It was the 3rd of December 1971. Lt col Kl Rattan the Commanding Officer of 6 Sikh was scanning the reports coming in from his companies deployed along the border in Punch. The events were unfolding just as he had visualised and planned for .the enemy attack was imminent and the Battalion was fully prepared to face it.
6 Sikh had moved into 93 Infantry Brigade sector and had taken over the task of defending Punch in may 1971. Puncwers of 1947 48 and 1965 also. Pakistan was bound to make yet another attempt to grab it so as to have an easy route of access to the Kashmir valley. The Indian observation posts at the Forward Defended Localities FDLS had been reporting large movement of Pakistani vehicles carrying troops and stored for the past few months. Their recce and surveillance parties had also been seen all along the line of control LoC obviously gathering intelligence on Indian troop deployment. In the past few days activities had become hectic and troops in large numbers could be seen moving behind Pakistani border posts called Raja and Rani on 30 November when the villagers across the LOC were seen vacating their homes in large numbers it became clear that the day of Reckoning wasn too far. On 1 December COL Rattan spoke to his men exhorting them to be vigilant and ready to live up to the best traditions of the Battalion. Loud cries of Bole so Nihal sat Sri Akal resounded and might have scared the enemy across the line of control. The confidence of VO and his men stemmed from the fact that tjri deployment was done after a lot of thought and their preparations were thorough. On taking over the location in May COL Rattan had carried out some re- adjustments in the deployment pattern in the battalion defended area. He was intimately familiar with the LOC in this area as he had operated here in the 1965 war and had participated in the capture of Haji Our.
Vanshi
Verified Author Expert@DigitalDiaryWefru