More Comments on 1962 Sino-Indian War by Anant Bewoor.
1. Forget about the Def Secy and Foreign Secy being shown the door, what
about BN Malik Director IB. His outfit was singularly responsible for the crass
negligence towards Chinese perceptions about the border dispute. The IB was
full of arrogance and no one could override or disagree with BN Mailk. No
politician had any idea what intelligence was. Nehru had the External Affairs
with him, Menon was playing around with the Services. Who was willing to
"listen carefully to the generals". I was but a lad in 1957/58 when
father was Bde Cdr in Ambala under 4 Div commanded by Biji Kaul. 4 Indian Div
(Red Eagle Div), of North Africa fame was busy building houses under OP AMAR,
the project that reiterated that there was no danger to India's borders as
envisaged by Nehru / Malik / Cabinet / Menon / bureaucrats. Many will not
remember that our Ordnance Factories were producing coffee perculators /
toasters / and other white goods. And writers have the gall to say that
military leadership was the primary cause of 1962 performance? Naturally all
the Brig John Dalvi's 7 Brigade had was toasters to throw at Chinese troops,
and Menon was drinking tea in a restaurant named Laguna in Connaught
Place, I have seen him there.
2. Blaming Thapar was easy, he was Chief. How come no one blamed Malik?
Not even today. Reason is that blaming Malik means blaming Nehru and Gulzari
lal Nanda. Comparing Ladhak with NEFA, Tawang / Walong sector is wrong. Gen
Daulat Singh and his commanders remained who they were and Kaul could not
interfere, because Daulat Singh would not take it, and Kaul knew it. But
because Eastern Command was in Lucknow, 4 Corps was created in Tezpur, and Kaul
took it over. What did he do to make East defendable since he was CGS?
Nothing. He behaved like the CIGS, the I standing for Imperial.
It is easy to crucify Pathania who was given 4 Div after removing Niranjan
Prasad. What did Pathania have to fight with? What strategic / tactical orders
did Kaul issue from Tezpur / Delhi / or his sick bed? What intelligence did
Malik provide? Pathania had a history of gallantry, being a Military Cross +
MVC. Not chota mota decorations. Powers in Delhi must have thought he will
create miracles. But he was not the "baba" who was Mailk's guru. For
years IB policemen swore that, and I quote freely as heard in late 60s, "
when baba raised his hand, the Chinese stopped, and went back"
Now it is upto those who can, to find out who was this baba. I saw him
only once on board an AN-12.
3. There is also comment about supply drops falling into the hands of
the Chinese and not Indians. It is true that this happened. On many occasions,
by the time our Daks reached the DZ as indicated to Jorhat, Indian forces had
withdrawn South. There being no contact between ground and aircraft, the drop
went through as planned. The write up makes it sound as though inspite of
all modern commn the drops were a big mess. In the West, it
was different. Leh based troops were acclimatised. Open areas permitted photo
recce, recall Jaggi Naths photos of Chinese troops. This was not possible in
NEFA. Besides, many units fought well in NEFA, and units also failed in Ladhak.
The IAF was held back for all sorts of reasons. Whether offensive air support
could have been given successfully is a matter for debate given the primitive
commn, lack of FACs, swift retreats, and no definable Front Line of Own Troops.
That is not germane here.
4. Most surely our troops were badly kitted and poorly armed for
mountain warfare. Look at it this way in 2012. If VK Singh can say that the
civilian bureaucrats with their political masters have made the Army
"nanga", and not one Indian is worried, the same situation prevailed
in the late 50s with the very same interlocutors, Generals / politicians /
bureaucrats. What is the difference, same difference. If a Chief threatens to
resign today and tells Indians on TV prime time why he is resigning, who is
bothered? Will any NGO, political party, Mamta, Mayawati, Thakery, Lallu,
Jayalalitha make an issue. No way. So what impact would have resulted by
resignations of Thapar, Sen, Thorat, Daulat, Engineer, Arjan,
Jaswant, etc ? In 1962 no one except maybe a few 100 people in Delhi would have
known, Akaashvani would not have broadcast it. BN Malik would have
frightened Nehru by calling it an attempted coup. Resigning is not the
solution, never has been. Resigning is what Arjun wanted to do at Kurukshetra, I
am not being dramatic, the story tells us that, and his adviser prevents him
from doing so. The rest we all know.
5. Maxwell wrote well, much of what he says has merit. Lets not forget
that Henderson Brooks was commanding XI Corps, Bhagat was his BGS, and Daulat
was his Army Cdr. I am certain that at least one copy of the report is
somewhere waiting to be found. Wonder why no journalist has pursued this? Gen
HB could not have consigned everything to Army HQ / MOD. The military can
prepare itself, troops / officers can be motivated, training can be done,
equipment can be kept fully serviceable etc. But what does a military commander
do with out of date fighting weapons? What does he do when his boys do not have
even a OG jersey, not even angola shirts, forget great coats, mittens, woolen
socks, high ankle boots etc. How does he ensure food when MOD has not
sanctioned resources for setting up Rear Area Supply Zones. MOD says not reqd,
there is no danger from China, no funds will be given. Can the commander loot a
granary? Yes, many unit / bde / Div cdrs / platoon cdrs failed, were overtaken
by events, and every failed commander was sacked. Who was sacked from MOD,
which politician resigned? There used to be Three Dy Def Ministers then, who
resigned?
6. Now recall the very recent IPKF fiasco. Our troops were with SLRs
against AK-47s. Our troops had no maps, poor intelligence, uncertain and
conflicting orders, hastily gathered, all commanders were sure that it will end
within a few weeks. This in 1987, exactly 25 years after Bomdi La, Se La,
Walong, Chushul, Chip Chap etc. Are we doubting military leadership? But unit
commanders were sacked. If I am correct more Indians died in Lanka than in
1962, I may be wrong. Once again, why did we intervene? This was not an
adventure planned and conceived by generals of the Indian Army. The whole thing
came out of RAW, MEA, PMO, with gung-ho inputs from Army Hq. Which MEA / PMO /
RAW offical was dismissed? Many army guys went home.
7. There is a need for the 1962 battles to be explained to Indians thru
TV. Anchors can take it up if Vadras, Khurshids, Gadkaris, Kejriwals, Khaps,
will allow them to do so. Gross misconceptions and misinformation is floating
around freely, has been for the last 50 years, and keeping the report secret
adds to the disinformation. Chinese can say what they want. We know that they
had to go back since their lines had become too long and could easily
be cut off. The "baba" had nothing to do with it. They had an
aim, it was achieved, they went back. How much pressure USSR or USA & UK
put seems to be unknown, but it must have been there. And lets not forget
Nehrus famous line that my heart goes out to the people of Assam.
He was ready to abandon the East. Who gave him inputs to say such a dastardly
thing? Certainly not Thapar.
Best wishes
Anant Bewoor
Lankan Tamils were hindus , india should have defended them. We would have a ally in south. We lost.
ReplyDeleteregards
Srini