‘On Republic Day, 26 January 1972, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi drove in an open jeep to the saluting base on Rajpath to receive the President of India. A vast sea of people had gathered to offer their salutations to their victorious Prime Minister. The earth reverberated with the roar of the crowd...The image which was projected that pale winter morning was of a woman who had stood alone, single minded in her defiance. She had faced and emerged victorious against Pakistan. She had challenged the President of United States and his wily aide Henry Kissinger. She had kept them guessing, called their bluff, outmanoeuvered them.’
This was recorded by a biographer of Indira Gandhi almost two decades after she had led the nation to its most glorious military victory ever in history. No war can be won without an inspiring political leadership, an outstanding military leadership and the valour and courage of officers and men who physically fight the enemy in the land, sea or air. While the iconic military leadership of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw is well known and recalled often, the names of his counterparts in the Navy, Admiral S.M. Nanda and Air Force, Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal are hardly remembered.
Similarly, though the decisive victory in the war for liberation of Bangladesh is rightly hailed every year, the celebrations primarily focus only on the war in the east, the tougher battles on the western front are generally not revisited. It takes a popular film like Border to remind the people of one of the many actions that took place in the west.
Four Param Vir Chakras (PVCs) were awarded in the 1971 War―Major Hoshiar Singh, Flying officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon, 2/Lt Arun Khetarpal and L/Nk Albert Ekka. 0f these, barring the last one, all were won in the western theatre. Like Lt Gen J.S. Aurora, GOC-in-C eastern command, before whom the Pakistan army surrendered, Lt Gen K.P. Candeth was the GOC-in-C western command. Unlike now there was no northern command, and Candeth’s area of responsibility was the huge canvas stretching from Jammu and Kashmir through Punjab till northern Rajasthan. Further South, the Rajasthan border, along Jaisalmer and Barmer till the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, was the responsibility of GOC-in-C southern command, Lt General G.G. Bewoor. An offensive in the Punjab plains and forays into Rajasthan by the Pakistan army were envisaged. However, due to commitment on the eastern front the Indian government decided that a strategy of offensive-defence would be the most pragmatic posture.
The Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visits a military zone in Punjab during the India Pakistan War in 1971 | File
While the western command had 11 infantry divisions and one armoured division for its vast stretch, the southern command had only two infantry divisions, an artillery brigade and less than two regiments of armour. The corps commanders under the western command were Lt Generals Sartaj Singh, K.K. Singh and N.C. Rawlley. They all, especially Sartaj Singh, acquitted themselves well within the limits of the ‘holding strategy’ of Manekshaw. It was because of this limitation that none of these commanders got the opportunity that someone like Lt Gen Sagat Singh got in the east to show his true mettle.
Many armoured regiments, infantry battalions and other units covered themselves with glory in the bloodiest battles that took place both under western and southern commands, Within space constraints mention can be made of only a few. In the battle of Chhamb, 9 Horse destroyed 34 enemy tanks along the Manawar Tawi river; in the battle of Basantar 20 year old 2/Lt Arun Khetarpal of the Poona Horse, posthumously won the PVC with his commanding officer Lt Col Hanut Singh winning the MVC for the regiment’s major contribution towards destroying 46 enemy tanks in the Shakargarh sector. Major Hoshiar Singh of 3 Grenadiers was the second recipient of PVC in this area.
In the same sector Brigadier A.S. Vaidya (later Army chief) of 16 Armoured Brigade, who as CO 9 Horse was recipient of an MVC in 1965, won his second MVC for his gallant action against Pakistani armoured brigade. In the battle of Longewala, in which the IAF played a decisive role, the company commander Maj Kuldip Singh Chandpuri was awarded the MVC for holding his post against enemy armour despite being heavily outnumbered and outweaponed.
Though air power had been effectively used in 1965, the1971 war was the first tri- services war in which both the Air Force and Navy complemented the efforts of the Army in both the sectors with devastating effect. While the number of sorties flown by the IAF was more than double of 1965 in western sector alone, the Navy acquitted itself with aplomb in a daring attack on Karachi harbour. Though it lost INS Khukri to enemy fire it had already sunk PNS Ghazi, a submarine which cleared the way for the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and other ships to operate unhindered in the Bay of Bengal. N.S. Sekhon posthumously won the only PVC for the Air Force in a dogfight, above Srinagar skies, between his single Gnat and six Sabres of the PAF of which he shot down two before being fatally hit.
After Pakistan army surrendered in Dacca on December 16, Yahya Khan made a broadcast to his people that war would go on. But Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had no intention of doing so. The mission of liberating Bangladesh had been accomplished and continuing the war in the west would have meant more casualties, destruction and suffering. Accordingly, she announced in Parliament on Dec 17 that the Indian Defence Forces had been given instructions to ceasefire with effect from 8PM that day. This was the highest act of statesmanship. To those who suspected that India had taken the decision to unilaterally declare ceasefire under foreign pressure, Sam Manekshaw replied: “I can’t believe that any country can put pressure on Indira Gandhi.”
The writer is an ex Army officer, a former member of National Commission of Minorities, and political analyst.
