Last stand

The Battle of Rezang La remains etched in military memory

3 min read

Updated On: Apr 10 2026 | 11:44 AM IST

A Chinese soldier photographs India from across the border in 1962 (PHOTO: MINISTRY OF DEFENCE)

They sat there, in their trenches, some of them still clutching their guns and grenades. Many among them were frozen in the firing positions the Chinese bullets had caught them in months ago on November 18, 1962.

One, Sepoy Dharam Pal Singh Dahiya, a nursing assistant, still held a syringe and a bandage in his hand.

The icy Rezang La in eastern Ladakh, where temperatures plunge below minus 30 degrees Celsius, had preserved their bodies in a manner that would tell the story of a battle fought to the last man and the last round. These were the soldiers of 13 Kumaon’s Charlie Company, over 100 of them (almost all were Ahirs from Haryana), led by Major Shaitan Singh, who died with them and was later awarded the Param Vir Chakra.

The Battle of Rezang La is etched in India’s military history as one of the greatest last stands — a story of remarkable courage in a war that went China’s way, with India paying a bitter price for its poor preparedness and shortsightedness.

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Though on the ground, the Sino-Indian war erupted on October 20, 1962, tensions had started simmering in 1959 with the Tibetan uprising of March 10. As the current Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) fled Lhasa for India, which gave him asylum upon his arrival on March 31, the Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai (“Indians and Chinese are brothers”) sentiment between the neighbours rapidly evaporated.

The unresolved Himalayan boundary issue further strained relations. India recognised the colonial-era McMohan Line. China rejected it and built a strategic road linking Xinjiang and Tibet through Aksai Chin, the high-altitude largely uninhabited cold desert that India claims as its territory.

India’s Forward Policy, adopted in 1961, under which Indian forces were directed to establish outposts along disputed areas to assert territorial rights, was also seen by China as a direct provocation. A series of skirmishes after China resumed patrolling in the forward areas escalated into a full-blown war. China timed it with the Cuban Missile Crisis, which had the United States and Russia too occupied to turn their attention to a war in Asia.

The war lasted one month and one day. Waged from Aksai Chin in the western sector to the North-East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh), it permanently altered relations between India and China.

On India’s part, it was a strategic miscalculation. The forces were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the coordinated Chinese attack. Besides the locational advantage the Chinese enjoyed across the Himalayan region, they were better equipped for high-altitude warfare, both in weapons and winter clothing.

On November 21, having made its point after a decisive victory, China declared a unilateral ceasefire and pulled back to what is now recognised as the Line of Actual Control.

As for Charlie Company, it was re-raised and renamed Rezang La Company. It remains one of the Indian Army’s most decorated companies.

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Written By :

Veenu Sandhu

Veenu Sandhu is senior associate editor at Business Standard. Based in New Delhi, she has been a journalist since 1996, and has worked in some of India's leading newsrooms across print, digital and television media, including NDTV 24x7, Hindustan Times and The Indian Express. At Business Standard, she writes, commissions, edits and gives direction to special, in-depth articles for the newspaper and the digital platform across beats and sectors. She also hosts video shows for Business Standard. Before this, she edited BS Weekend. She is a 2017-18 batch Chevening South Asia Journalism fellow.