Archive for June, 2007
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
On 31 May, 2007, 25 Indian specialists have finished training in “Sevmash” training center. The training was for 4-month’s including certification. Under the contract for repair and refurbishment of aircraft carrier project 11430 (earlier “Admiral Gorshkov”) for Indian navy, Sevmash has teach 100 personnel in 48 groups to maintain the vessel. 6 groups out of 48 have been already trained, and 2 more groups will finish training in June.
Aircraft Carrier project 11430 (Picture :Sevmash)
A working visit of Indian Naval Forces inspectors was on during may 2007 on Sevmash. Once every three months a representative checks the repair work progress on aircraft carrier. A group of ten inspectors headed by Vice Admiral B.S. Randava, who has already visited Sevmash several times checked the shipand machining shop. On 1th May, 2007 negotiations took place between the Indian representatives, Head of Rosprom shipbuilding industry L.V. Strugov and Sevmash Director General V.P. Pastukhov.
Posted in Indian Navy News | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
A ‘Royal’ Tribute – History of 5th
Battalion, Maratha Light Infantry (5th MLI), 1800 to 2005. By Major General
(Retd.) E D’Souza, PVSM. (ARB Interactive 2005)
A ‘Royal’ Tribute is the bench mark book for all regimental histories. Fortunately, the publishers have bounded it with hard cover as the 750 odd pages hold amazing levels of details; certainly a soft cover would have burst out. The author was with the 5th MLI since 1943. He served the regiment as the Colonel from 1969 until he retired in 1977.
The book includes a special message by current Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General JJ Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC. Gen JJ Singh commanded the 5th Royals before he was appointed COAS.
The Battalion since its birth in 21 Dec 1800 has seen action in Mesopotamia, Persia and Italy in both he world wars.
In free India, the 5th MLI proved it mettle while defending Jammu and Kashmir in 1948. The Battalion participated in the battle of Zoji La. Subsequently the battalion proved its mettle by beating back a Chinese incursion in 1965. Major General (Retd.) E D’Souza was commanding this battle. The 5th Royals were deployed in both western and northern fronts against two different enemy countries in 1965. Subsequently the Battalion participated in the Bangladesh liberation war. The unit won Battle Honor of Suadih. The 5th
There are pictures, diagrams or maps for all major events. They are rare. Some are never seen before. It’s a treat for any historian or enthusiast. Royals were later in Srilanka as the part of Indian Peace Keeping Force. The unit saw a lot of action against the militants of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Winning Honors and Awards is habitual for the unit.
The book is again a treasure trove for a historian because of the details like names, ranks, locations etc and etc. Enthusiasts can skip this.
For military enthusiasts, there is ample. Every operation and skirmish is detailed. Did you know that the Chinese lost 15000 men out of which 500 died of hunger and cold, even before the hostilities with India started in 1962?
The battle of 1971 and the deployment in Sri Lanka are covered comprehensively. It also has day by day account on the Indian Peace Keeping Force deployments.
What does a Battalion do in the peace time? The book offers excellent insight into a battalion’s activity during rest phase. I admit its not exciting thing to read but it helps understanding the training phases of the armed forces. Take for example, Exercise Tri Shakti . 5th Royals were instrumental in forming the strategies and tactics for the genesis and future of Indian Division sized Air Assault in 1986. The lessons have been useful in Srilanka, air assault conducted in 1990’s for re instating the head of State of Maldives. Maldives a tiny Indian Ocean country was taken over by militants.
The cost in India is Rs 650 (US 20 $ and UK 15 Pounds) per copy plus normal bank charges (Rs 20 if within India) for outstation cheques. The cheque should be mailed to the Unit made out to ‘PRI 5 Maratha’ and the
postal address is 5 Marataha LI, C/O 56 A P O. Shipping cost extra.
Posted in Indian Army News, Military and Strategic Book Review | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) based in Pune has developed Lead-magnesium-niobate-lead-titanate (PMN-PT) Electro ceramics for actuator and sensor applications. PMN-PT are promising materials with properties-relative permittivity @ 18000, dielectric loss @ 0.04 and strain 0.1% at room temperature was developed using coulumbite precursor to get desired properties. It has been successfully developed and aimed at use by NPOL in sonar development project.
ARDE has also developed Porous Piezo-composites for sensors and hydrophones. Porous Piezo-composites are useful for hydrophone applications, non volatile memory elements, piezoelectric detectors and sonar’s due to low acoustic impedance, high figure of merit, hydrostatic coefficientsmand hydrostatic sensitivity. These composites have been developed using BURPS process. NPOL, NSTL, BEL and Keltron are likely to be major users.
Posted in Defence Research and Development | No Comments »
Monday, June 11th, 2007
Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army are the winners of the Golden Peacock Eco-Innovation Award for the year 2007.
The award is for the yeomen work done by the Corps of Engineers in arresting environmental degradation and instituting energy conservation measures in all Cantonments and Military Stations across the country. The path breaking efforts instituted include, planned afforestation, water conservation projects, drip irrigation projects, recycling of swimming pool water, soil conservation, rain water harvesting and projects relating to renewable energy sources.
The Armed Forces are thus well on course towards being an energy conscious, environment friendly and a non-polluting force.
The presentation of award was made at Palampur (HP) today, where the World Environment Forum is conducting a day-long convention on “Climate Change”.
Posted in Indian Army News | No Comments »
Saturday, June 9th, 2007
At a time when India debates manned missions to space, Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore has already fed the Indian and NASA astronauts. Space foods differ from the regular earthly food in their nutritional profile. To meet the physiological and nutritional requirements in space, DFRL has designed Space Foods with decreased fat and increased protein, less fiber, protein content similar to earthly diets, calories 2800-3600KCals/day, 1.9 kg food / day / person and protein 16-17%, Fat 30-32%, Carbohydrate 50-54% to be precise.
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Space Food Eating procedure |
Space fluids drinking procedure |
Dr.K.Radhakrishna who worked on Space Foods from DFRL says “Providing nutritious, palatable, stable and safe foods in a convenient form and in adequate quantity for the crew and mission specialists of any multimillion dollar space mission is an exacting task. We had to identify the foods which were most likely to be acceptable, choose the processing technology that is most appropriate to preserving its food value, eliminate totally any microbial hazard if any, resulting from their consumption within their shelf life. We also had to ensure that they can withstand the vagaries of the climate and storage conditions and ascertain above all that at the end of receiving due considerations on the above mentioned points, these foods are finally palatable, acceptable and satisfying.”
DFRL got its first taste of Space Food R&D during the Indo Soviet Space Mission. Say’s Dr. Radhakrishna “DFRL’s pioneering experience was during the Indo-Soviet Mission of 1984. Food products of Indian origin were made available to Squadron Leader Rakhesh Sharma , our products were confined to the peripheral options as when compared to the variety provided by the Soviet Space Food experts. As it was a first experience for India, as well as DFRL, many significant strides were made in inventing art and science of Space Food provisioning. In 1986 our inputs were sought again for the STS/INSAT IC payload specialist mission. The mission required Indian foods to be used in NASA’s Space shuttle Challenger in September 1986. Laboratory analysis of Chemical, Microbiological and Nutrition profiles are part of basic R&D to any product. For Space Foods special “risk assessment” studies were also done. The R&D data from DFRL matched exactly with that of NASA’s labs half way across the globe. This is a mark of excellence in work from both labs. ”
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Dr. A S Bawa |
Dr.K.Radhakrishna |
Dr. A S Bawa who is the current Director of DFRL say’s “the mission food products developed by DFRL and were Indian Indigenous food; however it was well received by the payload scientists. The foods were developed along the quality criteria’s namely Light weight, low volume, quick preparation, easy to consume, low fragmentation, high acceptability, wholesomeness, nutrient adequacy, stability, variety, gastro-intestinal compatibility and minimum residue packaging. Most foods were either freeze dried Intermediate Moisture Food (IMF) or Ready to Eat (RTE). A full meal for 4 took 5 minutes to re-hydrate. Reconstituting & heating took 20 min. Freeze dried foods had the advantage of being reconstituted in either hot or cold water. The logistics were to have Space foods which similar to “Food at home”. Out of the DFRL Space Food basket NASA chose 13 products which included fruit juices, chapattis, chicken biriani etc for their missions. Every experiment of our research in the project exactly matched the parallel experiments conducted by NASA half way across the globe.”
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Space Food preparation at DFRL |
Dr Radhakrishna say’s ” successful development of Space Foods of Indian dietary had been an opportunity for DFRL to demonstrate the capabilities on par with Russian and American foods in terms of health and well being of astronauts. We found that since water is a usable by product from fuel cells freeze dried foods are more ideal and can save much weight. The packaging forms the vital design consideration of any food system, for space foods they have to endure high ‘g’ and zero ‘g’. Further they should facilitate easy re-constitution, easy dispensing and withstand high vibration. At DFRL we have developed double compartmental rehydratable polypropylene cups.
Indian foods present a variety. They are easy to prepare, acceptable and fits well alongside western foods. The payload scientists who were part of the trails felt that pickles & yogurt based items ought to be included. Our foods prepared met the microbiological standards required for the flight qualifications. We had a food familiarization programme established as part of training to payload scientists in space mission.”
Prof. A.S.Bawa, Director, DFRL says “We have a lot of vertical vision for future ideas and developments in space food. Irradiation processed foods have been found to be popular with astronauts as they have advantages of being storable under ambient conditions, giving extended life and eliminates potential pathogens. Further this is a new technology which has high acceptability and has been proved to be very safe. In extended missions heavy reliance on advanced life support to grow foods and replenish oxygen has been thought of. This will require a closed loop system to recycle carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and water. A number of plants are under consideration as food crops because of their high edible biomass yield, dietary variety, being nutritionally complete and dependable yield. Experiments are on at Kennedy Space centre for growing wheat in an environmental chamber to optimize the growing conditions as would be necessary on a Lunar or Martian settlement.
Another interesting area is Biotechnological approach to provide appetizing fresh foods example meat from muscle cell lines. Artificial ecosystem to grow fish from water snails, plants and microbes only light is needed for the growth of fish and rootless aquatic plants. German Scientists are working in these areas.”
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Space Food Packaged |
Icing on the DFRL cake is that, today, most logistics and technologies developed by DFRL continue to form the framework for the formulation of space foods for the international space projects.
Posted in Defence Research and Development | No Comments »
Thursday, June 7th, 2007
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recruits more than 500 promising and talented young scientists every year through its recruitment schemes viz., Scientists Entry Test popularly known as DRDO – SET and Campus selection.
Recruitment and Assessment Centre (RAC) a nodal establishment of DRDO started organizing the Scientist Entry Test on all India basis from the year 2002. Since then more than 2000 scientists / Engineers have been inducted in DRDO in varied discipline of Science & Technology viz., Aeronautics, Electronics, Mechanical, Computer Science, Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics etc. Number of applicant’s in SET ranges between 30,000 – 100,000. The test is conducted simultaneously at nearly 100 centers all over India spread over in nearly 20 cities on 1st Sunday of September every year.
This year SET is scheduled to be organized on 2nd September 07 for which over 30, 000 applications have already been received at RAC. RAC also visits 27 reputed, Institutions including all IIT’s, NIT’s, IISc Bangalore, IT BHU etc. to induct over 200 young bright scientists in varied disciplines through its Campus Selection Programme.
The initiative by DRDO, to recruit talented manpower in the different disciplines of Science & Engineering has started paying rich dividend to the organization enabling it to work in the frontier areas of technologies to meet the future requirements of Armed Forces. There are many more programmes in DRDO for recruiting experienced and qualified scientists. RAC inducts fresh young PhD scholar’s scheme widely known as Registration of Students with Scholastic Aptitude (ROSSA) and Talent Search for NRI’s through Adhoc recruitment. For details one can visit websites rac.drdo.in or www.drdo.org.,according to Dr.ArunKumar, Director R.A.C in a Press release issued at Bangalore
Posted in Defence Research and Development | No Comments »
Thursday, June 7th, 2007
Defence Agricultural Research Laboratory (DARL) a unit of Defence and Development Organisation, is engaged in development of eco-friendly and sustainable high altitude agro-technologies through multidisciplinary network of integrated approach. The laboratory is located at Pithoragarh (Uttaranchal) near Indo-Tibet and Nepal Borders.
DARL also conducts resettlement training programmes for armed force personnel (Army, Navy and Air force) sponsored by Director Resettlement Training, Army HQ, New Delhi.
DARL Aquaculture Training |
DARL Plantation training |
Courses conducted
Dairy farming:4 weeks
Composite Farm Training (2 batches):12 weeks each
Mushroom farming and floriculture:8 weeks
Poultry and rabbit farming:16 weeks
Fresh water Pisciculture:6 weeks
Since the origin of the training programme in 1998, 338 ex-service men opted for the programme and trained. This annual course starts from the month of May and continues till next year April.
DARL Practical Classes |
DARL Theory classes |
DARL also conducts resettlement training of Gorkha Jawans at Gorkha Resettlement Training Unit, Raiwala sponsored through Adjutant General Branch, Army HQ. DARL teaches Agriculture and Animal husbandry. 2 courses each of 6 months are held annually. This programme started in 1991 and a total of 964 Ex Indian Army Gurkhas have opted for the training programme.
The feedback by the trainees is submitted to Director General Resettlement Training and Adjutant General Branch, Army HQ New Delhi. The training has benefited in preparing the trainees for resettlement after retirement.
DARL conducts training and demonstration to farmers who are not related to Armed Forces. DARL has trained a total of 400 farmers in Cultivation of vegetables, Vegetable seed production, Organic farming of vegetables, Cultivation of medicinal plants, Mushroom production technique, Fodder production, Dairy cattle production, Angora rabbit rearing and Pond fisheries.
Posted in Defence Research and Development, General Indian Armed Forces News | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 6th, 2007
Air Vice Marshal LK Malhotra has assumed the appointment of Assistant Chief of Air Staff (personnel Officers) and Air Vice Marshal Paramjit Singh Bhangu has assumed the appointment of Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Airmen and Civilians). Both will be based at Air HQs, Vayu Bhawan, New Delhi.
Air Vice Marshal LK Malhotra was commissioned in fighter stream in 1973 and has flown approx 4000 hours on variety of fighter aircraft. He is a graduate of the National Defence Academy, is a Qualified Flying Instructor, an Instrument Rating Instructor/Examiner, a graduate of the DSSC and has undergone the HCC at college of combat, Mhow. He has held several important field and staff appointments which include Commanding Officer of fighter squadron, Chief Operations Officer of a Fighter Base in an active command, Directing Staff at college of Air Warfare, command of a Tactical unit in Eastern Air command and important Staff appointments at Air Headquarters. He has commanded a premier Fighter Base in Western Air Command, and after a short Staff tenure at Air HQ has now assumed the present appointment of Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Officers) at Air HQ. He has been commended by the CAS, and is a recipient of Presidential Awards of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal for his exemplary leadership, dedication and distinguished service to the IAF.
Air Vice Marshal Paramjit Singh Bhangu graduated from National Defence Academy and was commissioned as fighter pilot in Jan 1972. The Marshal is an alumni of Defence Service Staff College, Wellington. He has 4500 hrs of flying on fighter and trainer aircraft and served in number of fighter combat aircraft units. He has also served as Commanding Officer of the prestigious Indian Air Force combat unit “Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment” and Air Force Station Naliya for 3 and 2 years respectively. Besides appointments at Air HQ as Joint Director and Director Flight Safety, he had a diplomatic tenure in Embassy of India Moscow, Russia as Air Attache for over 3 years. He had also held the appointment of Director General, Air Force Naval Housing Board for almost a year. The Air Officer held the appointment of Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Officers). The Air Vice Marshal was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal in 1992 and Ati Vishist Seva Medal in 1996 for exceptional devotion to duty.
Posted in Indian Air Force News | No Comments »
Monday, June 4th, 2007
By P.V.S. Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra
Publisher: Manohar Publlishers & Distributors. ISBN 81-7304-641-7, 2005
Price: Rs 895 in India
The 1965 air war between India and Pakistan arouses curious interest as the Indian version has not been released by the Government of India (GOI). US, Russia, UK and France should be reading this book to understand how their aircrafts performed. Since the Cold War is over and these aircrafts are out of service barring MiG-21, there should be no reason for these countries to “swallow or beam” pride. Very interesting incidents on how Indian and Pakistani pilots were mesmerized by the F-104 Star fighter and MiG-21, 1 + Mach fighters.
This book comes at a time as IAF today trains with USAF which was the mentor of PAF once. Comments from USAF experienced pilots like “IAF developed tactics in Vacuum” and “feel sorry for the enemy pilots who underestimate IAF pilots” takes the sting out of Pakistani propaganda machines like “Defense Journal” that PAF pilots are better than IAF pilots. Superior aircrafts and training from USAF did not ensure PAF of victory.
A Pakistani should read this book to verify if the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) did really deliver? Is the MM Alam five hunter downed is really true (though here are other sources from Pakistan itself which have proved it otherwise. MM Alam not just lied on the unbelievable incident of shooting down 5 hunters in 5 seconds, he also ran away from battle when he met Flying Officer P.S Pingale flying a Hunter. While MM Alam covered his cowardice by claiming shooting down two Hunters, one with gun and second with sidewinder, Flying Officer P.S Pingale was on record saying “No Missiles were fired – First he (MM Alam) opened up with guns and when we crossed over and I turned, he was already flying straight and away trying to get out of fight.” Flying Officer P.S Pingale also says “……. You know when you are young and you are in fight and all gung ho, you want the other fellow to put up a fight, you don’t want him to runaway…..So he ran away from the fight. I still recollect my thoughts at that moment, ‘this is not right; look at this fellow he is gone away!’” Read the whole incident in Page 255 to 261. . Unlike MM Alam fled from an equal fight, Indian Air Force (IAF) Squadron Leader A. B Devayya gave up his life fighting like a man and an unequal fight. Squadron Leader A. B Devayya shot down a Star Fighter over Sargodha with a outdated Mystere configured for ground attack mission and operating extreme end of the ferry range possible by the aircraft.
This will also give Pakistani’s an opportunity to read how PAF fudged kills. It’s a chance to read how a professional air force like IAF personnel praising the enemy , especially, 8 pass Charlie “ A PAF B-57 pilot who used to turn up at night and make 8 passes of bombing run instead of single bombing run. The raid of Pakistani SSG (commandos) on Indian airfields is very hilarious to read. So was Pakistani SSG’s getting fired at Sargodha Airfield by Pakistani security guards. The book also busts the PAF claim that it had not preparing for the war. The preparation of war had happened and a Pakistani B-57 pilot who was shot down over Indian airspace confessed it.
I picked up this copy to understand what the Indians did. While it’s important for Pakistani dictators to exaggerate to keep themselves in power and to project Pakistan as effective deterrent against USSR ally India for receiving military aid from US and NATO, India is a democracy and had no such compulsions. Indian Armed Forces is just another component of the democratic India under the civilian control.
The biggest surprise thrown at me was the revelation of Indian ace Flight lieutenant Alfred Cooke. Pages 180 to 192 have been devoted to his contribution to war in East. Flight lieutenant Alfred Cooke had entangled and fired at four Sabers and hit three of them resulting in two kills. One Saber was unrecoverable as admitted by PAF years later. The PAF propaganda machine claimed nine hunters had attacked which turned out to be a backhanded compliment to Flight lieutenant Alfred Cooke who quipped years later “I thought, WOW! What a compliment, thanks very much – did it feel like there were nine Hunters in the sky?”
By September 7, 1965 PAF had withdrawn bulk of its attack force as far as Peshawar, 600 kms away from Indian border. Indian Canberra’s stuck them even in Peshawar inspite of the fact that Peshawar was in the extreme end of Canberra’s could operate. In addition, no Indian fighter aircraft was sent as escort and Pakistani’s had very good night interception in form of F-104 star fighter. The raid shook PAF. No airfield or town was out of range from IAF bombers. The USAF signal intelligence “6937th Communications Group” base at Badaber, 20 miles from Peshawar evacuated its families to Iran. There were 600 US citizens in the base and around.
So already made up your mind that this is a pro Indian book? You already have made the mistake that I made before getting this copy. The authors have made a generous attempt to correspond and interact with PAF pilots to verify. I one case the PAF pilot has himself mailed the gun camera pictures. I haven’t seen the PAF complaining nor the hyperactive Pakistani propaganda machine.
My wish list if the authors plan next version of this book.
1) Interview more Indian and Pakistani pilots.
2) Work harder on the claims by the PAF.
3) Role of Iran, Indonesia and China in the conflict.
4) More Visuals please.
The India-Pakistan 1965 Air War is a must read.
Copyrights: Frontier India Defence and Strategic News Service, June 2007.
Posted in Military and Strategic Book Review | No Comments »
Sunday, June 3rd, 2007
P. Chacko Joseph, Publisher of, Frontier India Defence and Strategic News Service, has been invited to Lecture to a set of Indian Defence researchers in Psychological Research. The topic chosen is “e-psyops: The Internet and Psychological Operations.”
FIDSNS invites its readers to tell the defence establishments on how they must counter the current offensive against Indian defence on internet. We promise to tell them during the lecture. Its a chance for you to make a difference.
Posted in FIDSNS Information | 6 Comments »
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
This article is personal recall by Lt Col Balwant Singh Sahore, as told to Major Genral E D’souza (Retd.) PVSM
19 Infantry Division: 1969-1970
At the end of our stipulated 2 years tenure in Ladakh, the Battalion moved to HQ 19 Infantry Division sector in the summer of 1969, under 161 Infantry Brigade. Battalion HQ was set up at the rest house in Mahura and companies were deployed on the North Bank of the Jhelum; yet one more high altitude area for the men except of course for the Battalion HQ personnel. Coincidentally we had the rare honour of serving under two of our senior regimental officers viz Brigadier M B Wadke our brigade commander and Major General E D’Souza GOC 19 Infantry Division (our Colonel of the Regiment). Certain pickets were in eyeball to eyeball confrontation with the Pakistanis. One such picket was Jhandi Mali. The distance between own and enemy troops was just about a couple of hundred meters. The unique feature of this post was that the one and only water point was midway between our own and Pakistani troops. The UN Observer Group had laid down timings for drawing water for both parties which was strictly adhered to through sheer necessity. Maj K L Kaushal’s A Company continued to man this important post right to the end of our tenure. Maj G K Duggal’s B Company had occupied another important post which was called Khargosh (Rabbit) for convenience.
Jaipur and the Indo-Pak War of 1971
The unit moved to Jaipur in mid 1970 in the full hope of rest and an opportunity to live with families after the arduous cum continuous tenure of 3 years in high altitudes. From the climatic point of view, it indeed was quite a climb down-from the sublime to the ridiculous so to say. What a change it was from the cool bracing climate of the mountains to the harsh, soaring temperatures of the Thar Desert, our area of responsibility.
The indications of the gathering storm of the 1971 War began appearing in late 1970. Full scale training and preparations commenced in right earnest for the inevitable showdown with Pakistan. Leave for All Ranks was cancelled. Army HQ ruled that all postings right down to COs level were to be witheld. Slowly and gradually, the much awaited festival of Divali was looked forward to by everyone. But fate decreed otherwise. Just a day prior to the festival, we received orders to move to the Concentration Area. Precisely on the night of the eve of Divali, our meter gauge military special arrived at Pokharan Railway Station. It was just getting dark. We had strict orders to observe a complete black-out in the train and also at the Station. What an anti climax it was to the festival of the lights! However, the local population duly celebrated the festival with their customary fire crackers and decorative lights. After it had become fairly dark, our train steamed off to its destination Jaisalmer under cover of darkness as planned. Not even the engine was allowed to put on its head light. Jaisalmer was reached at 0300 hours. In accordance with orders received at the Station, the train was unloaded post haste and we were well on our way to the Concentration Area before first light, just a desert patch, half way between Jaisalmer and Ramgarh. And then the most eagerly awaited, yet agonizing part,i.e, the announcement of the declaration of war. The waiting period was fully utilized for rehearsals of operational plans. To keep boredom at bay, unusual sports events like baseball were introduced for all ranks. Most of the times a JCO, a World War II veteran, was detailed as the referee. He had acquired some working knowledge of English from our erstwhile British Officers. If any Officer was declared out by him and yet he would not leave the ground, he was politely but firmly told thus: “Please out!”. During the period of our impatient wait for war to break, we were visited by our COAS General Sam Manekshaw and later by the Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi.
As always, the visit of a colourful and informal personality like the Chief was indeed unforgettable and full of humour. While addressing the Battle Axe Division’s officers, he remarked: ”Gentlemen, there will be a war. (And war there was). Have no doubts about it. But I cannot tell you chaps when because you cannot keep a secret. Suffice it to say that all of you better tighten you “kachhas”. Pointing his finger towards a young officer sitting on a durrie just below the dais, he said in his inimitable style,”This applies to you too you so and so!”.Just as well. The Chief , immediately on arrival, ordered all the mikes and PA systems removed saying,” Get this bloody thing removed. I don’t know how to use it.” Indeed the impact of his forceful personality was felt by all, and there was a renewed sense of inward determination to perform the alloted task well and truly.
Finally, much to our relief, our Divisional Commander Maj Gen Khambatta selected our Battalion for a very special task about a week before the war started. Accordingly we linked up with a company of a Punjab Battalion at Longewala post commanded by Maj Kuldip Singh Khanduri, formerly held by a company of the Border Security Force (BSF). We occupied a neigbhouring sand dune just next to it. We had to leave Maj Palu Desai’s company in the concentration area to round up enemy agents and suspects. The more we dug our main defences on this massive sand dune, the more they collapsed because of the loose sand. Defence stores were non existent till then. Recce and fighting patrols were sent out by day and night to the international border in full view of the enemy to make him believe that the main thrust of the divisional advance would be along the Longewala axis. However, better not to underestimate the enemy’s plans and capabilities. Much as we had rehearsed our plans to launch an offensive in the area Rahim Yar Khan, the Pakistanis had perfected their own assault plans of which we were totally ignorant. The first inkling came when we had occupied our sand dune.
My Company Commanders had reported to me that they had found some empty cigarette packets and match boxes with Pakistani markings. And a few temporary thatch huts as well to provide shelter against the scorching sun to whoever had taken temporary residence there. But who would be living in the heat of the Thar Desert? Even grazing was out of the question since not a blade of grass was in existence. The mystery became clear a couple of days later after the war started. The first enemy prisoners revealed that some Special Services Groups were planted on the same isolated sand dune to study and report Longewala Post routine and habits. So, this was it. Apparently our physical occupation of that sand dune had an unnerving effect on the enemy divisional commander’s plan. For a few days he remained under the false illusion that his attack plans for the Longewala Post and the subsequent cutting off of our division’s L of C at Ramgarh had been betrayed and thus his element of surprise had been lost. Came the fateful evening of 3 December 1971. While on recce, I was informed on my radio set by my 2IC Maj John Gaikwad, that war had been declared against Pakistan. In keeping with urgent orders from our brigade HQ, the Battalion moved the same night to rejoin the rest of the brigade in the forward assembly area as per the well rehearsed plan. Thus that insignificant sand dune, for so it seemed at that time, was abandoned. The very same sand dune which would otherwise have witnessed a historic battle between the enemy’s armour consisting of brand new Chinese T 59 tanks and 4 Maratha.
Just when we were to commence our advance the next afternoon to area Rahim Yar Khan, came the incredible news that the enemy had launched a pre emptive assault with one of his newly equipped armoured regiments, on to our Longewala Post and that his intention appeared to be to cut off our L of C in area Ramgarh. The importance of the one and only L of C in desert warfare cannot be overemphasised. Even training pamphlets stress the point that the L of C in desert operations must be physically protected at all times; a very near suicidal mistake which would have cost us dearly in terms of loss of men and material. Undoubtedly, the enemy had snatched the initiative from us and now we had no choice but to react to his plans. In the prevailing confusion, one of our companys ably led by Maj I K Hasija was left stranded well inside enemy territory where it had been given the task of infiltrating and disrupting /destroying any minor opposition along our projected axis of advance, later to rejoin the Battalion on the way. When reminded of this situation, the higher authorities gave us permission to abort this mission and to withdraw the company back as soon as possible.
Being the senior most battalion commander, I proceeded to the divisional tactical HQ near Tanot on orders of my own Commander to receive revised orders regarding the new task for our formation. Meanwhile, the brigade could not pull back for want of 2nd Line transport which was supposed to be on its way. However, on my way to Tanot, I found most of the vehicles stranded in the loose sand. What I saw at the Divisional Tactical HQ was utter alarm and despondency. The GOC alongwith the Brigade Commander holding the firm base, was in a state of dazed confusion. His reserve Brigade Commander was trying to console him. Be that as it may, notwithstanding the fact that I was all by myself in my lone jeep with my ‘R’ Group, he very gallantly ordered me to proceed to Ramgarh posthaste and to stop the enemy in his tracks by “all means at my disposal”. It was indeed a curious sight, the CO 4 Maratha organizing defences to stop the enemy’s determined armoured offensive. But that was how it was!! A couple of wire guided missiles of a Guards Battalion also fetched up just before midnight to ‘reinforce’ our defences. Our Brigade advanced in the early hours of the morning of 5 December. Defences for whatever they were worth, were hurriedly prepared. Yet, there was no sign of the ‘reliably reported’ enemy armour’s advance.
At first light our jet fighters took off from their forward airfields in the direction of Longewala.. By the time we reached that area, our Air Force had done a thorough job of destroying the enemy armour. Burning tanks, enemy dead and scattered enemy equipment were a sight to behold. Anyhow, we pushed back and destroyed the remnants of the enemy force right up to the border. Some enemy stragglers were only too keen to be taken prisoner, for, for them, the war was as good as over. In the process of clearing up the area around Longewala Post, my Intelligence Officer (IO) Lt H S Gill (now a Colonel) drew my attention to a peculiar situation, a built-up shack near the Engineer Water Point which looked a bit suspicious.
A single door and window existed. The door was bolted from inside and we could see someone lying on the floor, with a sheet covering his face and body., apparently dead, or so I presumed. Yet, no blood marks or telltale signs of his having been killed were discernible. If he was really dead, so be it. But what if he was an enemy soldier trying to fake death? Harshi Gill insisted that we must break open the door to check and satisfy ourselves that there was nothing fishy. But as a CO, my mind preoccupied with larger issues of fighting the battle ahead, I did not deem it worth the effort and time to launch a commando like raid to ascertain whether he was one of our own, or an enemy dead or alive. Harshi’s bold plan had to be overruled perforce. The advance continued as planned. But what of that body? To me, and perhaps to Harshi as well, it will remain an enigma.
In the middle of operations, our brigade was told to move to the Monabao-Khokhrapar axis under 11 Infantry Division where the latter had shown some promising prospects in the advance towards Sind. Before we pulled out I found time to go and meet Maj Kuldip Singh Chandpuri at his Longewala Post and to know first hand how he managed to hold out against such a massive armoured assault. According to him, first of all, right up to divisional commander level, none would believe his word that the Pakis were advancing on to his post in strength.
“But Kuldip, it is simply ridiculous. We are going to advance , not him. They have no offensive capability, just a squadron of rickety, run down Sherman tanks. You are just scared and hence are having illusions”, was the Division’s reaction to his urgent request for help to reinforce his post immediately. To his good luck a detachment of RCL guns was sent to his post the same night from his battalion at Sadewala. And fortunately, the Forward Air Fields at Jaisalmer and Jodhpur were alerted by the Division to stand by to launch an air strike against enemy armour at first light. To revert to Kuldip’s version of the overnight battle this is a transcript of the conversation:-
Self(S) Kuldip, tell me, did’nt you feel scared being surrounded by more than a squadron of enemy T 59 tanks, and that too with a company less one platoon (out on patrol at that point of time) with practically no resources worth the name?
Kuldip (K) Yes Sir, exactly. The enemy tanks surrounded my post at just after midnight. They were carrying a section of infantry on each tank. The infantry jumped down from the tanks and one of them shouted in rustic Punjabi in the stillness of the night: “Sikhon, tayyar ho jao, asin a gae han.(It was an all Sikh Punjab Battalion). To which our RCL detachment commander, a havildar, who was a perpetual disciplinary case under peacetime conditions, shouted back in equally choice rustic Punjabi: “Tuhada te bahut der ton intizar kar rahe han. Tuan do ghante late pahunche” (meaning that the Pakistanis had reached two hours too late as per the defenders estimation). Till then, believe me, if we had a chance, we would have run for our lives from the post, under cover of darkness. But since we were surrounded, we had no chance of evasion and escape. So it was decided to stay on and hope for the best.”
K: The Pakistani tanks opened fire at the post from a distance. One of the shells hit the wall of the post temple penetrating it just over the ‘Mandir Moorti’ by inches. Both the RCLs also opened fire. Luckily, one of the shells hit a tank which caught fire immediately. In the glow of the fire the RCLs managed to hit a couple of more tanks.
Strangely, the tanks did not assault the post which was an easy task as the slope was gradual. The exchange of fire continued between the enemy armour and the RCLs from an approximate distance of 200 meters. Our fighter jets flew over at first light and before opening fire asked me on the blower whether they were our tanks. On being assured that we did not have a single tank in that area, they set about destroying the enemy armour in their typical professional manner.”
S: But then why didn’t the enemy tanks launch an assault on the highly vulnerable post that night? The answer was provided by enemy prisoners later on. A single strand of barbed wire around the post was erected by personnel of the BSF Company to dry their clothes. The enemy mistook this wire for an anti tank minefield; hence the reason why not a single enemy tank could pick up sufficient courage to assault the post. Now no amount of sand model discussions or rigorous training can bring out this point. But facts are facts, howsover incredible they may seem. I shall not be surprised if old Kuldip and his ex comrades worship that rusty strand of barbed wire in their heart of hearts to this day.” .
Copyright: Frontier India Defence and Strategic News Service, June 2007
Posted in Indian Army News, Opinions and Articles | No Comments »
Friday, June 1st, 2007
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Fali Major ‘flagged off’ a ‘Round the World’ Microlight expedition today from Air Force Station Hindon. The Microlight expedition has been undertaken by two IAF pilots Wg Cdr R Monga and Wg Cdr Anil Kumar. This expedition is a part of ongoing IAF platinum jubilee celebration, with a purpose of living the spirit of adventure and international goodwill.
The expedition has been undertaken in a German manufactured Microlight aircraft called the ‘CSTW Advance’. The Microlight aircraft would be attempting to cover more than 39,000 kms in about 45 days. In addition, rest and maintenance activities have been planned on 19 days. This would also be an attempt to set a new world record for fastest time in circumnavigating the world in 300-500 kg weight category. The route has been approved by the Aero Club of India, which represents Federation Aeronautique International (FAI), the governing body for aerosports.
Wg Cdr Monga, on being asked how he feels to be going around the world for the expedition, said “We are keen on getting on with the expedition. I am proud to represent the country and the Indian Air Force in such an event. Me and my entire team have put in a lot of effort ‘planning’ the expedition, it’s time to live it. With God’s grace and well wishes of the entire country we will be successful”.
The Empty weight of Microlight is 300 kgs and it has a range of 1400 km. The Microlight has ceiling of 14,000 feet. It has a glass cockpit, and electronic flight instrumentation system (EFIS), internal GPS, a satellite tracker and a VOR coupled R/T set. It is also fitted with an emergency parachute recovery system.
The IAF is attempting an expedition requiring great fortitude. The expedition will be a true test of both men and machine. There will be challenges of extremes of weather, change of time zones, flying through different countries and interacting with various agencies all across the world. The crew would be totally independent; even for undertaking scheduled servicing. In addition to highlighting the capability of IAF in undertaking such an expedition, it also embodies the true sprit of adventurous aviation. The route of Microlight would be from Delhi (India) – Myanmar – Thailand – China – Russia - Canada - Alaska – Greenland – EU Countires – Turkey – UAE – Oman and back to India.
Posted in Indian Air Force News | No Comments »
Friday, June 1st, 2007
Vice Admiral RF Contractor, Director General Coast Guard visited Japan from 26 – 31 May 07. He was there on an official visit to conduct High Level talks with the Japan Coast Guard authorities in addition to oversee the Japan Coast Guard Sea Review at Tokyo and the VIIIth Indo Japan Coast Guard Joint Exercise at Nagoya.
The DG was accorded a very warm welcome by Commandant Hiroki Ishikawa, Chief of Japanese Coast Guard. During his official meetings with his Japanese counterpart and other agencies, various issues such as cooperation in the field of search and rescue, anti-piracy, drugs and arms trafficking, illegal immigration, environmental protection, disaster management and response, boarding Operations and training were discussed. The DG Coast Guard also took the Salute of Indian Coast Guard Ship - Sagar during the steam past by the ship.
Indian and Japanese Coast Guards have been conducting joint exercises every year since the year 2000 alternately in India and Japan. Last year on November 24th, a memorandum of Co-operation was signed between the two Coast Guards at Mumbai. The visit of this High Level delegation led by the Indian Director General thus assumes great significance in the context of Indo-Japan strategic and Global Partnership dialogue initiated during Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s visit to Japan in December last year.
Posted in Military News - Asia, Para Military and Coast Guard News | No Comments »
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