Of Courage, Camaraderie and Professionalism
Reviewing the Book “Storm Troopers at Outpost Bhatti”
Kargil War was one of the defining moments of India’s recent military history and prowess. Barely a decade ago, the exalted status the Indian armed forces enjoyed in public perception after their historic victory of 1971 had been set back by several notches, when despite executing an impossible task in Sri Lanka with one hand tied behind their backs, they ended up being scapegoats for the political and diplomatic bungling. Added to that, the insurgency in Kashmir that was going on for a decade when the war broke out, had been taking its toll on the morale of the troops. Therefore, in a way, the Kargil War was one operation when the Indian Army and the Air Force fought with a desperate fervour, with the Navy waiting on the wings raring to go, to assert their unassailable status as the finest fighting forces in Asia. No military could have been thrown a more formidable challenge as they were – dismantling a determined enemy occupying towering peaks along the border with absolute tactical superiority, leaving them no option but suicidal assaults uphill. And they stunned not just the enemy while they did it, but their entire country and the whole world. The high-altitude vantage points the cunning enemy had occupied were rendered such macabre sites of devastation, that the hostile neighbour which perpetrated it had to beg to be allowed to take their dead and dying home. It was India’s first televised war and one which inspired an entire generation of youth.
The most popular image that grabbed the public attention as one gritty battle after the other was won by our troops was of our hardy foot soldiers charging the heights in do-or-die feats. Indeed, the Indian infantry was at its bloodiest best at Kargil, so many gallant young men laying down their lives. However, somewhat less noticed amidst the fury of the battles was the pivotal role played by the Indian gunners in winning each of those battles. Artillery, the King of the Battlefield, invariably ends up a lesser-known player in every war, with the attacking infantry or the cavalry stealing the limelight. Nevertheless, the Indian gunners scripted a unique chapter for themselves at Kargil, where, true to their motto of Sarvatra Izzat ‘O’ Iqbal (Everywhere with Honour and Glory), they became the grand architects without whom no victory could have been possible. Their awesome firepower proved a crucial factor in every battle. The devastating fire our guns brought down on the enemy positions rendered them dumbstruck, which enabled our infantrymen to assault those positions suffering considerably lesser casualties.
By and large, but for watching the images of the booming big guns on TV, the public seldom gets to know about the intricacies involved in an artillery shoot. Lieutenant Colonel Sada S Peter, an artillery veteran of the Kargil War, in his newly-released, debut work “Storm Troopers at Outpost Bhatti” gives the readers a fascinating account of the nuances of the gunners’ war, taking them through the technicalities of ranging and registering targets to fire control, observation and umpteen other aspects. Written as a fictional narrative in an easy-to-follow prose, the strain of the author, a professional soldier to the core, to tone down the difficult military terms and operational protocol to make it more palatable to general reader is apparent, but not awkward. In fact, the story line is too realistic that the line between fact and fiction is rather too thin. Reading the book, one gets to wonder why it had to be a fiction at all. Maybe non-availability of absolutely accurate information (it’s more than two decades since the war was fought) or the author did not want to step on anyone’s toes.
The author served as a rocket battery commander during the Kargil War. However, the storyline of the book revolves around 12 days the protagonist spends as an Artillery Assault Controller with his team amongst infantrymen from the Grenadiers at an isolated outpost named Bhatti, under enemy observation and fire. The story depicts the mutual apprehensions and subsequent admiration the gunners and infantrymen develop for each other under hardships and fire. An intense camaraderie is woven by their shared experience, which runs as a mellifluous subtext to the gunner story. By relating individual tales of men and their families, the author embellishes the narrative with a humane touch, although the protagonist’s reminiscence of his own romantic interlude could have been somewhat shortened.
On the whole, the book reveals a lesser-known chapter of the Kargil War and makes quite an absorbing read.
The author served in the army for more than two decades as a gunner as well as an aviator and joining the corporate world after retirement, he now lives in Chennai. Published by Sabre & Quill, New Delhi in paperback, the 177-page book is priced at Rs. 599.00
