‘Operation LEGHORN’ and the

Battle of the Namka Chu begins....

7 Infantry Brigade was originally tasked with the defence of Tawang, situated a mere 30 km from the Tibetan border at Bumla. On 8th

September 1962 an infantry battalion’s worth of Chinese troops

surrounded the Dhola post held by an Assam Rifles platoon, and told

them to leave Chinese territory.

As a reaction, on 8th September itself

the Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Sen, issued orders for the move of 7 Brigade, then in the process of concentrating in Tawang, to the Namka Chu area over 100 km away in the west.



On 9th September, at a meeting presided over by the Defence

Minister, V. K. Krishna Menon, it was decided that the Chinese must

be evicted from south of the Thag La ridge, and by force if necessary.

The meeting was attended by the COAS, Gen. P. N. Thapar, GOC-inC Eastern Command, Lt. Gen. L.P. Sen, the Cabinet Secretary, S.S. Khera, Joint Secretary in the Defence Ministry, H.C. Sarin, the

Director IB, B.N. Mullik, and a few others. Gen. Thapar accepted the decision, and a signal was sent to Eastern Command accordingly.

The operation was code-named ‘Operation LEGHORN’. the change in orders for 7 Brigade was in compliance with the Indian Government’s decision to retake possession of the disputed Thagla Ridge area, which was physically occupied by an entrenched Chinese brigade, a militarily impossible task even if it had been

logistically possible. 9th Punjab of 7 Brigade was ordered to occupy the

southern bank of the Namka Chu river-line facing the Thag La ridge,

which rose above it to its north.

Brig. John Parshuram Dalvi, Commander 7 Infantry Brigade writes:

The Namka Chu from Bridges I to IV had become the de-facto

military boundary. The Chinese had control of the whole of Thagla

Ridge, which was ours. Unfortunately, the Punjabis (9th Punjab)

were pinned down over 7 to 9 miles in small localities, maintaining

flag-posts to prevent minor incursions. Their localities had no

mutual support, limited fields of fire and no room for manoeuvre.

They had only pouch ammunition and two 3-inch mortars.

To be continued...