Battle of Chawinda The Battle of Chawinda was a part of the Sialkot Campaign in the Indo - Pakistani War of 1965 . It was one of the largest tank battles in history since the Battle of Kursk in World War II . The initial clashes at Chawinda coincided with the tank battle near Phillora and the fighting intensified once the Pakistani forces at Phillora retreated . However , the advancing Indian 1st Armored Division was stopped at Chawinda . The battle finally ended due to the UN ceasefire . The forces . General Dunn , the commander of I Corps Indian Army was given an assortment of units : 1 Armoured Division , 6 Mountain Division , 14 Division and 26 Division . The Pakistani force expected to oppose the Indian thrust consisted of 15 Division , 6 Armoured Division ( equivalent to armoured brigade group ) and 4 Corps Artillery . Later reinforcements included 8 Infantry Division and 1 Armoured Division . The battle . The aim of the attack was to seize the key Grand Trunk Road around Wazirabad and the capture of Jassoran which would enable domination of Sialkot - Pasrur railway , thus completely cutting off Pakistani supply line . The striking force of the Indian 1st Corps was the 1st Armoured Division supported by the 14th Infantry and 6th Mountain divisions and Indian infantry seized the border area on 7 September . This was followed by a short engagement at Jassoran in which Pakistan lost 10 tanks and ensured complete Indian domination of Sialkot - Pasrur railway . Realising the threat , the Pakistani rushed two regiments of their 6th Armoured Division from Chhamb to the Sialkot sector to support the Pakistani 7th Infantry Division there . These units , plus an independent tank destroyer squadron , amounted to 135 tanks ; 24 M47 and M48 Patton s , about 15 M36B1s and the remainder Shermans . The majority of the Pattons belonged to the new 25th Cavalry commanded by Lt . Col . Nisar , which was sent to the Chawinda area . Fighting around the Gadgor village between the Indian 1 Armoured division and the Pakistani 25th Cavalry Regiment resulted in the Indian advance being stopped . The Indian plan was to drive a wedge between Sialkot and the 6th Armoured Division . In fact there was only a single regiment there at the time . The Indian 1st Armoured Division ' s drive quickly divided , with the 43rd Lorried Infantry Brigade supported by a tank regiment attacking Gat , while the main blow of the 1st Armoured Brigade was hurled against Phillaura . Pakistani air attacks caused moderate damage to the tank columns , but exacted a heavier toll on the truck columns and infantry . The terrain features of the area were very different from those around Lahore , being quite dusty , and the approach of the Indian attack was evident to the 25th Cavalry by the rising dust columns on the Charwah - Phillaura road . The Indians resumed their attacks on 10 September with multiple corps sized assaults and succeeded in pushing the Pakistani forces back to their base at Chawinda , where they were stopped . A Pakistani counterattack at Phillorah was repulsed with heavy damage , and the Pakistanis settled in defensive positions . The Pakistani position at this point was highly perilous , the Indians outnumbered them by ten to one . However , the Pakistani situation improved as reinforcements arrived , consisting of two independent brigades from Kashmir , 8 Infantry Division , and most crucially , their 1 Armoured Division . For the next several days , Pakistani forces repulsed Indian attacks on Chawinda . A large Indian assault on 18 September involving India ' s 1st Armoured and 6th Mountain Divisions was repelled , with the Indian 1st Armoured and 6th Mountain divisions taking heavy losses . On 21 September the Indians withdrew to a defensive position near their original bridgehead , with the retreat of Indian first armoured division , all their offensives were ceased on that front . Pakistani General vetoed the proposed counterattack " Operation Windup " , According to the Pakistani C in C the operation was cancelled since ‘ both sides had suffered heavy tank losses . . . would have been of no strategic importance . . . ’ and above all ‘ the decision . . . was politically motivated as by then the Government of Pakistan had made up their mind to accept cease fire and foreign sponsored proposals ’ . Result . Amidst the operation , on 22 September , the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution that called for an unconditional ceasefire from both nations . The war ended the following day . The military and economic assistance to both the countries had been stopped when the war started . Pakistan had suffered attrition to its military might and serious reverses in the battle at Khemkaran and Chawinda which made way for the acceptance the UN Resoltion . According to Indian claims , at the end of hostilities on 23 September 1965 , India held about 200 square miles ( 518 square kilometres ) of Pakistani territory in the Sialkot sector including the towns and villages of Phillora , Deoli , Bajragarhi , Suchetgarh , Pagowal , Chaprar , Muhadpur , Tilakpur south east and east of Sialkot city , which were returned to Pakistan after the Tashkent Declaration in January 1966 . Likewise , by the end of the hostilities , Pakistan held up to 1 , 600 square miles of Indian territory , of which 1 , 300 square miles included desert sectors . Despite the " huge losses on both sides " , " The Australian " attributed the victory in this battle to Pakistan .