At an elevation of 5,800 meters on the Finger Four mountain spur, an endurance test is scheduled for this winter, with the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) facing off, and the first short snow is already falling on the Karakoram and Kailash mountain ranges of Ladakh.
While the winter is expected to worsen after Diwali in November, the situation at all sticking points in the sector is a stalemate with the PLA accusing the Indian military of raising the stakes south of Pangong Tso from August 29-30. , as a result of their supposed withdrawal plans being sunk. Indian Army troops are winterized with specialized Alaskan winter clothing imported from the US to handle temperatures of minus 25 degrees at this altitude. Currently, daytime temperatures are around 10 degrees with sunshine, and nighttime temperatures drop to minus 10-15 degrees Celsius.
The situation along the 1,597 km Royal Line of Control (LAC) in Ladakh remains tense but under control with a small detachment of the Indian Army facing off against a PLA detachment at Gogra-Hot Springs or at patrol point 17 A. The situation on the north bank of Pangong Tso is that a small number of troops on both sides are at the level of Finger Four with the PLA behind Finger Six and the Indian Army at Finger Three. There is no presence of PLA at the ground level of Finger Four or Finger Five, but it is at the dominant height of Finger Four.
On the southern bank of Pangong Tso, the Indian army is dominating the Rezang la-Rechin La ridge line in the Kailash ranges with strong positions to defend the LAC despite the PLA presence in Black Top and Helmet with the soldiers Indians between the two in the chair.
“The situation is that both sides are defending their positions, but the ridge line in the area is with the Indian army,” said a military commander familiar with the positions of the two armies.
Although the Indian Army will have a new Ladakh Corps commander in Lieutenant General PGK Menon instead of Lieutenant General Harinder Singh in October, the first is a colonel from the Sikh regiment who doles out the best Punjabi swear words despite being from Kerala. He has vast experience in LAC, having served as the XIV Corps brigade (operations) staff in Ladakh before commanding a division at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
While the PLA has deployed a mechanized infantry brigade force around Tien-Wien Dien via the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) near LAC, Indian Army troops are patrolling the Depsang bulge area within the boundaries of patrolling despite Chinese efforts to block them. PLA air activity in this area is higher than in the southern DBO sector due to the proximity of the Hotan Air Base in Tibet.
As another round of Indian and Chinese military-diplomatic dialogue will soon take place for the total disengagement of Ladakh, Indian army commanders are prepared for the long winter to come. Starting in November, it will be the power of resistance of a volunteer army (India) against a conscript army (PLA) that will be on display. Sitting on the glacial heights of the Saltoro mountain range since 1984, the Indian army is sure to give the adversary a run for his money.
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