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| Indo-Pak 1965 war: 50th anniversary |
Indo-Pak 1965 war
Indo-Pak 1965 war: The Role of Veterans
Indo-Pak 1965 war: The Role of VeteransThe war of 1965 ended with a rude shock for the Pakistan forces. It can be easily deduced that this was the only war that Pakistan had half a decent chance at winning. Especially so because the war was planned by Pakistan, started at its own initiative and according to a timeline chosen by Pakistan. The military had convinced itself that after the 1962 misadventure of China, India will be on the back foot, and Pakistan would be able to take full advantage of this situation and create mayhem in Kashmir. In addition to an unsettled Kashmir, India was also facing Naga insurgency and Dravida separatism. So the Pakistan military had carefully put its plans in motion.
The Pakistan advent into Kutch, Gujrat was started somewhere during April 1965. The poor performance of India Airfoce here, as they did not want to engage in combat here, was misread by Pakistan as unwillingness to engage inn fight. This also increased the sense of confidence held by Bhutto and Ayub in going out for a full-fledged offensive.
The events at Kutch shook up the senior officials who got caught up in an all-out war with Pakistan. In the coming days, the armed forces were put on alert all across the border, and eventually the fears of the Indian armed forces turned out to be true. At the end of August, the Pakistan armed forces started Operation Grand Slam with their designs on taking over Akhnoor and the road leading to Kashmir. The battle didn’t begin very well for India. The Indian forces were not able to stop the Pakistani advances and very soon the opponent’s forces had reached Chaamb, Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Air Force sent Squadron 45’s de Havilland Vampires to support the Army. But, on the evening of September 1, a Pakistani squadron of F-86 Sabres, led by their flying ace Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui, shot down three Vampires. It was a huge blow to India.
Then on September 3rd, the Indian Air Force were able to con the Pakistani Sabres by sending ahead a decoy ahead of the Gnats. Since the Gnats are not so sensitive to radars, so they remained unseen till two Sabres got caught in the formation. The clever IAF pilots got behind one sabre and shot it down. The Pakistani Air Force‘s illusion of being invincible received a big setback. A Vir Chakra was announced for the pilot which brought down the first Pakistani Sabre. The very next day, another gallant pilot of the Indian Air force shot down the second sabre, and another Vir Chakra was announced.
The Gnat fights of 1965 go down in history for several reasons. For the first time, three Vir Chakras were given for similar acts, gunning down Sabres. For the first time, two brothers got Vir Chakras for the same feat.
The gallantry of the Indian Air Force continued throughout the next few days and they were able to pull off some spectacular dogfights in the process.
It is actually the veterans that could stop the juggernaut of the Pakistani armed Force . The country gratefully remembers their resoluteness and sacrifices of Veterans. They gave their Today for the tomorrow of us . The gallantry of Abdul Hamid, Naushad Mohammed Khan, Lt Col Salim Caleb are now folk lore,
The legendary battle of Asal Uttar started on September 8 , 1965 when the 1 Armored Division of Pakistan with some 200 Patton tanks invaded Punjab. They made some initial progress too. It was in such a field that Abdul Hamid of 4 Grenadiers who was awarded PVC for busting 3 Patton tanks only by himself. Hamid, however sacrificed his life on September 10 at the altar of our Motherland.
At the end of the battle that day Pakistan lost 97 of its tanks , 72 of which are Patton.
And all these were possible for the resolute contribution of our veterans . We owe them our present and future
