Kargil Vijay Diwas: Know About 4 National Heroes Who Displayed Exemplary Courage On Battlefield

The Kargil war was a war fought against Pakistan which lasted for two months and the victory of this war had to pay a heavy price. During this war 527 brave sons sacrificed their lives while more than 1300 soldiers were injured.

The Pakistan army had come secretly and seized many peaks in Kargil. This war was one of the toughest battles in the world due to the high altitude and difficult terrain.

Indian soldiers gave such a lesson to the Pakistan army in Kargil with their courage that the latter never dared to look back. Here are 4 brave soldiers who showed exemplary courage on the battlefield.

ALSO READ | Kargil Vijay Diwas: President, Prime Minister, Leaders And Officials Pay Tributes To War Heroes

1 Major Padmapani Acharya

Major Padmapani Acharya was one of the Indian soldiers of the 2 Rajputana Rifles who were sent to capture Tololing. Major Padmapani Acharya was ordered on 28 June 1999 as a company commander to take control of the enemy from Tololing. But Pakistani intruders had laid mines there and were equipped with ultra-modern weapons.

Major Padmapani got many bullets from the enemies but he continued to move forward in his mission and by driving the enemies from there, he seized that post. Major Padmapani, however, was martyred as soon as he completed this mission due to the bullets being badly injured by the enemies.

2 Lt. Manoj Pandey

Born in Rudha village of Sitapur, UP, Manoj Pandey got his first posting after rigorous training in 11 Gorkha Rifles Regiment. Manoj Pandey went to different areas with his unit. During the Kargil war, his battalion was in Siachen and his three-month tenure was also completed. But during that time an order came that the battalion has to move towards Kargil. During this war that lasted for two months, Lieutenant Manoj Pandey later led it and took control of the peaks like Kukarthang, Jubertop from the possession of the enemies. But on July 3, 1999, as they proceeded to capture the top of Khalubar, the opponents started firing blindly.

After this Manoj waited for the night to get dark and after that started blowing up the bunkers of the opponents. They destroyed three bunkers of the Pakistani army. Manoj Pandey, taking his Gorkha platoon and shouting ‘Kali Mata ki Jai’ slogans in the inaccessible mountainous area, defeated Pakistani enemies on the battlefield. When Lieutenant Manoj was about to blow up the remaining bunkers, the enemies started firing on him.

In injured condition, Manoj kept moving forward as he wanted to hoist the tricolor on Khalbar top. The lieutenant also managed to blow up the fourth bunker. But the enemies saw him and then started firing blindly at him. Seeing their senior soldier being martyred, Indian soldiers did not stop but selectively destroyed all the bunkers there.

3 Rifleman Sanjay Kumar

13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles jawan Sanjay Kumar was once a taxi driver and was rejected thrice by the army. During the Kargil war, he was part of the detachment that was given the responsibility of seizing the flat top of Point 4875 in the Mushkoh Valley. In the Kargil war, Rifleman Sanjay Kumar was sent on 4 July 1999 to capture the flat top area of Point 4875 in the Mashkoh Valley. As they progressed, the enemy started firing with tremendous automatic guns and in such a situation, the advance of the detachment was finding it difficult. After this, Rifleman Sanjay Kumar piled up three Pakistani troops in a face-to-face encounter and, despite himself in a bleed condition, proceeded forward unaffected by the wounds. After this sudden attack from Sanjay’s side, the enemy ran away from there.  The Pakistani army escaped for saving their life, leaving its universal machine.

After this, Rifleman Sanjay took that gun also and continued to attack the enemies. Seeing his courage, the other soldiers of his detachment also got excited and they started to attack all the enemies. But he kept fighting with the enemies until he got Point Flat Top vacated despite being injured in serious condition. For his bravery, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra.

4 Major Vivek Gupta

The commanding officer ordered Vivek Gupta of the 2 Rajputana Rashtriya Rifles to take control of the Tololing hills by driving away the enemies. But, executing this order was not so easy. Major Vivek Gupta was leading the march against the Pakistani infiltrator. On the night of June 12, under his leadership, the team had left to take control of the top of Tololing. When the enemies were faced with Major Vivek Gupta, at that time, showing indomitable valor and courage, he defeated the enemies.

However, due to the presence of enemies at high altitudes, Major Vivek Gupta was hit by 2 bullets. But he did not give up, after piling up three enemies, took possession of the bunker and hoisted the tricolor flag there. Major Gupta fought with the enemies till his last breath and after being seriously injured, he was martyred on June 13 for the defense of the country. He was posthumously awarded the Mahavir Chakra for his bravery.