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Hero's Last Stand: 60 Tanks Destroyed, 9 Lost
16 Sep
Summary
- Lt Col Tarapore led regiment destroying 60 enemy tanks.
- He refused evacuation despite sustaining battlefield wounds.
- Posthumously awarded India's highest wartime gallantry award.
On this day in 1965, Lieutenant Colonel Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore died leading his regiment, the Poona Horse, through six days of intense tank warfare.
Tasked with isolating Sialkot, Tarapore's regiment advanced under heavy fire. Despite sustaining wounds, he refused evacuation, inspiring his men.
By the end of the conflict, the regiment had destroyed approximately 60 enemy tanks, losing only nine. This remarkable feat earned Tarapore the Param Vir Chakra posthumously.
The Poona Horse, with a lineage dating back to 1817, has a storied history, earning multiple honors including two Param Vir Chakras and four Victoria Crosses.