The Parachute Regiment

The Drop at Tangail

By 4.50 pm on 11 December 1971, about 750 men of 2 Para were on the ground north of Tangail in East Pakistan. Independent India had never before dropped an infantry battalion into battle. An-12s, C-119 Boxcars and Dakotas of the Indian Air Force carried the force. Its objective was the Poongli Bridge over the Lohajang River, with the ferry point east of it, to block the withdrawal of the Pakistani 93 Infantry Brigade towards Dhaka.

The bridge and ferry were taken by 8 pm. Five counterattacks by the Pakistani brigade failed, and at 3 pm on 12 December 1 Maratha Light Infantry, coming overland, linked up with the paratroopers at Poongli. Elements of 2 Para were later reported as the first Indian troops into Dhaka. The commanding officer, Lt Col Kulwant Singh Pannu, received the Maha Vir Chakra. Figures for Pakistani losses and for the size of the Indian air effort vary from one account to another. Poongli Bridge is listed among the regiment's battle honours.

Sangshak, March 1944

The airborne line starts earlier, with 50 Parachute Brigade, raised in the British Indian Army on 29 October 1941. Its hardest early action was fought on foot. In March 1944 the brigade, under Brigadier Hope Thomson, stood across the Japanese approach to Imphal at Sangshak in Manipur, with 152 Indian Parachute Battalion, 153 Gurkha Parachute Battalion and 4/5 Mahratta Light Infantry.

The site had no water source, and water was rationed with the wounded first in line. On 25 March the Japanese took the church on the highest point of the position. On 26 March, at 5.45 pm, a radio order reached the brigade: "Fight your way out. Go south then west." It broke out at 10.30 that night in small groups and marched about 30 miles to Imphal. The Kohima Museum's account gives 850 killed, wounded or captured out of about 2,000; other accounts put the brigade's loss at 652. 152 Battalion lost roughly 80 per cent of its 600 men, and about 150 wounded who could not be moved were left behind.

Usman at Jhangar

After Partition the brigade went to Jammu and Kashmir. Its three Indian parachute battalions at that stage belonged to older regiments: 1 Punjab (Para), 3 Maratha Light Infantry (Para) and 1 Kumaon (Para). In December 1947 Brigadier Mohammad Usman took command of the brigade, by then at Jhangar. Pakistani forces captured Jhangar on 25 December. He defended Naushera in January and February 1948 and the brigade retook Jhangar in the months after.

On 3 July 1948 a 25-pounder shell killed Usman at Jhangar. He was 12 days short of his 36th birthday and received the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously. Six other officers and men of the brigade's battalions received the same decoration for the 1947 to 1948 fighting, including Lt Col Harbans Singh Virk, Major A. K. Ramaswamy and Paratrooper Man Singh.

When the regiment was re-raised on 15 April 1952, those three battalions were absorbed as 1, 2 and 3 Para.

Haji Pir, 28 August 1965

In August 1965 the plan to reach the Haji Pir Pass depended on capturing Rustan and Badori on the way. Other battalions attacked those places four times without success. 1 Para was given Sank, Sar and Ledwali Gali. A night attack on Sank on 25/26 August failed with 18 casualties. The paratroopers took it the following night, and Ledwali Gali by 11 am on 27 August.

Major Ranjit Singh Dyal then volunteered to go for the pass itself, and the battalion took over the operation that day. It moved along the Hyderabad nullah by night, in heavy going, and climbed about 4,000 feet on foot. At 11 am on 28 August it had Haji Pir. The citation records one Pakistani officer and 11 other ranks taken prisoner. Dyal received the Maha Vir Chakra. The pass went back to Pakistan under the Tashkent Agreement.

The Ashoka Chakra Roll

Parachute battalions went into Sri Lanka with the Indian Peace Keeping Force under Operation Pawan, five of them, three of those commando units. Maldives 1988 and Batalik are recorded in the regiment's list of honours. Later awards came mainly from Special Forces battalions. These posthumous Ashoka Chakras are recorded against the regiment:

• Captain Arun Singh Jasrotia, 9 Para (Commando)
• Major Sudhir Kumar Walia, 9 Para (Commando)
• Paratrooper Sanjog Chhetri, 9 Para (Special Forces)
• Captain Harshan R, 2 Para (Special Forces)
• Havildar Bahadur Singh Bohra, 10 Para (Special Forces)
• Havildar Gajender Singh Bisht, 10 Para (Special Forces)
• Major Mohit Sharma, 1 Para (Special Forces)
• Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami, 9 Para (Special Forces)

At a glance

• Raised: First formed 1 March 1945; re-raised 15 April 1952
• Regimental centre: Bengaluru, Karnataka
• Motto: Shatrujeet (Conqueror of Enemies)
• War cry: Balidan Param Dharma (Sacrifice is Supreme Duty)