Amarinder SinghAt independence, the Indian Army's strength was 2,80,000. It had participated in the Second World War and had considerable battle experience. The soldiers were well-trained and motivated. When the Kashmir war of 1947-48 was over, the army was left to its own devices. At the political level, it was considered a colonial relic to be tolerated; there were even debates on the necessity of having one at all. Nevertheless, by 1953 the army's strength rose to 3,50,000.With generals pandering to the political gallery, battletrained formations, such as the 4 Division-which for five years had fought under Allied General Montgomery against Nazi Germany's General Rommel in North Africa- now employed in building housing colonies, and training non-existent, it was obvious that the morale of the troops would fall. The post-independence period was perhaps the worst in the army's history. There are always ups and downs in war, but the humiliation of an institution is unforgivable. Then army chief General K.S. Thimayya, too, had to face the brunt of humiliation at the hands of then defence minister V.K. Krishna Menon. The end result would become apparent in the 1962 China war.Indian soldiers atop a captured Pakistani tank at Bhachbar, Rajasthan, 1971.The much-hyped Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai camaraderie ended when China laid claim to our territory in Ladakh, North-East Frontier Agency and the Bara Hoti sector of Uttar Pradesh. In the east, it occupied Indian territory in the Tawang and Walong sectors. Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, on the advice of General B.M. Kaul, ignored army chief General P.N. Thapar's advice and proceeded 'to throw them out'. The task was given to the 4 Division, which happened to be looking after the eastern sector after its housebuilding stint in Ambala. The GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, General L.P. Sen, initially protested but then fell in line. The Corps Commander, 33 Corps, General Umrao Singh, said that the task could not be carried out and refused to budge. A similar protest was lodged by Major General Niranjan Prasad, the GOC, 4 Division. General Umrao Singh was sidestepped with the creation of another corps, 4 Corps, under General Kaul, who took on the task himself. The operation was to be carried out by a brigade of 4 Division, Brigadier John Dalvi's 7 Brigade.Camel corps of the Rajasthan Armed constabulary during the 1965 war.7 Brigade had no rations, no war stores, no ammunition, no artillery support worth its name and, above all, no high-altitude clothing. The brigade was ordered to deploy along a little river called Nam Ka Chu at altitudes ranging between 12,000 and 16,500 ft. The objective was to retake the Thagla heights, occupied by the Chinese. A para artillery contingent from Agra was rushed up to 16,000 ft. When the battle started, they had 421 rounds of ammunition. The troop commander, Captain Harjit Talwar, then discovered that the Thagla ridge was out of range. So much for General Kaul's planning. A heavy mortar battery positioned below the guns had no mortar bombs with them as there were no porters to carry them. All 450 bombs remained at the drop zone.Having deployed in linear fashion, as ordered by Delhi, Brigadier Dalvi sent a platoon to a small pass called Yumtsola, below the Thagla heights, on October 9 to test Chinese reaction. The Chinese attacked and pushed the platoon of 33 men back. Twenty-three men were killed or wounded. On October 20, the Chinese attacked 7 Brigade. 2 Rajput under Lt-Colonel M.S. Rikh, in the centre, bore the brunt. The two Rajput companies A and C, B Company of Gujjars and D Company of Bengal fought to the end, many using their bayonets, till they were overrun.Indian Army soldiers attack Nayachor in Sindh, Pakistan, during the 1971 war.On the Tawang front, D Company of 1 Sikh put up a spirited fight at Bumla till ordered to withdraw. Subedar Joginder Singh was awarded a Param Vir Chakra. Taken as a POW, he died of his wounds in captivity. His entire platoon of 23 was either killed or wounded. In the western sector, in Ladakh, the battle of Chushul was fought by 114 Brigade. Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon, under Major Shaitan Singh, held a small pass called Rezangla. It was defended to the last man; 110 were killed, six wounded and one unwounded soldier was taken as a POW. Major Shaitan Singh was awarded a posthumous Param Vir Chakra. The 1962 war was an eye-opener. The defence minister was sacked, as was the army chief, and the GOC-in-C of Eastern Command, and, of course, General Kaul. The government now took interest. Six infantry divisions were to be raised, obsolete weaponry was to be replaced.Indian troops train for the war with China, 1962.In 1965, Pakistan made the first move on July 24. It pushed five self-contained columns across the ceasefire line. Their task was to infiltrate into the Kashmir Valley, to create an insurrection by provoking local Kashmiris. All but one of the columns were either eliminated or withdrew to Pakistan. The one that remained continued to operate in the Mendhar-Rajouri-Naushera sector till the ceasefire. Pakistan also sent raiding parties to attack gun positions and supply dumps along the ceasefire line. The GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lt-General Harbakhsh Singh, decided to counter this by blocking all routes of ingress into the Valley over the Pir Panjal range. Pakistan retaliated by launching Operation Grand Slam. On September 1, Pakistan's 12 Division crossed the Tawi and raced for Akhnoor. By nightfall, 191 Brigade under Brigadier Manmohan Singh was in trouble. Pakistan then made a major blunder. The advance of 12 Division was halted and the division was replaced by 7 Division under the command of Major-General Yahya Khan (later President of Pakistan). In the 24 hours thus gained, General Harbakhsh Singh moved in 41 and 28 Brigades and placed all three Brigades and 20 Lancers under Major-General B.D. Chopra's 10 Division. The Division was in position by September 3. The honour for 191 Brigade managing to hold off the enemy thrust should go to Major Bhaskar Roy's Charlie Squadron of 20 Lancers. Major Roy was awarded a Maha Vir Chakra. At Jaurian, young officers of 10 Division put up a concrete obelisk, which reads: "In the year of 1965, passionate moments were kept alive. It was here that in one leap, General Yahya Khan and a begum broke bread, his camp bed and then fled." FROM THE RECORD BOOKSThe paper presented by the services chiefs last August had specifically pointed to the dwindling career prospects in the services. For instance, the paper submitted, the IAS with 4,000 officers has provisions for 80 secretaries, 120 additional secretaries and 600 joint secretaries. Conversely, the services, with around 35,000 officers, have just three posts of service chiefs, and a corresponding anomaly in the ranks of Lt or Major Generals compared to the number of joint and additional secretaries. Fighting for MoreBy Dilip Bobb and Prabhu Chawla, October 16-31,1980.preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}On September 6, 11 Corps crossed the international border. 4 Division under Major-General Gurbaksh Singh was to secure the east bank of the Ichhogil canal and to block any Pakistani advance from the Kasur area. 15 Division under Major-General Niranjan Prasad was to take and hold territory up to Ichhogil in the Lahore sector. 7 Division under Major-General M.L. Sibal was to secure the east bank of Ichhogil along the Khalara-Barki axis. 15 Division led by 54 Brigade under Brigadier M.S. Rikh crossed the international border on September 6 at 4.30 a.m. 3 Jat under Lt-Colonel Desmond Hayde reached and took Gosal-Dial. 3 Jats secured Dograi and the area up to the canal ousting 3 Baluch. Then Colonel Hayde ordered two of his companies beyond the canal to withdraw. He feared both would be stranded across the canal if he waited any longer. 3 Jat stood on its own at Dograi till late afternoon, when they were ordered to withdraw.The GOC, Major-General Niranjan Prasad, was sacked and replaced by Major-General Mohinder Singh and the Brigade Commander Brigadier M.S. Rikh, who was wounded, was replaced by Brigadier Niranjan Singh. For days during this confused period, Dograi remained unoccupied till Pakistani forces reoccupied it. The new GOC decided to take Dograi back. Dograi was retaken but at a steep price: 3 Jat lost five officers, 1 JCO and 82 other ranks. At the ceasefire five days later, officers of 3 Jat and 3 Baluch met on the canal bank to chat, have a beer and talk about the battle.In the 7 Division sector all objectives were achieved, both 4 Sikh and 16 Punjab fighting brilliantly.In the 4 Division sector, after a shaky start, the division took part in the Battle of Asal Uttar. Pakistan's 1 Armoured Division was forced to stick to the roads or risk getting bogged down in the flooded countryside. The battle lasted two days, September 10 and 11. The Pakistani division lost its GOC Maj-General Nasir Ahmed Khan and its commander Artillery Brigadier A.R. Shamim. I had to carry the bloodied identity card and personal belongings of Brigadier Shamim back with me to Command Headquarters. In all, Pakistan lost 70 tanks which were later collected close to Bhikiwind, which was nicknamed 'Patton Nagar' by the local people.General Harbakhsh Singh launched his 1 Corps under Lt-General Pat Dun across the Ravi at Dera Baba Nanak on the night of September 7-8. The armoured division crossed the international boundary on September 8 and fought its way up towards Sialkot. The 1 Armoured Division reached Chawinda after fighting through several battles. Ceasefire was declared on September 22.By the time the war was over, years of neglect were apparent. The Indian Army had committed all its troops; there were no reserves. Its field artillery was down to two rounds per gun per day, and once again realisation dawned that India's military strength was not sufficient to contain East and West Pakistan and China.By 1971, the army consisted of 8,25,000 men. In armour, the army increased its firepower since 1965 by adding 450 T-55 and T-56 medium tanks, 350 Indian Vijayantas with a 105 mm gun, the old centurions and AMX-13s and the amphibious PT 76s. There were four commands. In the west, Pakistan's objective was to take as much territory as it could. With that in mind, it started its operations by carrying out pre-emptive air strikes against IAF stations on December 3. The IAF retaliated. By December 4 evening, in just one day, India had achieved air superiority. At ceasefire, no Indian territory remained in Pakistani hands. Eastern Command launched its operations on December 4, a day after Pakistan attacked India in the west. In 12 days, it was all over. Pakistani forces began to surrender on December 11 and General A.K. Niazi signed the instrument of surrender on December 16. India declared a unilateral ceasefire in the west on the same day.Today, the army has three strike corps, three armoured divisions and seven independent armoured brigades, 33 infantry divisions and 7 special forces battalions. Four mountain divisions are being added to the force. This is a far cry from the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 where the strength of the army was 13 infantry divisions and one armoured division.The Indian jawan has performed consistently throughout history regardless of the adverse conditions he has been ordered to fight in, be it the freezing winter of Europe during the First World War, in China during the Boxer Rebellion, or the post-independence wars. What he looks for is leadership. His motivation is always his honour as a soldier and his paltan ki izzat. It takes one back to the old saying, "There are no bad soldiers, only bad leaders." Those of us who have had the privilege to lead the Indian soldier will, I am sure, unanimously acknowledge this fact and agree that it has been a privilege and honour to have led such men in war or peace. One cannot find a better body of men anywhere in this world than the soldiers who comprise the Indian Army. They are loyal to the core, follow you wherever you intend taking them, no matter how difficult the task. If you lead, they will follow.When a company goes into battle, led by an officer, their company commander, and four JCOs, there are also a 100 men in the company who fight. The credit for success may go to their company commander, but many men of that company fight and die to achieve the success. Our soldier, be he an officer, JCO or a jawan, has always asked for very little but has been prepared to give his all in the line of duty. The motto of West Point, the US military academy, aptly sums up the Indian soldier's belief: Duty, Honour, Country.- The author is the former Punjab chief minister and served in the Indian Army for over four years.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Dec 15, 2011--- ENDS ---
