Chapter 27: The Battle of Ashuganj
When on 7th December Maj. Matin left to take over command of 11 Bengal, he handed over command to the senior most JCO. Later Capt. Ejaz took over command of this company. For unknown reasons, the Pakistanis did not put a fight to defend Bhramanbaria and it fell to the joint forces without a fight.
It seemed that the allied forces battle plan changed immediately after the fall of Akhaura. The original plan was-that after the capture of Akhaura—to move left towards Chittagong and capture as much territory as possible on the south of Meghna river. However, the rapid collapse of the Pakistani defenses created the opportunity to go for Dhaka, which was not the original plan.
PT 76 Tank
Therefore, immediately after the fall of Akhaura,18 Rajput Rifles was directed to proceed to Ashuganj and capture the Meghna bridge there (Bhairab bridge). Accordingly, by 8 December 18 Rajput Rifles had congregated at Tajpur from where on the 9th Morning they started to advance toward Ashuganj in an attempt to capture the Meghna bridge.
On the morning of 9 December, Maj. Matin and I were coming to inspect our forward elements at Durgapur. Our small group included Maj. Matin’s runner Mujib, a wireless operator, and another person, a local guide. Maj. Matin had met Col Shafiullah at around 9 a.m., and after the meeting, he wanted to inspect the forward areas of the battalion. Our small group was heading cross-country following the Sarail-Ashuganj road. We were about 100 meters to the left of the road when we found elements of 10 Bihar in front of us. They seemed to be heading toward Ashuganj. I saw the Indian tanks in the distance, heading toward Ashuganj. We decided to follow the troops of 10 Bihar.
While at Col. Shafiullah’s headquarters we heard rumors that the Pakistani Army had withdrawn from Ashuganj to Bhairab Bazar. This perception hardened as the Pakistanis were occasionally shelling Ashuganj and even firing Heavy Machine Guns from Bhairab Bazar, located across the river.
On 9th morning, Delta (D) Company of 11 Bengal under the command of Lt. Nasir took defensive positions in foxholes at Durgapur. Durgapur is a village about 2 miles from Ashuganj and approximately a mile from the banks of the Meghna River.
Three Indian regiments were moving toward Ashuganj: 18 Rajput Rifles moving from east to west from Tejpur along the bank of the Meghna River; 4 Bihar moving in a south-eastern direction; and 4 Guards moving South to North along the Talshahar-Ashuganj railway lines, as shown in the map below:
Ashuganj Battlefield, 9 December 1971. Shows the deployment of forces.
Meanwhile, the leading elements of 18 Rajput saw some retreating ESCAP elements and started chasing them and quickly got entangled in a firefight with some Pakistani elements firing from the protection of hardened bunkers near the rail embankment close to the Meghna Bridge. Soon more Pakistani bunkers joined the fray and put the lead elements of 18 Rajput in trouble. During this time 18 Rajput suffered few causalities including the company commander of Alpha company, Maj. Tasrem Lal Sharma would be martyred later the same day.
The Bravo Company of 18 Rajput, under command of Maj. Sisodia tried to move past Alpha Company and got himself entangled with a company of Pakistani 12 Azad Kashmir operating from hardened bunkers and got pinned down there. Maj. Sisodia himself got seriously injured in the process.
C and D companies were launched to extricate the bogged down companies and to capture the bridge and about this time (about 9:30-10:00 am) Meghan Bridge was blown up by the Pakistanis.
As this battle was continuing, Pakistani artillery now started shelling the attackers.
As Akhaura fell and the infantry was rushed to chase the Pakistanis toward the Meghna Bridge, the artillery guns needed to provide support to the troops, essential in these situations, could not cross the railway bridge over Titas River. Only two 75 mm mountain guns could cross over to support the infantry. Rest of the guns remained beyond effective range. As a result, there was no way to counter the Pakistani barrage
Air support could have been an alternative but the forward troops were operating at the extreme range of the radios and radio communications were extremely unreliable.
As these things were happening, suddenly the Indian forces realized that a full battalion of Pakistani troops were now coming toward the bridge from the directions of Bhramanbaria! What happened was that instead of a covering force defending the bridge, on the 9th the whole Pakistani brigade was on the Ashuganj side of the Meghna Bridge! This was not known and was an instance of intelligence failure. To further complicate the situation, the air support coordinator assigned to 18 Rajput was injured by a Pakistani artillery shell and became indisposed. Now 18 Rajput found itself surrounded from three sides by the Pakistanis.
Now, it was time for the Pakistanis to counterattack and 18 Rajput was now in great peril.
To start the counterattack, the Pakistanis used a tank whose engine was obviously not working as it was being pushed by a bulldozer. However, all the lethal armaments of the tanks were operating. Pakistani infantry started advancing using the tank and the bulldozer as covers. Now 18 Rajput was in deep trouble and rapidly started taking serious casualties. As soon as the 18 Rajput tried to withdrew, the Pakistanis, emboldened that they have the upper hand, started chasing the now disorganized Indian troops.
A few Pakistani jeeps with Recoilless Rifles (RCL) suddenly appeared from somewhere. The first one got a direct hit from an Indian PT 76 tank and was knocked out. However, the other RCLs very quickly knocked down three Indian PT 76 tanks in front of our eyes.
The Pakistanis, now encouraged by their initial success, came out from their hidden positions; shouting “Ya Ali,” “Ya Ali,” charged the retreating and disorganized Indians. There was complete chaos among the Indian troops. Some took position in the cover-less terrain and started shooting at the charging Pakistanis, while some others started retreating in panic. Some of the elements of 10 Bihar, after being chased by the Pakistanis, came near Lt. Nasir’s position; some of them were fleeing to his rear. Soon the left flank of the charging Pakistanis came very close to Lt. Nasir’s position and now it was time for the Pakistanis to be surprised. Lt. Nasir opened fire on the Pakistanis with one Medium Machine Gun and everything else he had, taking the Pakistanis by complete surprise. The Pakistanis, obviously, did not expect any resistance. They could see that the Indians were retreating, their remaining tank heroically trying to shelter the infantry from the Pakistanis. Now this sudden organized resistance took them by complete surprise.
106mm Recoilless Rifle (RCL
When 18 Rajput was advancing, the forward elements of 11 Bengal, one company led by Lt. Nasir, also left their foxholes and started advancing toward Ashuganj. They were to the right of 10 Bihar and the tanks, about 500 meters behind the Indian contingent. When they saw the Pakistani counterattack, they immediately retreated near Durgapur and started taking defensive positions in the foxholes dug before.
A group of Pakistani soldiers had reached too close to Nasir’s right flank and a section of the defenders panicked. Learning that the panicked soldiers were about to abandon their position, Lt. Nasir quickly moved to his right flank and was relieved to see that the platoon commander, a fresh 2nd Lt., was chasing the fickle-minded with the butt of his SMG and driving them back to the trenches. Relieved, Nasir went back to his position at the center of his company.
Chaos now ruled the charging Pakistani column. Some were crawling and trying to shoot; some others, panicked, were running aimlessly, without any apparent purpose or direction; while a few tried to assist their injured comrades, it was more like a Pakistani deje vu; total chaos.
Lt. Nasir’s Chinese Machine Gun was firing continuously and soon the barrel was glowing red from overheating, creating the danger of jamming the Machine Gun due to melted ammunition casings. Nevertheless, the Machine Gun continued to fire.
After a while, the remaining Pakistanis started retreating to their initial position behind the walls of the power station.
As soon as the Pakistanis retreated, the Pakistani artillery unleashed a vicious barrage on Lt. Nasir’s position, unnerving Lt. Nasir and forcing him to fall back about a mile and retake position there.
The battle continued until it was dark.
As the battlefield became quieter and without knowing precisely the location of our troops in the prevailing chaos, we decided to join Alfa Company, which was not far to our rear.
Born for 71 
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