With just four months of service when the Kargil War broke out. During the eponymous battle, Lieutenant Balwan Singh as a Ghatak Platoon Commander was tasked to assault the ‘Tiger Hill Top as part of a multi pronged attack located at 16,500 feet which was snowbound and interspersed with crevasses and sheer falls.
The officer, set about his task with single-minded determination and led the team for over twelve hours along a very difficult and precarious route and under intense artillery shelling to reach the designated spur. The team used cliff assault to reach the top with stealth and took the enemy by complete surprise.
The enemy panicked and in a desperate fire fight attempted to repulse the Ghataks. In the ensuing firefight, Lieutenant Balwan Singh was himself seriously injured. He moved swiftly to encircle the enemy and engaged them in close combat and single handedly killed four enemy soldiers.
Before leading his troops into action, Singh vowed “Tiger Hill pe Tiranga fahrake ayenge, chahe kuchh bhi ho jaye.”
On Independence Day 1999, President K. R. Narayan awarded Balwan Singh the Maha Vir Chakra for his outstanding leadership and daring in successfully capturing Tiger Hill..