The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories by Rachna Bisht Rawat

group of men, who recognize their comrades. The bodies are of the soldiers of the Charlie Company, 13 Kumaon, commanded by Major Shaitan Singh, which was almost completely wiped out by the Chinese in the Battle of Rezang La on 18 November 1962. Every single soldier they find is dead from multiple bullet wounds, shell injuries or splinters. Some lie dead in their bunkers, buried under boulders, others are still holding on to the butts of blown-off rifles. The nursing assistant has a syringe in his hand and a roll of bandage, the soldier operating the mortar holds a bomb.
    Maj Shaitan Singh is lying by a rock, a blood-stained bandage on his left arm, his stomach ripped open by a machine gun burst. The battle-hardy Brigadier T. N. Raina, commander, 114 Infantry Brigade, is so overcome by emotion that he breaks down. The orders for every man to fight till the last round and the last bullet had come from him.
    What is most remarkable is that none of the men has a bullet in his back. This means no one tried to run away. While Maj Shaitan Singh’s body is sent back to Jodhpur, the other heroes of Rezang La are cremated with full military honours at High Ground, the place where the battalion headquarters (HQ) used to be at the time of the battle. Mass funeral pyres are lit. 13 Kumaon is later awarded the Battle Honour Rezang La and the Theatre Honour Ladakh 1962. These names continue to remind new generations of soldiers of the story of Maj Shaitan Singh and his brave men who died defending their country’s honour. C Company is later re-raised and designated Rezang La Company by Army Headquarters.

    Of the 124 men deployed at Rezang La, 113 died fighting. Five were taken prisoners of war, of whom one died in custody. Only six survivors found their way back to their battalion of whom two live in Rewari, Haryana, about 80 km from Delhi.
    Subedar (Honorary Captain) Ram Chander and Havaldar Nihal Singh, Sena Medal, both 74 and wearing the green- and-yellow-striped regimental cravats of the Kumaonis, meet me at the Rezang La memorial in Rewari. Since 13 Kumaon was an all-Ahir paltan, most men who died in Rezang La belonged to villages in that area, and the memorial, which holds earth brought from where they fought their last battle, is dedicated to them.
    Ram Chander was Maj Shaitan Singh’s radio operator, and one of the last people to see him alive. Nihal was on the light machine gun (LMG); he rolls up his shirtsleeves to show me the terrible scars of enemy bullets that pierced his arms when he was swinging his gun left to right. He was the only one left alive in his trench.
    It is from these men that I hear the amazing story of Maj Shaitan Singh and the Vir Ahirs of C Company, 13 Kumaon.

Rezang La
October 1962
    When a Chinese attack became imminent in Ladakh, 13 Kumaon was one of the battalions to be moved there under 114 Infantry Brigade, which had been tasked with defending Chushul. They reached Leh on 2 October and were moved to Chushul after about ten days. C Company was told to establish posts at a pass called Rezang La, about 30 km south of the village of Chushul. It was one of the routes the enemy was expected to attack from. The administrative base of C Company was about 10 km from battalion HQ and it took Maj Shaitan Singh and his company of 124 men three hours to climb to the pass. They took their heavy loads on yaks and ponies hired from local Ladakhis. Most of the men were from Haryana and had never seen snow before. Now, quite suddenly, they found themselves in freezing temperatures at a height of 16, 420 feet. They had been moved from Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, and had hardly had time to acclimatize.
    Maj Shaitan Singh placed his men on the forward slopes of the hill—Number 7 Platoon, under Jemadar Surja Singh, was on the north flank; 8 Platoon, under Jemadar Hari Ram, was in the pass area; and the central post was held by 9 Platoon under Jemadar Ram Chander, with the company HQ next to it. The mortar section,