Much booty was left behind by the enemy at Phillora. By 1530 hours Phillora was taken by 17 Horse and 43 Lorried Infantry Brigade.

Not much of this force was however allowed to escape to Phillora as ‘A’ Squadron was lying in wait for it in area Wachoke-Saboke and decimated the bulk of its mobile elements moving by road. One of our units has been overrun at Gadgor, we are pulling back to Fatehpur’. ‘We are pulling out from Chobara, Gadgor, and Phillora. Just after midday, we intercepted an enemy wireless message. Thus, our armour had virtually put a ring around Phillora and threatened its lifeline to Chawinda. Meanwhile, 17 Horse had also fetched up from the direction of Libbe and made contact with Phillora from the South and South West. We were not only keeping the enemy’s Phillora defences fully engaged but also destroying everything falling back from the Gadgor defences. “By 11 September Hodsons' Horse had put a tight squeeze on Phillora. Col (later Brig) MMS Bakshi, MVC, who was commanding officer of 4 Horse during that war and aptly recorded the events leading to the capture of Phillora. The series aired the episode of the Battles of Phillora and Chawinda.Īn excerpt from the account of the Regiment covering the 1965 war, written by Lt. It was conceived, curated, and anchored by Maroof Raza. Interestingly, Pakistan’s then first dictator president, self-promoted to the rank of Field Marshal, Ayub Khan, was the son of Risaldar Major Mir Dad Khan, of 9th Hodson’s Horse, the same regiment of Indian Army which topped in destroying Pakistan Army tanks and more.Īn Indian television channel, Times Now, televised a series ‘Tales of Valour,’ highlighting exceptional gallantry in all wars fought by India since Independence. Many tank crews hiding after abandoning their tanks were also captured. So much so that Pakistani tank crews began to avoid engaging Indian armoured units and even abandoned many of their fully functional tanks which were captured intact. The two intense tank battles of the 1965 Indo-Pak war, matching those in World War II, fought at Phillora (Punjab, Pakistan) by Hodson’s Horse (4 Horse) and Poona Horse (17 Horse), and at Asal Uttar (Punjab, India) fought by 3 Cavalry, 8 Cavalry, Deccan Horse (9 Horse) and Scinde Horse (14 Horse debilitated Pakistan’s armour and depressed it men’s morale.

Tank battles after ww2