Battle of Zoji La (Operation Bison)

01Ladakh cut off

In 1948 Pakistani forces and raiders had pushed through Baltistan, taken Kargil and Dras, and held the Zoji La, the pass that joins the Kashmir valley to Ladakh. Leh was held by a small garrison supplied by air. Infantry attacks on the pass in September failed against well-placed machine guns. Major General K. S. Thimayya, commanding in Kashmir, decided to send tanks.

02Tanks in the snow

The Stuart light tanks of the 7th Cavalry were taken to Srinagar partly dismantled, then driven by night up a mule track that the engineers widened into a road. To keep the plan secret the operation was first called Duck and then renamed Bison. On 1 November 1948 the tanks, with Thimayya riding in the leading one, came up through snow and mist onto the pass. The defenders had never imagined armour at that height, and they broke.

03Ladakh saved

The Indian brigade pushed on to Dras and Kargil and linked up with troops coming from Leh. When the ceasefire came on 1 January 1949, Ladakh was in Indian hands. Zoji La was for long cited as the highest altitude at which tanks had been used in battle.