7/2 Punjab soldiers with a captured flag of Hyderabad Army near Ballarshah. Photo: Special Arrangement
Havaldar Bachittar Singh, Havaldar Amar Singh and Naik Narbahadur Thapa, were some of the heroes of the 109-hour war that led to the annexation of Hyderabad on September 17, 1948.
While the names of the Generals who led Indian forces and Hyderabad forces are well-known, the soldiers who fought with bravery and courage have remained in the background. One of the reasons is that this was not actually a war. All these three soldiers were given awards that are given during peacetime — the Ashoka Chakra Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3. Archival records from The Hindugallantry citations and records at National Archives show how the military operation code named ‘Operation Polo’ played out.
Among the first to fall in the battle was Havaldar Bachittar Singh of 2 Sikh Regiment while trying to capture a gun post. The key to attack from the western front was Naldurg in present day Maharashtra. Running towards a protected position of Hyderabad forces at Naldurg, he received a burst of fire from a LMG (Light Machine Gun) that hit him on the thigh when he was 30-metres away.
“In spite of his wounds, he crawled forward and threw two grenades on the LMG post, thus silencing it. Havaldar Bachittar Singh, although mortally wounded, refused to allow anyone to dress his wounds,” says the citation of the first Ashoka Chakra awardee. Days later, Lt. Gen. Rajendra Sinhji, G.O.C.-in-Chief, Southern Command, the overall commander of Indian forces, assessed the event.
“The first stand of the Razakars was at Naldurg, 23 miles from Sholapur. Afterwards, they made some more attempts to hold up the advance of our armoured columns, but failed,” the general told journalists at Secunderabad.
On the southern front, at about the same time, it was the turn of Naik Narbahadur Thapa to show his mettle. His platoon was hemmed on the left bank of the Tungabhadra river by sniper fire and automatic gunfire. Then his Section (10 soldiers) provided the covering fire. With the enemy unable to raise their heads above the gun nest to take aim, Narbahadur Thapa sprinted some 100 metres and with his khukri, silenced the Bren gun crew.
“And by this very gallant effort he enabled his platoon to advance and secure the vital bridge,” reads his Ashoka Chakra gallantry citation. Both the Ashoka Chakra Class I, which are equivalent to peacetime Param Vir Chakra, were the first to be given within months of India gaining Independence.
The next day, the PIB briefed the nation: “Bridgeheads at Kurnool and Tungabhadra railway stations have been consolidated and patrolling carried/by our troops. At Hospet, our troops were counter-attacked twice by regular forces of the Hyderabad Army but both attacks were beaten off and the area cleared.”
The bridges on the rivers Krishna and Godavari and their tributaries were the key to the pace of movement of the Indian Army, which overran the 2,14,187 sq km within 109 hours. But it had a few hiccoughs and sheer luck. One British mercenary Lieutenant T.T. Moore was captured with a jeep load of dynamite while on his way to Naldurg on the western front.
“He had been sent at top speed by the Hyderabad Army Headquarters to demolish the Naldurg and other bridges. He had been told that the Indian Army advance would take place on September 15. If the Indian Army had marched in on the 15th and not on the 13th, they would have found all the important bridges blown up,” writes V.P. Menon, showing the key role played by Bachittar Singh in the march of Indian Army.
One of the most dramatic captures of a bridge was by Havaldar Amar Singh of Punjab Regiment. While suicide missions were unchartered territory, Amar Singh signed up for one when asked for volunteers to capture the 300-metre bridge over the River Penganga near Ballarshah. He was among the 18 soldiers who lay low on a sandbagged goods wagon known as a flat or platform pushed by a railway engine.
“The flat was pushed forward at great speed and as soon as it reached the last span, the brakes were applied. Amar Singh seeing the sentry about to blow up the bridge jumped out and shot him down. He then attacked and single-handedly silenced the LMG post, which was firing on the supporting troops,” says the citation for the soldier who received Ashoka Chakra Class II, now known as Kirti Chakra.
