Meghna Heli Bridge

Operation Cactus Lilly
	Part of Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani war of 1971
	; Mi-4 of IAF mounting troops in Brahmanbaria on 9 December 1971.
Date	9-12 December 1971
Location	Ashuganj, East Pakistan
Result	Indian operational success; Successful crossing of the Meghna River;
Belligerents
India Supported By:; Bangladesh	Pakistan
Commanders and leaders
Lt Gen Sagat Singh, GOC IV Corps Maj. Gen. Gonsalves, GOC 57th Mountain Division Brigadier R. N. Mishra, CO 311 Mountain Brigade; Group Captain Chandan Singh	Maj. Gen. Q. A. M. Khan, GOC 14th Infantry Division Brigadier Saadullah Khan, CO 27 Infantry Brigade Brigadier Iftikhar Rana
Units involved
311 Mountain Brigade 4 Guards; 18 Rajput; 10 Bihar; 19 Raj Rif (on 11 Dec); 15 Engineer Regt.; 73 Mountain Brigade 14 Guards; 19 Punjab; 19 Rajputana Rifles; Indian Air Force units attached to IV Corps 14 x Mi-4 helicopters under Group Captain Chandan Singh;	313 Infantry Brigade 22 Baluch; 30 Frontier Force; 27 Infantry Brigade 6 x M24 Chaffee light tanks; 33 Baluch; 12 Frontier Force;
Strength
Total; ~6,000 First Phase; ~1,800 Second Phase; Air Assault: 656; Amphibious: 800-1000;	First and Second Phase; ~6,000
Casualties and losses
First Phase; 44 KIA Second Phase; None	First Phase; 29 KIA Second Phase; 4,958 POWs

Operation Cactus Lilly, better known as The Meghna Heli Bridge or the Crossing of the Meghna, was an air assault operation conducted between 9 and 12 December 1971 during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It was conducted by the Indian Army and Indian Air Force to cross the Meghna River, bypass a Pakistani stronghold at Ashuganj/Bhairab Bazar and reach Dhaka. The operation is generally regarded as the brainchild of Maj. Gen. (later Lt. Gen.) Sagat Singh. Without it, Indian forces would not have been able to complete the encirclement of Dhaka and it would likely have led to a lengthening of the war.^[1]^[2]^{[self-published source?]}

^ MoD, History Division (1992). "Official History of the 1971 India Pakistan War" (PDF).
^ Gadkari, Nitin (9 December 2021). "Leap Across Meghna". faugystrategy.substack.com. Retrieved 9 April 2023.