Page 44 - Seniors Today June2020
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they declared a ceasefire on 21 November consternation about the order of last man
and the guns stopped booming. If they to fight to last bullet against such a vastly
wanted to take advantage of our being down numerically superior force. There was no
and out they could have pushed us further way we could have won and so what was
west and occupied much larger area, but the reason for this order and lose precious
perhaps it did not fit into their long-range lives? Similarly why was no artillery
plans.Very wisely our commanders were support provided at the Battle of Rezangla?
not fooled and expecting the deceptive Why could no additional guns be pressed
Chinese to renew their hostilities, kept up into service? If the Army HQ realized that
our defensive positions. I am told that our the full brigade has to be moved from Leh
fall-back positions were very well chosen, to Chushul they knew the importance of
so if the attacks were renewed the Chinese this battle and so accordingly additional
would have had to expose themselves across artillery should have been provided. It is
Chushul valley. on record that there were two more field
Thus ended the Chinese aggression of 1962, artillery batteries in Ladakh at that time
with India getting a bloody nose. There is no and could have been redeployed and moved
doubt that we were caught unprepared but it back in case of major reverses. It was just a
cannot be attributed to our gallant frontline massacre.
jawans & officers. One can point out to a few Finally, there were a few blunders like
reasons and were hotly debated for a long the Forward Policy Directive as it drove
time. on limited resources too thin. I think that
The first can certainly be attributed to the miscalculation was on account of the
the wrong assessment by our political thinking that the Chinese would not get into
leadership. The biggest mistake was that a fire fight. What gave that impression to our
they took Chinese leadership on face value political leadership at that time is beyond
rather than reading their intentions. The me. We too did not take advantage of the
communists did have only one agenda - most suitable and high altitude adaptive
which our leaders could not see through. Ladakhi population and instead pushed
Expansionist China who totally obscured on people from other parts of India who
historical data and information wanted an were ill-prepared for high altitude warfare.
inept Indian leadership and got their wish. It seems that no provision, and more
Indians totally ignored the military build- importantly, thinking was made to employ
up including road constructions, and most these local and highly motivated people. We
importantly totally ignored the invasion of surely could have saved many a lives. By the
Tibet. They forgot to consult maps to see time the Indian leadership understood the
what the Chinese would need to consolidate value of these hardy and brave people, it was
their positions in Tibet and Sinkiang. too late.
I also think that our tall military leadership The Indian political establishment,
did not stand up to the political leadership to including the opposition of that time,
tell them that India’s military was not ready protested loudly to deal firmly with the
for a well-prepared Chinese attack. Eyeball Chinese and with added pressure wrong
to eyeball confrontation would eventually decisions got taken. Poor decision making
lead to an all-out war. There was also much and unpreparedness in the (then) NEFA
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