A bunch of the Gorkha Rifles who fought within the Battle of Walong discovering their method again to river Lohit, following the Indian Army’s withdrawal after heroic resistance for a month in November 1962. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The sixtieth anniversary of two iconic battles within the India-China battle was noticed this week: the Battle of Walong, within the japanese sector, on November 16 and the Battle of Rezang La in japanese Ladakh on November 18. Today, each India and China, in opposition to the backdrop of a 30-month stand-off, are engaged in huge infrastructure improve and consolidation of positions alongside the three,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Construction of a sequence of roads, tunnels, caverns and underground ammunition shops is in progress, a defence supply stated. Nine new tunnels are below building, together with the strategic 2.5-km-long Sela tunnel in Tawang at an altitude of 13,000 ft, which would be the highest bi-lane tunnel on the earth as soon as accomplished. Another 11 tunnels are being deliberate, the supply stated.

Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is presently executing 18 initiatives unfold throughout the nation. This effort to construct habitats and including fireplace energy is an effort to scale back the asymmetry with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) infrastructure improve.

In Arunachal, a 2,000-km-long frontier freeway also called Mago-Thingbu-Vijaynagar border freeway is deliberate to be constructed at value of ₹40,000 crore which follows the McMahon Line. In order to offer interconnectivity between three horizontal nationwide highways — Frontier Highway, Trans-Arunachal Highway and East-West Industrial Corridor Highway — six vertical and diagonal nationwide freeway corridors of a complete size of two,178 km are deliberate to be constructed, which can even present sooner entry to frame areas, a supply added.

Battle of Walong

On November 16, the nation marked the sixtieth anniversary of the ‘Battle of Walong’, the place the Indian Army resisted the advancing PLA troopers. The Chinese offensive with greater than 4,000 troopers couldn’t breach the ahead defences held with 800 males for over 27 days and Chinese Army was subsequently compelled to make use of further Division measurement power of roughly 15,000 troopers, a defence official famous. Vastly out-numbered and with little ammunition and no assets, Indian troopers fought to the final man, final spherical.

A defence official stated, “It was only here that for over two weeks India launched repeated attacks against the Chinese to retake our positions. It was only here that battles were fought at heights ranging from 3,000 to 14,000 feet without acclimatisation.”

To mark the sixtieth anniversary, the Army’s Eastern Command organised a month-long celebration beginning October 17. The celebrations had been aligned to the occasions as they unfolded in 1962 and encompassed a lot of actions in Arunachal Pradesh and Upper Assam, the Army stated in a press release.

Rezang La

November 18, 2022 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the Battle of Rezang La in japanese Ladakh during which troops from the 13 Kumaon Regiment defeated a number of waves of the PLA. The battle was fought at an altitude of 18,000 ft the place Major Shaitan Singh and 114 troops of the Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon fought until “last bullet and last breath”. Major Shaitan Singh was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), the nation’s highest wartime gallantry award.

In November 2021, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had inaugurated the revamped battle memorial at Rezang La.

Since the 2020 stand-off, the Army has used 3D printing to construct habitats for 22,000 troops. Focus has now shifted to undertake building of everlasting defences and infrastructure to enhance defence preparedness.

Infrastructure improvement has gained urgency given China’s huge growth alongside the LAC for the reason that standoff. Army chief General Manoj Pande had recently said that China’s border infrastructure development consists of roads, helipads, airfields and roads proper as much as the passes.