The Battle of Tololing - 10th Anniversary 29.6.2009 - 2nd Battalion The Rajputana Rifles.

The Battle of Tololing was one of the pivotal battles in the Kargil War between India's armed forces and troops from the Northern Light Infantry who were aided by other Pakistan backed irregulars in 1999. The Tololing is a dominant position overlooking the Srinagar - Leh Highway (NH 1D) and was a vital link. The Indian army's casualties on the Tololing peak were half of the entire losses in the whole war. Much of the losses had to do with the nature of the terrain as World War I style frontal charges had to be mounted to reclaim the peaks to dislodge the intruders. The 3 week assault finally culminated with India taking control of the peak and changing the course of the war. 23 Indian Soldiers were killed in the final assault, resulting in one of the costliest battles of the entire war.

Major Rajesh Adhikari (posthumously) and Digendra Kumar were awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second highest military honour for their daring actions on the peak.

2nd Bn of the Rajputana Rifles was tasked to take Tololing Top . After a night-long fierce hand-to-hand battle 2 Rajputana recaptured Tololing Top thus turning the course of the Kargil War. At 4.10 a.m. on June 13, Colonel M.B. Ravindranath, commanding officer of the 2 Rajputana Rifles, radioed the commander of the 8 Mountain Division Major-General Mohinder Puri, camping some 20 km away. It was a simple, terse message: "Sir, I'm on Tololing Top." Tololing was so strategic that after Tololing was taken, it took just six days for the Indian troops to notch up a string of successes by evicting well-entrenched intruders on four nearby outposts with names that have become the talking point of cocktail circuits and village gatherings - Point 4590, Rocky Knob, Hump and Point 5140. It could lead to the recapture of a similarly strategic height of Tiger Hill.

Success of Tololing came with a heavy price. 23 Soldiers of 2nd Rajputana Rifles sacrificed their lives. These included Captain Vijayant Thapar and Major Vivek Gupta. The battalion earned four Maha Vir Chakras, one of India's highest medals for gallantry, three of them being awarded posthumously.

Some of the survivors/veterans of Tololing are now fighting the Battle of the OROP at a well known arena known as Jantar Mantar which overlooks the strategic Sansad Marg. 
The formidable enemy this time is not from across the border.