UNSUNG HEROES OF INDIAN ARMY: #1

Lt. Gen. Sagat Singh, PVSM —The forgotten General, who never lost a war.

Lt Gen Sagat Singh is unarguably the only military genius post independence India has produced. Gen Sagat Singh joined the army as a Sepoy in the erstwhile Indian princely state of Bikaner and rose to become a Lt. General in the Army. On being absorbed into the Indian Army after Independence, he was transferred to 3rd Gorkha Rifles, where he commanded two battalions.

Lt Gen Sagat Singh played a pivotal role not only in the liberation of Goa in 1961 and Bangladesh 1971, but also led from the front to save Nathu La from being captured by intruding Chinese troops in 1967. In 1967, he commanded 17 Mountain Division in Sikkim, where a bloody skirmish took place between Indian forces and Chinese PLA soldiers at the Nathu La and Cho La. He gave the Chinese a bloody nose, proving that the Indian Army was no pushover. India won this war against the Chinese and took revenge of 1962 defeat.

He was notable for his participation in invasion of Goa in 1961 and responsible for liberating Goa from Portuguese Army. It was his audacious leadership that tilted the balance in India’s favour. Interestingly, Major General V.K. Singh in his book, Leadership in the Indian Army: Biographies of Twelve Soldiers, has recorded that Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Salazar had announced an award of $10,000 to anyone who captured and delivered the Indian Brigadier Sagat Singh to Republic Portuguese. Inexplicably back home the Defence Ministry of India disallowed gallantry awards for the liberation of Goa.

The 1971 Indo-Pak war which resulted in the formation of a new country called Bangladesh. This was a defining moment in modern India’s history. On the evening of 3 December 1971, Pakistani aircraft attacked Indian airfields. Immediately General Sam Manekshaw, the Chief of Army Staff, ordered the commanders to put into effect their operational plans. The war to liberate Bangladesh was underway.

On the sixth day of the war, 9 December 1971, Lt General Sagat, Corps commander of the 4 Corps, stood on the east bank of river Meghna in East Pakistan visualising the unimaginable. At the planning stage, Lt General Sagat envisaged that the capture of Dacca (Dhaka now) was the key to winning the 1971 war. But Indian Generals remained sceptical about Dacca as a military objective since two rivers protected it. The top brass in the operations room were impressed with Lt General Sagat’s daredevil capturing of towns and he had kept the enemy off-balance. He was credited for capturing Chandpur single-handedly.

On that very cold winter morning of 9 December, Lt General Sagat thought otherwise. From his perspective the only thing that stood between the Indian Army and absolute victory was the 4,000 feet wide Meghna river. Boarding an Indian Air Force helicopter Lt General Sagat undertook a dangerous reconnaissance mission. Over Bhiarab Bazar his chopper was targeted by very accurate machine gun fire by the Pakistani troops. Bullets narrowly missed Lt General Sagat’s forehead. The main windshield shattered and the splintering glass injured him. The pilot received serious bullet wounds. The Co-pilot managed to return to base despite sixty-five hits.

The Army doctors dressing Lt General’s arm and forehead insisted that he take rest for 24 hours before resuming command. But the Lt General who had narrowly escaped death many times before immediately embarked on another mission in a chopper and returned to lead his men into the battlefield. Then in an astounding “helibourne operation” Lt General Sagat accomplished the impossible. Under his command on the night of 9-10 December, the squad of brave pilots of the fourteen IAF Mi4 choppers flew 110 sorties. Using the element of surprise Group Captain Chandan Singh magnificently airlifted the entire 311 Brigade with 23 troops in each flight. Simultaneously, 73rd Brigade moved across Meghna on boats and riverine crafts.

The next day USS Enterprise and the US Seventh Fleet were poised to enter the Bay of Bengal. At that crucial time, Lt General Sagat, with 3,000 troops and forty tonnes of equipment and heavy guns, was strategically positioned on the western bank of the mighty Meghna river. Ahead of them lay the gates of fortress Dacca and the road to victory. The message that Lt General Sagat and his men had reached the other side of Meghna was delivered in the office of the Prime Minister of India in distant New Delhi. It has been recorded that on hearing the news, Indira Gandhi beaming with joy and with wind in her hair ran across the corridor of her office. The Prime Minister personally commended Lt General Sagat and sent congratulatory messages to the Indian forces now racing towards Dacca.

Few notable moments can change the outcome of any war. The crossing of the Meghna by the Indian Air Force and Army was the most important and decisive operation in the Bangladesh War. The dare and dash initiative of the field commander that smashed its way through the pride of the Pakistani Army was a major factor in India’s triumphant march towards Dacca.

On the 12th day of the war the first artillery shell of the Indian Army fell inside the Dacca cantonment. Pakistan’s Marshal Law Administrator Lt General Abdullah Khan Niazi, the man behind the “impregnable fortress Dacca strategy”, had in an impromptu press conference at Dacca airport promised to fight to the “last man, last round”. But within hours Lt General Niazi reached the breaking point.

On Thursday, 16 December 1971, a date that will live in infamy in Pakistan, a supremely confident Lt General Sagat was introduced to the grim faced Lt General Niazi at the Race Course in Dacca. The Pakistani commander is reported to have exclaimed in admiration, “Oh my God, you accomplished the inconceivable.”

At 4 pm, 16 December 1971, on the darkest day in Pakistan’s history, Lt General Niazi borrowed a pen from Surojit Sen of All India Radio and signed five copies of the Instrument of Surrender. Lt General Jagjit Singh Arora accepted the surrender on behalf of India. No words were exchanged. There was nothing left to be said. That Instrument of Surrender was the first and the only public surrender in world history. Simultaneously 93,000 Pakistani officers, soldiers, civilian officials, and allies laid down their arms. This was a feat unparalleled in the annals of warfare. It was the fastest successful military campaigns of modern times and the swiftest liberation of a nation ever. This was a defining moment in modern India’s history.

After the instrument of surrender signed on December 16,1971 then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi visited Dhaka and profusely thanked Gen Sagat Singh, advised him to stay in Dhaka and assist the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government.

After the 1971 war, when Gen Sagat was superseded and his junior, Lt Gen KK Singh, was made his boss, Gen Sinha said, and I quote “I considered it very unfortunate that the higher-ups should treat a war hero who had done so much for the country in such an unfair and unjust manner.”

In 1972, Lt General Sagat Singh, PVSM, was awarded the Padma Bhushan. In March 2013 the Government of Bangladesh acknowledged his achievements and invited his son Col. Ran Vijay Singh and his wife to pay tribute to his father, General Sagat Singh, the liberator of Bangladesh. A thoughtful gesture from a grateful nation.

After retirement from the Indian Army he settled down in Jaipur and appropriately named his house “Meghna”. On 26 September 2001, thirty years after ensuring the victory in the Bangladesh War, our nation’s war hero who changed the history and geography of India breathed his last. On Sagat Singh’s death, Lt Gen KK Singh pays him the ultimate tribute: “A great General who had become a legend in his lifetime. India will not see the likes of Sagat Singh again.”

Lt General Sagat Singh, PVSM, Padma Bhushan (14 July 1919 to 26 September 2001), arguably the greatest combat general of the contemporary world, was a remarkable Indian. An effort should be undertaken by the Government of India to include his wartime exploits in school textbooks.

Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw once said: “If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha.” I might add: or a Sagat Singh. Truly an unsung hero.