Cite
MLA
“Battle of Garibpur.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-garibpur-1971/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Garibpur. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-garibpur-1971/
The Pakistani counter-attack on Garibpur was beaten off with the loss of most of its tanks, and three Pakistani Sabre jets were shot down over Boyra.
01Into the Boyra salient
By November 1971 millions of refugees had fled East Pakistan into India, and the Mukti Bahini was fighting the Pakistani army inside it. On 20 November the 14th Punjab, with fourteen PT-76 amphibious light tanks of 45 Cavalry, moved across the border into the Boyra salient to take ground around the village of Garibpur, on the road to Jessore. They dug in and sited their tanks in the fields and orchards.
02Tanks in the mist
On the morning of 21 November the Pakistani 107th Brigade counter-attacked with infantry and a regiment of M24 Chaffee tanks, coming through morning mist. The Indian tanks and recoilless guns, firing from cover at close range, knocked out the Chaffees one after another, and the infantry attack failed. The Pakistani force withdrew, leaving burnt-out tanks in the fields.
03The Gnats over Boyra
On 22 November Pakistani F-86 Sabres came in to strike the Indian positions. Four Indian Air Force Gnats scrambled from Dum Dum and shot down three of them over Boyra; two Pakistani pilots, Parvez Mehdi Qureshi and Khalil Ahmed, came down by parachute on Indian-held ground and were taken prisoner. The full war began on 3 December, and on 16 December the Pakistani army in the east surrendered at Dhaka.
Garibpur and Boyra were the first open battles of the 1971 war in the east and showed the advantage Indian forces would hold there.