Icy wings chilled the soldiers to their bone but they could not relax their guard. The enemy was coming. Then just before the dawn the Chinese attacked.

Platoons 7 and 8 of C company of a battalion of the Kumaon Regiment, led by Major Shaitan Singh took the brunt of the attack.7 Platoon was encircled and wiped out. 8 Platoon too fought to the last man. The company Commander, Major Singh, unmindful of his personal safety moved from platoon to platoon to encourage his men even after he was hit by bullets.Two soldiers tried to move him to a safer place but when he sensed danger to them to leave him. They kept him behind a boulder on the slope of a hill.

His body was found there after the war.

Major Shaitan Singh was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra for his courage and leadership.