The breakdown of ”Yarldevi”
The name “Yarldevi” refers to the train that previously served the route between Southern Lanka and Jaffna.
On 28.09.1993, the Sri Lankan army made a big advance from Ijakkachchi, one end of the Anaiyiravu Base, towards Jaffna through Puloppalai. The name of this advance given by the government is “Yarldevi”.
The terrain taken by the army to advance was unfavorable for the LTTE. Instead of advancing along the main road, the A-9, the army attempted to advance along the coast, completely out in the open. It is a very disadvantageous situation for the LTTE to fight against the army in that area. But the fighters faced that battle.
When that action took place the freedom fighters were preparing themselves for a major offensive. It was in preparation for the ‘Thavali Paichal’ operation on the Poonakary Joint Base which was held in early November of the same year. While the teams were training hard, the enemy had opened a new front. There was a need to stop this progress anyway. Commander Balraj organizes the troops preparing for the “Thavali Paichal” and launches a counter-attack.
The freedom fighters were very well camouflaged and lurking in the paddy field. Any uninsulated cutting area. The advanced army troops continued to advance that morning. They did not see the freedom fighters lurking. Such an efficient camouflage. The freedom figthers launched a fierce attack on the soldiers after coming too close. The Sri Lankan Army was paralyzed in that action which was the ultimate surprise attack. They had lost a significant number of army troops before they could organize and counter the LTTE attack.
The army, having reconstituted itself, continued to attack with great ferocity. There was a very severe summer in wheat harvesting. The LTTE destroyed two of the tanks, which were considered the main strength of the government forces. Losses on the enemy side were mounting. Eventually the army gave up its advance and reverted to its old routine.
Successfully the “Yarldevi” operation was thwarted by the LTTE that day. Apart from that, the freedom fighters also carried out their attack on Poonakary as planned.
A major turning point in the war history to LTTE in the Puloppalai Battle. That is, they had defeated the enemy’s massive invasion in a field that was completely unfavorable to them.
Eighty-five freedom fighters became martyrs in this battle:
Lt. Col. Nares / Nayagan, who was the special commander of Kilinochchi Fort.
Major Senthil (Anthonypillai Padmanathan – Mannar)
Major Selvam (Somu Muruges – Mannar)
Major Yarlisai (Mano) (Thirulogasingham Selvarani – Jaffna)
Major Sukanya (Nadarasa Subhasini – Jaffna)
Major Senthuran (Premnath) (Chidambarapillai Sivaruban – Jaffna)
Major Kumaran (Maniam Sirisivanathan – Jaffna)
Capt Nakulan (Nagamani Ketheeswaran – Mannar)
Capt Uthayaseelan (Tenson) (Ganapathipillai Jagatheeswaran – Mannar)
Capt Ponnan (Sirikanthan) (Nagalingam Surendran – Batticaloa)
Capt Medican (Lucas) (Samuel Selvanandan – Mannar)
Capt Karuna (Sarmilan) (Arulnesan Kinsili – Mannar)
Captain Kalyani (Tharmalingam Renukadevi – Trincomalee)
Captain Anbalaki (Api) (Sabapati Ilakshmi – Trincomalee)
Captain Kuyily (Suda) (Irasendram Inpavathini – Batticaloa)
Captain Cheran (Easan) (Nadaraja Sarveswaran – Jaffna)
Captain Pratheepan (Gandasamy Mahindan – Jaffna)
Captain Sutharsan (Sellathurai Jayaseelan – Trincomalee)
Captain Sathian (Sivagnanam Rames – Mullaitheevu)
Captain Tamilmaravan (Calcutta) (Arumugam Kandipan – Mullaitheevu)
Captain Mugilan (Vino) (Suryakanthi Sathasivam – Vavuniya)
Captain Kathir (Geethan) (Iramaiah Bhaskaran – Trincomalee)
Captain Mohanaruban (Chandan) (Thangavel Radhamohan – Jaffna)
Captain Senthuran (Bulomin) (Maryampillai Kamilan – Mannar)
Captain Sempirai (Soumi) (Vallipuram Nalini – Vavuniya)
Captain Vinothan (Nagalingam Udayakumar – Kilinochchi)
Lt Sasitharan (Velayutham Mahendran – Vavuniya)
Lt. Mahendran (Mages) (Kandhapillai Vijitharan – Mullaitheevu)
Lt. Seelan (Salim) (Tharmakulasingham Sundararajan – Mullaitheevu)
Lt. Shankar (Kanakarathanam Kanakalingam – Vavuniya)
Lt Oppilamani (Sivaraj) (Anthonipillai Sellathurai – Puttalam)
Lt. Selvan (Kanagaratnam Jeevaratnam – Avisawala)
Lt. Gilman (Krisnasamy Chinnavan – Kandy)
Lt. Vinthan (Kandiah Sivaruban – Mullaitheevu)
Lt Sivanesan (Arumugam Pradeepan – Mullaitheevu)
Lt. Shivam (Selvam Ravi – Batticaloa)
Lt. Uma (Anthonipillai Devamegan – Vavuniya)
Lt. Kumanan (Selvaratnam Gunaratnam – Mannar)
Lt Thambithurai (Thasan Anran – Mannar)
Lt. Sivan (Phakiyaraja Mangaleswaran – Mannar)
Lt Sivanandhan (Anthony – Mannar)
Lt. Tasaka (Iramasamy Chandra – Vavuniya)
Lieutenant Garavannan (Ragunathan) (Gunaratnam Gunaraj – Jaffna)
Lt. Ilamurugan (Aiyathurai Anbalagan – Jaffna)
Lt. Eagavarasan (Diagu) (Irasendran Yoganathan – Jaffna)
Lt. Ayathurai (Newton) (Vanniasingham Vijayakumar – Jaffna)
2nd Lt Chandran (Courtesy Phillips – Mullaitheevu)
2nd Lt Thiruvalluvan (Rakeem) (Subramaniam Ganesamurthy – Vavuniya)
2nd Lt Naveen (Selvarasa Selveswaran – Mullaitheevu)
2nd Lt Mathiyalagan (Pasupathipillai Thayaranjithan – Vavuniya)
2nd Lt. Nambiandan (Sellathurai Prabhakaran – Vavuniya)
2nd Lt. Aravindan (Sentamil) (Vetivel Gnanasekaram – Vavuniya)
2nd Lt. Kalappadi (Sellathurai Punithakumar – Kilinochchi)
2nd Lt Neethidevan (Anupillai Raghu – Mannar)
2nd Lt. Velvizhi (Abisa) (Susaigurus Leniscolesrica – Mannar)
2nd Lt. Selvam (Thana) (Chris.Reen Selvarani – Jaffna)
2nd Lt. Sasi (Shanmuganathan Vasanthalaveni – Kilinochchi)
2nd Lt. Vasuki (Kurusumuthu Devathiraviyam – Kilinochchi)
2nd Lt Seethalakshmi (Subpan Muniamma – Mullaitheevu)
2nd Lt. Factor (Thuraichami Lalithadevi – Batticaloa)
2nd Lt Mitula (Ganapathipillai Marimuthu – Batticaloa)
2nd Lt Narenthini (Appaswami Annalakshmi – Kilinochchi)
Veeravenkai Veerapandian (Kandasamy Indrakumar – Mullaitheevu)
Veeravenkai Murugavel (Perumal Kannan – Kilinochchi)
Veeravenkai Sureshkumar (Kathiresu Sasikumar – Kilinochchi)
Veeravenkai Selvanandini (Selvarasa Sakunthaladevi – Trincomalee)
Veeravenkai Venkateswaran (Vadivel Sivakumar – Jaffna)
Veeravenkai Kitnakumar (Selvaraja Chandrakumar – Jaffna)
Veeravenkai Jayamati (Ganapathipillai Sarosa – Kilinochchi)
Veeravenkai Genarthini (Gunavathi – Jaffna)
Veeravenkai Tatsaini (Sangarappillai Vikineswari – Jaffna)
Veeravenkai Elilaruvi (Arulthas Puspamalar – Kilinochchi)
Veeravenkai Thirumalar (Yogarasa Kamleswari – Trincomalee)
Veeravenkai Surabi (Muthukumar Mohanarani – Kilinochchi)
Veeravenkai Dwaraka (Nallathambi Kamala – Batticaloa)
Veeravenkai Ramani (Jannaprakasam Penadele – Jaffna)
Veeravenkai Kavimalar (Nallaiya Satyakala – Kilinochchi)
Veeravenkai Navam (Muneeswaran Tavaseelan – Vavuniya)
On the same day, in a clash with soldiers who tried to partially advance to Achchuveli:
2nd Lt. Inban (Kitnan Ravichandran – Mullaitheevu)
2nd Lt. Tamilkodi (Sivapalan) (Balasingam (Bakhiri) Mahendran – Kandy)
Veeravenkai Sadanandhan (Satha) (Chinnathambi Chandravativel – Mullaitheevu)
Veeravenkai Bhanudevan (Muthiah Sivakumar – Vavuniya)
In an ambush attack by Sri Lankan soldiers in Minvendigangai area of Batticaloa district:
Lt. Puvanesalingam (Ganapathipillai Vanniasingham – Batticaloa)
2nd Lt. Jesuthas (Tamodharampillai Nallathambi – Batticaloa)
Veeravenkai Manojan (Sivachandra Yoganathan – Batticaloa)
On this day, we remember these martyrs who sacrificed their lives to their mother land of Tamileelam.
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