Brigadier Amar Jit Singh Behl. (India Sentinels photo via special arrangement.)
New Delhi: Brigadier Amar Jit Singh Behl (retired), one of the Indian Army’s finest soldiers, died after being ill for some time at the Army Command Hospital in Chandimandir Cantonment, on Tuesday. His last rites took place on Wednesday.
Tributes poured in for him from all quarters, including veterans, public figures, and prominent citizens, on social media, who expressed their grief over the valiant soldier’s demise.
Who was Brigadier AJS Behl?
Brig AJS Behl was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery on December 17, 1961. He then fought three major wars within 10 years – 1962 India-China war, 1965 India-Pakistan war, and 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh against Pakistan.
Within one year of his commissioning, he was sent to the North-East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh) to take part in the 1962 war with China. As a young officer, Second Lieutenant Behl fought in the Battle of Namka-chu as a gun position officer (GPO) of “E” Troop from the 17 Parachute Field Regiment as part of 7 Infantry Brigade in the Kameng Frontier Division.
A young Second Lieutenant AJS Behl (2R) along three other officers at Namka-chu, in 1962. (India Sentinels photo via special arrangement.)
He fought the Chinese valiantly at Namka-chu, where he saw four of his gun troop (“E” Troop) men killed in action. According to his own account, by 4pm on October 20, due to overwhelming strength of the Chinese and high Indian casualties, they were forced to surrender.
Read also: 1962 India-China War – The reality of a military defeat
After the war ended and he was repatriated, he and his 38 men, who were taken as prisoners of war, were vetted and cleared. Remarkably, they posted back to the 17 Parachute Field Regiment, which Brig Behl said was a “very rare feat at that time”.
In the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan, he was deployed in the western sector, in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. During the 1965 operations there, Behl, who was a major then, narrowly escaped death on occasions when men standing alongside him fell to enemy bullets. In the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan, he again fought in the Rann of Kutch.
In a February 2023 interview with India Sentinels, Brig Behl recalled the wars he fought in 1962, 1965, and 1971 in minute details, especially the 1965 war. Below is his first-hand account of the events from the build-up to the Battle of Namka-chu, the incidents, and what followed:
Brig AJS Behl retired from the service as the deputy director general of NCC, Jammu & Kashmir, in April 1995.
