Three failed assaults, and a decision
Vishwanathan was the second-in-command of 18 Grenadiers — a role that didn't require him to personally lead frontline assaults. By late May 1999, his battalion had launched three unsuccessful attempts to take Tololing, arriving in the sector under-acclimatized and still without proper cold-weather gear. On the night of 2 June, Vishwanathan chose to lead the next assault himself.
Wounded, and refusing to stop
Climbing for hours through difficult, snow-covered terrain at over 15,000 feet, Vishwanathan's assault caught the entrenched enemy by surprise. During the attack he sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He refused evacuation, continuing to press his troops forward and personally closing on enemy positions in close combat. By the citation's account, he destroyed three enemy positions and eliminated four intruders single-handedly before succumbing to his injuries.
The highest-ranking officer lost at Kargil
Vishwanathan's action secured ground that helped enable the eventual capture of Point 4590. He was posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra, and remains the highest-ranking Indian Army officer killed during the entire Kargil War — a lieutenant colonel who chose to lead from the front rather than direct the assault from behind it.
