Major Abdul Rafey Khan VrC

It was a daring attack, launched by day at 1230 hours. However during the attack Lt Col JE Jhirad, the Commanding Officer, got seriously wounded by heavy enemy shelling. Regardless of fatal injuries, he grabbed the blooded Royal Rassi (lanyard) in his hand and whispered the last words, “Nothing can be nobler and finer than to die for this”. The loss of the CO at such a critical juncture was shocking for the unit but undeterred pressed on the attack under the dynamic and inspiring leadership of Maj Abdul Rafey Khan, the Second-in-Command. By 2 pm, the battalion reached the forming up place but due to intense enemy shelling, it was dispersed widely in small groups. Suddenly, there was a lull in the shelling. Maj Khan sensed it was a heaven sent opportunity to seize the objective. But the battalion was widely dispersed and all signal communication had broken down. He could not communicate with his company commanders, and hence he himself mustered the nearest platoon and charged at the objective. Seeing this, the other sub-units also followed suit and a fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued. The leading companies managed to get a foothold on the objective and held onto it for over two hours. The enemy launched a fierce counterattack and managed to evict our troops.

Maj Khan again assaulted the objective with ferocity and determination and forced the enemy to abandoned the position. The battalion captured the objective and immediately reorganized itself. The enemy was not to sit quiet for long. It immediately brought in tanks to encircle the battalion and subjected it to intensive air strikes, followed by heavy artillery shelling. Maj Khan then moved his tanks between Jassoran and Butur Dograndi but the squadron of 17 Horse could not link up on the objective. He then ordered the battalion to occupy a defensive position towards north of Buttur Dograndi.

Beginning at 0745 hours on Sept 17 till the pull back was ordered, the enemy launched three ferocious counter-attacks with armour supported by artillery and air force. It was during one of these fierce enemy attacks that Rifleman Balwant Singh Bisht, armed with a rocket launcher, rushed forward on advancing enemy tanks and knocked out one of them and, in the process, laid down his life. The battalion, entrenched well behind the enemy lines, was expecting link-up by own armour any moment. But at that time the higher military command appreciated that link-up/reinforcement was not prudent. The battalion was, thus, ordered to pull out, as best as it could. Maj Khan along with a handful of men, the Regimental Medical Officer and the Intelligence Officer stayed back to evacuate casualties. However, unfortunately Maj Khan got fatally wounded by an enemy gunshot while personally loading the casualties into a tank.

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