Thursday, October 2, 2008

57 gets a new Brigade

Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka has rewarded his best General by making him the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army's largest Offensive Division, the 57 Division.

Major General Jagath "Chula" Dias of Gajaba Regiment is now the Commander of 10,000 troops in a single Army Division following the Commander's decision to raise the 574 Brigade. The 574 comprises of 2,500 fresh troops under the able leadership of Lt. Colonel Senaka Wijesooriya, another battle hardened officer.

The 57 Division has borne the brunt of the operations so far having marched through areas considered impossible to capture, including Madhu, Tunukkai, Mallavi, Uylankulam, Akkarayan and soon, Kilinochchi and Mankulam.

The 57 has killed the largest number of LTTE cadres in operations so far and gone head on into battle with the LTTE's so-called elites from Charles Anthony to Ratha Regiments. It had only one setback at Akkarayankulam where it lost 55 men in fierce fighting but had the Charles Anthony and Ratha Regiments running with its tail between its legs on all other occasions.

In July this year, the 57 Division, teaming up with Special Forces units killed close to 100 Charles Anthony unit cadres at Vavunikulam. 'Lt. Col' Pallavan, the overall Commander of the Charles Anthony unit and Anbu, the local area leader were among those killed in the attack. A rescue mission led by Bhanu, Lawrence and Lakshman were severely beaten back.

The capture or Kilinochchi will be a fitting tribute to Chula Dias, having served in the Kilinochchi SLA Garrison and Kokavil Detachment as a young officer in the 1980s and the 90s.

The 574 is the first indicator of the Army's decision to increase troop strength in existing Offensive Divisions instead of raising new Divisions. It is only fitting that the first recipient of this expansion was General Chula Dias. The induction of the 574 and its fresh troops will be a relief to troops fighting day and night, sunshine or rain in the frontlines.

Meanwhile in the Weli Oya sector, the 59 is now facing a Tiger trenchine which we reported was under construction several weeks ago. The trenchline goes from the northern shore of the Tannimurippu Tank to Nayaru Lagoon.

In a way, this commitment of troops by the LTTE is a blessing as the areas lying ahead of the trench is mostly open terrain. It will provide the SLA an opportunity to kill as many LTTE cadres as they possibly could before stepping into the open terrain ahead. Perhaps this justifies the Commander's decision to slow down the pace of the operations in Weli Oya.

In other news, the SLAF claimed it bombed three vital locations in Kilinochchi yesterday including an LTTE administrative base. SLAF sources have confirmed direct hits on all three targets but the exact damage caused to the Tigers is unclear.

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