“Agnikela” is a counter-attack against the military operatio
“Agnikela” is a counter-attack against the military operatio
The enemy had prepared himself for a great war. The enemy considered the days when Anaiyiravu was taken away as days of shame. In order to get rid of that shame and keep Jaffna under his control, the enemy decided to recapture Anaiyiravu. The enemy’s forces were assembled. The purpose of saving their lives was more prevailed over the sense of aggression to get rid of shame. We were in Eluthumadduvad in the area of Thenmaradchi. Standing among the shelling, the people and we were busy setting up shelters.
We all felt that we were going to participate in a war that could decide the fate of the nation. People came to help us in the field like never before. Charles Antony Special Forces was being engaged and worked for the full strength for the counterattack.
Those were strange days for our regiment. Our battalion was exactly ten years old. From all the districts of Tamileelam we are still standing on the same soil where we first met together. The ‘Motherland’ is visible within a few kilometers on the enemy side. It was the first march where our leader appeared in front of us, one thousand and one hundred people, and made everyone brave. Now we are here again, and some of them became maveerar after a long war. With all fallen freedom fighters new freedom fighters were born.
We have carried the dream of Anayiravu in our hearts for many years. We spent most of this New Year’s long war in the swamps, salt flats, fields and water bodies surrounding Anayiravu. About half of the surviving freedom fighters from our battalion fell in the fields of breeding for Anayiravu. We carried the dreams of all of them. That’s why it was a war that resounded so much with our emotions.
Now we have won. Times and circumstances had changed. We strategized on the field as if we and the enemy were to defeat Anayiravu. As far as we are concerned, there is no more fall for Anayiravu. We vowed to build a fence even though we all had to fall.
A lot has happened in the field in recent times since operation Oyaatha Alaikal-3. The enemy had scored significant victories through a series of operations code-named ‘Rivikirana’ and ‘Kinigra’. The enemy made the invasion by ignoring the unilateral ceasefire declared by our leader as an expression of goodwill to cooperate with the peace efforts mediated by the Norwegian government. Our positions located in the areas of Colombo, Savakachchery and Thanangilappu, which were an immediate threat to the enemy´s presence, turned into huge battlefields. Taking our cease-fire as an opportunity, the enemy gathered his forces and attacked them consecutively. Our freedom fighters were recalled from the area which was not favorable to a defensive battle. The enemy’s complete focus was on their reoccupation of Anayiravu.
As for the Charles Antony Special Forces, it was fully prepared for the new field conditions. Fresh new ranks were attached to regiments. Newly formed units were equipped with modern weapons. Especially in the Colombo sector, after the defeat against the ‘Kiniraka’ operation on 10th July 2000, our leader implemented plans to organize our freedom fighters to increase its efficiency.
After Operation “Oyaatha Alaikal – 04” the brigade engaged in continuous training at a base located in the Anayiravu area. After the death of our special commander, Lt. Col. Shekar, changes were made in the command post of the brigade and new commanders were appointed. Lt. Col. Veeramani as Special Commander, Lt. Col. Nakulan as Commander and Major Gobit as Deputy Commander were appointed by our national leader.
Our one-sided cease-fire continued. The enemy was willing to use the advantage he had in the field and had no concern for peace efforts. Our silence, especially on the field, gave the enemy an opportunity for free and unrestrained force concentration. For this we paid many losses and setbacks in the field as the price of peace. Even so, our national leader extended the ceasefire for the fourth time.
Losses and setbacks in the field created massive hatred among our freedom fighters. Especially the fact that the last ‘Kinigra-09’ operation carried out by the enemy towards A10, capturing our specific positions and causing casualties further increased the sense of revenge of our freedom fighters. The important thing here is the momentum an aggressive army can gain through successive victories and the momentum a liberating fighters can gain through setbacks will create an atmosphere in the next battle.
In the ‘Kinigra-09’ operation, our forward positions of 20 km length in the area of Eluthumattuvad were captured by the enemy. As it was a ceasefire period we could not ignore some of its rules. The enemy, who had been using the strategy of dividing our fronts into several pieces and dispersing our forces and besieging them in this series of operations, was able to win in this field as well. Charles Antony Special Forces, which acted as the advance team in this operation, saw considerable success in retrieving the freedom fighters who had been caught in a heavy siege without loss. Twenty freedom fighters of from our side sacrificed themselves on this battlefield. The unilateral ceasefire was ending soon. There are no signs that our national leader will last it the next time around. The enemy’s massive preparations were also substantially over.
By late April preparations for the breakthrough were in full swing under the command of Commander Colonel Theeban. There was no rest for the freedom fihters in the field. New strategy mines and traps were planted all over the field. Artillery brigades had prepared the field so that they could deliver accurate fire. The 7100 meter long guard lines from Kilaly to Kandal were divided into three major sections and commanders were appointed in charge of them. Corresponding brigades were also appointed.
Lt. Col. Gokulan of the command post was appointed in charge of the 1800-meter forward ramparts in the Kilaly area. Lt. Col. Lawrence was assigned to command the 3200-meter front to the right of Kandiveedi from Mugamalai to Kandal. In between these two, Lt. Col. Veeramani, the special commander of our brigade, was appointed as the in-charge of 2000 meters in this area. The teams of our brigade were stationed in this area under the leadership of Deputy Commander Major Gobith.
5.35 am on April 25th. We were waiting for the heavy explosion. Everything was already in a position. The first explosion of the enemy spread through peaceful moves and shocked the field. It was the area where our Uthayan and Kalaichudar team were stationed. The enemies rushed in as they split the cover fences. At the same time, all the 7100 meters began their battle.
The battle has exploded. On the enemy’s side, their leading troops, the 53rd and 55th ‘Divisions;’, were deployed. From our side all freedom fighters were in the battle. (The importance of the other fighters on other fronts in this battle are not mentioned, but only a few are taken to illustrate this battle´s totality.) The enemy had infiltrated our area. The two main breaks were made by the enemy in the area where our brigade was stationed under the command of Lt. Col. Gobith.
Shortly after the fighting started, we lost contact to our captain, Captain Vanmiki, who was stationed in the area. He was already defeated by the enemy. The enemy quickly captured 300 and a half meters of our quarters block coded as ‘Wu’ and started attacking at the second end as well.
The advance attack teams of our brigade, which were kept ready under the leadership of Major Pallavan and Captain Mahes, started their attack. Defeating the enemy was not so easy. The enemy was higher in manpower and firepower on this front. Every meter we alternated several barriers shows up and both sides were fighting deeply.
Blood was running all over the defend area. A lot has happened in a very short time. Our team leaders had devised strategies to avoid losses as much as possible without losing composure at any stage. But the position of the enemy was also extreme.
The enemy was systematically entrapped in the fire nets we had set up in the area where the enemy was expected to move. Our traps were all in vain. Many times, their unity voice of distress was heard by the ears of our fighters. Especially the highly effective machine gun named ‘Raghavan’ which was newly introduced by the engineering department and named after the former special commander of our brigade by our national leader, hundreds of enemies were planted in all parts of the field. However, the enemy continued to fight with us.
The situation dragged on as the fighters advanced and retreated in a breakthrough battle. However, nothing happened to our teams to the point of massive losses. Even the wounded fighters continued to fight as they remained in their respective positions. Our fighters kept fighting in the hope of breaking the enemy’s strategy at some point.
The battle continued in the ‘Wu’ area. Then not even half an hour would have passed. The enemy split our shield with another flank and started the fight. A too strong battle erupted. Veeramainthan’s team that was stationed in it retreated a little distance and joined the women fighters there and launched a breakthrough with artillery fire. The enemy was defeated first. However, a short time later he made a strong break in another place near it. Undeterred, the contestants again and again defeated the enemy. Captain Ilanchudar’s group was firmly entrenched in the ramparts which it had recaptured from the enemy’s control.
By 7.00 am the enemy had started to spread to the areas where our rear positions and command posts were in the still unbeaten area. The enemy had advanced to surround the command post of Lt. Col. Gobith and the field office of Lt. Col. Vicki as well as the command post of Commandant Col. Theepan. Indeed, in the battle this is a dangerous phase when command posts come under direct pressure from the enemy and our frontline operations become ineffective. However, the enemy could not undermine us. We were constantly developing new strategies everywhere. It was the fact that there was no place in our minds for the idea of buying back that decided everything.
Lt. Gobith handed over to Major Madhuran the responsibility of confronting the enemy who had advanced towards his command post, and continued to lead the teams to recapture the forward fortresses. Even when the enemy spread everywhere, none of our freedom fighters felt fear or worry. Agamannan, a freedom fighter in a guard post in the command center, alone shot down more than fifteen soldiers with his weapon.
Many heroic achievements on the field were going on. Our teams were moved to defeat the enemy in other areas. Major Prathaban’s advance team under the direct leadership of Commander Veeramani was fighting hard, especially in the enemy’s breach areas to the right of Kandi Road. Charles Antony Special Forces´ fighters fought on all fronts.
The continuous fights in our ‘Wu’ area began to weaken the enemy. The enemy, who fielded his shattered ranks, was exhausted. They were being destroyed so quickly. Even our guards were melted by the shower of enemy shells. The excess aircraft were also attacking us alternately. We fought hard and soon saw progress. One by one the enemy positions began to fall to us. Enemies are trapped inside our area with communications cut off.
Repeated attempts were made by the enemy to recover the large number of forces which had become entangled in our strategy. Even when he saw failures in all of them, he did not give up his efforts. The need to recover hundreds of his fighting men continuously compelled the enemy leadership. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and the enemy, who tried for the second time, broke through our guards once again and entered.
This time battle was more intense than ever before. The projectiles fell and exploded. The ‘Rangis’ tried to advance by launching wide attacks. All in all, a horror battle ensued. The team led by Captain Ilanchudar fought very close to the enemy till the end. However, two of them, including Ilanchudar, were injured and they retreated and continued to fight, not allowing the enemy to advance. In no time, another breakthrough team led by Nithi relieved Ilanchudar’s team and began to advance, defeating the enemy with intense fire from our artillery. After regaining the guard area of about 150 meters, they could not continue to advance. They stood there and waited for more support teams. Now the enemy forces that had been besieging us since morning and the enemy forces that had newly captured our forts made contact.
It was 7.00 am. The enemy thought he had regained a strong position in the field. They may have dissolved that we cannot perform a persistent battle. Yet here we were preparing again.
The teams were preparing to defeat the enemy as they stood in the guards of Nithi.
An assault team prepared from the command center of Lt. Col. Veeramani launched heavy weapons. The battle, which continued for several hours, was in a state of constant tension. The enemy had more firepower. He had enough creativity to replace his soldiers who fell to our firepower. In fact, the enemy fell into the field even more. We fought with the valor of the fallen. In the end, this effort was thwarted by the enemy.
It was twelve midnight. We were preparing for another breakthrough. Another strike team was prepared from Lt. Col. Gobith’s command post, and modern weapons including 50 caliber arrived at the center field. Another effort led by Ilanchudar who stayed on the field even though he was already injured. In the end, the team’s efforts were ineffective when Ilanchudar was injured again and fell in the field.
After two o’clock in the night our freedom fighters had no sleep. The enemy remained furious despite suffering losses. As if he still believed that we could not act beyond a certain point, we remained steadfast in our decision to win. The team led by Iniyavan along with Major Pallavan entered the field again.
This time our fighters moved quietly to the enemy’s side. Shaktivel, who moved ten meters close to the enemy, started to attack at the same time to detonate a hand grenade on the enemy. They tended to advance by making concentrated attacks.
Our friend Kalaiyarasan was fighting fiercely with the enemy. At one point in the fight, he had removed the safety pins from two of his grenades and was running towards the enemy soldiers. Enemies also started firing at him. The wounded man’s hands missed the bombs. The body parts of him stuck to the bodies of the fighters standing in the field.
Even this fierce attempt to break through was suspended when the team´s captain Iniyavan was also injured.
Again, the next morning the teams were prepared for a final battle. At 6.30 a.m., our fighters started to advance with artillery fire. Once again, the enemy forces were caught in our siege strategy. The enemy leadership must have been aware of the danger, or the soldiers on the field might have decided that their leadership’s persistent course was no longer responsible. Somehow, they started to run, leaving behind many bodies and weapons of their dead comrades. This long battle has come to an end.
On 26.04.2001, on the morning of the day after the fighting began, the Charle Antony Special Force confirmed the security of the enemy in its responsible area.
There was no rest for the fighters in the field. They were fighting with enemies who were ten to twenty times their number. We have to defeat this battle completely and celebrate victory to enable them. Food packages had arrived in such a cramped field. But who ate? The grief of losing their comrades on the one hand and the memories of the battle alternated on the other hand, with bodies without food and sleep, our fighters, who had won a battle, were transferred from the quarters, retrained and started moving towards another position. On the right side of the road, in the area near the tanks, a continuous fight was going on between the enemy and our fighters. Our fighters and teams fought together on this important front. Especially women’s teams were involved more here.
As early as 10 am on the first day of the fighting, the breakout team led by Major Prathaban under Special Commander Lt. Col. Veeramani was sent for areas coded as “Wu”. The enemy was deeply and strongly entrenched in this area. In that field, both the enemy and us were alternating between victory and defeat. Through this area, the enemy even managed to advance up to the second line of our quarters for Anaiyiravu, where the troops led by Commander Colonel Balrajh were stationed.
“Agnikela’s” elimination was the only ongoing conflict in the region that had spread to the area. The fighters from all the brigades had joined together and boarded on a breakthrough. Seven or eight times we and the enemy took turns to occupy those areas. The enemy’s supply lines, which had accessed several hundreds, were sometimes completely cut off by our fighters. On all those occasions, the enemy fought for life and death and broke the siege. Major Pallavan of Charles Antony Special Forces and the breakthrough teams of Amuthap and Vanikaran arrived at the battle area under the command of Lt. Col. Gobith.
Throughout the day, the fighters were engaged in restless battle. In many cases, our fighters and the enemies were unidentified. For example, on the night of the 26th, the enemies who were caught in the fields of the mines and our artillery zone wandered to save their lives. The enemy scattered and eventually descended into our move. So, the army and our fighters were so mixed up as to be unrecognizable. There was tumult everywhere.
At one place, a fighter named Cheran from our team was coming through the street with a hand grenade on his neck. Thinking that the person walking in front was his boss, he followed him. The one who went ahead walked as if his colleague was coming behind him. Both went into one of our guardhouses which was lying empty. Cheran, who thought the other was his team leader and put his hand on his friend, got suspicious when the army’s anti-seizure armor tapped his hand. Army’s helmet as he put his hand on his head while slowly calling out his name as ‘Vithusan’! Cheran immediately took off the hand grenade he had prepared and placed it at the foot of the army! On that day, the main task was to recover our teams that were badly mixed up.
After stabilizing our teams as far as was accessible, our commandments were engaged in a determined counterattack. It was firmly decided that the protracted battle would end by noon the next day. All through the night everyone was engaged in preparations for the attack.
On the morning of the 28th, our teams, which had been kept in ready, began to advance. Our assault teams advanced on four fronts under heavy fire from the 10ATLRE motor and multi-barreled artillery. The enemy, who had already been badly weakened by our intensive artillery attacks throughout the first night, retreated when we began to surround and attack. Soon the field became quiet. Hundreds of enemy bodies and weapons were scattered all over the field. After fighting continuously for about 72 hours, we defeated the enemy.
A total of one hundred and forty-one freedom fighters sacrificed themselves in this decisive battle. Among them we lost twenty fighters from our brigade. Many others were injured. When our national leader honored the fighters for their bravery in the field, ten fighters from our brigade were also honored. And our Deputy Commander Gobith was promoted to the rank of ‘Lt. Colonel’ for his effective leadership in this battle. All in all, this battle, which took place after the ten-year history of our brigade, showed up our heroism.
Akkinikelaa Iranuva – Theechchuvaalai
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