Himadri tung shring se, prabudh, shudh Bharti
Swayamprabha, samujjwala, swatantrata, pukaarti
Amartya veer putr ho, dridh pratigya soch lo
Prashata, punya pantha hai, badhe chalo, badhe chalo!
Naib Subedar Yogender Singh Yadav was born in Aurangabad village, Bulandshahar district, UP in 1980. He and his elder brother joined army in 1996. He was a part of Ghatak Platoon which was a commando division given the task of capturing Tiger Hills, the most important strategic post in the war. The success of his endevour had the potential to change the tide of the war.
Tiger Hill was a vertical cliff face, snowbound at 16,500 feet. The platoon had 25 soldiers who climbed for 3 nights to reach just 50 meters below the enemy post. Pakistanis had 3 bunkers on the top and had machine guns. As the cliff was almost vertical, some soldiers had to go ahead and fix the ropes for others to climb. Yadav, with six others volunteered to do the task.
While climbing the cliff, suddenly a stone fell and Pakistanis suspected the movement. They opened fire on the platoon resulting them loosing their commander and two others. Yadav was also hit by 3 bullets. But that didn't stopped him from moving up. He somehow reached the top and hurled a grenade at the first bunker killing all the men. Then he advanced towards second bunker and engaged in hand combat with enemies. This gave his platoon enough time to climb the hill and charge. Meanwhile Yadav and his fellow soldiers had killed all 4 men in the second bunker as well.
In the process, he sustained several grieveous injuries and around 15 bullet shots that broke his left arm and shatterd his legs. Despite this he refused to be evacuated and continued fighting. He over heard enemy wireless and got to know they had plans to attack Indian MMG base 500 meters below. As he had lost too much blood, he dumped himself in a drain and rolled down 500 meters to inform Lieutenant Balwan Singh of the plan. The enemy attack on the base was successfully countered and all the enemies were killed due to this information.
Grenadier Yadav displayed most conspicuous courage, indomitable gallantry, grit and determination under extreme adverse circumstances and was awarded Param Veer Chakra, India's highest bravery award given for showing rarest of rare courage beyond the call of duty. The award was declared posthumously by mistake as the platoon had 2 Yogender Yadavs, one of whom died.
18 Grenadiers played most important part in the battle and 3 soldiers from Ghatak platoon were awarded bravery medals. Havaldar Madan Lal was awarded Vir Chakra posthumously and Lieutenant Balwan Singh was awarded Maha Vir Chakra. It was only because of exemplary courage shown by this group of 25 soldiers that we won the Tiger Hills on 4th July and eventually the war on 26th July 1999.
Jai Hind! Jai Jawan!