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{{Short description|Infantry battalion of the Indian Army}} | {{Short description|Infantry battalion of the Indian Army}} | ||
{{EngvarB|date=March | {{EngvarB|date=March 2014}} | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=July | {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} | ||
{{Infobox military unit | {{Infobox military unit | ||
|unit_name=5th Battalion the 4th Gorkha Rifles | |unit_name=5th Battalion the 4th Gorkha Rifles | ||
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===Officer's Mess=== | ===Officer's Mess=== | ||
In the centre of the Bakloh ridge, not far from St Oswald Church, is the old officer's mess, a low, modest stone structure, with a view of the plains, and on clear sunny days of the River Ravi as makes its way into Pakistan.{{citation needed|date=May | In the centre of the Bakloh ridge, not far from St Oswald Church, is the old officer's mess, a low, modest stone structure, with a view of the plains, and on clear sunny days of the River Ravi as makes its way into Pakistan.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} In 1963, the mess was empty. It contents, the remains of the Raj and the Regiment, of mess silver, battlefield memorabilia, war trophies, billiards table, leather sofas, pieces of art, Persian rugs, hunting trophies of skins and horns, scores of old albums, and thousands of books, made famous by evocative description by [[John Masters]] in the Bugles and A Tiger,<ref name="Masters2002">{{cite book |author =John Masters |title=Bugles and a Tiger: My Life in the Gurkhas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ija6NwAACAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Cassell & Company |isbn=978-0-304-36156-4}}</ref> had been crated off to Sabathu, following the move of the 4 GR Centre to Sabathu. | ||
The Regiment was particularly lucky in being able to retain the pre-1947 regimental remains, which were handed over 'intact' by the departing British officers, to the new legatees of the regiment, unlike the departing British officers of the [[3rd Gorkha Rifles]], [[5th Gorkha Rifles]], [[8th Gorkha Rifles]], and [[9 Gorkha Rifles]], who instead of handing over the regimental properties 'intact' vandalised the mess property, stole mess silver, and carted off the most valuable mess assets to the UK., only to return some of them decades later, and that, too, after some coaxing. Brigadier Osborne Hedley, British Army, formerly 5 GR, has recorded that " The 4 GR was alright, 3rd and 8 bad" and that in 5 GR Regimental Centre, " the mess had been practically stripped of furniture, silver, crockery, and cutlery". In 9 GR, it seems, it was even worse. Maj General Palit, who took over from the departing British officers later wrote that in 3/9 GR 'cutlery and whiskey bottles were smashed' and that "All our mess silver had been either appropriated by individuals or given away to British regiments".<ref name="Regtl History, Vol IV"/><ref name="Gould1999">{{cite book |author =Tony Gould |title=Imperial Warriors: Britain and the Gurkhas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kU6VuDVWjoC&pg=PA465|year=1999|publisher=Granta Books |isbn=978-1-86207-365-4 |pages=317–18–}}</ref> | The Regiment was particularly lucky in being able to retain the pre-1947 regimental remains, which were handed over 'intact' by the departing British officers, to the new legatees of the regiment, unlike the departing British officers of the [[3rd Gorkha Rifles]], [[5th Gorkha Rifles]], [[8th Gorkha Rifles]], and [[9 Gorkha Rifles]], who instead of handing over the regimental properties 'intact' vandalised the mess property, stole mess silver, and carted off the most valuable mess assets to the UK., only to return some of them decades later, and that, too, after some coaxing. Brigadier Osborne Hedley, British Army, formerly 5 GR, has recorded that " The 4 GR was alright, 3rd and 8 bad" and that in 5 GR Regimental Centre, " the mess had been practically stripped of furniture, silver, crockery, and cutlery". In 9 GR, it seems, it was even worse. Maj General Palit, who took over from the departing British officers later wrote that in 3/9 GR 'cutlery and whiskey bottles were smashed' and that "All our mess silver had been either appropriated by individuals or given away to British regiments".<ref name="Regtl History, Vol IV"/><ref name="Gould1999">{{cite book |author =Tony Gould |title=Imperial Warriors: Britain and the Gurkhas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kU6VuDVWjoC&pg=PA465|year=1999|publisher=Granta Books |isbn=978-1-86207-365-4 |pages=317–18–}}</ref> | ||
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===Ceasefire=== | ===Ceasefire=== | ||
In the wake of Operation Grand Slam, the [[UN Security Council]] adopted three UN Security Council(SC) resolutions [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 209|209]], [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 210|210]], and [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 211|211]] which called on the two sides to stop fighting and withdraw to "the positions held by them before 5 August 1965". After the first two UNSC resolutions went unheeded, [[U Thant]], the [[UN Secretary-General]], travelled to India and Pakistan from 7–16 September, 65, to urge the two countries to stop the fighting. Following these unsuccessful 'appeals', by the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Security Council on 20 September 65, adopted Resolution 211, which, instead of calling on the two sides, demanded " that a cease-fire should take effect on Wednesday, 22 September 1965, at 0700 hours GMT" and that the two Governments issue orders for the "withdrawal of all armed personnel to the positions held by them before 5 August 1965" . After some dithering the two sides agreed to cease fire with effect from 2200 hours, GMT, 22 September.<ref name="Dawson1995">{{cite book |first=Pauline |last=Dawson |title=The Peacekeepers of Kashmir: The UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DBIAAAACAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-81-7154-581-0}}</ref><ref name=UNIPOM>{{cite web |title=UNITED NATIONS INDIA-PAKISTAN OBSERVATION MISSION UNIPOM (September 1965 – March 1966) |url=https://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unipommandate.html |publisher=Department of Public Information (DPI). |access-date=21 February | In the wake of Operation Grand Slam, the [[UN Security Council]] adopted three UN Security Council(SC) resolutions [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 209|209]], [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 210|210]], and [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 211|211]] which called on the two sides to stop fighting and withdraw to "the positions held by them before 5 August 1965". After the first two UNSC resolutions went unheeded, [[U Thant]], the [[UN Secretary-General]], travelled to India and Pakistan from 7–16 September, 65, to urge the two countries to stop the fighting. Following these unsuccessful 'appeals', by the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Security Council on 20 September 65, adopted Resolution 211, which, instead of calling on the two sides, demanded " that a cease-fire should take effect on Wednesday, 22 September 1965, at 0700 hours GMT" and that the two Governments issue orders for the "withdrawal of all armed personnel to the positions held by them before 5 August 1965" . After some dithering the two sides agreed to cease fire with effect from 2200 hours, GMT, 22 September.<ref name="Dawson1995">{{cite book |first=Pauline |last=Dawson |title=The Peacekeepers of Kashmir: The UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DBIAAAACAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-81-7154-581-0}}</ref><ref name=UNIPOM>{{cite web |title=UNITED NATIONS INDIA-PAKISTAN OBSERVATION MISSION UNIPOM (September 1965 – March 1966) |url=https://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unipommandate.html |publisher=Department of Public Information (DPI). |access-date=21 February 2013}}</ref> | ||
On 22 September 1965, at 1410, Indian Standard Time (IST), the Indian Army headquarters informed all its formations to cease-fire with effect from 0330 hours, IST, 23 September 1965. The 'Ceasefire' not always honored, found the Battalion in trenches, in eyeball to eyeball contact with Pakistani Forward Defended Localities (FDLs), along the Sialkot Railway line. In some areas, the FDLs were a mere 20 meters apart, and C Company could hear Pakistan soldiers talking, and even smoking the [[hookah]] in their trenches and bunkers.<ref name="News letter 34">{{cite journal |last=Singh |first=HC |title=Memories of 1965 War While serving in 5/4 GR |journal=Fourth Gorkha Rifles Officers' Association, News Letter, India |year=2011 |volume=34 |pages=96–97|editor1-first=RPS|editor1-last=Negi }}</ref> | On 22 September 1965, at 1410, Indian Standard Time (IST), the Indian Army headquarters informed all its formations to cease-fire with effect from 0330 hours, IST, 23 September 1965. The 'Ceasefire' not always honored, found the Battalion in trenches, in eyeball to eyeball contact with Pakistani Forward Defended Localities (FDLs), along the Sialkot Railway line. In some areas, the FDLs were a mere 20 meters apart, and C Company could hear Pakistan soldiers talking, and even smoking the [[hookah]] in their trenches and bunkers.<ref name="News letter 34">{{cite journal |last=Singh |first=HC |title=Memories of 1965 War While serving in 5/4 GR |journal=Fourth Gorkha Rifles Officers' Association, News Letter, India |year=2011 |volume=34 |pages=96–97|editor1-first=RPS|editor1-last=Negi }}</ref> | ||