A new Bollywood film spotlights a forgotten India-China battle

A recent Bollywood film has put the spotlight on a largely forgotten battle from the 1962 war between India and China.

Called 120 Bahadur – Hindi for brave hearts – the film tells the story of Indian soldiers who fought valiantly to defend the Rezang La pass in the freezing Himalayan mountains of Ladakh.

The film, with Farhan Akhtar as Major Shaitan Singh, failed at the box office but succeeded in spotlighting a battle often described as the only silver lining in a war India lost.

"We felt it was very important that this story must he told, we wanted to honour the people who lived the story," dialogue writer Sumit Arora told the BBC. "We have taken some cinematic liberties, but our film stays very true to history."

The war came as the relationship between India and China had been souring over border tensions and meetings to resolve the disputes had been unsuccessful. Beijing was also unhappy over India giving refuge to the Dalai Lama who had fled Tibet after the 1959 uprising.

The month-long war started on 20 October with China attacking India. Beijing said it was "a self-defence counter-attack" and accused Delhi of "aggressively encroaching on Chinese territory and violating Chinese airspace".

By the time China declared a unilateral ceasefire a month later - pulling back troops and releasing prisoners of war - India had lost about 7,000 soldiers and 38,000 sq km of territory. The two countries were later separated by an ill-defined 3,440km (2,100-mile) Line of Actual Control, marked in places by rivers, lakes and snowcaps.

Beijing has said little officially about the war, beyond claiming its troops eliminated all Indian positions in the conflict zones, and has never commented on the battle of Rezang La.

Fought at over 16,000ft (4,900m), it was one battle in a wider war China won. In India, however, it is remembered as an "epic battle" and "one of the greatest last stands" and inspired books and films.

The battle took place on the night of 18 November from 3:30am to 8:15am.

The pass was close to Chushul airstrip, which was "the primary nerve centre at a time when road network connecting the region with the rest of India was largely absent", Yadav says.

Only five of the 120 men survived. Major Singh, who was among the dead, was posthumously awarded India's highest military honour Param Vir Chakra for his courage and leadership. Twelve other soldiers received gallantry medals.

But initially when the survivors told their superiors about their audacious last stand, "tragically, no-one believed them", says Kulpreet Yadav, former navy officer and author of the 2021 book Battle of Rezang La.

"The morale was low, we had bitterly lost the war, thousands of our soldiers, including a brigadier, were taken by China as prisoners of war. So, no-one believed such a heroic last-stand was possible," he adds.

It was widely believed that the soldiers posted at Rezang La had either run away from the battle or had been taken as prisoners of war.

"It was only three months later when the war was behind us, that a shepherd chanced upon the destroyed bunkers, empty shells, used gun-cartridges and bodies frozen in snow. And for the first time, an accurate account of the battle could be created."

The soldiers - from the C (Charlie) Company of 13 Kumaon battalion - were deployed at the pass under Major Singh's command.

He had been advised by his superiors to consider tactical retreat in case they ran out of ammunition, but when he discussed it with his men, they told him, "We'll fight till last man, last bullet", Yadav says.

"When Chinese soldiers attacked the pass, C Company was prepared for a fight. But the Indian post was soon overwhelmed."

It was a lopsided fight: 120 men facing thousands. While China hasn't declassified 1962 war documents, Indian estimates suggest at least 3,000 Chinese troops attacked the pass.

"They had access to superior weapons and were well kitted out, whereas Indians were poorly equipped with semi-automatic rifles and a limited supply of 600 bullets for each soldier," he says.

In her 2014 book on Major Shaitan Singh, journalist Rachna Bisht notes that C Company, from the plains, had never seen snow and lacked time to acclimatise.

Subedar Ram Chander, a survivor, recalled, "The weather was terrible; we lacked proper winter clothes and shoes.

"The jerseys, cotton trousers and light coat we were issued could hardly keep us warm in those freezing winds. The soldiers would get terrible headaches and the nursing assistant would rush from post to post doling out medicines," he said.

On the night of the battle, with snow falling and temperatures around −24°C, Subedar Ram Chander told BBC Hindi earlier, "I told my superiors it was the day we had been waiting for."

Bisht writes that C Company repelled the first wave, but Chinese mortar fire destroyed bunkers and tents, causing heavy casualties. The deadly third wave wiped out most of the men.

Subedar Ram Chander's account of Major Singh's bravery is heartbreaking.

"He had taken several bullets in his stomach. As he lay bleeding, in excruciating pain and drifting in and out of consciousness, he gave me instructions on how to carry on the fight.

"Then he told me to go and be with the battalion. I told him, I cannot leave you. 'You have to go. It's my order,' he said."

In February 1963, after the bodies and bunkers were discovered, a senior army official led Red Cross personnel and media to Rezang La, finding the battlefield "exactly as it had happened, frozen in snow".

Writing about the discovery in her book, Bisht says, "Every single soldier they find is dead from multiple bullet wounds, shell injuries or splinters. Some lie dead in their bunkers, buried under boulders, others are still holding on to the butts of blown-off rifles.

"The nursing assistant has a syringe in his hand and a roll of bandage, the soldier operating the mortar holds a bomb. Major Shaitan Singh is lying by a rock, a blood-stained bandage on his left arm, his stomach ripped open by a machine gun burst."

In a war "mostly remembered with shame," Bisht writes that Major Shaitan Singh and his men achieved great glory. C Company was later renamed Rezang La Company and a memorial was built in Rewari - the town from where the soldiers came.

After the ceasefire, the pass became a no-man's land and is part of the disputed territory.

Yadav says if the C Company hadn't fought so valiantly, India's map would look very different today.

"If it was not for these soldiers, I think India would have lost half of Ladakh. China would have captured the airfield and Chushul.

"This battle was the only silver lining for India in the 1962 war."