Kargil Vijay Diwas: The war after which the army's strategy and way of thinking changed, know what happened at that time

Strategy changed in last 25 years

In this entire operation, the Indian Army realized that the strategy would have to be changed to fight and win a war at high altitude and high mountains and the strategy has changed in the last 25 years and the result of that was that four years ago in 2020, when China tried to change the status quo by cheating on the LAC in eastern Ladakh, India responded to it in its own language. When Chinese soldiers advanced too far in the Finger Area on the northern shore of Pangong, Indian soldiers put China on the backfoot by occupying the high peaks on the southern shore of Pangong and then China came to the negotiating table. Although the deadlock has not ended there yet, but now both the countries have agreed to resolve it through talks and meetings are also being held continuously.

There were four battalions in the Kargil Brigade

25 years ago, the Kargil Brigade had four battalions. Drass, Kaksar, Kargil and Batalik. The military understanding till that time and the experience of wars around the world showed that if the enemy attacks anywhere, he will do so at an important place and will come from such places where there are minimum tracks. All deployment and training was being done from this point of view. On the river bank, where there were class-9 roads, i.e. a 9-ton vehicle could pass through there, an entire battalion of the army, i.e. about 800 soldiers, were deployed. Similarly, where there were animal tracks, an army company, i.e. about 100-120 soldiers were deployed. A platoon, i.e. 30-40 soldiers were deployed on the foot track. Pakistan had also done a similar deployment, i.e. mirror deployment. There was a lot of area in between these tracks where there was no one, which was not under anyone's control.

When the Pakistanis started infiltrating Kargil, they did so in an area that was untouched. India won this war. The country lost 527 of its brave soldiers, but drove the Pakistanis away. After the Kargil war, the thinking changed that the enemy can target only a specific area. Then with new thinking, new strategies started being made and training also started accordingly. Earlier, where the high-altitude posts used to be empty in winter, now soldiers are deployed there in every season.

View the entire timeline

• 25 years ago on May 3, a shepherd had informed the Indian Army about the infiltration of Pakistani Army in Kargil.
• On May 5, the Indian Army sent its patrol team
• On May 9, Pakistan fired on Indian ammunition depots in Kargil
• On May 10, for the first time, Pakistani intruders were seen in Ladakh's entry points i.e. Drass, Kaksar, Mushkoh sector
• On May 26, the Indian Air Force was ordered to take action. The Air Force also used MiG-27 and MiG-29 against Pakistan.
• On 26 July 1999, India won the Kargil War.

Indian army gives special training to soldiers

The Indian Army gives special training to its soldiers before deploying them in high altitude areas. This has been happening even before the Kargil war. But after Kargil, in the year 2000, a new battle school was established in Drass where the most fierce battle of Kargil was fought. Earlier, there used to be only HAWS i.e. High Altitude Warfare School where training was given to fight on high mountains day and night in every season. Now the Indian Army has two such schools where soldiers are being strengthened to fight in adverse conditions and protect their land, although before deployment in Siachen, soldiers have also been given training on the glacier. Deployment in Siachen is given only after three weeks of rigorous training in Siachen Battle School. Currently, the Indian Army has three such schools, HAWS, Kargil Battle School and Siachen Battle School where soldiers are taught to climb and fight on high mountains in low oxygen and minus temperature.