The Battle of Rezang La was one of the most famous battles during the 1962 Indo-China War. The Indian troops were outnumbered by the massive invading Chinese forces, who deployed what is known as human wave tactics. But the manner in which the Indian forces led by Major Shaitan Singh defended their position to the ‘last man, last round’ has made it widely known as one of the greatest last stands ever to have been fought in modern military history.
It is this remarkable story of bravery that is set to be presented on the big screen by Farhan Akhtar. On 4 September 2024, the Indian actor-filmmaker announced that he was making a movie on the epic battle.
Titled 120 Bahadur, the war movie will see Akhtar essay the role of Major Shaitan Singh — the legendary commander of the men who fought at Rezang La. For his bravery, Major Singh was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), India’s highest military decoration.
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According to Indian media reports, the shooting of the film has started in Ladakh. No release date has yet been announced, but reports suggest that the film will release in 2025.
Akhtar’s 120 Bahadur is not the first film to be made on this battle. Years ago, renowned filmmaker Chetan Anand, the older brother of legendary Indian actor Dev Anand, made a film, Haqeeqat (1964), based on the Battle of Rezang La. It is to this day considered one of the best war films made in Indian cinematic history.
But why is the Battle of Rezang La of such significance? Here is its history.
Everything to know about the Battle of Rezang La
The 1962 Indo-China War: The two sides before the battle
Rezang La is a very high mountain pass located on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China in Ladakh. A massive feature with a height of around 5,180 metres, Rezang La was an extremely important forward position for the defence of India’s Ladakh region.
The Indo-China War broke out on 20 October 1962, when China launched simultaneous attacks on India’s Eastern and Western sectors. There was a brief lull in fighting in the Western Sector from 29 October to 17 November, during which India bolstered its defensive formations in Ladakh and primarily the Chusul sub-sector within which falls Rezang La.
The pass, which led to Chusul, was defended by the Indian Army’s Charlie Company, 13 Kumaon led by Major Shaitan Singh. The men in Major Singh’s company were Ahirs from Haryana, while the major himself was a Rajput from Rajasthan. Many hadn’t even seen snow before their deployment at the pass and, thus, found it extremely difficult to acclimatise to the impossibly harsh conditions at the heights of Rezang La due to a lack of proper winter clothes and shoes.
According to The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories, an acclaimed book on the 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees by Rachna Bisht Rawat, while the men of the C Company were equipped with outmoded .303 single action rifles of World War II, the Chinese were equipped with the then available latest automatic rifles. The C Company was under orders not to patrol the international border, which restricted their ability to scout enemy forces to only around 365 metres of their location.
Further, according to an article by Colonel N.N. Bhatia on Bharat Rakshak, the “Chinese had enough, ammunition, rations, heavy engineering equipment, vehicles, artillery and tanks could come right up to the Spanggur Gap as they had built a road up to their terminal post.” (The Spanggur Gap and its eponymous lake are located next to Rezang La.)
Most importantly, the features of Rezang La were such that the Indian soldiers could not be backed by the Indian Army’s artillery but were open to attack by Chinese artillery, and they did not have proper anti-personnel mines to halt the advance of Chinese troops. All that the Indian soldiers had as support was a section of three-inch mortar.
Yet with such disadvantages, the Indian soldiers of C Company had to defend the roughly 3-km-long and nearly 2-km-wide pass. The C Company was divided into three platoons, one mortar section, and the company HQ. On the north flank was the 7 Platoon, in the pass was the 8 Platoon, and in the central post was the 9 Platoon next to the company HQ. On the reverse slope was the mortar section.
The battle on 18 November 1962
The Chinese re-started the Indo-China War in the Western Sector on 17 November 1962. According to an official Indian government account, a patrol from the C Company detected Chinese advances towards their position at 4 am on 18 November. In the next hour, the Chinese launched the first wave of their attacks. It was promptly beaten back by the Indian troops, resulting in heavy casualties for the enemy forces.
Before 6 am, the Chinese launched multiple attacks on the Indian positions defending Rezang La. Each attack was successfully repelled, costing more Chinese casualties but losses for the C Company as well. The Chinese Company Commander of No. 8 Company was killed in battle in one of these attacks.
When the Chinese sensed that it would not be easy to capture Rezang La, they resorted to artillery bombardment. High-intensity mortar and artillery shells pounded the Indian positions, causing casualties for C Company and destroying some of their equipment.
The C Company’s radio set was destroyed, and the Chinese had also cut off the telephone line to the Battalion HQ, which left the Indian soldiers on their own with little to no chance of reinforcements. Major Shaitan Singh was injured on his arm, yet he went around from platoon to platoon under heavy firing from enemy forces, motivating his men to fight back.
The Chinese launched another wave under the covering fire of their artillery. The Indian soldiers fought valiantly, many with their bare hands and bayonets, killing several of the enemy soldiers. But all men of C Company died in the trenches.
In the final moments, Major Singh, who had by now received a burst of machine gun fire in his abdomen that split his stomach open, and his remaining men kept firing their Light Machine Guns (LMGs) until they fell fighting. In between, he had also tried to launch a counterattack to regain the height at Point 5,300.
According to the official account, Rezang La was captured by the Chinese by around 9 am, but the guns kept firing till 10 pm on 18 November. The C Company’s gallantry prevented the Chinese forces from advancing any further into Chusul, as they had originally planned. Had the Chinese not been halted by the C Company, Chusul airport would have fallen to enemy forces possibly on that same day and, thereby, the whole of Ladakh.
On 21 November 1962, three days after the Battle of Rezang La, China declared a unilateral ceasefire in its war with India.
Bodies of the valiant soldiers were not found till February 1963
It is generally accepted that 120 men were deployed at Rezang La. Official accounts state that 114 of them died fighting. Some of the survivors had been taken prisoners of war, but one bravely escaped Chinese captivity in the dark on the same day to reunite with his battalion. The rest reportedly escaped later.
Official Indian accounts state that C Company killed 1,300 invading Chinese soldiers in the Battle of Rezang La. Some sources say that the Chinese soldiers at the Battle of Rezang La numbered around 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers, which means that the Indian side was vastly outnumbered.
It is widely known that when the surviving soldiers told the senior commanders of the Army in New Delhi of the bravery they had displayed and the number of Chinese soldiers C Company had killed, the commanders refused to believe them. But the senior commanders were in for the shock of their lives three months later.
Following the end of the 1962 Indo-China War, Rezang La was declared no man’s land. According to Bisht, a Ladakhi shepherd accidentally entered the no man’s land in February 1963 and discovered the exact site of the conflict with all the bodies of the slain soldiers preserved in the snow.
When the shepherd informed the Indian Army at Chusul, a huge search party, which included Brigadier (later General) T.N. Raina, who was the Brigade Commander at Chushul, and Red Cross representatives, was sent to the site. They saw that the bodies of the soldiers were riddled with bullets and yet their hands were on their guns, indicating that they fought till their last breath and last round. The body of Major Shaitan Singh was found next to a rock.
Some visuals from Rezang La from February 1963, the time when the mortal remains of Major Shaitan Singh, PVC and the Charlie Company were found. A team of Red Cross and Army went up to Rezang La to recover bodies and brought them down with the help of local residents of Chushul. pic.twitter.com/bdmIde6MLI
— Jai Samota (@jai_samota) December 30, 2023
According to the book The Battle of Rezang La by Kulpreet Yadav, the official account of the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army describes what the search party saw in the following words:
“No bunker in Rezang La was found intact, corrugated iron sheets were found in bits, the ballies (wooden poles/logs used for making temporary shelters) had been reduced to matchwood sticks, and the sandbags were just shreds. But there was no sign of panic or withdrawal. Every single jawan was found dead in his trench; each had several bullets or splinter wounds, still holding their weapons; broken light machine guns/rifles bore witness to the intensity of the enemy fire.”
For their display of unparalleled gallantry, C Company received one PVC (for Major Shaitan Singh), eight Vir Chakras, four Sena medals and one M-in-D (Mentioned-in-Dispatches). The 13 Kumaon was awarded the Battle Honour ‘Rezang La’ and the Theatre Honour ‘Ladakh 1962′. The Army Headquarters later re-raised and designated C Company as Rezang La Company in 1963.
“What is most remarkable is that none of the men has a bullet in his back. This means no one tried to run away,” noted Bisht in her book.
(Hero and Featured images: Courtesy of Farhan Akhtar/@faroutakhtar via Instagram)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Chinese side won the Battle of Rezang La during the 1962 Indo-China War, though it didn't go as they planned and came at the cost of very high casualties.
All the 114 Indian soldiers who died defending Rezang La were the heroes of the battle. They were led by Major Shaitan Singh, who was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra.
According to Indian sources, around 1,300 Chinese soldiers lost their lives, trying to capture Rezang La.
Only six of the 120 Indian soldiers survived the Battle of Rezang La.
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Manas Sen Gupta writes at the intersection of tech, entertainment and history. His works have appeared in publications such as The Statesman, Myanmar Matters, Hindustan Times and News18/ETV. In his spare time, Manas loves studying interactive charts and topographic maps. When not doing either, he prefers reading detective fiction. Spring is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.
