10 baluch in 1971 war

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10 Baluch in 1971 war
• November 2022
• DOI:
• 10.13140/RG.2.2.20064.97288
• Project:
• MILITARY HISTORY
• Agha H Amin

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Major Agha.H.Amin was commissioned in the old PAVO
Cavalry in March 1983.
He was educated at Saint Marys Academy Lalazar and
Forman Christian College Lahore.
He served in various command, staff, research, logistics
and instructional positions in his military career,

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including mechanical transport officer of an armoured
brigade headquarter, mechanical transport officer of an
armouredregiment , general staff officer research trial
and publications at School of Armour , Instructor Class C
at Tactical Wing School of Armour and finally
independent command directly under a major general as
Officer Commanding 5 Independent Armoured Squadron.
In his civilian career performed projects like Uzbekistan
Kabul Transmission lines concrete foundations, CASA
1000 Line survey as sub contractor of SNC Lavalin Canada
and Turkmenistan Mazar transmission line as sub
contractor of FichtnerGmbh Germany.
Also served as Assistant Editor Defence Journal Karachi ,
Executive Editor Globe Karachi , Editor Journal of
Afghanistan Studies financed by Danish foreign ministry ,
Editor Intelligence Review , Editor Pakistan Military
Review , Editor Journal of Book Reviews, Editor Indian
Military Review etc.
Authored over 120 books and journals. Articles published
in Pakistan Army Journal and Citadel Journal of
Command and Staff College Quetta.
Established unprecedented and todate unbroken record
of an independent tank squadron defeating 7 tank
regiments in a corps level firing competition.

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Recommended creation of army commands in Pakistan
Army command and staff college Citadel Journal issue
2/98 in 1998 which was adopted by the Pakistan Army in
2005-7.
Has advised various states and international companies
on security matters as sub contractor of Spanish , USA
and Hongkong based companies.
Contact e mail :--- mazen@csio-ops.com and
pavocavalry@gmail.com

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This is the third of the volumes of book devoted to
Pakistan Army infantry battalion performance in 1971
war. This volume deals with performance of Baluch
Regiment battalions in the Western Theatre of war
against India.
The previous two volumes already published dealt with
performance of Punjab Regiment battalions fighting in
the western theatre.

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This volume will deal with Baluch Regiment infantry
battalions which participated in 1971 India Pakistan war ,
regardless of the fact , whether they saw action or not.
The analysis will follow the format below: --
Brief summary of the battalion’s war services and its area
of employment.
Total fatal casualties of the battalion which is an
important relative factor in assessing a battalion’s war
performance.
Another important factor to judge a unit’s level of
leadership which is assessed by studying if its officers
were leading from the front or not?

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Gallantry awards won by the battalion which may or may
not indicate a battalion’s performance in war.
Units’ performance in the war summed up and assessed.
What was the battalions net impact in the war.

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10 Baluch was part of 111 Brigade and its role in the
23 Division attack on Chhamb is explained in the
simplified map below.1
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Page-60- STEEDS OF WAR-BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971-
PAKISTAN INDIA WAR – Lt Gen Israr Ghumman -Marriala
Technologies-Lahore-2021

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The above planned attack was however a failure
and both battalions of 111 Brigade could not
achieve their objectives.
Both the battalions could not capture the assigned
objectives , i.e securing a line 3000 yards2 inside
Indian held territory ,on night 3rd/4th December
1971.
This situation is depicted in map below.
2
Page-20- THE BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971- Lt Col Ahmad Saeed-
Army Education Press-1973

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On 4th December 10 Baluch did practically nothing.
It was tasked to attack Uparli Banian and point 994
with H Hours for phase one attack on Uparli Banian
at 0415 Hours,5th December 1971 .3
This attack plan is illustrated in maps below.
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Page-136- STEEDS OF WAR-BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971-
PAKISTAN INDIA WAR –Op cit.

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The attack on Uparli Banian was a failure and phase
two was not launched. Lieutenant General Israr
Ghumman in his landmark study of 23 Division
operations quoted major general Ijaz Amjad as
stating that Alpha company of 10 Baluch, the left
attacking company was unable to hold on the
objective and because of this the second company
was also forced to withdraw.4
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Page-138- STEEDS OF WAR-BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971-
PAKISTAN INDIA WAR –Op cit.

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In terms of casualties the above failed attack was a
minor affair as the two attacking companies
suffered only one fatal casualty.5
According to general Ghumman’s book, major
general Eftikhar khan was severely disturbed by 10
Baluch’s failure at Uparli Banian and sent the
battalions commanding officer a letter warning that
he was giving the battalion another chance , and if
they failed he would disband the battalion ! 6
A new plan was made, which envisaged a two
company attack on point 994 by 10 Baluch followed
by an attack by 3 FF capturing, Khairowal , in phase
two .7 This attack plan is illustrated in two maps
below.
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Page-136- STEEDS OF WAR-BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971-
PAKISTAN INDIA WAR –Op cit.
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Pages-138 and 139- STEEDS OF WAR-BATTLE OF CHHAMB-
1971-PAKISTAN INDIA WAR –Op cit.
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Page-

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10 Baluch was ordered by 111 Brigade commander
colonel Tressler at 1530 Hours ,5th December, to
attack point 994, at 1630 hours. This was later

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postponed to 1715 hours as 10 Baluch movements
were clearly visible to the Indians occupying the
higher ground of point 994 ridge.8
10 Baluch now deeply charged and motivated
attacked point 994 with two companies, Charlie
Company and Delta Company and overran point
994. Indian company commander major D.S Pannu
was killed during this attack by 10 Baluch at point
994.9While 10 Baluch had occupied point 994 , a
claim refuted by all Indian accounts , a change of
command had taken place and brigadier NUK Babar
was appointed commander 111 Brigade , who
cancelled the attack,phase two and recalled 10
Baluch companies occupying point 994.
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Page-141- STEEDS OF WAR-BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971-
PAKISTAN INDIA WAR –Op cit.
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Page-333-OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE 1971 INDIA PAKISTAN
WAR-History Division -Ministry of Defence -Government of
India -1992.

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3 FF was now ordered to attack point 994 at first
light 6th December 1971 . This attack was also a
miserable failure.The new brigade commander of
111 Brigade was injured by artillery fire and was
evacuated.Lieutenant Colonel Ihsan ul Haq of 10
Baluch now assumed command of 111 Brigade. He
planned another attack for 7th December using 3 FF
and 42 Punjab . However during the night Indians
had evacuated Chhamb salient and when 111
Brigade advanced on morning 7th December they
found Indian positions around point 994 ridge
already evacuated during the preceeding night ,
because of Pakistani tank attack on 6th December
1971 on Barsala Chak Pandit Axis.
10 Baluch saw its next and last major action when it
was tasked along with 4 Punjab to attack across
Tawi as part of 111 Brigade and establish a bridge
head on 10th December 1971.

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10 Baluch successfully captured its objectives but
the attack failed as 28 Cavalry which was supposed
to attack through 10 Baluch positions10 towards
Pallanwala failed to join 10 Baluch and instead
wheeled southwards towards 4 Punjab positions
across Tawi River.11
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Page-375-VETERAN CAMPAIGNERS-A HISTORY OF THE
PUNJAB REGIMENT-1759-1981- Brigadier S Haider Abbas Rizvi-
Wajidalis Limited- Lahore 1984.
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Page-79- THE BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971-Op cit.

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With the tank regiment supposed to be grouped
with 10 Baluch missing , and under intense Indian
tank and infantry attack 10 Baluch’s acting CO
Major Bunyaad decided that the battalion would be
encircled and destroyed by Indian tanks and
infantry , if it did not pull back and withdraw
towards Tawi rivers west (home bank) bank. This
was the end of 10 Baluch battle.

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10 Baluch lost 47 killed.12
One officer, major Azam Rajput was killed in
action.13
The battalion was awarded following awards: --14
• Sitara e Jurrat -ONE
• Tamgha I Jurrat -FOUR
• Imtiazi Sanad -ONE
12
Page-351- HISTORY OF THE BALOCH REGIMENT-Op cit.
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Page-350- STEEDS OF WAR-BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971-
PAKISTAN INDIA WAR –Op cit.
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Page- 350- STEEDS OF WAR-BATTLE OF CHHAMB-1971-
PAKISTAN INDIA WAR –Op cit.

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The battalion performed outstandingly, but was
badly led, both at battalion level and brigade level.
Its parent brigade commander, never joined his
brigade on pretext of conducting trial of Sheikh
Mujeeb ur Rahman , a most flimsy excuse and later
rose to be four star general.
111 Brigade’s acting command was first held by a
newly promoted colonel who was unable to
conduct an effective brigade battle. As per this
scribe’s research , he was sabotaged by a bad
brigade major who simply did not act as a good
team member.
The second brigade commander of this brigade was
an artillery officer who was brave , but had no
infantry command experience and lasted only one
day , being wounded by artillery fire.
The third brigade commander of this brigade was
phenomenally incompetent and was a failure at
every step of the battle , that he fought from the
safety of the rear.

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The battalion successfully achieved all its tasks
except the first attack . However it was badly led
down by bad leadership repeatedly , at essentially
brigade level.
The final attack of 10 Baluch failed because of 28
Cavalry’s inept and bad navigation , which resulted
in the unit losing its way and joining the wrong
infantry battlion.
NIL.
A top-class battalion
which failed because of
phenomenally bad
brigade commanders.