Military operations in Poonch (1948)
Pakistan had targeted Poonch district, which had a large population of Muslim serving and retired soldiers, as an important objective.
Pakistani forces comprised regular soldiers, ex-servicemen of Royal Indian Army (AKRF[2] – Azad Kashmir Regular Force)[3] and Pashtun tribals, along with Muslim Poonchies inflamed by reports of massacre of Muslim refugees during the communal violence of partition.
The relief of Poonch from Jammu was exacerbated by the fact that it lay across many kilometers of hilly terrain with poor communications.
Paucity of troops, the need to secure the line of communication and to establish a firm base delayed its relief.
[5]: 124 161st Infantry Brigade, which had pushed the raiders back to Domel on the Muzzafarabad-Srinagar route, was tasked to link up with Poonch from the North.
On 12 December 1947, Wing Commander Mehar Singh, accompanied by Air Vice Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, carried out a daring trial in a Harvard on the makeshift airstrip.
[1]: 100 In the meantime, 268 Infantry Brigade carried out OP RANJIT in which it captured Pir Badesar, a tactically strong locality overlooking the Seri valley which protected Jhangar from the north and posed a direct threat to Kotli and thus protected the flank of the advance from a Pakistani threat to the line of communication near Chingas.
[1]: 97 [4]: 257–262 19 Infantry Brigade came across determined opposition at Point 5372, a feature southeast of Mendhar, which guarded the route to Kotli.
Before any action could be taken by the Indians to reduce the salient, ceasefire was declared on 2 January 1949 leaving these locations secure in Pakistani hands.
[5]: 289–291 Poonch continues to be a border outpost on the Line of Control in between the Indian and Pakistani administered regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
The decision to hold and relieve Poonch saved thousands of civilian lives but at the military cost of diverting troops from the capture of Domel and Muzzafarabad during a period of vulnerability[5] as well as diverting troops from the capture of Mirpur and Bhimber, a more meaningful strategical gambit.
