Unsung Battles of 1962

Front Cover
Lancer Publishers, 1995 - Young Adult Nonfiction - 372 pages

In this book Colonel Kler has vividly narrated the battles fought on the Himalayan borders during the Sino–Indian War. He is eminently fit to write this book since he personally fought alongside the frontline soldiers and for hours, in daylight and darkness, he remained at a breathing distance from the enemy.

The theme of the book is threefold. Firstly, the author has refuted the acrimonious allegations that Indian troops abandoned their trenches and fled from the battlefield in the face of the enemy in 1962 without any fight and has discounted the slanderous tales about the cowardice of our soldiers.

Secondly, contrarily, the writer narrates the gallant acts of the Indian solder under the most adverse conditions of height, terrain, arctic weather and extenuating communications. Fighting on the exterior lines, when poorly supplied, troops magnificently stood out in the face of waves of ferocious and overwhelming assaults of the veteran Chinese soldiers of the Korean war where they jabbed through the ranks of the American Army. Though the Indian troops were denied offensive air support, artillery cover was meagre and the terrain was unsuitable for the employment of armour, the performance of the troops was magnificent. Fighting pitched battles, some Indian sub-units in Thagla, Bumla, Walong and Chasul sectors were completely wiped out. Troops fought out tenacious patrol encounters around Sela and kept the enemy at bay for almost a month. They also uprooted enemy roadblocks at Nyukmadong, below Sela.

Thirdly, Colonel Kler has made certain pragmatic and cogent suggestions regarding re-location of Headquarters Eastern Command and its formations in the distant, increasingly active and vibrant East. He has some ideas to put forward about the defence forces in general. He has also advanced practical and sound solutions regarding the vexed historical frontiers with China and the festering Jammu and Kashmir problem, they legacy of the partition of the subcontinent. The two balanced solutions can certainly impart stability to India and the region.

 

Contents

PARTI
1
AppendixA Chronology of Events
6
Chapter2 Topography Terrain Climate
16
AppendixB Tawang Monastery
30
Chapter3 Tibet
47
AppendixC The IndoTibetan Boundary
55
AppendixD Chinese Army Organisation
64
Chapter4 Indian Forward Policy
92
AppendixH Wanderings of 13 DOGRA
275
AppendixJ Saragarhi Epic
345
Chapter8 War in the West
347
Chapter9 Declaration of Unilateral Cease
357
AppendixK Comments by Neville Maxweli
374
PART III
403
AppendixL Patels Letter to Nehru
413
Chapter11 Exposition and Appraisal
434

AppendixE British Forward Policy Political
120
Chapter5 Himalayan Border Dispute
150
Chapter6 Build up of Indian Army
160
AppendixF Srinagar Epic
170
PART II
182
AppendixG CitationAward of
236
AppendixM Views of Maj KC Praval
470
AppendixO Thorat Defence Plan
486
Chapter12 Officials and Officers
488
Epilogue
504
PART IV
513
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information