Post Indian Independence
Post independence, the regiment had the privilege of participating in all major wars fought by the Indian Army – Hyderabad (1948), Jammu and Kashmir (1949), Goa (1961), China (Sikkim) (1962), Pakistan (Punjab) (1965) and Pakistan (Jammu and Kashmir) (1971).
The operations in Hyderabad had just been over, when the regiment was moved to Jammu and Kashmir. During the Liberation of Goa in 1961, the regiment spearheaded the attack which led the Portuguese to surrender.
The history of mechanized warfare was re-written by the regiment in 1962, when it drove its tanks to the dizzying heights of 14,000 feet up the Nathu La pass road in Sikkim – a feat never performed or attempted before anywhere in the world.
Khemkaran in Punjab witness the regiment in tank-versus-tank encounters with Pakistani forces resulting in the battlefield become a “graveyard” for Pakistani Patton tanks. Here the regiment earned the Battle Honour PUNJAB.
The 1971 Indo-Pak war saw the regiment among the Indian forces which had wrung the tactically fragile Chicken’s Neck in the Akhnoor Sector. The Regiment’s crowning glory came in 1976, when in recognition of its services and valour, the regiment was presented the Guidon by the then President, Mr Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.
The regiment is the third oldest armoured regiment in India and is amongst the most highly decorated regiments in the country. It will commemorate its 225th Raising Day on 23rd Oct 2012.
Read more about this topic: 8th King George's Own Light Cavalry
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