Crack Platoon: the urban guerilla fighters of 1971

Crack Platoon was a special commando team of the Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters) which was formed in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was formed by young members of Mukti Bahini which carried out commando operations in Dhaka and its surroundings.The commandos were mostly students and civilians, received guerrilla training later in the training camps for Mukti Bahini in India and then engaged in battle against Pakistan Army.

During guerilla training in 1971.

Guerilla Sector 2- Crack Platoon.

In June, 1971, World Bank sent a mission to observe the situation in East Pakistan. Pakistan government was circulating a news that situation in East Pakistan was stable and normal. Khaled Mosharraf, Sector 2 commander of Mukti Bahini, planned to deploy a special commando team. The task assigned to the team was to carry out commando operations in Dhaka. The major objective of this team was to prove that the situation was not normal actually. Pakistan was expecting economic aid from World Bank, which was assumed to be spent to buy arms. The plan was to make World Bank Mission understand the true situation of East Pakistan and stop sanctioning the aid. Khaled Mosharraf along with A.T.M Haider, another sector commander formed the Crack Platoon. Initially, number of commandos in the platoon was 17. Those commandos were receiving training in Melaghar Camp at that time. Commandos of Crack Platoon headed for Dhaka on June 4, 1971 and launched guerrilla operation on June 5. Their first attack was launched at the Hotel Intercontinental, the hub of West Pakistani military officials, political leaders and foreign delegates during the war. Later, number of commandos was increased, the platoon was split and deployed in different areas surrounding Dhaka city. Crack Platoon was a real terror for Pakistani soldiers.

[Source: wikipidia]

During the surrender of 90,000 pakistan soldiers on December 16,1971.