The Battle of Asal Uttar was major tank battle fought from 8 to 10 September 1965 at Asal Uttar, a village in

Tarn Taran District Tarn Taran district is one of the districts in the Majha region of Punjab, India. The main cities are Tarn Taran Sahib, Bhikhiwind, Khadur Sahib and Patti. The City of Tarn Taran Sahib is a holy place for Sikhs. Tarn Taran's Sikh populatio ...

Punjab, India Punjab () is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states ...

, during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. When the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

thrust its tanks and infantry into Indian territory and captured the Indian town of

Khemkaran Khem Karan is a town and a nagar panchayat in Tarn Taran district of Patti tehsil of the Majha region of the Indian state of Punjab. It was the site of a tank battle in 1965. The Battle of Asal Uttar was the second largest tank battle of ...

(5 km from the

India–Pakistan border The India–Pakistan border is the international boundary that separates the nations of the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. At its northern end is the Line of Control, which separates Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmi ...

), Indian troops retaliated, and after three days of bitter fighting, the battle ended with the Pakistani forces being repulsed from Asal Uttar. Factors that contributed to this were the fierce fight put up by the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

, conditions of the plains, better Indian tactics, and a successful Indian strategy. The battle is described as one of the largest tank battles in history since the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and is compared with the Battle of Kursk for how it changed the course of the India-Pakistan war of 1965 in India's favour. War historians, including Philip Towle, regard the Indian resistance near Khemkaran as one of the key turning points of the war, one which tilted the balance of the war in favour of India. Peter Wilson states that the defeat of the Pakistan Army in the battle of Asal Uttar was one of the greatest defeats suffered by Pakistani forces in the course of the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965.

Background

On September 5/6, Indian XI Corps ( 4th Mountain,

7th Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season ep ...

and 15th Infantry Divisions, 2nd Independent Armored Brigade) launched its three divisions against

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. 4th Mountain Division was on the southern axis, launching from

towards

Kasur Kasur (Punjabi language, Punjabi / ; ; also Romanization, romanized as Qasūr; from pluralized Arabic word ''Qasr'' meaning "palaces" or "forts") is a city to the south of Lahore, in the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. The city s ...

, which lays 6–7 km from the international border. 7th Division was to the north of 4th Mountain Division, also aiming at Kasur from a different direction. But the Indian attack on Kasur was repulsed and the Pakistan army counterattack took the war inside the Indian territory.

Battle

Pakistan's invading force, consisting of the 1st Armoured Division and 11th Infantry Division, crossed the

and captured the Indian town of

. Considering the situation, GOC Indian 4th Mountain Division Maj. Gen. Gurbaksh Singh immediately ordered the division to fall back and assume a horseshoe shaped defensive position with Asal Uttar as its focal point. On 7 September, 6th Lancers squadron of Pakistan army captured Valtoha against stiff opposition but because of the lack of infantry they had to go back to their Khemkaran basecamp at night in the process a fierce tank battle ensued. The battle strategy of the Asal Uttar was the thought up by Brigadier

Thomas K. Theogaraj Brigadier Thomas Krishnan Theogaraj (1919-2001) was a senior officer in the Indian Army. Brigadier Theogaraj commanded the 2nd Independent Armored Brigade and played a key role during the '' Indo-Pakistani war of 1965''. For his role in the war he ...

. In the night, the Indian troops flooded the sugar cane field, and the next morning, the Pakistani tanks of the 1st Armoured Division, consisting mainly of M47 and M48 Patton tanks, were lured inside the horse-shoe trap. The swampy ground slowed the advance of the Pakistani tanks and many of them could not move because of the muddy slush. Over 100 Pakistani tanks (mostly Pattons, and a few Shermans and Chaffees) were destroyed, with 40+ captured. While the Indians, by their account, lost only 10 tanks during this counter offensive.

Conclusion

Despite the initial thrust of the Pakistani Army into Indian territory, the battle ended in a decisive Indian victory. The commander of Pakistani forces Maj. Gen. Nasir Ahmed Khan was killed in action. According to military historian Steven J. Zaloga, Pakistan admitted that it lost 165 tanks during the 1965 war, more than half of which were knocked out during the "debacle" of Asal Uttar.

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

, later Army Chief and

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

, participated in this battle as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

of artillery in the 16 (SP) Field Regiment, 1st Armoured Division Artillery. The battle also witnessed the personal bravery of an Indian soldier,

Abdul Hamid ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd (ALA-LC romanization of ; ; ), also spelled as Abdulhamid, Abdelhamid, Abd-ul Hamid, and Abd ol-Hamid, is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is a Muslim theophoric name built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd' ...

, who was honoured with the

Param Vir Chakra The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is India's highest Awards and Decorations of the Indian Armed Forces, military decoration, awarded for displaying distinguished acts of valour during wartime. Param Vir Chakra translates roughly as the "Wheel of Supre ...

, India's highest military award, for knocking out seven enemy tanks with a

recoilless gun A Recoilless rifle ( rifled), recoilless launcher ( smoothbore), or simply recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated to "rr" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some ...

. After the victory at Asal Uttar, the Indian Army made multiple attempts to recapture the lost town of Khemkaran but these were unsuccessful. Khemkaran remained in Pakistani control till the end of the war and was returned after the

Tashkent Agreement The Tashkent Declaration was signed between India and Pakistan on 10 January 1966 to resolve the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Peace was achieved on 23 September through interventions by the Soviet Union and the United States, both of which pus ...

. This battle led to the creation of Patton Nagar (or "Patton City") at the site of the battle. This is because a large number of Patton tanks fielded by the

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

i forces were either captured or destroyed at the scene.

Battle Honour

The honour Asal Uttar was awarded for the period 9 to 11 September to the following units- Indian side: *

Deccan Horse The Deccan Horse or 9 Horse is one of the oldest and most decorated armoured regiments of the Indian Army. The Royal Deccan Horse (9th Horse), which was a regular cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army was formed from the amalgamation of t ...

* 3 Cavalry * 91 Mountain Regiment * 40 Medium Regiment * 4 Grenadiers * 18 Rajputana Rifles (now 11 Mechanised Infantry Regiment) * 1 Dogra (now 7 Mechanised Infantry Regiment) * 2 Mahar * 9 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles Pakistani side: * 6th Lancers (Watson's Horse)

Published accounts

Documentaries

''Battle of Asal Uttar – Largest Tank Battle Since World War II'' (2018) is a

TV documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

which premiered on the

Veer by Discovery Discovery Channel (often referred to as simply Discovery) is an Indian pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery India, Warner Bros. Discovery for the Indian subcontinent. Launched on 15 August 1995. It is the Indian version of Dis ...

series, ''Mission & Wars''.

Gallery

File:AMX-13 Tank. (31424627492).jpg, AMX-13 tank displayed at the Ahmednagar Cavalry Tank Museum in India. The AMX-13/75 was one of several types of armour fielded by the Indian Army during the battle File:AMX-13 Tank. (31455642351).jpg, Rear view of the same tank

Notes

References

Resources

* ''1965 Official War History'',

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

External links

Pictures of the ''Patton Nagar''
at

Bharat Rakshak Bharat Rakshak () is a website devoted to discussing the Military of India. It was started and is run by military enthusiasts. History Bharat Rakshak was started in April 1997 by bringing together the individual websites of Indian Defence enthus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asal Uttar 1965 Battles of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 Tarn Taran Sahib Tank battles involving Pakistan Tank battles involving India 1960s in Punjab, India September 1965 in Asia