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Lt Gen KJ Singh (retd)
CERTAIN stories need to be told as a mark of gratitude to little-known skills of our Punjabi ‘mistris’ and their craftsmanship. This one relates to the early 80s, when T-55s were our Main Battle Tanks (MBTs). The original tanks, when they came from Russia, had 100 mm guns, which though hardy and potent, were not accurate. India had a contemporary tank in its kitty, Vijayanta, imported from Britain. Vickers were licence-produced in India, but somehow did not meet quality control and reliability norms, especially in mobility parameters.
Vijayanta, however, had a very reliable 105-mm rifled gun and the legendary jugaad instincts resulted in mating of the British gun on the T-55! It required some very fine balancing and matching of the recoil system, sights and firing circuits. Even basic ordnance had to be fitted with counter weights. This resulted in many countries apeing this improvisation and the initial dismissive approach of calling it a ‘bastardised tank’ soon turned into open admiration.
Tanks are ferried on lumbering monstrous-looking trains and transported from cantonments like Ambala to Babina ranges near Jhansi. These trains also carried training ammunition, which has since been discontinued as ammunition points have been set up at the ranges, thereby saving costs and effort. Trains had to pass through Delhi and politico-bureaucratic class had devised many safeguards, including an order that critical component to complete firing circuits will not only be disabled, but also carried in a separate passenger train. Paranoia got fuelled by incidents like the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by tank-fire in a military parade.
After firing, the same drill had to be repeated, so a designated senior JCO was carrying all fire needle assemblies (FNAs) in a bag. After hard work at the ranges, the natural antidote was a liberal dose of rum, aided by the euphoria of ‘ghar wapsi’, the JCO, while changing trains, forgot the bag. The net effect was that a front line Cavalry regiment was staring at the prospects of being declared ‘unfit for war’, and consequently many heads would have rolled.
The issue was reported to the Commandant, who in those days were ‘Tigers’ with broad shoulders. Various options were discussed. One was to get replacements made in Ludhiana. After all, these contraptions looked simple, machined, steel cylindrical pieces with a small conducting surface to complete the electric circuit. One sample, manufactured and tried out at Naraingarh ranges, was a roaring success, leading to a follow-up order to make up the entire inventory with few spares.
When all this was done, the bag was found and returned by conscientious railway officials. We had a spare set, we knew that ‘Made in Ludhiana’ saved the day.
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