PanzerKiel
MILITARY PROFESSIONAL
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He passed out from PMA on 28th August 1971 and was posted to his unit 6FF. He was only 20 years old when he was sent to front line as a 2nd Lieutenant. He never participated in any battle or exercise, but he was lucky to have guidance of his Company Commander Major Shabbir Sharif.
3 December 1971
Sulemanki Sector
The young man was assigned the task to attack Bairy Wala Bridge with his 12 soldiers and capture it as soon as possible. This bridge had the key importance regarding the defense of Saboona Ridge and it was necessary to capture it at any cost, in order to have a strong hold in this sector. This bridge was guarded by a company of enemy and had the cover of two concrete bunkers with machine guns. Moreover, there were 11 pillars of the bridge, each having 40 KG of explosive tied to it. Just a push of a button was enough to shatter the bridge into pieces
The Lieutenant advanced towards the target, when he was about 200 meters away from the target he observed with binoculars that are 2 bunkers and number of soldiers on the bridge. He came closer to bridge and ordered to open fire. One enemy soldier got hit and fell into the stream flowing below the bridge. The bunkers started intense machine gun fire. Now he and his company took position and started advancing further, raising the slogans of Allah-o-Akbar. When they were about to reach the bridge, 6 of the Pakistani soldiers got hit by the enemy machine gun and rest of them kept advancing under the rain of bullets. They kept crawling until they reached the dead arc of the machine gun. The lieutenant tried to fire in the bunker by putting his Sten Gun in the fox hole, but it proved to be useless. The whole magazine was emptied but the machine guns kept firing. Meanwhile, the enemy also realized that there is someone outside the bunker. So, a grenade was thrown out but this was a delayed action grenade and it rolled down from the slope without exploding. Now the Lieutenant got an idea and threw a grenade inside the bunker and the machine guns stop firing; in the meantime, the other bunker was cleared by rest of his fellows.
The action was so rapid that the enemy had no chance to blow the bridge . The capture of bridge proved to be the key to success in this sector and later, Major Shabbir captured the remaining sector.
Today the world knows the brave Second Lieutenant as 2nd Lieutenant Farooq Afzal (Later Brigadier Farooq Afzal). He was awarded Tamgha e Jurrat for his act of valor.
3 December 1971
Sulemanki Sector
The young man was assigned the task to attack Bairy Wala Bridge with his 12 soldiers and capture it as soon as possible. This bridge had the key importance regarding the defense of Saboona Ridge and it was necessary to capture it at any cost, in order to have a strong hold in this sector. This bridge was guarded by a company of enemy and had the cover of two concrete bunkers with machine guns. Moreover, there were 11 pillars of the bridge, each having 40 KG of explosive tied to it. Just a push of a button was enough to shatter the bridge into pieces
The Lieutenant advanced towards the target, when he was about 200 meters away from the target he observed with binoculars that are 2 bunkers and number of soldiers on the bridge. He came closer to bridge and ordered to open fire. One enemy soldier got hit and fell into the stream flowing below the bridge. The bunkers started intense machine gun fire. Now he and his company took position and started advancing further, raising the slogans of Allah-o-Akbar. When they were about to reach the bridge, 6 of the Pakistani soldiers got hit by the enemy machine gun and rest of them kept advancing under the rain of bullets. They kept crawling until they reached the dead arc of the machine gun. The lieutenant tried to fire in the bunker by putting his Sten Gun in the fox hole, but it proved to be useless. The whole magazine was emptied but the machine guns kept firing. Meanwhile, the enemy also realized that there is someone outside the bunker. So, a grenade was thrown out but this was a delayed action grenade and it rolled down from the slope without exploding. Now the Lieutenant got an idea and threw a grenade inside the bunker and the machine guns stop firing; in the meantime, the other bunker was cleared by rest of his fellows.
The action was so rapid that the enemy had no chance to blow the bridge . The capture of bridge proved to be the key to success in this sector and later, Major Shabbir captured the remaining sector.
Today the world knows the brave Second Lieutenant as 2nd Lieutenant Farooq Afzal (Later Brigadier Farooq Afzal). He was awarded Tamgha e Jurrat for his act of valor.
