Battle of Chawinda

The Battle of Chawinda was 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 during 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. The battle finally ended due to the UN ceasefire in the 1965 war.  

India and Pakistan both suffered from losses, according to the neutral claims Pakistan lost 61 tanks meanwhile India lost 100 tanks. 

Military personnel
General Dunn, the commander of I Corps Indian Army was given an assortment of units; 1st Armoured Division, 6th Mountain Division, 14th Division, and 26th Division. The Pakistani force expected to oppose the Indian thrust which consisted of the 15th Division, 6th Armoured Division (equivalent to armored brigade group), and 4th Artillery Corps. Later, more reinforcements came which included the 8 Infantry Division and 1st Armoured Division. 

The Battle
The attack aimed to seize the key Grand Trunk Road around Wazirabad and to capture Jassoran, which would enable control of the Sialkot-Pasrur railway, thus completely cutting off the 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 control of the Sialkot-Pasrur railway.
Realizing the threat, the Pakistanis 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 Pattons, about 15 M36B1s and the remainder were Shermans medium tanks. 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. 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 inflicted 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 pushed back with heavy damage, and the Pakistanis settled in defensive positions. The Pakistani position at this point was very dangerous because the Indians outnumbered them 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 the Indian first armored division, all their offensives were ceased on that front.Barua, Pradeep (2005) The state at war in South Asia  pg.192.

Pakistani General vetoed the proposed counterattack "Operation Windup", According to the Pakistani C in C the operation was canceled 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 a cease-fire and foreign-sponsored proposals’. 

Losses 
Pakistan claims 600 indian tanks destroyed in Chawinda  

Result
The battle has been described as one of the largest tank battles since World War II. 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 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 of the UN Resolution.

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.

Published accounts
Documentaries
Battle Of Chawinda -Indo Pak War 1965 - Lieutenant Colonel Ardeshir Tarapore (2018) is a TV documentary which premièred on Veer by Discovery Channel series, Mission & Wars.

Notes

References

Other websites
Battle of Chawinda – Comedy of Higher Command Errors
In Memory of Martyrs (first-hand account of the battle)

Chawinda
Chawinda
Category:Indo-Pakistani war of 1965
Category:History of Sialkot