December 27:assassination of Benazir Bhutto

December 27:assassination of Benazir Bhutto

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto occurred on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990; 1993–1996) and then-leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January 2008.^[1][4][5] Shots were fired at her after a political rally at Liaquat National Bagh, and a suicide bomb was detonated immediately following the shooting. She was declared dead at 18:16 local time (13:16 UTC), at Rawalpindi General Hospital. Twenty-four other people were killed by the bombing.^[3] Bhutto had previously survived a similar attempt on her life that killed at least 139 people, after her return from exile two months earlier.

Though early reports indicated that she had been hit by shrapnel or the gunshots,^[6][7] the Pakistani Interior Ministry initially stated that Bhutto died of a skull fracture sustained when the force of the explosion caused her head to strike the sunroof of the vehicle.^[8] Bhutto's aides rejected this version, and argued instead that she suffered two gunshots before the bomb detonation.^[9] The Interior Ministry subsequently backtracked from its previous claim.^[10] However, a follow-up investigation by Scotland Yard found that while gunshots were fired, they were not the cause of death, agreeing with the Interior Ministry's original assessment that the explosion forced her head into the roof of the vehicle.

In May 2007, Bhutto asked for additional protection from foreign contracting agencies Blackwater and the British firm Armour Group. The United Nations' investigation of the incident revealed that, "Ms. Bhutto's assassination could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken."^[11]

Bhutto's cause of death has been much discussed and debated. Some commentators have suggested that this debate has been motivated by attempts to define Bhutto's legacy: perhaps Bhutto would be considered a martyr if she died by gunshot, but not if she died by hitting her head following a bomb blast.^[32][33] Others have asserted that the arguments against a death by gunshot were intended to blunt criticism that she was not adequately protected.^[33]

Initial reports based on Pakistani Interior Ministry information reported that Bhutto was killed by a gunshot wound to the neck. Rehman Malik, a security adviser for Pakistan Peoples Party, suggested that the killer opened fire as Bhutto left the rally and that he hit her in the neck and chest before he detonated the explosives he was wearing. Javed Cheema, an interior ministry spokesman, stated that her injuries were caused either by her having been shot or from pellets packed into the detonated bomb that acted as shrapnel.^[34]

On 28 December, however, the cause of Bhutto's death became less clear. Pakistan's Interior Ministry announced that they now felt Bhutto's death was as a result of a neck fracture sustained when she ducked or fell into her vehicle and hit the sunroof catch immediately after the gunshots but later reported her cause of death as a skull fracture.^[35][36][37] According to anAssociated Press report, the Ministry stated "Bhutto was killed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle, and the shock waves from the blast knocked her head into a lever attached to the sunroof, fracturing her skull". The Ministry further added, in contradiction of the official hospital account, that Bhutto suffered no gunshot or shrapnel injuries and that all gunshots missed her.^[37]

Pakistan Peoples Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar rejected claims that Bhutto's death was caused by an accident. Bhutto’s lawyer and a senior official in the Pakistan Peoples Party,Farooq Naik, said that the report was "baseless" and "a pack of lies".^[38] He went on to support the view that the cause of death was two bullets hitting Bhutto in the abdomen and the head.^[38] An anonymous Toyota official also rejected the notion that she could have even hit the lever based on its location in the car (a Toyota Land Cruiser).^[39]

In statements made to Pakistan's The News, Mohammad Mussadiq Khan, one of the doctors who treated Bhutto at Rawalpindi General Hospital, described severe and depressed skull fractures, oval in overall shape, on the right side of Bhutto's head.^[40] He apparently saw no other injuries and downplayed the possibility of bullet wounds,^[41] although he had previously spoken of them.^[42] One anonymous doctor said that Pakistani authorities took Bhutto's medical records immediately after her death, and that they told doctors to stop talking.^[42]

On 31 December, Athar Minallah of the Rawalpindi General Hospital released a statement (described as "clinical notes") signed by seven persons involved in Bhutto's treatment at the hospital. These persons were not pathologists and did not conduct a formal autopsy. The statement first narrates the course of treatment, from Bhutto's arrival at the hospital until she was declared dead. The second part of the statement details the head wound and notes that "Detailed external examination of the body did not reveal any other external injury". X-rays had been taken of the head wound and were interpreted in the statement. The cause of death was declared to be "Open head injury with depressed skull fracture, leading to cardiopulmonary arrest".

According to The Washington Post, the crime scene was cleared before any forensic examination could be completed and no formal autopsy was performed before burial. Doctors had asked permission to perform an autopsy, but this request was denied by the Rawalpindi chief of police. According to the BBC, Brigadier Cheema claims "We gave you absolute facts…corroborated by the doctors' report," and that Pakistan would allow her body to be exhumed. Bhutto's husband later confirmed that he had denied a request for an autopsy to be conducted citing fears the report would be manipulated.

On 1 January 2008, Pakistan's Interior Ministry backtracked on its statement that Benazir Bhutto had died from hitting her head on the sunroof latch. Ministry spokesman, Javed Iqbal Cheema said that the ministry would wait for forensic investigations before making a conclusion on Bhutto's cause of death.

On 8 February 2008, investigators from Scotland Yard concluded that Benazir Bhutto died after hitting her head as she was tossed by the force of a suicide blast, not from an assassin’s bullet but as quoted in the NY Times article "It is unclear how the Scotland Yard investigators reached such conclusive findings absent autopsy results or other potentially important evidence that was washed away by cleanup crews in the immediate aftermath of the blast."  In the report, UK Home Office pathologist Dr. Nathaniel Cary said that while a gunshot wound to her head or trunk could not be entirely excluded as a possibility, "the only tenable cause for the rapidly fatal head injury in this case is that it occurred as the result of impact due to the effects of the bomb-blast." The findings were consistent with the Pakistani government’s explanation of Bhutto’s assassination, an account that had been greeted with disbelief by Ms. Bhutto’s supporters.

December 26:2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast ofSumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake.^[3][4] The resulting tsunami is given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian tsunami, Indonesian tsunami, and Boxing Daytsunami.

The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamisalong the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (98 ft) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.

With a magnitude of M_w 9.1–9.3, it is the third largest earthquake ever recorded on aseismograph. The earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 centimetre (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.Its epicentre was between Simeulueand mainland Indonesia

The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated more than $14 billion (2004 U.S. dollars) in humanitarian aid.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey a total of 227,898 people died (see table below for details). Measured in lives lost, this is one of the ten worst earthquakes in recorded history, as well as the single worst tsunami in history. Indonesia was the worst affected area, with most death toll estimates at around 170,000.^[52] However, another report by health minister Fadilah Supari has estimated the death total to be as high as 220,000 in Indonesia alone, giving a total of 280,000 casualties

The tsunami caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east coast of Africa, with the farthest recorded death due to the tsunami occurring at Rooi Els in South Africa, 8,000 km (5,000 mi) away from the epicentre. In total, eight people in South Africa died due to abnormally high sea levels and waves.

Relief agencies report that one-third of the dead appear to be children. This is a result of the high proportion of children in the populations of many of the affected regions and because children were the least able to resist being overcome by the surging waters. Oxfam went on to report that as many as four times more women than men were killed in some regions because they were waiting on the beach for the fishermen to return and looking after their children in the houses.

In an addition to the large number of local residents, up to 9,000 foreign tourists (mostly Europeans) enjoying the peak holiday travel season were among the dead or missing, especially people from the Nordic countries. The European nation hardest hit may have been Sweden, whose death toll was 543.

States of emergency were declared in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Maldives. The United Nations estimated at the outset that the relief operation would be the costliest in human history. Then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated that reconstruction would probably take between five and ten years. Governments and non-governmental organisations feared that the final death toll might double as a result of diseases, prompting a massive humanitarian response. In the end, this fear did not materialise.

For purposes of establishing timelines of local events, the time zones of affected areas are: UTC+3: (Kenya, Madagascar, Somalia, Tanzania); UTC+4: (Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles); UTC+5: (Maldives); UTC+5:30: (India, Sri Lanka); UTC+6: (Bangladesh); UTC+6:30: (Cocos Islands, Myanmar); UTC+7: (Indonesia (western), Thailand); UTC+8: (Malaysia, Singapore). Since the earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 UTC, add the above offsets to find the local time of the earthquake.

December 25: Happy CHRISTMAS

TO ALL MY DEAR VIEWERS

 HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS X"MAS AND NEWYEAR GREETINGS

December 22:1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.

The V-2 rocket (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, i.e. retaliation weapon 2), technical name Aggregat-4 (A4), was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and laterAntwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile^[4] and first known human artifact to enter outer space. It was the progenitor of all modern rockets including those used by the United States andSoviet Union's space programs. During the aftermath of World War II the American, Soviet and British governments all gained access to the V-2's technical designs and the actual German scientists responsible for creating the rockets, via Operation Paperclip, Operation Osoaviakhim and Operation Backfire

The weapon was presented by Nazi propaganda as a retaliation for the bombers that attacked ever more German cities from 1942 until Germany surrendered

Over 3,000 V-2s were launched as military rockets by the German Wehrmachtagainst Allied targets during the war, mostly London and later Antwerp. The attacks resulted in the death of an estimated 7,250 military personnel and civilians while 12,000 forced labourers were killed producing the weapons.

December 21:1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.

Apollo 8, the second crewed mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial body—Earth's Moon. The three-man crew of mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Andersbecame the first humans to travel beyond low Earth orbit, the first to see Earth as a whole planet, and then the first to directly see the far side of the Moon. The 1968 mission, the first crewed launch of a Saturn V rocket, was also the first crewed launch from the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida, located adjacent to Cape Canaveral.

Originally planned as a second Lunar Module/Command Module test in an elliptical medium Earth orbit in early 1969, the mission profile was changed in August 1968 to a more ambitious Command Module-only lunar orbital flight to be flown in December, because the Lunar Module was not yet ready to make its first flight. This meant Borman's crew was scheduled to fly two to three months sooner than originally planned, leaving them a shorter time for training and preparation, thus placing more demands than usual on their time and discipline.

After launching on December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 took three days to travel to the Moon. It orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Evetelevision broadcast in which they read the first 10 verses from the Book of Genesis. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s.

December 20:2006 – Shi Yuejun, Chinese serial killer Died

Shi Yuejun (Chinese: 石悦军; pinyin: Shí Yuèjūn; March 5, 1971 - December 20, 2006), was aChinese spree killer who between September 24, 2006 and September 29, 2006 murdered 12 people and wounded four in Tonghua, Jilin Province.

Yuejun was born in Liuhe, China. On September 29, 2006, Yuejun was arrested and sentenced to death on November 26, 2006. On December 20, 2006, Shi wasexecuted at Tonghua.

Shi described his motive as "revenge for the humiliations that he suffered by the society".

December 19:Indian annexation of Goa

Good morning Viewers,
The 1961 Indian annexation of Goa (also referred to as Invasion of Goa theLiberation of Goa and the Portuguese-Indian War, was an action by India's armed forces that ended Portuguese rule in its Indian enclaves in 1961. The armed action, codenamed Operation Vijay by the Indian government, involved air, sea and land strikes for over 36 hours, and was a decisive victory for India, ending 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule in Goa. Twenty two Indians and thirty Portuguese were killed in the fighting. The brief conflict drew a mixture of worldwide praise and condemnation. In India, the action was seen as a liberation of historically Indian territory, while Portugal viewed it as an aggression against national soil.

                                              Vascoda gama pow camp

The attack on Goa: North and North East Sectors

Although the Indian 50 Para Brigade - also called the Pegasus Brigade - led by Brigadier Sagat Singh was charged with merely assisting the main thrust conducted by the 17th Infantry, its units moved rapidly across minefields, roadblocks and four riverine obstacles to be the first to reach Panjim

Hostilities at Goa began at 0945 on December 17, 1961, when a unit of Indian troops attacked and occupied the town of Maulinguém in north east Goa killing two Portuguese soldiers in the process. Portuguese units from the 2nd EREC (Esquadrão de Reconhecimento - a recon unit) stationed near Maulinguem - asked for permission to engage the Indians, but permission was refused at about 1345. During the afternoon of the 17th, the Portuguese commanders issued instructions that all orders to defending troops would be issued directly by headquarters, bypassing the local command outposts. This led to confusion in the chain of command At 0200 on December 18, the 2nd EREC was sent to the town of Doromagogo to support the withdrawal of police forces present in the area, and were attacked by Indian army units on their return journey.

At 0400, the Indian assault commenced with artillery bombardment on Portuguese positions south of the town of Maulinguem, which was launched on the basis of intelligence that the Portuguese had stationed heavy battle tanks in the area. by 0430 Bicholim was under fire. At 0440 Portuguese forces destroyed the bridge at Bicholim and followed this with the destruction of the bridges at Chapora in Colvale and at Assonora at 0500.

On the morning of 18 December, the 50 Para Brigade of the Indian Army moved into Goa in three columns.

1. The eastern column comprised the 2nd Para Maratha advanced towards the town Ponda in central Goa via Usgao.
2. The central column consisting of the 1st Para Punjab advanced towards Panjim via the village of Banastari.
3. The western column - the main thrust of the attack - comprised the 2nd Sikh Light Infantry as well as an armored division which crossed the border at 0630 in the morning and advanced along Tivim

At 0530, Portuguese troops left their barracks at Ponda in central Goa and marched towards the town of Usgao, in the direction of the advancing eastern column of the Indian 2nd Para Maratha. At 0900, these Portuguese troops marching towards Usgao, reported that Indian troops had already reached halfway to the town of Ponda

By 1000, Portuguese units of the 1st EREC, faced with the advancing 2nd Sikh Light Infantry, began a south-bound withdrawal to the town of Mapuca where, by 1200, they came under the risk of being surrounded by Indian forces. At 1230, the Portuguese 1st EREC began a retreat from the town of Mapuca by using machine gun fire to cover the withdrawal of personnel carrier vehicles. This unit relocated by ferry further south to Panjim.

At 1330, the bridge at Banastarim was destryoed by the Portuguese, just after the retreat of the 2nd EREC, thus cutting off all road links to the capital city of Panjim.

By 1745, the forces of the Portuguese 1st and the 9th EREC CC (North Group) had completed its ferry crossing of the Mandovi River to Panjim, just minutes ahead of the arrival of the armoured divisions of the Indian 50 Para Brigade. The Indian tanks had reached Betim, just across the Mandovi River from the capital town of Panjim without encountering any opposition. The 2 Sikh LI joined it by 2100, crossing over mines and demolished bridges en-route. In the absence of orders, the unit stayed at Betim for the night. The same night Major Sidhu of the 7 Cavalry was killed when Portuguese guards fired on an unsuspecting Indian unit at Aguada Fort.

At 2000 hours, a Goan by the name of Gregório Magno Antão crossed the Mandovi River from Panjim and delivered a ceasefire offer letter from Major Acácio Tenreiro of the Portuguese Army to Major Shivdev Singh Sidhu, the commanding officer of the Indian units camped there. The letter stated "The Military Commander of the City of Goa states that he wishes to parley with the commander of the army of the Indian Union with respect to the surrender. Under these conditions, the Portuguese troops must immediately cease fire and the Indian troops do likewise in order to prevent the slaughter of the population and the destruction of the city."

The order to cross the Mandovi River was received on the morning of 19 December, upon which two rifle companies of the 2nd Sikh Light Infantry advanced on Panjim at 0730 and secured the town without facing any resistance. On orders from Brigadier Sagat Singh, the troops entering Panjim removed their steel helmets and donned the Parachute Regiment’s maroon berets. Fort Aguada was also captured on that day when the Indian 7th Cavalry attacked the fort with assistance from the armoured division stationed at Betim, and freed its political prisoners

The advance from the east

Meanwhile, in the east, the 63rd Indian Infantry Brigade advanced in two columns. The right column comprising the 2nd Bihar and the left column consisting of the 3rd Sikh linked up at the border town of Mollem and then advanced upon the town of Ponda taking separate routes. By night fall, the 2nd Bihar had reached the town of Candeapur, while the 3rd Sikh had reached Darbondara. Although neither column had encountered any resistance, their further progress was hampered because all bridges spanning the river had been destroyed.

The rear battalion comprised the 4th Sikh Infantry, which reached Candeapur in the early hours of 19 December, and not to be bogged down by the absence of the bridge, waded across the river in chest high water, to reach Margao - the administrative centre of Southern Goa - by 1200. From here, the column advanced on the harbour of Mormugao. En route to this target, the column encountered fierce resistance from a 500-strong Portuguese unit at the village of Verna, where the Indian column was joined by the 2nd Bihar. The Portuguese unit surrendered at 1530 after fierce fighting, and the 4th Sikh then proceeded to Mormugao and Dabolim Airport, where the main body of the Portuguese army awaited the Indians.

A decoy attack was staged south of Margao by the 4th Rajput company to mislead the Portuguese. This column overcame minefields, roadblocks and demolished bridges, and eventually went on to help secure the town of Margao.

By the evening 19 December, most of Goa had been overrun by advancing Indian forces, and a large party of more than two thousand Portuguese soldiers had taken position at the military base at Alparqueiros at the entrance to the port town of Vasco Da Gama. Per the Portuguese strategy code named ‘Plano Sentinela’ the defending forces were to make their last stand at the harbour, holding out against the Indians until Portuguese naval reinforcements could arrive. Orders delivered from the Portuguese President called for a scorched earth policy - that Goa was to be destroyed before it was given up to the Indians.

The attack on Daman

Daman, approximately 72 square km in area, is located at the southern end of Gujarat bordering Maharashtra and just about 193 km north of Bombay. The countryside is broken and interspersed with marsh, salt pans, streams, paddy fields, coconut and palm groves. The river Daman Ganga splits the capital city of Daman into two halves — Nani Daman (Damao Pequeno) and Moti Daman(Damao Grande). The Portuguese garrison in Daman was headed by a Governor, Major Antonio Bose da Costa Pinto, with 360 armed Portuguese troops, 200 policemen and about 30 customs officials under him. The strategically important features were Daman Fort and the Air Control Tower (ACT) of the airfield.

The Portuguese had stationed two companies of Caçadores troops and a battery of artillery, but these were armed with insufficient and old ammunition. The Portuguese also placed a 20mm anti-aircraft gun ten days before the invasion to protect the artillery. Daman had been secured with small minefields and defensive shelters had been built

The advance on the enclave of Daman was conducted by the 1st Maratha Light Infantry under the command of Lt-Col SJS Bhonsle in a pre dawn operation on 18 December. The plan was to capture Daman piecemeal in four phases, to start with the area of the airfield, then progressively to area garden, Nani Daman and finally Moti Daman to include the fort.

The advance commenced at 0400 when one battalion and three companies of Indian soldiers progressed through the central area of the northern territory, aiming to seize the airfield However, the surprise was lost when the Indian ‘A’ Company tried to capture the Air Control Tower (ACT) and the Indian battalion suffered three casualties. The Portuguese lost one soldier dead and six taken captive. The Indian "D" Company captured a position named "Point 365" just before the next morning. At the crack of dawn, two sorties by Indian Air Force Mystere fighters struck Portuguese mortar positions and guns inside Moti Daman Fort.

At 0430, the Indian artillery commenced bombardment of Damão Grande. The artillery attack coupled with difficulties in transportation isolated the Portuguese command station in Damão Grande from the forces in Damão-Pequeno. At 0730 a Portuguese unit stationed at the fortress of San Jeronimo opened mortar fire on Indian forces attempting to capture the airstrip.

At 1130, Portuguese forces resisting an Indian advance on the eastern border at Varacunda ran out of ammunition and withdrew westwards to Catra. At 1200, to delay the Indian advance following the withdrawal from Varacunda, the Portuguese artillery battery on the banks of the Sandalcalo river is ordered to open fire. The commander of the battery, Cap.Felgueiras de Sousa instead dismantled the guns and surrendered to the Indians. By 1200 the airfield was assaulted by the Indian A and C Companies simultaneously. In the ensuing exchange of fire the A Company lost one more soldier killed while seven were wounded.

By 1300, remaining Portuguese forces on the eastern border at Calicachigão-A exhausted their ammunition and retreated towards the coast. By 1700, in the absence of any resistance, the Indians had managed to occupy most of the territory, with the exception of the airfield and Damão-Pequeno where the Portuguese were making their last stand. By this time the Indian Air Force had conducted as many as six air attacks, severely demoralizing the Portuguese forces. At 2000, after a meeting of the Portuguese commanders a delegation was dispatched to the Indian lines in order to open negotiations, but was fired upon, and was forced to withdraw. A similar attempt by the artillery to surrender at 0800 the next day was also fired on.

The Indians assaulted the airfield the next morning upon which the Portuguese surrendered at 1100 without a fight.The Portuguese garrison commander Major Antonio Jose da Costa - although wounded - was stretchered to the airfield as the Indians were only willing to accept a surrender from him. Approximately 600 Portuguese soldiers (including 24 officers) were taken prisoner. The Indians suffered 4 dead and 14 wounded, while the Portuguese suffered 10 dead and 2 wounded. The 1st Light Maratha Infantry was decorated for the battle with one VSM for the CO, two Sena Medals and five Mentioned in Dispatches.

The attack on Diu

Diu is a 13.8 km by 4.6 km Island (area about 40 km²) located at the southern tip of Gujarat. The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel running though a swamp. The channel could only be used by fishing boats and small craft. No bridges existed to cross the channels at the time of hostilities.

Diu was attacked on 18 December from the north west along Kob Forte by two companies of the 20th Rajput - with the capture of the Diu Airfield being the primary objective - and from the northeast along Gogal and Amdepur by the Rajput B Company and the 4 Madras.

These Indian army units ignored requests from Wg Cdr MPO (Micky) Blake, planning-in-charge of the Indian Air Force operations in Diu, to attack only on first light when close air support would be available The Portuguese defences repulsed the attack backed by 87.6mm artillery and mortars, inflicting heavy losses on the Indians The first attack was made by the 4 Madras on a police post at 0130 on December 18 at Gogol and was repulsed by 13 Portuguese soldiers. Another attempt by the 4 Madreas at 0200 was again repulsed, this time backed with Portuguese 87.5mm artillery and mortar which suffered due to poor quality of munitions. By 0400, ten of the original 13 defending Portuguese soldiers at Gogol had been wounded and were evacuated to a hospital. At 0530, the Portuguese artillery launched a fresh attack on the 4 Madras assaulting Gogol and forced their retreat

Meanwhile at 0300, 2 companies of the 20th Rajput attempted to cross a muddy swamp separating them from the Portuguese forces at Passo Covo under cover of dark on rafts made of bamboo cots tied to oil barrels. The attempt was to establish a bridgehead and capture the airfield.

This attack was repulsed with fairly heavy losses by a well entrenched unit of between 125 to 130 Portuguese soldiers armed with small automatic weapons and sten guns as well as light and medium machine gunsAccording to Portuguese sources, this post was defended by only 8 soldiers.

As the Rajputs reached the middle of the creek the Portuguese on Diu opened fire with two MMGs and two LMGs, capsizing some of the rafts. Major Mal Singh of the Indian army along with five men pressed on his advance and crossed the creek. On reaching the far bank he and his men assaulted the LMG trenches at Fort-De-Cova and silenced them. The Portuguese MMG fire from another position wounded the officer and two of his men. However, with the efforts of company Havildar Major Mohan Singh and two other men, the three wounded were evacuated back across the creek to safety. As dawn approached the Portuguese increased the intensity of fire and the battalion’s water crossing equipment suffered extensive damage. As a result the Indian battalion was ordered to fall back to Kob village by first light

Another assault at 0500 was similarly repulsed by the Portuguese defenders. At 0630, Portuguese forces retrieved rafts abandoned by the 20th Rajput, recovered ammunition left behind and rescued a wounded Indian soldier who was given treatment

At 0700, with the onset of dawn, Indian air strikes commenced, forcing the Portuguese to retreat from Passo Covo to the town of Malala. By 0900 the Portuguese unit at Gogol also retreated allowing the Rajput B Company (who replaced the 4 Madras) to advance under heavy artillery fire and occupy the town. By 1015, the Indian cruisier the INS Delhi anchored off Diu commenced the bombardment of targets on the shore. At 1245, Indian jets fire a rocket at a mortar at Diu Fortress causing a fire in close proximity to a munitions dump, forcing the Portuguese to order the evacuation of the fortress - a task completed by 1415 under heavy bombardment from the Indians.

At 1800, the Portuguese commanders agreed in a meeting that, in view of repeated air strikes and the inability to establish contact with headquarters in Goa or Lisbon, there was no way to pursue and effective defence and decided to surrender to the Indians. On December 19 by 1200 the Portuguese formally surrendered officially. The Indians took 403 prisoners, which included the Lt. Governor of the island along with 18 officers and 43 sergeants

In surrendering to the Indians, the Diu Governor stated that he could have kept the Army out for a few weeks but he had no answer to the Air Force. The Indian air force was also present at the ceremony and was represented by Gp Capt Godkhindi, Wing Cmdr Micky Blake and Sqn Ldr Nobby Clarke. 7 Portuguese soldiers were killed in the battle

Major Mal Singh and Sepoy Hakam Singh of the Indian army were awarded Ashok Chakra (Class III)

On 19 December, the 4th Madras C Company landed on the island of Panikot off Diu, where a group of 13 Portuguese soldiers surrendered to them there there.