Rezang La : The Thermopylae of India

By Colonel Satish Singh Lalotra

When the winter of 1962 settled over the eastern Ladakh heights, few in the Indian sub-continent could have ever imagined that a nameless ridge -‘Rezang La’ perched at over 16,000 feet would soon enter the pantheon of military legends of India. What transpired on that frigid morning of 18 th November 1962 has been told and retold in the language of awe -not merely as a military action, but as a superlative feat of human endurance that has few parallels at its purest. In a dismal scenario of one sided military action by our northern neighbour ‘China’, the Indian riposte on Rezang La shone on the country’s firmament like a solitary column of Indian army’s resolute doggedness that has been shaped up by centuries of ‘military honour’. Also termed as ‘India’s Thermopylae’, the ‘Charlie company’ of 13 Kumaon drawn largely from the ‘Ahir belt’ of Rewari-Mahendragarh ,chose ‘death over dishonor’ while countering the PLA. To this day, the wind swept frigid environs of Eastern Ladakh stand testimony to ‘India’s Thermopylae’ where a handful of possessed souls held back a horde , not for victory , but for holding aloft the ‘standard/ flag’ of military traditions passed on from generations to no end. Rezang La was not a dramatic crag or fortress -like feature, rather a bleak, windswept ridge on the south-eastern approach to the Chushul valley. Its importance in sheer military terms in the years leading to 1962 and even till this day was/is immense. The last Indian bastion, which if the PLA broke through would have seen the Chinese army rolling through India’s logistical lifeline in Ladakh -the Chushul air strip. And with Chushul lost , the gateway to Leh would have been a free run for the Chinese army.
Charlie company of 13 Kumaon under its resolute company commander Major Shaitan Singh Bhatti was on an unenviable order by its higher headquarters —tasked to hold on this sector which was exposed, frozen and distant from mutual support from its neighbouring companies of the battalion. The artillery cover rendered for this location was limited, since the fire of the artillery battery was crested by an intervening feature to Rezang La. But all these shortcomings were overcome by few factors that shone under the highest sheen of military leadership of its company commander who had his lineage drawn from centuries of Rajput valour of Rajasthan, plus the unwavering commitment, courage, and unflinching loyalty of the troops of this sub-unit towards its company commander and the cause for which he stood rock solid-preserving the national sovereignty when danger to the country was at its highest . With the recent Bollywood movie -‘120 Bahadur’ starring Farhan Akhtar as redoubtable Major Shaitan Singh Bhatti released on 21st November across India , ‘Rezang La’ has been once again in the focus of not only the cinegoers of India but also all the nationalists of this country whose hearts throb with the dare devilry etched in blood on the snowy heights of that ill-fated ridge line. The ‘battle of RezangLa’ per se was a culmination of long list of politico-military blundering of that period of India, when the top hierarchy of political dispensation was mired in a naiveté born out of false ‘Sino-Indian’ relations. The battle also in a way portrays the pusillanimous military hierarchy of India of that day , which easily gave green signal to the political bosses to ride rough shod on their ‘military sagacity’ borne out of decades of military service. Just because in a democratic country like India, wherein the government of the day owing allegiance to a dominant political party ruling the roost with set thinking pattern of how to deal with the armed forces ; does it grant a carte blanche to interfere in matters military? That too with impunity?The battle for Rezang La unfolded on the wintry morning of 18 th November 1962 as part of phase-2 of the operations of the PLA which had given a pause to its earlier operations against the Indian army.
The border war of 1962 can be divided into two main phases with a deliberate pause in between. The PLA as part of Phase-1 ( oct 20-28, 1962) launched coordinated , massive surprise attacks in both the western ( Ladakh) and eastern ( NEFA/Arunachal Pradesh) sectors, quickly overwhelming Indian forward posts. The initial offensive ended with the fall of ‘Tawang’ in the east. The pause /lull( Oct 28- November 14 , 1962) was suddenly imposed when China proposed a unilateral ceasefire and a mutual withdrawal of 20 km from the last held positions of each country on 24 th October 1962. This pause was a calculated move by China. Militarily it allowed the PLA time to consolidate its positions , secure its conquered territory and prepare logistics for a second , deeper offensive. Diplomatically and psychologically it tried to portray China as a reasonable party willing to de-escalate, shifting the political burden of resuming hostilities onto India, which rejected the offer at that time. After India rejected the ceasefire offer, the PLA launched its final, massive offensive in both sectors, particularly advancing close to the plains of Assam. The ‘Rezang La’ skirmish was part of this second phase of the Chinese army in Ladakh, which had cast its eyes on Leh and beyond. In November 1962, , 13 Kumaon was deployed at ‘MagarHll’ and ‘Rezang La’ in Chushul sector , Eastern Ladakh as part of 114 infantry brigade commanded by Brigadier ( later General) TN Raina, MVC, SM. 13 Kumaon looked after the southern flank with two companies on Magar Hill, a company with a section of 3 inch mortars at Rezang La hill with the battalion HQ & one company at track junction respectively. A patrol of the Charlie company detected the Chinese in their Forward assembly area (FAA) at about 0400 hours on 18 th November 1962. The first wave of attack came at about 0500 hours which was beaten back with heavy casualties. After a short but heavy artillery bombardment, the Chinese attack from both the directions commenced, with no quarters asked none given from either side. The attack from the southern side was stalled time and again with reserves being called in. The Chinese company commander of number 8 company was killed in this attack.
On failure of this attack, the Chinese called in heavy artillery and mortar fire on Charlie company and launched their second wave of attack , which too was stalled by our stout and intense fire. The Chinese then attacked from the western side , and due to numerical superiority were able to overrun the platoon facing the western flank of the company . Thereafter the PLA kept on advancing in the depth location of the company and overran the third platoon as well as the company headquarters located at point 5300. Major Shaitan Singh went from bunker to bunker encouraging his troops and tried to launch a counter attack to regain point 5300 , but all in vain. In doing so he was mortally hit by enemy machine gun fire in his abdomen and arm. For several hours the result of the battle was on a cliff hanger, with communications to the battalion headquarters cut off and no chance of any reinforcements trooping in from any side. For the men of Charlie company, it was now a fight to the finish. The enemy was finally stalled on Rezang La with their guns having fallen silent at around 2200 hours on 18 th November 1962. Despite such overwhelming Chinese fire power and ‘human wave tactics’ attacks, Major ShaitansinghBhatti and his diehards were able to deliver a punch outsizing their own size and laid down their lives as a man; totaling 114. Earning a staggering 01 PVC, 08 VRcs, one AVSM , 04 Sena medals & 01 MID( Mention in dispatches), the action at Rezang La by Charlie company was India’s very own ‘Thermopylae.
Turning the focus on the just released -‘120 BAHADUR’ Bollywood movie mirroring the battle of RezangLa pan India on 21 st November 2025 with ‘FarhanAkhtar’ in the lead role, it will not be out ofcontext to state that this year of 2025 has had an unusual surge of patriotism which was borne out of ‘OP Sindoor’ that India had to undertake in order to protect its sovereignty. It is in this league of celebrations that Bollywood , one of the leading pillars of entertainment and information has undertaken to spread this surge far and wide and released this ‘biopic’ on Major Shaitan Singh Bhatti, PVC by way of his superlative action on Rezang La hill , 63 years ago that has few parallels in military history. But as is the wont in India , certain sections of our society who are self -proclaimed spokesmen in matters concerning religion, caste and creed, have taken exception to this movie and come out with their own version of boycotting this excellent piece of work ; all on the basis of frivolous pleas that sound preposterous at the most. First and foremost objections on RajnishGhai’s selection of the film title has not gone down well with the ‘Ahir’ community with demonstrations, legal action and political engagement at various levels. Alleging that the movie distorts historical events surrounding one of the most remarkable battles of the Sino-Indian border war of 1962, the Ahir community believes that the film fails to adequately honour the Ahir soldiers of 13 Kumaon who formed the bedrock of Charlie company.
The community believes further that preserving historical accuracy is not merely a matter of pride , but a tribute owed to the martyrs. The Ahir protestors argue that the teaser and promotional material of the film shifts focus from the battalion’s solidarity and sacrifice to what appears to be an overly dramatized individual-centric narrative. They demand that the name of the movie should be instead -‘120 Veer Ahir’. The protestors had in fact filed public interest litigation in Delhi high court challenging the CBFC certification granted to 120 Bahadur. It is a different matter that the Delhi high court has cleared the release of the movie directing the petitioners that they may watch the movie and see the names of 120 soldiers having featured in the film and if any changes are required then it should be done for the ‘over the top'( OTT) release. Be that as it may, it would be worthwhile for the cine goers of this country to go and watch this movie ,as I had done few days back at RSI( Rajendra Singh Ji institute) Pune and came back suffused with all the praise for the movie maker as well as the lead role played by Farhan Akhtar in the ‘Thermopylae of India’.