Battle of Namka Chu

01Ordered into a trap

In September 1962 Chinese troops came down from Thag La, which India held to lie on the McMahon Line. Delhi ordered the army to push them back. 7 Infantry Brigade under Brigadier John Dalvi was marched up from the plains to the Namka Chu, a fast stream in a deep valley, and spread along some twenty kilometres of its bank. Dalvi and his divisional commander protested that the position could not be held: the troops were in cotton uniforms, short of ammunition and fed by porters and air drops. The orders stood.

02Dawn on 20 October

Before first light on 20 October the Chinese opened with artillery and mortars and then came down the slopes and round the flanks. Rajput, Gorkha and Grenadier companies fought where they stood; the 2nd Rajputs lost most of their men at their posts. By mid-morning the brigade had ceased to exist as a formation. Survivors made their way over the passes toward Tawang. Dalvi was captured two days later and spent months as a prisoner. His book Himalayan Blunder later told the country how the brigade had been sent there.