Military operations in Poonch (1948)

Military operations took place in Poonch district, then part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, in 1948 during the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir between the Indian Army and Pakistani forces. Poonch withstood a siege by the Pakistanis from November 1947 till relieved by an Indian offensive, Operation Easy on 20 November 1948. The besieged garrison, commanded by Brig Pritam Singh, was maintained by air supply. Military operations ended with Poonch town and the eastern part of Poonch district in Indian hands and western Poonch in Pakistani hands.

Poonch is a small town in Western Jammu, on the confluence of Batar and Suran rivers, which forms the Poonch river. In 1947, it was the seat of the Raja who was a vassal of Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. Prior to 1947, communications with Poonch were through the Punjabi town of Jhelum; towns in the east such as Rajauri, Naushera and Jammu being connected only by fair-weather tracks.

Pakistan had targeted Poonch district, which had a large population of Muslim serving and retired soldiers, as an important objective. Pakistani forces comprised regular soldiers, ex-servicemen of Royal Indian Army (AKRF - Azad Kashmir Regular Force) and Pashtun tribals, along with Muslim Poonchies inflamed by reports of massacre of Muslim refugees during the communal violence of partition.

The attackers infiltrated Poonch, as part of Operation "Gulmarg", as a springboard to capture the Jammu region. The town was threatened by the raiders when the headquarters of Jammu and Kashmir forces decided to reinforce it from the North.

The relief of Poonch from Jammu was exacerbated by the fact that it lay across many kilometers of hilly terrain with poor communications. Paucity of troops, the need to secure the line of communication and to establish a firm base, and, Prime Minister Nehru's decision to make the Kashmir Valley the immediate priority led to its relief much after the fall of Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber, towns with predominantly Hindu populations which were swelled by large numbers of non-Muslim refugees. The massacre of the populations of the surrounding areas, not only swelled the refugee population in Poonch, but also led to Pandit Nehru's insisting that it be held, albeit as a besieged outpost, on political grounds over-ruling military advice to vacate it being untenable with the resources at hand.

...
Wikipedia