Battles of Belonia Bulge  and Durdharsha Dosh (the daring ten)

Second battle of Belonia Bulge: In the 2nd week of October, Sector Commander Lt Col. Khaled Mosharraf, along with Major General R D Hira, GOC of 23 Mountain Division of Indian army, visited battalion headquarters and defensive positions of 10 East Bengal Regiment. They also examined and evaluated enemy positions and their strength. Based on their personal survey and the intelligence reports, the Indian army constructed a sand model of the Feni-Belonia bulge by depicting the location of rail, road and river including enemy positions inside the bulge. After the detailed sand model discussion, Maj Jafar Imam was instructed to infiltrate with his battalion inside the enemy territory to encircle and attack them decisively.
In order to strengthen the forces under Major Jafar Imam, Charlie Company of 2 East Bengal Regiment (Junior Tigers) commanded by Capt Golam Helal Morshed Khan was brought from Sector #3 of Lt Col K M Shafiullah and was placed under the command of Major Jafar Imam. A Task Force was created comprising of 10 East Bengal Regiment, Charlie Company of 2 East Bengal Regiment and the forces of Sector #1 Major Jafar Imam was selected as the Task Force Commander.
While 23 Mountain Division of the Indian Army confirmed necessary artillery support, 2 Rajpoot, 3 Dogra and 8 Bihar Regimentof Indian Army were kept ready so that on call of the Task Force commander, theymay act as per needs. But before the execution of this plan, unfortunately Sector Commander Lt. Col. Khaled was severely wounded onhis forehead on October 22, 1971from the  enemy artillery shelling at Kamala Shagor near Koshba. He went there to oversee an attack of the Freedom Fighters on the Pakistani position at Koshba Puran Bazar by 9 East Bengal Regiment under the command of Captain Mohammad Ainuddin.
In the early morning of October 27, Major Jafar Imam entered the enemy territory along with the section, platoon and company commanders and conducted an extensive reconnaissance(recce)of the enemy positions. Members of the recce team were dressed like ordinary farmers and labourers, mingled with the local friendly farmers, carried out the recce successfully without arousing any suspicion of the enemy and returned back to the defence line safely.
The night between November 5 and 6 was fixed as the 'D'-day. It was a cold winter evening. And against the usual weather pattern and norm, after sunset it started raining heavily and soon the weather turned ghastly with intermittent lightning and heavy thunder-storm. Thus, nature presented a perfect opportunity for the Freedom Fighters for the successful infiltration. Freedom Fighters reached the assembly area by 6 pm. At 10:30 pm, Bravo Company under the command of Lt Mizan silently crossed Muhuri river and slowly started the infiltration followed by Charlie Company under Lt Didar After a few minutes pause, Charlie Company of 2nd East Bengal Regiment infiltrated commanded by Capt Helal Morshed. Alpha Company of 10 East Bengal Regiment commanded by Lt Imam-uz-Zaman infiltrated thereafter followed by headquarter company under the direct command of Maj. Jafar Imam. Adjutant of the battalion Lt. Mokhlesur Rahman co-ordinated the infiltration. Freedom Fighters took defensive position covertly from west to the east covering Chondona, Sholia and Guthuma and immediately started digging trenches and making bunkers facing both north and south. Major Jafar Imam established his Headquarter and command post at Anantapur. Likewise Capt Mahfuz of Sector #1 crossed the Indian border from eastern side, built defence line upto Guthuma and established contact with Bravo Company of 10 East Bengal Regiment. Thus, the border from east to west was sealed off silently by the Freedom Fighters by encircling the enemy forces located at Parshuram and Belonia in the north. Hectic preparation continued throughout the night for the imminent battle without the slightest knowledge of the Pakistani forces!On November 6, early in the morning, a Captain and five soldiers of Pakistan army was seen coming from Feni towards Parshuram/Belonia in a railway trolley and reached in front of the defence line of the Freedom Fighters. They were completely unaware of the presence of the Freedom Fighters in their occupied territory. When the enemy trolley crossed the Chitholia railway station and reached within the firing range, Habilder Yar Ahmed of Bravo Company and his men opened heavy fire on them. As a result, all the enemy soldiers including the Captain died instantly and the trolley with all the arms & ammunitions fell scattered. Habilder Yar Ahmed was overcome with joy and emotion. He got out of his bunker with 'Joy Bangla' slogan, rushed to the spot, picked up the rank badges and the revolver of the enemy Captain and started running towards his bunker.
But unfortunately when he had almost reached his bunker, Pakistani forces from surrounding areas got alarmed, were alerted and started firing sporadically. Habilder Yar Ahmed received a bullet in his left eye and was instantly martyred. It was the first casualty of the Freedom Fighters, in exchange of 6 enemy soldiers including a Captain though! After the liberation of the country, Habilder Yar Ahmed posthumously awarded with the gallantry of 'Bir Bikram'.
After a while, a few enemy patrol and recce party approached the defensive position of the Freedom Fighters to assess the situation but ran away due to effective fire from the defence of the Freedom Fighters. After about an hour, our defences were attacked by the Pakistani forces simultaneously from both north and south. They were beaten back. During November 6-7, the enemy from south tried to break and penetrate our defence line to rescue their forces under our seize at the north but all of their attempt resulted in utter failure with huge casualties at their end. At about 2-30 pm on November 7, four US made Pakistani Sabre Jets approached our defences and started strafing and bombing our positions. Their heavy machine gun and devastating rocket fire resulted in a substantial casualty at our end. However, one of the enemy jets was struck with our heavy machine gun fire and was badly damaged giving out dark smokes while trying to fly away.
November 8 witnessed a desperate and determined attack by the enemy from the north with the aim of penetrating our defences and break out of the seize. But all of their attempts were faced by the Freedom Fighters with accurate command of a courageous and visionary CO Maj. Jafar Imam and tremendous bravery and determined actions of Capt. Helal Morshed, Lt. Imam, 2/Lt. Mizan and 2/Lt. Didar.
At about 10-30 am on November 8, Brigadier B S Shandhu, the Brigade Commander of 83 Mountain Brigade of Indian army along with his Brigade Officers arrived at the Command Post of Major Jafar Imam at Anantapur, had elaborate discussions on the battle field situation and visited the defensive position of the Freedom Fighters despite great risk. He assured of necessary artillery support on call of the Task Force Commander. As per the plan, the Task Force Commander Maj. Jafar Imam called for artillery support on enemy positions both at Parshuram and Belonia after midnight between November 9 and 10. In the first phase, the divisional artillery of 23 Mountain Division of the Indian Army started rapid shelling on enemy positions for about 15 minutes followed by intense shelling which caused devastating consequences for the enemy.
In the early morning on November 10, the Freedom Fighters and 3 Dogra Regiment of Indian Army carried out a concerted attack and started advance towards the enemy positions from south and north respectively. The morale of the enemy forces broke down completely with huge casualties and fresh thrust of attack. They immediately raised a white flag and after brief formalities a Pakistani Captain along with 72 soldiers gave up arms with hands on their head and surrendered to the joint forces of Mukti and Mitro Bahini. Huge number of dead and wounded Pakistani forces were seen scattered in the battle field.
The scenario was just horrific. Maj. Jafar Imam hoisted Bangladesh Flag at Parshuram and Belonia while the Freedom Fighters and a few local residents beaming with chestfull of pride sang our national anthem 'Amar Sonar Bangla, Ami tomae bhalobashi'. The entire area of Parshuram and Belonia was thus liberated on November 10, 1971. This was the first majorsetback for the enemy with thesurrender of such a large number of Pakistani forces to the Freedom Fighters and a major strategic victory of the Bangladesh Liberation Forces. In fact, this was the beginning of the end for the Pakistani occupation forces.
The techniques applied by the Freedom Fighters in this historic battle were a gross violation to tactical teachings and conventional military ethics. There was no depth between the two defence line which, in fact, was back-to-back! It was also not only a battle of brawn but also a battle of brain and wisdom. There is an English saying-"Nothing succeeds like success." In the year 1973, a good number of senior army Generals from around the world visited the battle field of Belonia with lot of curiosity. The new technique, so successfully applied by the Freedom Fighters during the Second Battle of Belonia Bulge, has since been recognized and accepted as an effective war technique.
In between the First and Second Battles of Belonia Bulge, 10 East Bengal Regiment under the command of Maj Jafar Imam and his officers demolished bridges, laid anti-tank and anti- personnel mines on the roads frequently used by the Pakistani forces, conducted many ambushes and raids on enemy positions by inflicting heavy casualties to them. The First, Second and Third Battles of Belonia Bulge including innumerable ambush and raids resulted in about 1000 casualties to the enemy forces.
Third battle of Belonia Bulge: After the surrender of Pakistani forces at Belonia, 'K' Force was reorganised and renamed as 'Kilo' Force under the command of Brig. Anand Swarup of Indian army comprising of 4 East Bengal Regiment and 10 East Bengal Regiment of Bangladesh Liberation Forcesand 31 Jat Regiment and 32 Mahar Regiment from Mizo Hill Range of India. Kilo Force started advance to liberate Feni but faced stiff resistance from the enemy forces near Feni at a place called Pathan Garh and it's surrounding areas. Sporadic and heavy battle continued between the Kilo Force and the Pakistani forces from November 20 up toDecember2. On 2 November, Kilo Force demolished the `Reju Miah Bridge' near Pathan Garh on the then Dhaka-Chittagong highway for disrupting the movement of the Pakistani Forces prior to the final assault on Feni.  On December 3, all-out war started between India and Pakistan in both the eastern and western wings. Kilo Force attacked the Pakistani positions in Feni with new vigour. Facing heavy casualties, the defeated remnant Pakistani forces abandoned Feni on December 5 in the dark of night under cover of heavy artillery fire and disgracefully fled towards Comilla and Chittagong cantonments. With unprecedented joy of the local population and with thunderous 'Joy Bangla' slogan, Feni and Noakhali were liberated on December 6 and 9 respectively.
Kilo Force continued their advance towards Chittagong. After reaching Kumira, Maj Jafar Imam left Charlie Company there under the command of Lt. Didar and started a difficult advance towards Hathajari through the terrain, hills and jungles by the left side of Dhaka-Chittagong Highway. At Hathajari, his forces along with the forces of 4 East Bengal Regiment under the command of Capt. Gaffar Halder attacked the 24 Frontier Force Regiment and defeated it. At Kumira Bazar, on the other hand, Lt. Didar and his troops had a fierce battle with the Pakistani forces. At one stage of the battle, the demoralised enemy forces fled towards Chittagong Cantonment.
And the hostilities ended when major portion of Pakistani forces gave up arms and surrendered by the end of the day on 16 December and with the formal surrender of Pakistani Brigadier Malik and his forces to the joint command of Freedom Fighters and Indian Army at Natun Para Cantonment at Chittagong on December 17, 1971 in the morning.
The regular and citizen soldiers together concluded the war with flying colours. The 10th Battalion of the East Bengal Regiments was thus rightly conferred with the Nom-de-Plume 'Durdharsha Dosh' (the daring ten).
The patriotism, heroism and the chestful of bravery of all ranks of 10 East Bengal Regiment in defeating the Pakistani forces and in liberating the Feni-Belonia Bulge, followed by Feni, Noakhali and Chittagong shall always imbue the nation and successive generations with pride and patriotism.
FF Ghulam Mustafa, was the Intelligence Officer (lO) to the Commanding Officer (CO) of 10 East Bengal Regiment (Durdharsha Dosh)during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in the year 1971