Battle of Asal Uttar

The Battle of Asal Uttar was one of the largest tank battles of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 fought from 8 to 10 September 1965 at Asal Uttar, a village in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab, India. When the Pakistan Army thrust its tanks and infantry into Indian territory, capturing the Indian town of Khem Karan 5 km from the India–Pakistan border, Indian troops retaliated, and after three days of bitter fighting, the battle ended with the Pakistani forces being repulsed near Asal Uttar. Factors that contributed to this were the fierce fight put up by the Indian Army, conditions of the plains, better Indian tactics and a successful Indian strategy.

It was one of the largest tank battles since the Battle of Kursk in the Second World War and is compared with it for how it changed the course of the Indio-Pakistan war of 1965 in India's favour. War historians, including Philip Towle, regard the Indian resistance near Khem Karan as one of the key turning points of the war, one which tilted the balance of the war in favour of India. Peter Wilson states that the defeat of the Pakistan Army in the battle of Asal Uttar was one of the greatest defeats suffered by Pakistani forces in the course of the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965.