Evolution of Love 2

Vishnu! Not your day today!

This write-up is dedicated to Lieutenant Colonel Vishnu Datta, for his services in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 on the Western front.

Lieutenant Colonel Vishnu Datta was commissioned in the Corps of the EME (Electrical and Mechanical), which is responsible for the development, design, upkeep, inspection and refit of weapons, weapon systems and equipment, including repairs and recovery. In 1971, Lieutenant Colonel Datta was commanding the 610 EME Battalion from the summer of that year. He and the Battalion was deployed in the Chhamb-Jaurian sector around Akhnoor in Jammu when war broke out with Pakistan on the 3rd of December, 1971.

The civilians were asked to evacuate the border villages and alongside aiding the villagers, the 610 EME Battalion flooded the fields. Often, Lieutenant Colonel Datta and his boys had to move in to aid the advancing infantry in clearing out stuck equipment right under enemy fire. He and his boys had to take cover and slowly advance to clear out the obstacles alongside aiding the infantry in moving up their equipment. Often, he and his comrades were welcomed by Pakistani artillery barrages.

The Commanding officer of an infantry Battalion and Lieutenant Colonel Datta’s boys were involved in a joint operation. It was here, where the commander offered a ride to Lieutenant Colonel Datta to his headquarters. After reaching the headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Datta got down and the Battalion commander pulled out his jeep and sat beside the driver’s seat when a Pakistani sniper shot hit him in the head! The jeep was barely out of the gate of the headquarters!

And the seat where Lieutenant Colonel Datta was once sitting still had the corpse of the Battalion commander. He had just said ‘Bye’ to Lieutenant Colonel Datta.

China had adopted a neutral state in the 1971 war but was actually, secretly supplying Pakistan with military hardware. Lieutenant Colonel Datta received intel about abandoned Pakistani tanks in a flooded field, which were actually Chinese Type-54 tanks. He and his boys went there and found Chinese number plates on them. Climbing up, he found the tanks loaded up with ammunition and food, mostly bread and channa. Two of these Chinese tanks were in full working order so after pulling out the tank munitions from them, he and his boys drove away with them. The tank munitions from all the tanks were loaded into these 2 working tanks and then they drove away.

Unfortunately, this didn’t happen smoothly. Pakistani artillery guns and small arms fire targeted this small section of engineers and soldiers. Taking cover and returning fire, they managed to complete all the laborious tasks and drove out with the 2 working tanks. Also, with these 2 tanks, India finally had proof that could be presented to the United Nations about Chinese hardware flooding the warzone even though China’s stance was neutral. These 2 tanks were brought to Delhi as well which were shown to Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

After the war ended, Lieutenant Colonel Datta kept the 2 Chinese license plates, but later, he presented the 2 tanks to the EME Museum in Secunderabad.

My salutes to him.

Jai Hind.