Gazette Notification: 34 Pres/88 26.1.88
Operation: 1987 Pawan Sri Lanka
Date of Award: 15 Aug 1987
Citation:
He was inducted at Bialafondla Complex in the Siachen Glacier area, along with his battalion on 18 September 1987. In defence, the enemy started heavy shelling of the Bialafondla Complex on 21 September 1987. On the night of 23 September 1987, his post was subjected to shelling. Throughout the night, the enemy launched a series of assaults, which were successfully repulsed. Though injured in the left arm by a splinter of an artillery shell, he refused to be evacuated, continued to exercise his command and motivated his men to hold on. Again, on the night of 24 September 1987, the enemy launched a major attack in the evening. Major Chatterjee fought alongside his men, and repulsed three determined attacks by elite troops of the enemy’s battalion.
Major Krishna Gopal Chatterjee displayed conspicuous gallantry despite grave danger to his life.
Military career
Colonel Krishna Gopal Chatterjee was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Gorkha Rifles Regiment on 23 March 1975.
During the 1987 Operation Rajiv, Siachen, Major Krishna Gopal Chatterjees unit 3/4 GR, was deployed in Siachen Glacier in Jammu and Kashmir on 18 September 1987, as Company Commander. On the night of 23 September 1987, Pakistani troops attacked Bilafond La Complex, but were driven back. Through the night, the Pakistani troops launched a series of assaults, all of which were successfully repulsed. Throughout, he fought along with his man and was severely wounded in the left arm by shrapnel from an artillery shell. However, he refused to be evacuated and coninued to lead his men and motivate them. For displaying courage and leadership in beating back a determined eneby, in hazardous glacial terrain, he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for his bravery and leadership.
