Battle of Sylhet
Part of the Bangladesh Liberation War
- 1 min read
- 4 chapters
Explore on Lably
ToursExplore Lably’s 3D toursBackground
On 21 November 1971, the 4th battalion of the 5th Gorkha Rifles crossed the Surma River. After heavy fighting, they captured Atgram along with a large amount of arms and ammunition.
Sign in to keep reading
3 more chapters are free with a Lably account.
Deployments
India
The 8th Mountain Division was responsible for the operations in Sylhet. This included:
- 59th Mountain Brigade - Dharmanagar
- 81st Mountain Brigade - Kailashahar
Objectives
Pakistan
Pakistan adopted a fortress strategy. In accordance with this strategy, ten cities, Jessore, Jhenaidah, Bogra, Rangpur, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Bhairab Bazar, Comilla, and Chittagong, were converted into fortresses.
Battle
Following the Indian intervention of East Pakistan, 202nd infantry Brigade of Pakistan army was the sole defence of Sylhet. Unknown to the Indian and Bangladeshi forces, Iftikhar Rana transported his brigade and retreat to Sylhet in order to support Salimulah Chohan the commander of 202nd brigade at Jalalabad Cantonment. On Indian formation, both of Gorkha Battalions divided their operations through four companies. On 7 December after aerial surveillance, 14 Mil Mi-4 helicopters took off with 4th and 5th Gorkha Rifles landing at pre-selected spots. Around 384
On 16 December Pakistani army troops consisting of 107 officers, 219 Junior commissioned officers, and 6,190 soldiers surrendered to the Bangladeshi-Indian troops as a part of Pakistani Instrument of Surrender.