The drop The operation began in the afternoon of 11 December. By 1650hrs, the 750 men of 2 Para along with their pack howitzers and jeeps had landed successfully north of Tangail. However, 20 men had gotten lost during the drop. 19 of them would be dropped 24 kilometers north of the DZ. The 20th man, Paratrooper Mahadeo Curao, suffered a "hang up" during the drop and had to be dropped near Sara Airfield with his secondary parachute. Despite being wounded and alone, he evaded capture and linked up with a local Mukti Bahini unit, with whom he went on numerous raids to eliminate "
Razakars" before rejoining his unit on 2 January 1972 – a full 33 days after the end of the war. 2 Para was dropped 9 kilometers north of Tangail. Near Kalihati (a town near Tangail), Brigadier Qadir (CO of 93rd Brigade) witnessed the drop and ordered a nearby company to engage the paratroopers while they were still regrouping. However, the company did not reach in time and the paratroopers had managed to regroup and organise themselves. Realising this, Brigadier Qadir ordered his brigade to begin preparations to attack the paratroopers. By the evening, the paratroopers had crossed the 9 km towards their objective - Poongli Bridge. Initial reconnaissance revealed that the bridge was lightly defended: only 2 Pakistani infantry platoons with a ragtag group of Razakars. Leaving "D" Company behind to cover their flanks, the rest of the battalion commenced their attack on the bridge. The lightly defended bridge, along with the ferry crossing point, would be overrun and captured by 2000hrs with Indian forces suffering no casualties. "D" Company now reinforced the positions at the bridge and 2 Para dug in to defend it.
Pakistani counterattacks Through the night of the 11th/12th and the first half of the 12th, the 93rd Brigade would launch 5 counterattacks on 2 Para. However, the 93rd's fighting ability had already been degraded greatly. On 10 December, the Indian 167th Mountain Brigade along with the 95th Mountain Brigade had surrounded 31
Baluch of the Pakistani 93rd in
Jamalpur. Though 31 Baluch put up a fight, it had surrendered by 0730hrs. This resulted in the surrender of ~1,500 men and multiple artillery guns. The rest of the 93rd had been subjected to constant air attacks by the
Indian Air Force and its professional forces had suffered a further 252 casualties (killed and captured) between 3 and 10 December, during the 95th Mountain Brigade's advance. With the surrender of 31 Baluch, the only unit of the 93rd left in fighting condition was 33 Punjab which had been reinforced by the remaining companies of the Pakistan Rangers. 33 Punjab, while leaving Madhupur during their retreat to Dhaka, had left behind one of its companies to defend Madhupur. Therefore, by the time the 93rd counterattacked 2 Para's positions at Poongli, they were severely understrength and disorganised. This resulted in all 5 of their attacks being badly coordinated. The attacks were further hampered by the fact that the Pakistani regulars had to rely on the ill-trained Razakars to bolster their numbers during the attacks. The Razakars would make up the majority of the casualties. Airstrikes by the IAF throughout the morning and noon of 12 December also further degraded the 93rd's capability. By 1500hrs on the 12th, 1 Maratha Light had linked up with 2 Para at Poongli and further secured the bridge. 2 Para and 1 Maratha Light would set up ambushes for the Pakistani infantry and regularly harass their lines throughout the remainder of the 12th. By the end of the 12th, because of their badly coordinated counterattacks and the Indian forces' well conducted raids, the 93rd would cease to exist as a fighting unit, suffering over 300 casualties. By 1745hrs on the 12th, the Pakistani forces that survived began their retreat to Kaliakar. ==Aftermath==