Pow 1971 : A Soldier's Account of The Heroic Battle of Daruchhian

The war with Pakistan in December 1971 lasted barely two weeks. It concluded on 16 December with a victory for India and the formation of Bangladesh. But there is a lesser known side to this epic military confrontation—that of the western front namely Jammu and Kashmir. While many contests on this side of India’s border were won some battles were ill-fated. The heroic battle at Daruchhian in the Poonch Sector was one of them.A cone-shaped feature approximately 1000 metres in height Daruchhian was of great tactical significance. The fierce clash on its slopes on the night of 13 December however could not ensure its capture. Many Indian soldiers were martyred and the survivors taken prisoner including Brigadier (then Major) Hamir Singh VrC. Heavily injured in battle he underwent a prolonged recovery at the Command Military Hospital Rawalpindi followed by an internment at the POW camp in Lyallpur. Hamir Singh’s eyewitness account recorded by the author his son Maj Gen Vijay Singh narrates in riveting detail what took place on that fateful night and what followed.