Picture this: a single police company facing off against an enemy brigade of 3,500 soldiers equipped with heavy artillery. Sounds impossible? Not for the CRPF warriors who scripted history in the barren sands of Kutch on April 9, 1965—now celebrated as Shaurya Diwas.
The CRPF, born in 1939 and formalized in 1949, has a legacy of bravery. But the midnight raid by Pakistan’s 51st Brigade during Operation Desert Hawk tested them like never before. Four companies from the 2nd Battalion manned Sardar and Tak Posts, alert despite Pakistani feints of peace talks.
Havildar Ranjit Singh’s sharp eyes caught the infiltrators. As mortars rained down, the jawans maintained a ghostly silence, fooling the enemy into thinking the posts were silenced. Advancing columns closed in, only to be decimated by a sudden hail of machine-gun fire.
Sepoy Shivrams detected distant threats, prompting precise mortar responses from Subedar Balbir Singh. Havildar Bhavna Ram single-handedly hurled grenades, repelling waves of attackers. Even when a machine gun jammed, quick thinking turned the tide with relentless counter-fire.
The battle raged for an hour, with Pakistan launching three failed assaults. They lost 34 men killed and four captured, retreating in disarray. CRPF paid dearly—six martyrs—but their stand foiled a major incursion.
This saga of grit and strategy underscores the CRPF’s pivotal role beyond policing, into frontline defense. Shaurya Diwas honors these legends, fueling national pride and readiness against any adversary.
