The siege of Skardu was a prolonged military

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...

carried out by the

Gilgit Scouts The Gilgit Scouts constituted a paramilitary force of the Gilgit Agency in northern Jammu and Kashmir. They were raised by the government of British India in 1913, on behalf of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, to police the northern front ...

Chitral Scouts The Chitral Scouts (''CS'') ( ur, چترال سکاوٹس), also known as Chitral Levies, originally raised in 1903 as the militia of the princely state of Chitral, is now part of the Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) of Pakistan. They are ...

and Chitral State Bodyguards, acting in coordination against

Jammu and Kashmir State Forces Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of , ...

and the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

in the town of

Skardu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

, during the

First Kashmir War First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

of 1947.

Background

, the British-officered force of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir stationed in Gilgit for frontier defence, revolted on 31 October 194 after hearing the news of Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India. They were joined by rebels from the 6th battalion of the

stationed at Bunji, annihilated the rest of the battalion and imprisoned its commander Col. Abdul Majid. The combined forces of the Gilgit Scouts and rebels were placed under the command of Lt. Col. Aslam Khan by the Azad Kashmir provisional government. Aslam Khan divided the troops into three forces of 400 men each, and deployed one of them, the "Ibex Force" under Major Ehsan Khan, to take

Skardu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

. Skardu, the political centre of Baltistan, was the headquaters of a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...

of the Ladakh wazarat, The administration of the wazarat was stationed at Skardu for six months in each year and at Leh for the other six months. At the time of the rebellion, the governor of the wazarat was at Skardu and a company of the 6th battalion under the command of Major

Sher Jung Thapa Brigadier Sher Jung Thapa MVC (15 April 1907 – 25 February 1999) was a military officer of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces and later the Indian Army. Revered as ''the Hero of Skardu'', he was a recipient of the Indian Army's second highes ...

, was at

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former res ...

Siege of Skardu

When the news of the Gilgit rebellion was received, Sher Jung Thapa was promoted to Lieut. Colonel and made commander of the remainder of the 6th battalion. He was asked to proceed to Skardu for its defence. On reaching Skardu on 3 December, he realised that his position was untenable and sought permission to withdraw the garrison and the civil administration to

Kargil Kargil ( lbj, ) is a city and a joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It is also the headquarters of the Kargil district. It is the second-largest city in Ladakh after Leh. Kargil is located to the east of Srinagar in Jam ...

and also requested reinforcements. The request for withdrawal was turned down and he was asked "to hold to last man and last round". The Indian forces, along with the non-Muslim civil population of Skardu, withdrew into the Skardu Fort where they were besieged by the Ibex Force. Thus began the defence of Skardu. Meanwhile, Srinagar, under the control of the

, assembled 3 successive Skardu relief columns, but they were not successful in reaching Skardu. With Gilgit under Pakistan's control and absence of any effective relief, including air dropping of ammunition, it was a matter of time before the end neared. On 11 February 1948, the Pakistani forces battled with the Skardu garrison of the fort. After a six-hour-long battle between the two, the attackers retreated. They came again on 14 February directing "harassing fire into the fort". By mid-August 1948, the Skardu garrison was in beggarly shape and the Kashmir forces left the fort in small batches on 13 August 1948. On 14 August 1948, outnumbered five to one, and with the last box of the reserve ammunition used, the garrison surrendered. All the remaining men were reportedly killed by the invaders, except for Col. Thapa and his Sikh orderly, who were taken prisoner. Skardu became part of the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, eventually renamed Gilgit-Baltistan.

Notes

References

{{Reflist Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 History of Gilgit-Baltistan