India, July 26 -- N o intelligence. No acclimatisation. No high-altitude clothing. Negligible artillery support. Formidable terrain. These were the harsh, unforgiving circumstances under which Major Rajesh Adhikari, a 28-year-old officer, was tasked with capturing the crucial Tololing peak during the 1999 Kargil War. "He didn't blink an eye," recalls Brigadier Khushal Thakur (Retd), his Commanding Officer during the war. "The irony is that he was only on attachment with us - 18 Grenadiers - for a year, and that was to end in June. He was looking forward to going back and celebrating his first wedding anniversary on June 9." But just 10 days before that, on May 30, Maj Adhikari was killed in action. "You must understand the circumstances under which Adhikari was launched (into battle). We were told there were just five or six mujahideen. It was only later that we realised it was an entire company of regulars (Pakistani Army)," says Brig Thakur. Maj Adhikari led his men in an assault on a well-fortified enemy position at an altitude of 15,000 feet. The Battle of Tololing would go on to become a turning point in the war. On the night of the assault, Maj Adhikari and Brig Thakur were in contact over radio. "Around 11pm, he told me the fight was on, one bunker had been captured, and he was moving to the next. He said all was well," Brig Thakur recalls. "Around 1 or 2am, I called again. The radio operator, Lance Naik Rajendra Yadav, told me there was heavy firing and that he was sitting behind a boulder. He said Adhikari was engaged in hand-to-hand combat. I asked to speak to him, but he said, 'Baat nahi ho sakti, all weapons have been opened up.' Then he said Adhikari seemed injured. While still on the line with me, he said, 'Oh ma,' and I knew he was gone," he adds. Even after being grievously injured, Maj Adhikari refused evacuation and continued to engage the enemy. "His men were pleading, 'Peeche hato, peeche hato,' but despite being under intense fire, he insisted, 'Mujhe koi chot nahi lagi hai.' He kept advancing, inflicting heavy casualties. He achieved his objective - but at the cost of his life." It would take 13 days to retrieve his body. Major Adhikari was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for his extraordinary valour. He was just 28. "The same day, he had received a letter from his wife, which he planned to read in peace after the operation. The letter went back unopened, with his mortal remains," Brig Thakur adds. The night before the assault, Maj Adhikari and his senior, Lt Col Vishwanathan (also later killed in action), had encouraged their men to call home via satellite phone. But when their own turn came, the battery had drained....