Page 349 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

support and turned non-committal towards the various Indian groups.

nd
On 11 September 1967, troops of the Indian Army’s 2 Grenadiers were
protecting an engineering company that was fencing the North Shoulder of

Nathu La, when Chinese troops opened fire on them. This escalated over the
next five days to an exchange of heavy artillery and mortar fire between the
nd
Indians and the Chinese. 62 Indian soldiers from the 2 Grenadiers and the
Artillery regiments were killed. Brigadier Rai Singh Yadav, the Commanding

Officer, was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra and Captain PS Dager was
awarded a Vir Chakra (posthumous) for their gallant actions. The extent of

Chinese casualties in this incident is not known.

In the second incident, on 1 October 1967, a group of Indian Gurkha Rifles
th
th
soldiers (from the 7 Battalion of the 11 Regiment) noticed Chinese troops
surrounding a sentry post near a boulder at the Chola outpost in Sikkim. After
a heated argument over the control of the boulder, a Chinese soldier
bayoneted a Gurkha rifleman, triggering the start of a close-quarters knife and
fire-fight, which then escalated to a mortar and HMG duel. The Chinese

troops had to signal a ceasefire after just three hours of fighting, but later
scaled Point 15450 to establish themselves there. The Gurkhas outflanked

them the next day to regain Point 15450 and the Chinese retreated across the
LAC. 21 Indian soldiers were killed in this action. The Indian government
awarded Vir Chakras to Rifleman Limbu (posthumous) and battalion

commander Major KB Joshi for their gallant actions. The extent of Chinese
casualties in this skirmish is also not known.

1970s

In August 1971, India signed its Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation
with the Soviet Union, and the United States and the PRC sided with Pakistan

in its December 1971 war with India. Although China strongly condemned
India, it did not carry out its veiled threat to intervene on Pakistan’s behalf.
By this time, the PRC had just replaced the Republic of China in the UN

where its representatives denounced India as being a “tool of Soviet
expansionism”.