The rearguard action hero Birshreshtha Mohammad Mostafa Kamal
In ancient times each army was divided into three divisions; The front part was called ‘van’ or front part, the middle part was called ‘middle’ or ‘main body’, and the back part was called ‘rear’ or rear part. Strong ‘guards’ or cavalry were present to handle these ‘vans’, ‘middle’ and ‘rear’; That is why they were called 'Vanguard', 'Flankguard' and 'Rearguard'.
At that time, on the battlefield, the enemy sometimes wanted to take advantage of the opportunity by attacking from behind, and even when retreating, the enemy was in a hurry to chase after everything and shuffle everything. So all the armies had strong rearguards so that even if they fell into disarray, at least they knew they could survive. Because, even if they retreat, there is a chance to attack again, but the dead soldiers never get their lives back!
This work of Rearguard is called Rearguard Action. The rearguard action began as soon as the decision to retreat matured. So all rearguards have to fight through a very delicate situation from the beginning. It is very difficult for any army to retreat in an organized formation. Because, once the panic spreads, the defeat, the moment of retreat, turns into a two-way escape.If the rearguard is somehow destroyed or outflanked [2], the enemy's vanguard will rush from behind and destroy everything in an instant. So rearguard action means fighting a group of soldiers determined to save the lives of others with their own lives. Of course, this is part of the drill [3], but the motivation of these ‘rearguard action heroes’ is undoubtedly unmatched.
With four years of service experience, unpaid Lance Naik [4] Mostafa, however, never had to go through rearguard action. As the fourth East Bengal's 'best boxer', Mostafa is one of the best in the unit in any job, so he is used to fighting from the front row. Mostafa captain Major Shafayet Jamil is also aware of his deep patriotism, comradeship and improved professionalism. That is why even though Lance Naik is unpaid, he did not hesitate to put the responsibility of section commander on his shoulders.In mid-March 1971, in order to weaken the Fourth East Bengal in the Comilla cantonment, its companies were sent out of the cantonment in the name of suppressing the Indian saboteurs. Major Khaled Musharraf was then with his company in Shamshernagar, Sylhet, and Major Shafayet Jamil's company in Brahmanbaria.On the morning of 26 March, Major Shafayet Jamil IV captured all Pakistani officers and soldiers, including Lieutenant Colonel Khizir Hayat Khan, the Pakistani Commanding Officer (Unit Commander) of East Bengal IV.
From the beginning of April, all the companies of the Fourth East Bengal came together under the leadership of Khaled Musharraf to build a strong defense [5] along the south-west side of the Meghna River. The aim was to block all avenues for Pakistani troops to advance on railways and bridges.But when the desperate Pak army launched a fierce attack with fighter jets, the 4th East Bengal Liberation Army was forced to abandon its defenses along the Anderson Canal at Ashuganj, Ujanishwar and Brahmanbaria and take up new defenses at Akhaura, Ganga Sagar and Darwin villages. The 2nd Platoon of the 4th D Company of East Bengal took the defense at the village of Darwin [6]. Mostafa was a section commander of this platoon.