September 8–10, 1965 · Khem Karan sector, Punjab Theater
September 8–10, 1965
Pakistan's elite 1st Armoured Division, spearheaded by American-supplied Patton tanks, drove toward Khem Karan — straight into an Indian trap. The Indians flooded the sugarcane fields by breaching canals, bogging the Pattons in soft ground, then destroyed them from concealed positions. Havildar Abdul Hamid knocked out several tanks with a recoilless rifle before being killed, winning a posthumous Param Vir Chakra. So many Pattons were destroyed or captured that the battlefield was dubbed 'Patton Nagar' — Patton Town.
Commanders