Yogendra Singh Yadav waspart of a ‘Ghatak’ platoon(crack team) that wasgiven the responsibility ofcapturing the criticalTiger Hill on July 3, 1999,during the Kargil war. The

odds were against theIndian soldiers as they had to climb a cliff to launch theassault on the enemy. As thebullets came raining down,Yadav was hit in the shoulderand groin. A lesser manwould have given up. But the 18 Grenadiers soldier’sresolve to complete the mission never faltered. Hisplatoon killed three Pakistanisoldiers before recapturingthe post — a turning point in the war.

ONE-MAN AMBUSH

On July 4, 1999, SanjayKumar and his comradeswere tasked with capturingArea Flat Top, a crucial fea-ture held by the Pakistanis.

Barely 150 metres from theirobjective, heavy machinegun fire from an enemybunker halted their advance.Showing steely resolve,Kumar crawled up the ridgealone amid a hail of bulletsthat tore his chest and fore-arm apart. Bleeding heavily,he charged at the enemybunker and killed threeenemy soldiers. Inspired byhis daredevilry, the rest ofthe 13 Jammu and KashmirRifles platoon assaulted the feature and capturedArea Flat Top.

There are only three principles of warfare —audacity, audacity and audacity” — famous words from American World War II hero, George

S Patton. Bana Singh, Sanjay Kumar and Yogendra Yadav have

no link to Patton — other than the audacity they showedin different conflicts for India, courageous feats that wonthem the country’s highest wartime gallantry award, theParam Vir Chakra. They are also the only three survivingIndian soldiers to proudly wear that medal on their chests.

Today, on Republic Day, we honour them by bringingtheir stories to you in the exciting graphic novel format.

Singh scripted his tale of valour on the icy heights ofthe Siachen glacier — the world’s highest and coldestbattlefield — in 1987 when the Indian Army recaptureda crucial post from the Pakistanis in a daring assault.

Kumar and Yadav are both Kargil heroes.Kumar crawled up a ridge alone amid a hail of bullets

that tore his chest and forearm apart, inspiring his pla-toon to capture a vantage point, Area Flat Top.

Yadav, too, took several bullets in the battle to captureTiger Hill, a turning point in the 1999 Kargil conflict.

The military usually awards the PVC posthumously.But Singh, Kumar and Yadav — who received their medalson Independence Day in 1999 — proved they were excep-tions to the rule.

THE LIVING LEGENDS

SIACHEN HERO

Leading a five-man army,Bana Singh launched a fierceassault on the Quaid post held by the Pakistani army in April 1987. They killed fivePakistani soldiers beforereclaiming the post, which thePakistanis had taken in theearly 1980s. That post is nowcalled the Bana post, namedafter the 8th Jammu andKashmir Light Infantry manwho retired as honorary cap-tain. Dominating positions onthe glacier gave the IndianArmy a huge advantage overPakistani posts located below.Pakistan had started claimingpossession of the glacier inthe early 1980s, allowing foreign mountaineering expeditions access.

GRENADIERYOGENDRA SINGHYADAV KARGIL 1999

RIFLEMANSANJAY KUMARKARGIL 1999

NAIB SUBEDAR /HON CAPT BANA SINGH SIACHEN 1987

CLIFFHANGER

June 1987Pakistanis had set up Quaidpost on Siachen. The domi-nating heights allowed themto fire at Indian posts. TheIndian army launched an operation to evict them. 8JAKLI was to do the honours

Night of July 4, 1999A crack unit, called the ‘Ghatak’platoon, of the 18 Grenadiersstealthily approaches Tiger Hillfrom a cliff face. The vantage postis held by the Pakistanis. The oddsare stacked against our troops

Night of July 4, 1999‘A’ company of 13 JAKRIF is orderedto capture Area Flat Top in theMushkoh valley, where Pakistanis areusing artillery fire to disrupt IndianArmy supply lines. Sanjay Kumar volunteers for the mission

The troops encounter a heavy snowstorm, almost blinding them

The explosion draws the attentionof Pakistani troops nearby and theycome to investigate

A jawan loses his footing and the tum-bling rocks alert theenemy, who open fire

The troops destroy the first enemy bunker and advance to the next one

Sanjay decides to take down the enemy bunker. Hecrawls towards it in the face of heavy firing

He emerges from the side of thebunker and kills its occupants

He creeps towards the secondbunker and takes the enemy troopsby surprise, killing all of them

Out of ammunition, hepicks up a heavy enemymachine gun and contin-ues to charge forward

Then he charges at the bunker

... and is hit

With the cover fire provided by his comrades keeping the Pakistanis huncheddown, Yadav gets closer to the bunker

The dominating feature issoon re-captured by theIndian Army, thanks toYadav’s heroics

Mission complete. FlatTop Area is back underIndian control by themorning of July 5, 1999

Bleeding profusely, he still managesto climb 60 feet under heavy enemyfire and crawls unnoticed to theenemy bunker

Yogendra Yadav is hit

Suddenly...

Bana sees them coming

In the ensuing chaos, someenemy troops try to fleebut slip into a crevice andfall to their deaths

On seeing the Indian troopsapproaching, the enemy fires

The situation gets worse asthe enemy fire halts the platoon’s advance

The Boforsrumble intoaction

Soon enough, thePakistanis open fire atthe advancing jawans

The artillery support allows theIndian troops to gain ground

Seriouslyinjured,Sanjay gets up andreaches forhis gun

Eventually, the weather clears

The post — the highest and toughest feature on the glacier — is won. The armylater names it after Bana Singh

... But the men brave the conditions andkeep climbing

Bana is firstto reach the top The jawans

break open thebunker doorand lobgrenades

Ready andraring to go,

Bana?

Yes sir, weshall not fail you

There, getthem!

Pak1: What was that, arewe underattack?

The heavy snow will give us cover, come

on boys…

That’sthem!

INDIA’S FINEST Three war heroes who exemplify courage and patriotism. Read their stories in a comic strip by Rishi Kumar

AArrgghh!!

Take that

Aieee

That’s a greatview, sir. We

came all the wayto see this...

I agree.Victory hasits own high

Argh!

Argh!

Damn!We’ve beenspotted

Argh…

Come on let’s go...

Sir, this bunker is stillpreventing usfrom moving

ahead

No moreartillery. Weare very closeto their post

It must be taken out. Wedon’t have muchtime as it will be daybreak

soon

I’ll seewhat I can

do. Cover me, sir…

In a daring assault, Yadav rushestowards the bunker,guns blazing,even as the enemyfires back

The secondbunker fallstoo, and the Indiantroops movefurtheraheadtowardsTiger HillGet down!

We’ve beenspotted, take

cover!

They have pinned us down.I am calling for

artillery support

Bravo 5 toKilo 3, requestfire support…

We haveto do it onour own

aieee

Argh!

The Pakistanis realize they’ve lost theadvantage and begin to flee but Sanjay is quick to shoot them down

This is for my men...

Let’s get out of here…

1 2 4 5

6

7

8

9

1

5 6 8

9 10

12

13

7

2 3 4 1 2 4 5 7

6

3

8 9

10

11

12 13

14

15

10 11 12

13

3

5

Let’s move, go go go ...

Take this!

Take this, you#$%*$#

Argh!

Once nearthe post,he lobs agrenade

The artwork has been created by Rishi Kumar, a

freelance Illustratorbased in New Delhi.

He is also the creatorand publisher of the

war comics titledSiachen: The Cold

War and BattlefieldSiachen.

“

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