Page 305 - Leadership in the Indian Army

instead. At that time, the battalion had two Victoria Cross winners—
Subedar Major Gaje Singh Ghale and Subedar Agansing Rai. According to
army rules, holders of the VC and PVC are not permitted to go into areas

where there is likelihood of action. However, both Ghale and Rai were
adamant about accompanying the battalion, and Bakshi had to refer the
matter to Army HQ, which agreed to make an exception in their case.
In January 1962, they left Calcutta for Ahmednagar, en route to Bombay.
They embarked on the US naval ship, General Blatchford, on 10 March
1962, and reached Dar-es-Salaam after a voyage of nine days. From there
the troops were flown to Elizabethville, while their baggage was transported

first by barges across Lake Tanganyika, and then by train. By 25 March, the
battalion had concentrated in Elizabethville as part of the Indian Brigade,
which was in the Katanga province. The Indians formed part of the 27-
nation United Nations Force called the Organisation des Nations Unies au
Congo (ONUC), which had its headquarters at Leopoldville.
After independence from Belgium, tribal disunity and a breakdown of law

and order plunged Congo (now Zaire) into a civil war. The army mutinied,
and one of the tribal leaders, Tshombe, seized power. The task of the United
Nations’ peace-keeping force was to maintain law and order, and protect
vital installations from sabotage. The battalion frequently had to fight the
Katangese Gendarmerie, and there were several skirmishes as well as some
hard fought battles resulting in heavy casualties to both sides. By the end of
the year, 2/5 Gorkha Rifles had cleared Elizabethville—and the surrounding

area within a radius of about 20 kilometres—of all enemy positions and
minefields. After a year the battalion returned to India in March 1963 on-
board the same ship on which it had sailed to Congo. It was awarded two
Sena Medals and four ‘mentioned-in-dispatches’. Bakshi had missed the
Indo–China War of 1962—in fact, this was the only operation he missed—
but was awarded a Vishist Seva Medal (VSM) for his role in the Congo.

Upon its return, the battalion moved to Almora.
In August 1963, Bakshi was posted to the Military Operations Directorate
in Delhi. The MO is the most important branch in Army Headquarters,
responsible for operational planning, and only officers with the highest
rating are posted to this directorate. From December 1964 onwards, he
officiated as the Director of Military Operations. Early in 1965, Pakistan
had launched operations in the Rann of Kutch to regain control of territory

which she claimed as her own. Indian troops were rushed to the sector and