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Battle of Hilli
The Bloodiest Battle of the 1971 Bangladesh War
Speakers
The Battle of Hilli was the most famous and savagely fought battle in the 1971 Bangladesh War. In the words of the then GOC in C Eastern Command, Lt Gen JS Aurora, PVSM, who addressed the unit, 8th Battalion Brigade of the Guards before the War, “the Battle was the bloodiest battle of the Bangladesh Liberation War in the entire Eastern Command.
The Battle is described in the War Memorial at Delhi and 8 Guards was one of the 3 units which was invited to participate in the Victory Day Parade on 26 January 1972, others being 2 Para (para dropped at Tangail) and 10 Para (Chachro in Western Sector). Hilli was finally cleared on 11 December by 202 Mountain Brigade, with 8 Guards, 5 Garhwal Rifles and 22 Maratha Light Infantry also fighting smaller actions.
Hilli town was surrounded by strong points all around. The main action was fought between 22 and 25 November 1971 at Morapara, a strong point covering Hilli, much before the War was officially declared on 3 December 1971. The opposing Company Commander at Morapara and Hilli, Major Muhammed Akram was awarded the only Nishan-e-Haider (Posthumous, equivalent of Param Vir Chakra) in the operations in the entire then East Pakistan.
The talk by Brig PT Ghogale, VSM, a participant of the Battle of Hilli will be followed by a discussion moderated by Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali and a Q&A with the audience.
Speakers
Prakash Tularam Ghogale
Brig Prakash Tularam Ghogale, VSM, an NDA Alumnus commissioned into 8th Battalion Brigade of the Guards in December 1968 from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, participated in the Battle of Hilli as a young Captain.
An alumnus of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and Naval War College, Mumbai, he was one of the first officers from Brigade of the Guards to command an Armoured Brigade! He was awarded a Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished service during Gujarat riots in 2002.
He has served mostly in Field Areas in his 36 years of service in the Army. He commanded a new raising namely, 18th Battalion Brigade of the Guards in North Sikkim at 18500 feet, for which he was awarded Chief of Army Staff Commendation. He, thereafter, converted 18 Guards to Mechanized Infantry profile.
A contributor of articles in Magazines/Newspapers including a published review on Siachen 1987 by Lt Gen Ramesh Kulkarni, he has presented the Battle of Hilli to interested audiences across the country and abroad, for instance, at Hq Southern Command Auditorium organised by Centre of Advanced Strategic Studies, Pune, Rashtriya Raksha University, Gandhinagar, Maharashtra Education Society, Pune and audiences in London on line.
Post retirement, he served with distinction as Director of Human Resources in the hospitality chain, Hyatt International Corporation in Delhi for almost a decade.
Ramesh Halgali
Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali was born in Bagalkot District, Karnataka in 1952. He studied in Sainik School Bijapur and graduated from the Indian Military Academy and was commissioned in First Battalion the Sikh Light Infantry in Dec 1972.
He commanded First Battalion the Sikh Light Infantry, an Infantry Brigade and an Infantry Division on the Line of Control in Kashmir. He was also the Corps Commander of the Corps in Punjab. Thereafter, he was the Director General Military Training and later was the Deputy Chief of Army Staff at Army Headquarters.
He has worked towards the Strategic Development of Karnataka after retirement. The Karnataka Government has awarded him with the Sangoli Rayanna Award, Shivappa Keladi Nayaka Award, Dr R L Kapur Award and recently, he was awarded the Rajyotsava Award for Social Service.
