refugees awaiting evacuation dakota on poonch airstrip, december 1947.
poonch isolated raiders after reinforcement. brig pritam singh organised defenses regular troops, stiffening them state forces , 2 ad hoc militia battalions, organised refugees. defenders kept besiegers @ bay vigorous patrolling , fierce small unit actions. air strip suitable dakotas fashioned using besieged civilians labour.
on 12 december 1947, wing commander mehar singh, accompanied air vice marshal subroto mukerjee, carried out daring trial in harvard on makeshift airstrip. same day, first dakotas landed on poonch airstrip carrying them complete section of mountain artillery. thereafter fledgling royal indian air force began called punching drive, air bridge of dakotas, first day , later night. air bridge flew in supplies , flew out refugees, despite interdiction pakistani mountain artillery, counter indian 25 pounder guns flown in.
the air force attacked pakistani columns tempests , harvards. attacks on poonch reduced during summer due protracted operations in uri sector , resumed in august 1948, necessitating immediate relief of poonch.
poonch referred tobruk of kashmir , though unlike tobruk, never fell.
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