7/27/2019 WAR IS A FRIDGE

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The incredible story of how Col. Narendra Kumar secured the Siachen Glacier for India.

In the army, they knew him as Bull Kumar, awed as his mates were by the strength of his thick, muscular neck. Col Narendra Kumar earned this sobriquet at the

National Defence Academy, then in Dehradun, during the first boxing match he fought. His rival was a senior cadet, S.F. Rodrigues, who went on to become the

chief of army staff. Col Kumar lost the bout, but the Bull epithet s tuck.

Since then, Col Kumar has done everything in his long military career to justify the name his colleagues gave him. Like the bull, he loves a challenge, sniffs it even

before others can see it, and goes at it in a single-minded pursuit, indifferent to consequences, full tilt, tail up. It was these qualities of his that ensured the

Siachen glacier became an integral part of India.

The heroic story of Col Kumar dates to 1978, when he took a major expedition to the inhospitable glacier. This was six years before India launched Operation

Meghdoot to thwart Pakistans designs on the Siachen glacier. No doubt, he knew the mountains well, commissioned as he had been into the Kumaon Regiment

and consequently having spent the better part of his military career surrounded by troops born and bred in the rugged hills of Kumaon. Yet glaciers arent just

stunningly beautiful mountainscape: they can numb, daze and kill you. Col Kumar, posted as the commandant of the armys High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS)

in Gulmarg then, knew he was heading into uncharted territory. This was the first major expedition into the unknown, he says, reminiscing about it in his flat in

Delhi. We had some reports that the Americans were showing Siachen as part of Pakistan in their adventure maps.

What Kumar and his team planned was to reach the glaciers snout, its lowest point, where the ice melts into water, and then trek up the 77 km of treacherous

crevasses, mountains, passes and snow-covered peaks to reach the source. The colonel knew the stakes were high, that this mission could decide the future of

Indias strategic outreach and establish a critical wedge between Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and the swathe of Indian territory the Chinese had occupied in the

aftermath of 1962. Our equipment wasnt the best, we didnt have any maps, he recalls. We were going in blind and all we had was a rough idea of the peaks

which had been named by the British decades ago.

Bound to each other by thick ropes, trekking across the harsh terrain for weeks on end, Col Kumar became the first Indian to climb the Sia Kangri peak, which

offers a majestic view of the Siachen glacier. But there was also a surprise awaiting the teama Japanese mountain expedition facilitated by the Pakistan

military had a presence there. After a sit -rep (situational report) was dispatched to the army headquarters, the team went from peak to peak, staying ahead ofsnow avalanches to chart the area.

Bull Kumar led other expeditions till 1984, losing four toes to frostbite. His sacrifice wasnt to go waste.

Cut to 1984: intelligence information convinced the army headquarters that the Pakistanis were planning to militarily occupy Siachen and the heights of the

nearby Saltoro ridge. There was evidence: in the autumn of 1983, a team from the Indian armys elite Ladakh Scouts had sighted a Pakistani special forces unit

from the ssg in the Siachen area. This prompted the area army headquarters to immediately draw up plans for a major operation in the summer of 1984. The

fourth battalion of the Kumaon Regiment was assembled and equipped for Operation Meghdoot, which had as its bulwark Kumars maps, films and his knowledge

of the area.

On April 13, 1984, Operation Meghdoot finally got under way. Ai r force choppers, their engines clattering in protest at being pushed to the limits of technological

possibility at incredible heights, began to drop soldiers at Bila fond La which is today part of the Siachen Base Camp. For the first t ime in history, India had

stamped its claim on the Siachen glacier. The sturdy Kumaonis then trekked up the glacier to secure the two major passesthe Sia La and Gyong Laeven as

the Pakistanis were scrambling their troops into the region. The Kumaonis moved up the Saltoro ridge, overlooking the approach from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,

and Sia Kangri to establish posts that would give India the command of the glacier. With hands veritably frozen around their 7.62 mm rifles, Indian troops battled

the elements to establish a military foothold in what would become the worlds highest battlefield.

At times, you face impossible choices on the glacier. We always moved in pairs, bound to each other by rope. At one point, my buddy fell into a crevasse. For 45

minutes, I grappled with the idea of dying with him or cutting him loose and saving my life or to hang with him till the cold killed us both. I am glad that I nevercut the rope. In those 45 minutes, the buddy crawled up, the duo living to continue their foray from peak to peak.

To the west of the glacier were hostile Pakistani troops; on the east and to the north stood the Chinese. Had Col Kumar been given a clearance, hed perhaps

have climbed the K2 peak in the Karakoram ranges as well. But to reach K2, hed have had to traverse the Shaksgam valley, which the Pakistanis had illegally

ceded to China. So, India halted its advance on reaching the northernmost tip of the Siachen glacier, settling in on its frozen waste.

As Indian troops established more posts, a key base on the glacier was named Kumar Base: perhaps the only living Indian army officer to enjoy this singular

honour. Indias claim to Siachen was confirmed. But the refrigerated combat against the elements and Pakistan had only just begun.

#GunsGutsGlory...Long Live the traditions of the #IndianMilitary

RIP the departed Souls...Jai Maa Bharati!!!