Liberation War of Bangladesh

Early in the morning of April 14, the enemy with a fleet of river craft probed the bank of river Meghna near Lalpur for a landing. To our appreciation the enemy was carrying out a reconnaissance of the landing place.
It was evident that the enemy was not able to make up their mind about the landing. They were yet not clear about or defensive layout and was, therefore, going slow about the landing. Suddenly the enemy came under intense fire from Lalpur. Exchange of fire continued for about an hour and the enemy pulled back downstream to the south. Lt. Col. Reza was at Brahmanbaria for shifting the currency from the banks and for depositing the same of Bangladesh Government at Agartala. Apprehending the threat confronting Lalpur, Lt. Col. Reza ordered the reserve company of Matin at Sharail to move to Lalpur. But for them my orders were different. On such situation they were to get deployed on the intermediary position between Talshahar and Gokanaghat line. This company in advance had recommoitered and prepared these positions. In my absence, however, Matin was given a different task and in order to accomplish that task he moved to the new location during the night along the eastern bank of river Meghna. As a result, he was not in a position to deploy his troops at Lalpur during the night, the reason being the position was neither reconnoitered nor prepared by him.

Liberation War of Bangladesh

Matiur at Bhairab was not at all in a happy situation. He had a difficult withdrawal from Panchdone and Narshingdi. The enemy had followed him closely behind. Though the Rampur railway bridge was demolished it would need only a few hours efforts to establish a bridge head at Rampur and about 8 hours for assault crossing. I had to send a reinforcement there without any delay. A draft of young, hurriedly trained civilian volunteers arrived at Brahmanbaria in the morning on April 13. I ordered them to be dispatched immediately to Bhairab Bazar. This draft of young boys was from among the first batch of trainees received from Teliapara. As they were about to leave for Bhairab they came under heavy enemy strafing near the railway station. In this sudden air strike sepoy Mohammad Mohsin of East Bengal Regiment and a trained volunteer got killed. It was definitely a demoralizing effect on my troops. I was there to see them off to Bhairab.
On this day I got a message from Colonel Osmany to attend a co-ordination conference to be held at Moulvi Bazar at 10 a.m. on April 14. I therefore, left my headquarter for Moulvi Bazar on the morning of 14 April.

Liberation War of Bangladesh

. Another mixed regular company under Captain Ainuddin was deployed at Brahmanbaria facing Gokanaghat on the river Tista. One company of EPR troops under Captain Matin was located at Sharail. The main purpose of keeping this company at Sharail was to use them as reserve and also provide depth to the forward localities by occupying Talshahar and Gokanaghat line of defense. This line of defense was the only intermediary position between Ashuganj and Brahmanbaria. The company was kept mobile so that it can move fast and occupy Talshahar-Gokanaghat line of defense without much loss of time with a view to forestalling any threat developing on Ashuganj front.
Of late, the enemy reconnaissance aircraft and helicopters were active on our area. The purpose of these reconnaissance missions was known to us. We were, therefore, very particular about our camouflage and passive air defense.

Liberation War of Bangladesh

In April most of the river banks in Bangladesh stand out above the receding water level. At places the banks are steep and non-negotiable by transport without the help of a barge. At Ashuganj side of Meghna, although large scale landing facility did not exist, infantry movement was not at all difficult. Ashuganj is a railway station on the home side of the bridge. It is on a slightly raised ground. I decided to hold it physically with a company of regulars under Captain Nasim. About 3 miles to the north of Ashuganj, Ajabpur is a river ghat which serves Sharail and Brahmanbaria. An irregular company was deployed there under a junior commissioned officer. About 2 miles to the south of Ashuganj Lieutenant Morshed had a mixed regular and irregular company deployed thinly at Lalpur. Lalpur and Brahmanbaria were linked with an unmetalled road. Morshed’s task was to deny enemy landing within his area of responsibility and deny the use of unmetalled road by the enemy leading towards Brahmanbaria. Captain Matiur Rahman after fighting his way down from Narshingdi was deployed at Bhairab Bazar. He had an EPR company

Liberation War of Bangladesh

Meeting on the Meghna:
Pakistanis had a serious headache about Brahmanbaria, a place of vital importance between Sylhet and Comilla. As a river route to Sylhet, Bhairab-Ashuganj complex enjoyed tactical as well as strategic importance. Khaled on the south and my troops on the north, from either side, we had Brahmanbaria and Ashuganj-Bhairab respectively within our fold. Pakistanis decided to effect a break through. With a part of 53 Bridge-located at Comilla, Brigadier Iqbal Shafi had already made a dash over to Chittagong to take on Zia. This bridge finally moved to Chittagong duly replaced by 117 Brigades ex-9 iInfantry Division. Pakistanis wanted to have uninterrupted control over Sylhet-Comilla highway so that 313 and 117 Brigades could have free hand on the use of the highway. It was, therefore, quite obvious that a break through operation would be launched from Dhaka and that I would be required to receive the enemy at Bhairab-Ashuganj.

Liberation War of Bangladesh

In this spirited and patriotic address, he eulogized the liberation army, which was being formed around the nucleus of the professional soldiers from the East Bengal Regiment. While surveying the activities of the liberation army with additional information he further expanded the command structure, dividing the country into seven major regions and appointed the commanders for each region and those were:
a. Chittagong-Chittagong Hill Tracts region under Major Ziaur Rahman.
b. Comilla-Noakhali region under Major Khaled Musharraf.
c. Sylhet-Brahmanbaria-Mymensingh region under Major K.M. Safiullah.
d. Rangpur-region under Captain Nawazish.
e. Dinajpur-Rajshahi-Pabna region under Major Najmul Haque.
f. South west region (Khustia-Jessore) under Major Abu Osman Chowdhury.
g. Barishal-Patuakhali region under Capt. Jalil.
As predicted Colonel M A G Osmany was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the liberation force of Bangladesh. The announcement was most opportune. It had its desired effect.
Zia, Khaled and myself made our Plan to mop up pockets of resistance in our area preparatory to a combined onslaught on Dhaka. But our plans could not be materialized immediately. Enemy struck us at all fronts. Pakistani forces were hell bent on ousting us from the liberated areas.

Liberation War of Bangladesh

Turning Point
The Liberation war up till now was lacking in the life force for want of a political back up. Obedience to a legal and constitutional authority is the basis for the healthy functioning of any military force. The vacuum created by the absence of a formally constituted government of Bangladesh was keenly felt be the rank and file of the liberation army. Thus thousands, amidst thunderous cheers, witnessed the birth of a new state-Bangladesh, in a border village, later christened as Mujib Nagar, in the subdivision of Chuadanga. This was officially proclaimed at an impressive oath taking ceremony which took place at Mujib Nagar on April 17. This ceremony was attended by over 50 foreign journalists and thousands of spectators.
After having formed the provisional government in exile at Agartala on April 10, the prime Minister designate, Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed, made his first radio broadcast through Shwadhin Bangla Betar Kendra (voice of free Bangladesh radio) announcing the formation of military command structure of ‘Mukti Bahini’, in which Colonel (later General) Osmany was made the Commander-in-Chief and named Safiullah, Zia, Khaled and Abu Osman as region commanders. On 11 April 71, Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed made his second radio broadcast again through Shwadhin Bangla Betar Kendra and called upon the people of Bangladesh to mobilize their energy for the liberation struggle.