Reliving the Madhumati heroics
KOLKATA: For reasons best known to the Indian military establishment, the battle of Madhumati in the 1971 Indo-Pak War was not given its due. That was the first time in Indian Army's history - and probably the last time as well - that light tanks were driven across a nearly 15-feet deep river to attack the 9 Division of Pakistani Army. The enemy was caught by surprise and was left with no option but surrender before another Indian Brigade that had set up a roadblock in the rear.
Major General (retd) Rajinder Nath clearly remembers that December night when he took the decision to cross Madhumati river in a tank.
"The 9 Division of Pakistan, with nearly 3,000 soldiers, had taken up position in the east. I was part of the 62 Brigade and had orders to attack from the north. The 7 Brigade had crossed the river from the south and taken up position in the rear, cutting off the escape route for Pakistanis. We had 10-12 tanks when we reached the river that was nearly 300 yards wide and 15 feet deep. The Pakistanis never thought that we could cross by tank. Even my superiors thought that I had lost my head. What we had were light tanks of Russian make. Each had two machine guns and a light gun. These could not take on other tanks but were extremely effective against infantry," the general said.
He got into the lead tank with the squadron commander who kept on reminding him that they wouldn't even be found if the tank capsized. It was around 1am when Gen Nath (then a Brigadier) began crossing the river. The troops followed in boats. It was 4-5am when the Pakistanis spotted the tanks and sent message to their headquarters. The Pakistani military top brass called the men malingerers as nobody would believe that tanks could have crossed the river.
"We overran the positions. The Pakistanis were so demoralized that they simply ran, right into the clutches of the 7 Brigade. Later in the day, when my boss arrived at the scene, he was unhappy that I had no prisoners. I couldn't explain to him that all the prisoners with the other Brigade were all due to our efforts. We were advancing the next day in our tanks when we saw Pakistani vehicles approach with white flags. We were told that Major General Ansari, GOC of the 9 Division of Pakistani Army, had decided to lay down arms. He had apparently watched our 10-odd tanks moving forward in a cloud of dust and believed that a tank regiment was attacking," Nath said.
This was on December 15, 1971, a day before Lt Gen AAK Niazi surrendered in Dhaka. Nath was not aware of the plans for the next day and thought it appropriate to get a document from the Pakistanis to prove that they had actually surrendered to him. The Pakistanis put down all details about the troops, wrote a surrender statement and handed the document to Gen Nath, who was from the 11 Gorkha Rifles. The document is still present at the War Museum of the 62 Mountain Brigade (now the 62 Armoured Brigade).
"I even took the Pakistani general's baton and handed it over to the museum. Unfortunately, I didn't have a photographer with me at that time. I have seen the War from up close and the torture meted out to Bangladeshis by the Pakistani troops and Razakars. In fact, it was the plight of the refugees entering India that motivated my troops to act tough against the Pakistanis and Razakars. Strangely, Indian Army did away with the light tanks that could be very effective if fitted with missiles. I feel that India should have a couple of regiments of light tanks even today," Gen Nath said.
Reliving the Madhumati heroics - The Times of India
