Infantry Day 2025: Remembering India’s First Military Operation in J&K

As we mark Infantry Day 2025, it is worth retracing that dramatic first mission, its context, and enduring legacy—and reflecting on how the spirit of those early soldier-airborne footsteps still resonates in modern operations in the Kashmir Valley.

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In the waning weeks of 1947, the newly independent India found itself embroiled in a crisis. The princely state of Jammu & Kashmir, geographically perched between India and the newly formed Pakistan, confronted an external onslaught. On 22 October 1947, tribal militias, supported by elements from across the border, poured into Kashmir, hoping to seize control while the Maharaja’s forces faltered.

Faced with this existential challenge, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October, pledging J&K’s allegiance to India. That legal treaty opened the door for India to send military aid to defend its territorial integrity.

Within hours, the Indian government resolved to act—not by cautious diplomacy alone, but with swift boots on the ground and wings overhead.

At the heart of that first operation lay a daring use of air mobility. On 27 October 1947, the First Battalion of the Sikh Regiment was flown into Srinagar—the first boots of independent India to land in combat. But that jump was more than a symbolic gesture; it was a lifeline. The Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) transport arm had to thread the needle: routes, load limits, enemy action, and uncertain landing zones all posed severe constraints.

One of the key instruments in that air operation was a Dakota DC-3 aircraft, later rechristened ‘Parashurama’ in the IAF’s heritage fleet. The aircraft VP-905, after being refurbished and gifted to the IAF, became symbolic of that pioneering airlift. The IAF has since commemorated the role of ‘Parashurama’ in sustaining the airbridge and enabling the infantry’s first step into Kashmir.

No. 12 Squadron of the then Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) was the unit tasked with the mission. Under Sqn Ldr KL Bhatia, multiple Dakotas flew sorties from Palam and Willingdon, carrying soldiers, ammunition, field guns, rations, and supplies. VP-905 (Parashurama) led many of those landings. In the initial days, No. 12 Squadron sustained a ‘sky bridge’ to Srinagar, often flying more than one sortie a day under adverse conditions.

That airlift was not a one-off stunt; it became a continuous logistical artery for weeks—delivering artillery, stores, reinforcements, and evacuating wounded. Without it, India’s ability to hold Kashmir would have been severely compromised.

Once on the ground, the operations in Kashmir rapidly expanded. The 1947–48 war between India and Pakistan would stretch over a year, with shifting fronts and brutal battles in valleys, passes, and towns.

One of the remarkable episodes came in late 1948: Operation Bison (or ‘Operation Duck/Bison’) aimed to retake Zoji La pass and move into Dras and Kargil. Using light tanks transported piecemeal and assembled in difficult terrain, infantry units supported by armour and artillery achieved a surprise breakthrough—a daring push that helped reset the balance in the Ladakh sector.

That early campaign laid the groundwork for the Indian Army’s long-term presence in Kashmir and its continuous refinement of mountain warfare doctrine, logistics, and joint operations with the Air Force.

Infantry Day is not just a commemoration of a date; it is a ritual of remembrance, a reaffirmation of values. The infantry do not rely on speed or glamour alone—they depend on discipline, endurance, close combat, and the resolve to stand when all else is uncertain. That first unit landing at Srinagar embodied those attributes in their rawest form.

Over time, the infantry arm has grown in complexity—mechanised infantry, airborne, amphibious, and mountain troops—but the core ethos remains unchanged: boots on ground, facing danger head-on, securing territory, and bearing the burden of frontline operations.

Infantry Day also gives us a chance to commemorate the myriad sacrifices made over the decades—in J&K and beyond. It encourages society at large to recall the human cost behind national security, and to recognise that behind every operation, big or small, lie individual stories of valour.

As we stand in 2025, operations in Jammu & Kashmir continue, though of a different nature. Counterterrorism, counterinfiltration, and counterinsurgency dominate the security calculus rather than full-scale interstate warfare.

Recent operations such as Operation Sindoor (in response to the 2025 Pahalgam attack), Operation Mahadev, and Operation Shiv Shakti reflect the evolving demands on infantry—intelligence-led, surgical, high-risk engagements in difficult terrain and under media scrutiny.

Yet the throughline remains—the infantry soldier still boots over glacial slopes, trudges through forested hillside trails, braces for ambushes, and must move with stealth and discipline. The unpredictability is familiar, echoing the spirit of that first thrust into Kashmir in 1947.

On Infantry Day 2025, we salute not just the past—we salute the present challenges, the ever-ready foot soldiers who continue to stand guard at the edges of peace and peril.

Imagine, in 1947, that first flight touching down at Srinagar: dusty, tense, adrenaline raw. Young officers stepping out under overcast skies, scouts signalling back, enemy scouts glinting on ridgelines. Night falls; soldiers wrap up, stand vigil, fight off probes. The stakes were existential—this was more than a battle, it was a fight for the nascent nation’s credibility.

Over decades, those boots were re-worn across Siachen ridges, Kargil heights, counterinsurgency sweep operations in dense valleys, operations like Bison or more recent surgical missions under cover of night. Through winters harsh, monsoons grim, politics shifting, public sentiment wavering—the infantry endures.

On Infantry Day 2025, our narrative does not end in 1947. It joins the long continuum—from the first battalion landing to the soldier clearing a hideout today in a Kashmir village. Through it all, the thread is the same: courage under fire, duty before self.

As we bow our heads in gratitude this October 27, let us remember not just the date, but the story: how independent India’s infancy was tested in Kashmir, how infantrymen answered that call, how their legacy lives on in every mission across the Union Territory, and how every soldier in boots today steps into that tradition. The first operation was singular, but its spirit is perpetual—and it is that enduring spirit we honour on Infantry Day 2025.

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