Page 151 - Leadership in the Indian Army

With many places around Naushera in enemy hands and the threat of a
major assault ever present, 50 Para Brigade was in a precarious situation.
The morale of the garrison was at rock bottom. After the bitter communal

frenzy of Partition, some of the troops were unsure of the loyalty of a
Muslim commander. The situation was not improved by the exaggerated
accounts of the enemy given by men of 1 Para Punjab, which made them
seem invincible. Usman was faced with a daunting task. He not only had to
frustrate the designs of the enemy, but also win the confidence of his own
troops. He set about it in real earnest, and his forceful personality, good
personnel management and professional acumen soon changed the

situation. He introduced the greeting ‘Jai Hind’ in the brigade and directed
that all orders and briefings be in Hindi at all levels of command. So that
the other units in Naushera were not demoralised by their tall tales, 1 Para
Punjab was sent to Beripattan. It also did the unit good to be trusted with an
independent task after its defeat at the hands of the enemy.
The defence of Naushera was given due attention. Apart from the

perimeter, troops were deployed to man pickets on all important features
overlooking and dominating the approaches to the town. The line of
communication to Beripattan was often cut by the enemy, and this
interfered with the movement of supplies and reinforcements. To clear the
way, road-opening parties had to be sent from both directions. Usman was
not one to passively sit and wait for the enemy. He started ‘reconnaissance
in force’, which entailed hitting the enemy whenever he could. To free the

infantry for such limited offensive actions, he used administrative elements,
such as drivers, to man the perimeter by day. It was with one such offensive
that he captured Kot and Pathradi, thus clearing the enemy from the
immediate vicinity of Naushera defences and reducing the threat to the line
of communication back to Beripattan. The story of how or why Kot was
captured is interesting.

In January 1948 Lieutenant General K.M. Cariappa had taken over DEP
Command (later Western Command) from Lieutenant General Sir Dudley
Russell. Soon after assuming command, he visited Naushera. Accompanied
by Major (later Lieutenant General) S.K. Sinha, he landed at the airstrip in
Naushera in a two-seater Auster. Usman received the Army Commands and
took him around the brigade. Before he left, Cariappa turned to Usman and
said that he wanted a present: he wanted Usman to capture Kot, which was

the highest feature in the range of hills overlooking the Naushera valley.