CHAWINDA,"GRAVEYARD OF TANKS" TEHSIL PASRUR,DISTRICT SIALKOT,PUNJAB,PAKISTAN

Chawinda

Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
Government
- Nazim	Muhammad Ahsan Bajwa
Elevation	165 m (541 ft)
Time zone	PST (UTC+5)
Number of Union councils	121 Chawinda

Chawinda is a town of the tehsil Pasrur of Sialkot District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located at 32°23'08.05" N 74°42'43.94" E with an altitude of 165 metres (544 feet). It is known as "the Graveyard of Tanks" because of the 1965 war during which the Indian Army suffered heavy losses of the its tanks and had its armoured back broken due to the Pakistan Army's superior tactics and strategies against a technologically more advanced Indian armour division. It is located north of Pasrur and south east of Sialkot. It is linked to the cities of Sialkot and Narowal through Rail and Road. It is also linked through road to the towns of Zafarawal in the east and Chobara and Kingra and KHANA WALI in the north. It has two government boys high schools, one Girls College, a health centre, and a number of private education centres.
Prof. Abdul Qayyum is one of the significant names of Chawinda.

Battle of Chawinda

 

 

Battle of Chawinda
Part of Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Date 17 September 1965 – 22 September 1965 Location Chawinda, Pakistan Result Undecided due to UN ceasefire
Belligerents
Pakistan	India
Commanders and leaders
Maj Gen Abrar Lt Col Nisar Ahmed Khan Brig. Sardar M.Ismail Khan Brig. S. M. Hussain Brig. Abdul Ali Malik Brig. Muzzafaruddin Later: Maj Gen Tikka Khan Lt Gen Bakhtiyar M.Rana Maj Gen Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan Brg. Amjad Chaudhry	P.O. Dunn Lt Col Ardeshir Tarapore
Strength
30,000+50,000 infantry 22 cavalry(44xM48), 10cavalry(44xPatton) 25cavalry(44xPatton) 33TDU sqn(15xShermans) 19Lancers(44xPatton) 11Cavalry(44xPatton) Total:132 +150(Tank reinforcements)	80,000-150,000 infantry 4horse(45xCenturion) 16Cavalry(45xCenturions 17poona(45xCenturion) 2Lancers(45xSherman) 62Cavalry(45xsherman) Total 225 Tanks
Casualties and losses
44 tanks Over 518 km2 (218 mi2) of territory lost	120 tanks(Pakistan claimed) 29 Tanks lost(Indian Claims)

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 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

Pakistan Army 14th Paratrooper Brigade's soldiers during the Battle of Chawinda. Brigadier A.A.K. Niazi, (3rd from left) observing a map

A war monument in Sialkot in memory of the Battle of Chawinda

The aim of the attack was to seize the key Grand Trunk Road around Wazirabad and capture the 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 Pattons, 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 armored division, all their offensives were ceased on that front. Pakistani Genral 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’. 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.
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 villlages of Phillora,Deoli,Bajragarhi,Suchetgarh,Pagowal,Chaprar, Muhadpur,Tilakpur south east and east of Sialkot city which was returned back to Pakistan after the Taskent declaration in January 1966.