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What these posts lack - not your fault, just saying in general - is maps, lots and lots of maps. For instance, in talking of 65, Major Amin mentions that the Indian Army thought that the main attack would come at Jhangar, and it did not sufficiently reinforce Chhamb. The problem is that there...

Of course, Sir, no doubt that the PAF was heavily outnumbered, but surely, that is the intention at a strategic level, to ensure that the opposing forces are hugely outnumbered, preferably at least at 3:1 level in the plains, at even 9:1 in the hills. Nobody denies that the PAF and the PA...

1971, with regard to the western border; the events of the east have been covered again and again. I am aware of two of the incidents, the two I mentioned. One, down where 18th Div made its abortive bid to reach Jaisalmer, as a spoiling attack to put Khambatta, who was planning a thrust...

How can a unit simultaneously be in close contact, and fail to detect the opposing formation's withdrawal?

Now that you have jogged my memory, that was exclusively about 65, wasn't it?

Most Pakistani books are available at amazingly high prices. Prohibitive.

Western Command was then headed by General Gopal Bewoor, and the troops under him did an indifferent job. Perhaps Major General Khambatta, whom Agha Amin in his completely uninhibited way calls the worst Indian general, did especially badly, when he got news of Longewala happening.

Now you are being deliberately provocative. Now you are being deliberately provocative. Now you are being deliberately provocative. ₹ 2,949.49

Meanwhile, apart from the grossly outnumbered soldiers in the east, the rest of the Pakistani military did what it could. On the western front, Pakistan Army's 18th Div failed to capture Jaisalmer, due to the confusion occasioned by a misleading dividing wire that was wrongly thought to...

Third, the Navy outdid itself. Not only were defensive missile boats towed behind ocean-going vessels, but they raided East Pakistan with carrier-borne aircraft. Another separate team trained Bangladeshis to be frogmen. That team and their Bangladeshis sank more tonnage than the rest of the Navy.

Second, there was perfect coordination between the Army and the Air Force, a coordination rarely seen earlier. Both P. C. Lal and Manekshaw were straightforward, practical men, Lal a taciturn stickler for rules, Manekshaw very much the flamboyant life and soul of the party. Lal did not make the...

It is worth considering that while all that was going on, in Delhi and in Calcutta, matters were far better coordinated. First, within the Army, the Eastern Command Chief of Staff, while he had no deep-rooted respect or affection for his Army Commander, had been given a wide rope, and had been...

In a sense, that is the harsh truth, Sir. GHQ did absolutely nothing in the interim for Eastern Command, and it does seem quite apparent that they did nothing because they were in hourly expectation of help and support from the Chinese, or the Americans, or even world opinion at large. While...

At this stage, from what I have managed to read - perhaps 10 to 15% of what should be read - it seems quite clear that these differences between groups are not 'natural', in the sense that the existence of a minority above a certain percentage of the population would inevitably cause strife, and...

Not to be diverted ahead of time, Muslims in India are today 17%, Hindus in Bangladesh are below 8%. Certainly there might have been different outcomes if the two communities had been closer in proportion. That belongs to the realm of alternative history, and is best avoided.

Besides this list, there may be - my pocket permitting - additional resources on the over-arching narrative. I hope to start with Syed Ahmed Khan, and the other Bengali root that, I think, an academic friend of mine had mentioned, that I am desperately trying to remember. After that, Sir Syed...

I am planning to use the following books to build a narrative about partition, not at the moment making a judgement on whether it was justified or not, but simply building the narrative (a deeply subjective exercise): The Great Game Churchill's Secret War Churchill and Gandhi The Sole...

That can, and will be discussed. Meanwhile, just check my next post.

Interesting. I thought, on point 1, the boot was on the other foot. Could you dwell on this when we come to that point of the story? That would be interesting. I had in mind to deal with #2 and #3 down the line, in terms of time. We are still at Waliullah. When we get there, to the events...

One caution: some of the thinking and the public postures of leaders of that period was intensely religious, and it is preferable to keep those elements outside the forum, to avoid pitching ourselves into controversial and ultimately mutually hostile discussions or even quarrels. It seemed...