Battle of Longewala

Battle of Longewala
Part of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Tank tracks at Longewala. Photographic reconnaissance image taken at the time showing the desperate last-minute manoeuvres by Pakistani tanks in the Longewala sector. Circles show destroyed Pakistani tanks.
Date 4–7 December 1971 (3 days) Location Longewala, Rajasthan, India 27°31′30″N 70°09′24″E / 27.524942°N 70.156693°E / 27.524942; 70.156693 Result Indian victory[1]
Belligerents
India	Pakistan
Commanders and leaders
Major K. S. Chandpuri[2] Wing Cdr. D. M. Conquest [3] Major Atma Singh	Maj Gen. B. M. Mustafa Brig. Tariq Mir Brig. Jahanzeb Abab Lt. Col. Akram Hussain Lt. Col. Zahir Alam Khan
Units involved
12th Infantry Division Alpha Company, 23rd Battalion, Punjab Regiment 14th BSF Battalion (attached to 23rd Punjab)[4] 122 Squadron	18th Infantry Division 206 Brigade 51 Brigade 22 Cavalry (T-59) 38 Cavalry (Sherman) Field Rgt. (25 pdr) 120 mm mortar battery 130 mm med. battery
Strength
1 Company (120 personnel) accompanied by half a platoon (6-7 border guards)[5][6] 2 Medium machine guns 2 L16 81mm mortars 4 PIAT anti-tank rocket launchers 2 Jonga-borne 106mm M40 RCL gun 4 Hawker Hunters 3 HAL Maruts 10 Camels[7]	2 Mobile infantry brigade (2,000–3,000 personnel)[8][9] 40 tanks[9] 1 field regiment 2 artillery batteries
Casualties and losses
2 personnel killed[10][11] 1 Jonga and M40 recoilless rifle destroyed[10] 5 camels killed	200 personnel killed[10] 36 tanks destroyed 500+ vehicles destroyed or abandoned[10][9]
class=notpageimage| Location within Rajasthan

The Battle of Longewala (4–7 December 1971) was one of the first major engagements in the western sector during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, fought between assaulting Pakistani forces and Indian defenders at the Indian border post of Longewala, in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan. The battle was fought between 120 Indian soldiers accompanied by four Hawker Hunter and three HAL Marut fighter-bombers and 2,000–3,000 Pakistani soldiers accompanied by 30–40 tanks.

A company of the Indian Army's 23rd Battalion, Punjab Regiment, commanded by Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, was left with the choice of either attempting to hold out until reinforced, or fleeing on foot from a Pakistani mechanized infantry force.^[12] Choosing the former, Chandpuri ensured that all his assets were correctly deployed and made the best use of his strong defensive position, as well as weaknesses created by errors in enemy tactics. He was also fortunate that an Indian Air Force forward air controller was able to secure and direct aircraft in support of the post's defence until reinforcements arrived six hours later.^[13]

The Pakistani commanders made several questionable decisions, including a failure of their strategic intelligence to foresee the availability of Indian fighter-bombers in the Longewala area, exercising operational mobility with little or no route reconnaissance, and conducting a tactical frontal assault with no engineer reconnaissance.^[14][13] That led to the Pakistani brigade group being left extremely vulnerable to air attack and vehicles becoming bogged in terrain unsuitable for the movement of armoured vehicles, as they tried to deploy off a single track and were more susceptible to enemy fire since they used external fuel storage in tactical combat and attempted to execute a night attack over unfamiliar terrain, and infantry was surprised by obstacles to troop movement, which caused confusion and stalling the attack during the crucial hours of darkness, when the assaulting infantry still had a measure of concealment from Indian small arms and infantry support weapon fire.^[14]