Operation Balavegaya - Battle For Elephant Pass

Battle For Elephant Pass

On the 10th of July 1991, the Army camp located at the strategically important Elephant Pass came under siege by the LTTE. The army base commanded by Major (later Major General) Sanath Karunaratne defended the camp. At that time the battle for Elephant Pass was the most violent and bloody confrontation that ever took place between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces.

The LTTE began its first assault on the camp from the south of Elephant Pass. On the very first day LTTE attacked the camp at dawn and were supported by armour plated bulldozers . Heavy mortars, machine guns and whatever the available firepower the LTTE had, was thrown into battle. Hundreds of cadres attempted to storm the defences of the camp wave after wave. Only a small portion of the southern defences fell into the enemy hands. The battalion stationed there valiantly stood before the ferocious attack. At this juncture, Lance Corporal Kularatna of the 6th battalion of the Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment managed to climb on top of an advancing bulldozer and lobbed a grenade with total disregard of his own life. He was killed during this action displaying true grit and valour. The bulldozer which would have caused much destruction was immobilized. Later this soldier was posthumously awarded Parama Weera Vibhushanaya, the highest gallantry medal in the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

On the second day, Major Lalith Buddhadasa, the second in command of the base, was killed along with a few other soldiers by a mortar attack. Attempts by the Sri Lankan Air Force to land helicopters inside the base proved futile, due to the heavy AA gunfire of the Tigers. The LTTE by then had surrounded the army base and was closing in from all direction. The main thrust was from the south and there were attempts to penetrate the defenses with earth moving vehicles and artillery fire on the outer defense positions. But the army, which fought valiantly, foiled all of the LTTE's attempts. Eventually, the Rest House camp in the southern sector of the base, fell into the hands of the LTTE. Sustaining heavy losses, the Sri Lankan troops fell back to the rear positions.

"Prabhakaran openly declared that, he had waged the 'Mother of all Battles'. He was very confident of victory. Troops were running short of ammunition, food and medicine. Many airdrops were carried out and fortunately, about 60 percent of the airdrops fell within the camp premises.

Fierce fighting continued for four days and the LTTE forces, both male and female cadres, continued their relentless onslaught on the southern and northern sectors of Elephant Pass despite mounting casualties. The entrapped Sri Lankan soldiers were completely surrounded and fought for their lives.