SOME MEMORIES OF SIKKIM – CIRCA 1965

SOME MEMORIES OF SIKKIM – CIRCA 1965 I joined the signal regiment in November 1965 as a young second lieutenant after the YO’s course at the School of Signals, Mhow. The divisional HQ was then at Mile Stone 9 on the Road Gangtok Nathu La. It had been moved up there recently from Gangtok by the GOC, Maj Gen Sagat Singh, soon after the incident when the Chinese gave an ultimatum that we should vacate Nathu La resulting in orders from the Corp HQ to vacate the pass, which Sagat refused. When the Chinese became belligerent and opened fire, we also opened up with guns and mortars, though there was a restriction imposed by Corps HQ on the use of artillery. Thanks to Sagat’s obduracy, Nathu La was not vacated, unlike the neighbouring pass at Jelep La, held by the neighbouring division. This played a crucial role in the Nathu La skirmish, which occurred two years later. Coming back to MS 9, the divisional HQ and signal regiment were located on a hill slope next to the road. Almost everyone was in tents or tin sheds. There were no bukharies then and it was terribly cold at night. There was no snow clothing and we had to manage with OG jerseys. There were no sleeping bags and at night we had to use three or four blankets to cover ourselves. The officers’ mess was in a tin roofed hut, which was kept warm by sigries. Naturally, we tried to delay the dinner for as long as possible, to enjoy their warmth before retiring to our tents. I was told by the other officers that I should grin and bear it, as the area was in high altitude and this would mean some extra money. How this happened is another story. On the road, just below our location there was once a stone which had the height written as 8,500 feet. Soon after the HQ had moved, the GOC noticed some tall aerials on the hill top right above us. When he enquired from the Commander Signals, Lt Col PK Roy Chowdhury, he was told that these are radio relay aerials. These had to be located at that height so that we could communicate with Gangtok, from where another link enabled us to establish communications with the Corps HQ at Siliguri. Sagat asked his staff to check the height of the location of the radio relay detachment on the hill top. It was just above 9,000 feet. Everyone was thrilled to hear this. Troops located at 9,000 feet or above were entitled to high altitude allowance. Sagat ordered that the stone pillar on the road showing the altitude as 8,500 feet should be uprooted and thrown down in the river. This was promptly done. He gave instructions that the location of the divisional HQ and signal regiment would now be treated as in high altitude and everyone could claim high altitude allowance. When some officers from his staff expressed the fear that this might invite objections from the local audit officer (LAO) during his next visit, Sagat told them not to worry. The LAO should be accommodated in the tent along with the detachment manning the radio relay terminal on the hill top, instead of the JCOs mess. Since the radio relay detachment was part of the divisional HQ, the audit objections, if any, would be set aside. The 2ic was Major George Paisley while the OC 1 Company was Major SK ‘Jimmy’ Dovedy from the 1st JSW course. Interestingly, apart from Maj Dovedy and me, there was no other officer from NDA in the unit, which was overflowing with captains and subalterns. Most of them were ECOs, commissioned during the Emergency declared after the 1962 war with China. There were so many officers that there was a separate squad for officers during morning PT. There was no PT ground and all we could do was run on the road followed by PT in the open areas in front of the signal centre and office complex.