Page 363 - Leadership in the Indian Army

squadron of 17 Horse, was to capture Barapind, while 16 Madras, supported
by another squadron of the regiment, was to capture Ghazipur.
The infantry attack went in as planned, and the bridgehead was secured by

16 Madras at 2030 hrs. The breaching of the minefield commenced, and the
armour was waiting for safe lanes to be cleared. The second phase of the
brigade attack also went in, and at 2330 hrs 13 Grenadiers reported that it
had secured Jarpal. Meanwhile, there were frantic calls from Lieutenant
Colonel V. Ghai, CO 16 Madras, reporting that he was being threatened by
enemy armour, which was building up for the counter-attack. At about 0230
hrs, there was another desperate appeal from Ghai, indicating that the

situation was critical, and that if he did not get any armour, he would not be
able hold out. Hanut realised that waiting for safe lanes could mean
destruction of the infantry and loss of the bridgehead. Crossing the
minefield, still unbreached, could result in a large number of his tanks being
written off.
Hanut decided to take the risk and send at least one squadron across to

relieve the beleaguered infantry. He gave the task to C Squadron, which was
led by the second-in-command, Major Ajai Singh, who had taken over after
the squadron commander Major Moti Dar had been wounded when his tank
received a direct hit. Captain Ravi Deol was transferred to C Squadron from
B Squadron, since he was familiar with the area, having seen it during
daylight. The squadron began to negotiate the minefield, with Deol as the
navigating officer and Ajai in the following tank. Miraculously, the

squadron crossed the minefield without a single casualty and successfully
secured the bridgehead. The next day, a jeep and an APC, which tried to
follow the tank tracks, blew up on the enemy mines. Hanut attributes the
luck of the squadron in crossing 600 metres of unbreached minefield
without a single casualty to the ‘Hand of Allah’. (The Standard of the
Poona Horse is surmounted by a silver hand, which was captured by the

regiment from the 1st Khusgai Regiment of Fars during the Persian War in
1857. The hand bears the inscription, dated AD 1066, ‘ Yad Ullal Fauk
Idehim ’, which means ‘The Hand of God is above all things.’)
There was a fierce tank battle on 16 December, followed by another one
on the next day, when the full weight of Pakistan’s 8 Armoured Brigade
was brought to bear on the Poona Horse. Inspired by Hanut’s leadership, the
regiment fought like lions and in a single day’s battle, destroyed 50 enemy

tanks, losing 13 of its own. In the Battle of Basantar, one of Pakistan’s