Mention-in-Despatches III: Battle honour Sylhet

Despatches from the Eastern Command

L to R: Late Lt. Hawa Singh (A Coy), Vr. C; Major Viru Rawat (B Coy); Major Rattan Kaul (D Coy); Late Captain PK Johri, SM (A Coy); Late Major Dinesh Rana (A Coy) (Image: Bharat Rakshak)

The unifying thread binding Commanding Officers of Gorkha battalions is their unwavering conviction that their battalion should have had more Param Vir Chakras or Victoria Crosses to their name. Such is their honour and courage in battle and raconteuring thereafter. In case of the 4th Battalion the 5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), to give 4/5 GR their full name, it is true.

As far as surprises go, the call which informed Major AB ‘Harry’ Harolikar in early August 1971 that he was to leave his parent battalion, 3/5 Gorkha Rifles in the Jammu sector, and assume command of 4/5 Gorkha Rifles was the biggest of his life. He was the second in command at 3/5 GR and was fully expecting to continue serving as such. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and placed in command of 4/5 GR at Zakama, Nagaland. Commanding your men’s respect, and not just the battalion, is the biggest and most important battle any infantry officer can fight and it begins the day he is commissioned into his parent battalion. To be airdropped to command a new battalion, albeit from the same regiment, in the middle rising hostilities which were certain to lead to war, is really stretching it.

Sylhet lies in North Eastern Bangladesh (then East Pakistan, which made Sylhet North East, East…