air support as his base has only Hawker Hunter Ground planes, which cannot be used for night combat. Expressing his apologies, Bajwa asks Kuldip to defend the post as long as possible and that he and his pilots would be on the battlefield at the first stroke of light. In despair, Kuldip radios his CO and explains his untenable position. The CO advises Kuldip to retreat but gives him the authority to him to decide on the option of either to hold his post or to retreat. Kuldip decides to remain defending the post and gives the company the choice of whether to leave the post or not, and they all decide to stay with him and face the Pakistani soldiers to their deaths. As Dastagir and his men finally close into Longewala, one of the Pakistani tanks blows up, due to Kuldip getting his men to bury anti-tank mines around the post earlier to prevent the tanks from barging in. Dastagir orders the Pakistani tanks to open fire on the post, and Kuldip retaliates by having Das to destroy several tanks with his Jonga-RCL units. Though the tide of the battle is improving for the Indians at first, Das's jeep is hit by a tank shell, wounding him and prompting Bhairon to extract him from the burning jeep. Das is fatally wounded when he goes to extract a recoil spring for Bhairon's MMG and dies in Bhairon's arms. Ratan sacrifices himself to throw away an exploding tank shell to prevent several of his men from being killed. Another tank targets Bhairon's machine gun nest and destroys it, wounding Bhairon. Using his remaining energy, Bhairon charges the same tank and destroys it with another anti-tank mine, killing himself and the Pakistani soldiers inside. Dharamvir breaks through the enemy cordon and returns to the post, but his entire patrol is wiped out in the process. Dastagir then orders a bayonet charge on the Indian position, but the attack is beaten back by the Indians, with Dharamvir being gunned down to death by Pakistani soldiers. Kuldip then captures a dying Pakistani private, who reveals that Dastagir plans to invade Jaisalmer by morning, Jodhpur by afternoon, and reach Delhi by night, thus bringing India under Pakistani's control. As dawn nears, Dastagir orders his remaining men to make a last-ditch attempt to overrun Longewala with their massed assault of tanks and infantry, ignoring the