Army Task Force II to open new battle front

As ground troops continue the military thrust on the Wanni defences the Sri Lanka Army is planning to further increase the pressure on the LTTE, mooting plans to form Task Force - II to open a new battle front from the East of A-9 road from the Mundimurippu area.

Initial steps have been taken to from this Task Force appointing Brigadier Ralph Nugera as the General Officer Commanding of the Task Force - II. Seven battalions have already been allocated for the Task Force -II.

Brigadier Nugera was the Brigade Commander of the newly formed Mechanised Infantry Brigade based in Jaffna. Lieutenant Colonel Dhammika Jayasundera is due to be appointed temporarily as the Brigade Commander of MaC Infantry Brigade.

In the process of launching a major military thrust Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka has so far formed five offensive Divisions including the 53 Division which was only Reserve Division in the Sri Lanka Army at the time Lt. General Sarath Fonseka was appointed the Army Commander.

With the completion of the Eastern liberation the 57 Division was formed under the command of Brigadier Sumith Manawadu in January 2006. Later it was commanded by Brigadier Jagath Dias who was then promoted to the rank of Major General.

The task of the 57 Division was to clear the areas in the West of Vavuniya. By this time troops attached to 57 Division had advanced into Periyamadhu area after cutting off all the supply routes connected to Periyamadhu after liberating sacred Madhu Church.

Fierce battles are expected to erupt in Periyamadhu once the troops are poised to capture this terrain which was used by the LTTE to launch artillery attacks on both Mannar and Vavuniya fronts. However, troops are determined to capture this strategic location with minimum casualties to ground troops.

As the 57 Division continues its task on the Vavuniya front, the second offensive Division was formed in 2007 as Task Force -I in the Mannar front. Initially it was commanded by Brigadier Chagi Gallage and later it came under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva.

With the completion of the Silavathura operation to liberate the areas in the South of Mannar, completed without firing a single bullet the troops attached to the Task Force -I or the 58 Division are now engaged in the task of liberating the Mannar rice Bowl.

In the Mannar Front troops are now operating North of Adampan after the capture of Adampan in a strategic move and domination of more than 95 per cent of the Adampan Andankulam road which leads to the Madhu shrine from the north of Giant Tank.

On the Mannar Front troops captured yet another vital trench line of the LTTE in the north of Adampan securing a one kilometres line which runs into Pooneryn amidst heavy resistance from the LTTE.

It was in January this year the 59 Division was formed under the command of the Brigadier Nandana Udawatta and deployed to man the 12 Kilometres front from Kokkuthuduvai to Weli Oya facing Mullaitivu jungles.

The troops are now stepping towards Nityakulam tank located at the edge of the Mullaitivu district. They are poised to confront the Tiger cadres at the famous 14 Base on Mullaitivu front.

According to ground troops to secure this terrain from troops' infiltration the LTTE had created a massive open area removing all the jungle in a nearly 400 metre belt. The battle on the Weli Oya front is expected to be massive as the loss of this ground will lead the current military operations into a turning point.

Therefore, the idea of forming Task Force - II will contribute immensely to increase the pressure on the LTTE on six fronts for the first time in the history of the North East conflict as the LTTE had never faced such a massive threat from the Security Forces.

This will definitely restrict the Tiger leaders' ability to deploy their cadres from the front to another front in the event of a fierce battle on one front which was the key point in their successes in the battles upto third Eelam War.

The diminishing man and fire power of the LTTE will definitely lead them into defeat in the Wanni battle. As ground troops are taking successful hits on the battle front the officers in the Sri Lanka Army are expected to be categorised into two groups for the convenience of selecting them for commanding appointments and for administration purposes under the Officer Career Planning of the Army.

This system has been evolved after studying the systems now in operation in Pakistan and India to provide chances to skilled officers to climb into top commanding positions of the Sri Lanka Army regardless of their seniority.

According to this system the officers above major ranks will be categorised into common and main streams. The officers attached to services and Signal Regiments will automatically be categorised in the common stream.

The officers of the common stream cannot hold commanding positions except for commanding their battalions of their own regiments.

The Officers from the Infantry, Artillery, Mechanised Infantry, Armour and Engineers will be categorized into common and main streams according to their battle experience and commanding skills. Only those who are categorized into the main stream will be eligible to have commanding positions.

To become the Commander of the Army, Volunteer Forces Commander, Chief of Staff, Security Forces Commanders, Division Commanders, Brigade Commanders, Battalion Commanders and other commanding appointments the officers should be categorized in the main stream.

They should obtain 40 marks out of 50 for their battle field experience and commanding skills, 10 marks out of 10 for discipline and integrity to be eligible to be categorized under the mainstream. Those who fail to achieve these targets will be categorized under common stream.

However, provisions have been made for those who are in the Major General rank in the common category to hold the general appointments of Deputy Chief of Staff, Commandant Forward Maintenance Area North, East and North Central, Chief Signal Officer and Chief Engineering Officer.

Apart from that the officers from the common category will also be eligible to hold the commanding appointments in the Training Centres of the Army.

They will be categorized into these two groups after reviewing their Annual Confidential Reports and their performances.

These provisions are included in the gazette notification issued in 1983 and also in the Officers Service Regulations.