ISSUE 11 | NOVEMBER 2019
BIKERS CLUB | MAGAZINE | PAGE 61
It had to carry man pack all supplies and ammunition,
including mortars and machine gun ammunition,
needed for the battalion attack. Still the attack made some progress but under strong
small arms and machine gun fire, it ground to a halt
some fifty yards short of the objective.
By late evening on Nov 13, 6 Kumaon had established it
self on Tri Jn. It received orders from the brigade to
attack Yellow and Green Pimples the very next day i.e.
Nov 14. Though the attacking force was reinforced by two
platoons, it could make no further progress. The troops
were ordered to dig down where they were and
defend themselves.
The Commanding Officer represented that the unit had
just reached Tri Jn. and no preparations for an attack
including reconnaissance of enemy positions had been
carried out by company and platoon commanders. The attack along a narrow ridge with little space for
proper deployment and without any covering fire had
been easy to halt.
He strongly recommended that his unit be given at least
one day for proper preparation before he could launch
the attack. The CO was told that Nov 14 was Nehru's
birthday and Gen. Kaul wanted to give a 'victory' gift to
Nehru on his birthday.
When the CO persisted and said that he could give no
guarantee of success, he was told he could either attack
or be removed from command.
With such a background and without the company and
platoon commanders ever having seen their objectives,
the unit launched an attack with two companies at first
light on Nov 14.
Due to inadequate preparation, there was no artillery or
mortar supporting fire which fell on the objective.
At 22:30 hrs that night, the Chinese counter attacked
and the Kumaonis were forced back onto Tri Jn.
Out of the over 200 men that had gone into the
attack, only 90 returned.
The Chinese launched their first attack on 15 Nov at
4:30 am. The defenders repulsed this attack with heavy
losses on the enemy.
The second attack was launched after last light on the
same day and was also repulsed as during that period,
Tri Jn. had been reinforced by a company of 4 Dogra,
which had reached after having broken through the
Chinese blocking positions.