follow Penguin
Copyright
EBURY PRESS
INDIA S MOST FEARLESS 3
Shiv Aroor is senior executive editor and anchor at India Today TV, and has covered the Indian military for nearly two decades. He has reported from conflict zones that include Kashmir, India s North-east, Sri Lanka and Libya. For the latter, he won two awards for war reporting. Shiv also founded the popular, award-winning military news and analysis site Livefist.
Rahul Singh is senior associate editor at Hindustan Times and has covered defence and military affairs for over two decades. Apart from extensive and deep reporting from the world of Indian military, including several newsbreaks that have set the national news agenda over the years, Rahul has reported from conflict zones including Kashmir, India s North-east and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The first story on the ongoing India-China border conflict appeared under his byline in 2020.
To the heroes who fought and died in the Galwan Valley, their families and those who lived to tell the story
Introduction
At the time this book goes to print, it has been more than two years since the world s largest modern military standoff began in the icy hellscape of eastern Ladakh. As the two armies remain massed in war-like numbers against each other across frosted plains, frozen lakes and mountains that disappear into the clouds, the standoff between India and China is far from over. As the carnage and close-quarter suspense that defined the first few months of the conflict turn into a slower, calmer but insidiously permanent confrontation, much of what happened has lain hidden in the storm of propaganda, claims and counterclaims.
The incident that sent the unprecedented Ladakh standoff exploding into the minds of millions across India took place on 15 June 2020, on a desolate riverbend in Ladakh s Galwan River valley. Months of coverage uncovered the reality of a terrifying clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers. But the complete story of what happened that night has never been fully told.
And that s why we believe the book you are about to read is so important, not just to the legacy of the India s Most Fearless series, but in terms of giving our countrymen first-hand accounts of the biggest operations and incidents involving the Indian military. This third edition of the series begins with a first-hand account of the Galwan incident by officers and men of the 16th Battalion of the Bihar Regiment, who fought the Chinese that night and survived. Hair-raising as it was, the account proves the many shades of grey that define combat, a far cry from the black-and-white certainties they seem to us from all this distance away.
The Indian Army permitted us generous access to Colonel Ravi Kant- the officer who succeeded 16 Bihar commanding officer Colonel B. Santosh Babu, who was killed in action in the clash and awarded the hallowed Maha Vir Chakra for uncommon courage and leadership-as well as other soldiers from the battalion, allowing us to present the only first-hand account of what happened that night.
The account not only answers many questions but sets the record straight on a central bone of contention, as you will discover. The ghosts of Galwan will continue to haunt a valley that sees a tentative truce amid a larger standoff that is far from over. And the questions remain over whether an expanding hostile force at India s doorstep is a new status quo.
The lead-up to the publication of India s Most Fearless 3 also saw the Indian military hit by one of its worst peacetime tragedies. On 8 December 2021, a helicopter crash in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu killed the country s first chief of defence staff, General Bipin Rawat, an officer who, as chief of the army staff, was an impassioned supporter of this series, having also launched the first book. We were in constant touch with General Rawat during the course of writing this book, and he was looking forward to its release. The last conversation we had with General Rawat about India s Most Fearless 3 was on 4 December 2021-four days before the Mi-17V5 crash-when he complained that we were taking too much time to bring out this book. He will be deeply missed.
The sole survivor of that horrific helicopter accident was a decorated young fighter pilot, Group Captain Varun Singh, whose face would become iconic across media in the days that followed. His story captivated the nation as he fought to stay alive for a week. Tragically, he didn t make it. But if a man lives on through his actions, then Group Captain Varun is as vibrant as ever in the first-ever account you will read here of his handling of a heart-stopping midair incident that won him a Shaurya Chakra.
Those are the two accounts that kick off what has been a heart-wrenching third volume of this series. You will also, for the first time, read a first-hand account of Operation Randori Behak, a fearsome Special Forces encounter in the mountains of Kashmir s Keran sector that stunned the country, which had just gone into a national COVID-19 lockdown.
You will also read, in the words of his wife, Nitika, the haunting tale of young Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, who was killed in action fighting terrorists in the aftermath of the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack. The tragedy persuaded Nitika to drop her corporate job and join the Indian Army. In her account is embodied the voice and grit of the many proud, grieving military families who fade completely out of view each year in the wake of gallantry awards and official recognition.
From the forests of India s North-east to the depths of the Arabian Sea, from the Line of Control to the unresponsive cockpit of a Sukhoi fighter flying at less than 50 feet, the as-yet-untold stories you re about to read here feature some of India s most fearless military personnel in their finest hours.
When India s Most Fearless began three books ago in 2017, we didn t think it would become a living, breathing flame that our readers would never allow to go out. If these stories inspire, thanks must go solely to the men and women we write about. When we began to write about them five years ago, it was because we believed these stories were too compelling not to share. It is, then, into the hands of the families of those we write about, their brave units and to you, the reader, once again, that we commit these ten true stories.
Delhi
June 2022
Shiv Aroor
Rahul Singh
1
I Had Never Seen Such Fierce Fighting
The Galwan Clash of June 2020

Even above the loud, steady roar of the Galwan River, he heard the thundering footfalls. The sound of over a thousand men reverberating through the darkness, amplified by the tunnel effect of a narrow valley flanked by steep rising mountains on both sides. Peering into the black void beyond Patrol Point 14, lit only a few metres forward by hand-held torches, the reality of those sounds dawned on Havildar Dharamvir Kumar Singh of the Indian Army s 16 Bihar infantry battalion. He clenched his eyes briefly shut to soak in every vibration. When he opened them again, he knew that the huge horde of men advancing towards his position was not marching.
They weren t even jogging.
They were sprinting.
There were less than 400 of us, says Havildar Dharamvir. We would soon discover that the number of Chinese Army soldiers running towards us was maybe three times that. We had been fighting smaller numbers of Chinese for two hours before that. But this was their main force. The all-out assault that the Chinese side was launching against us.
An all-out assault.
Unarmed, as stipulated by decades-old protocol between the two armies, Havildar Dharamvir quickly glanced around at the soldiers with him. Even in the darkness he could tell their expressions. A curious mix of determination and fearlessness, but tinged with an edge of foreboding.
As the soldiers steeled themselves, rallied by their commanding officer and a group of younger officers, Havildar Dharamvir knew what lay ahead would need every ounce of strength the smaller force could muster. But it also made one particular man in the team even more crucial.
A non-combatant with a white suitcase.
Wading through the group of soldiers with him, Havildar Dharamvir emerged on the banks of the gushing Galwan, right where he had last seen the man he was looking for now.
With a big, unmistakable red plus sign painted on to his parka, Naik Deepak Singh wasn t standing. On his knees, his suitcase open with bandages and bottles of tincture, he was crouched over what appeared to be a small group of injured men, all groaning in the darkness. Three were Indian soldiers being administered first aid.
The six other soldiers receiving emergency ministrations from the young Indian Army medic weren t Indian soldiers. They were