IN August 1947, 1st Rajputs was stationed at Razmak, a tribal region in the North West Frontier Province. Now, given the context of the Partition of India, the Rajput – once evenly split between Hindu and Muslim – suddenly found itself a largely Hindu regiment where orders were passed that no stores, including regimental silver, can leave Razmak. Knowing the odds of being able to evacuate from a hostile territory, Col Bakshi Kuldip Singh, Commandant of 1st Rajput, volunteered for road opening duties.
Using the cover of this, he moved all his stores, equipment and weapons to Bannu and thereafter to Gardai by third week of October around the time the invasion began in Kashmir. The unit moved by the narrow gauge to Mari-Indus and then on to the Attari border. The battalion also evacuated a large number of women and girls from Bannu to Amritsar reaching on November 3, 1947.
Surplus clothes, weapons
The unit was inspected on arrival and it was learnt that not only did it have surplus clothing, it had also brought along surplus weapons, including machine guns and mortars despite the limitations imposed by Pakistan GHQ of 20 rounds per soldier. Gen KM Cariappa (later Field Marshal) an old paltan officer, diverted the paltan from Ranchi to Gurdaspur with the responsibility of the border from Dera Baba Nanak to Madhopur since he felt the Battalion would do better in active combat.
In the meantime, despite the winter setting in, the enemy had succeeded in keeping up the pressure on the garrisons at Poonch Uri and Jhangar. On December 25, 1947, the enemy captured dominating heights that overlooked Jhangar road. Brig Usman, under whom the 1st Rajputs served, decided to hold every possible approach and that is where Naik Jadunath and his brave men did their last stand on the morning of February 6, 1948. As the enemy pressed on in waves, Jadunath and his men repulsed each wave long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
The story of a small band of men overcoming an overwhelming enemy is always a basis for a legend and Naik Jadunath and his band of men were no less than those warriors at Rezang- La or Saragarhi. Naik Jadunath became the second recipient of the Param Vir Chakra.
Valour and courage
A foreign correspondent reporting on the war had said that Indian Army lacked everything except courage and that holds true in every circumstance. Somehow the British appropriated the valour and courage of the Indian soldier and packaged it as being due to their exceptional leadership. The victories of the Indian Army in several instances, snatching victory from jaws of defeat, is testimony to the valour of the Indian Soldier who, like Naik Jadunath, makes the supreme sacrifice for what they holds dearer than his own life. The soldier in India is testimony to what the memorial at Rezang La has inscribed: How can a Man die better, Than facing Fearful Odds, For the Ashes of His Fathers, And the Temples of His Gods
