Title: Himalayan Blunder: The Angry Truth about India’s
Most Crushing Military Disaster
Author: Brigadier John Parashuram Dalvi
Translator: Ravi Belegere
Publishers: Bhavana Prakashana
Genre: Military History/War
Pages: 500+ (Original Version) – 198 (Translated
Version - Paperback)
Source: Personal Copy
This is the most chilling and humiliating account of
India’s war with China in the year 1962. Famously known as Indo-Sino war or
Battle of Thagla. Author Brigadier John P. Dalvi was the person who led his 7
Infantry brigade in defending the lands of India and eventually became the war
prisoner of China. This book documents the anguish of a war hero that was
treated lesser than a human being by the political leadership of India during
1962-63.
As per Dalvi’s account we get to read the most
disturbing aspects of the dire military conditions of the India during that
time. A belligerent army like India, though totally unprepared, has been
ordered to throw the Chinese army out of the borders which India claimed was
within the Indian boundary. The Chinese launched a devastating strike against India
and occupied most of the territories and pushed back the Indian army within no
time. Dalvi was an upstanding officer in the Indian army was firmly believed that
China does not have any right over Tibet and that the McMahon line ought to be
India’s north east frontier.
It was October 20, 1959, when Havaldar Karam Singh and
his 20 strong troops doing their routine border patrolling when all of a sudden
nine men from the patrol team were buried under in a matter of seconds in a
hailstorm of bullets. Karam singh was taken as a war prisoner. This was the
beginning of the Chinese aggression for the very first time; post their war
with the Korea. Though it needed time to prepare for the war with India to
claim few land areas, it was pushing all its limits to wage a fully fledged war
against India. Whereas Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India was preaching
the peace to the world.
The then Army chief Genreal Thimmayya’s fear about
China stood confirmed. When he confronted the political leadership of the India
and demanded the modernization of the army, V.K. Menon, the then Defense Minister
of India plainly denied the request and asserted the problem with his own
accord. He defended himself by saying; Pakistan is the “Number One” enemy of India
and not China. General Thimmayya was amused and disturbed at the defense
minister’s remark. Being an upright officer, he said what was bothering him...
“I understand our defense minister’s perspective. I have high regards for his abilities. But, I am aggrieved by his foolishness. One doesn’t rank his enemies as first, second and third. Perhaps, it is done in the communist countries and politics; as an Army Chief, I do not rank my enemies”
I will not be including the blow by blow account of Dalvi
in this review. People can read this book. But wait… this book was shamelessly
banned in the year 1969. Though there may be copies available in few numbers,
what I read is the translated version of this book, penned by Ravi Belegere, a
Kannada journalist and author.
Certain section from the book was really interesting
to read. Dalvi’s description of the Battle of Tseng Jong, which took place 10
days before the Chinese assault on the Thag La. General Brij Mohan Kaul or B.M.
Kaul had ordered 2 Rajput to move up Tseng-Jong and occupy the Yamatso La peak,
16000 feet above the sea level in full Chinese view with no artillery support.
Dalvi convinced Kaul to move a patrol of 9 Punjabi to find a suitable crossing
place for the Rajputs and cover them from a position at Tseng-Jong.
A patrol of 50 men led by Major Chaudhary advanced to
Tseng Jong. On 10 October 1962, 600 Chinese troops attacked Major Chaudhry’s
patrol. It was obvious that they could not hold on for long, though the second
Chinese wave was also beaten back, mainly on account of enfilade fire on the
assaulting Chinese from the Rajputs hurrying up to Yamatso La. Major Chaudhry
asked Dalvi for mortar and machine gun fire as a cover so that they could
extricate themselves. Dalvi refused to order the guns and mortars at Bridge 4
to open fire.
The reasons given by Dalvi for his decision are
interesting, but I’ll not detail them here. Please read this historical
treatise from the book and find out Dalvi’s reasons. Dalvi says that
“I and I alone, and are responsible for the decision not to allow the mortars and machine guns to open up”.
Quite unlike BM Kaul who, when things turned bad at Tseng Jong told Dalvi,
“Oh My God! You’re right. China has prepared itself for a full-scale war. It’s each man for him from now on. You’re in charge of your Brigade. This is not in my reach. Only a Brigadier can execute this kind of war. This is your battle.”
And he turned and left, leaving Dalvi to helplessly
watch the massacre of the whole platoon. Dalvi records several such incidents
where a grossly under prepared Indian army faced the Chinese who were superior to
them in every aspect. A most telling instance is
“…. a soldier saluted me as I stepped into the bunker and said, “Sahib, look there! The enemy is on the opposite slope. They’re burning firewood to beat the cold.” I felt a slap of humiliation. This was one of the rare instances this happened in thousands of wars throughout history. Burning a fire at night is a sure invitation for the enemy to attack. But then, this enemy on the slopes of the Thagla Mountain was confident: both of his strength and our sorry state. He knew for certain that we would not attack: we could not.”
In his final journey, he pays homage to every person
right from foot soldiers, majors, lance naiks, singnallers, doctors,
brigadiers, commanders, his assistant staff, etc… who died defending the
indefensible.
“The Chinese used the same war strategies in vogue for centuries but…. their guns were more modern, and their clothes were warmer than ours…. out there, away from the warm world, the October chill doesn’t descend from the skies; it climbs from the depths of the spinal cord. All our men had to wear were cotton clothes suited for summer, shoes which slide on snow… the only colour my men could see was the ash-white colour of death. A flash of sunlight was enough to blind them. This blindness caused several men to walk directly into the waiting arms of the enemy. My request for snow glasses was granted, all right, but when they arrived, the air-dropped bag dropped somewhere in the abyss-like crevices…and those snow glasses were broken into pieces which were not in a condition to wear. My soldiers were left to gaze those glassy snow with their bare eyes and went blind. During those times, without even realizing, my soldiers has walked into the enemy camps”
One must read this book to understand the
shamelessness of the Nehru’s government, that failed to supply even the basic necessities
like food, water, better clothing, shoes, goggles leave alone the artillery and
ammunition. Towards the end, Dalvi and his remaining men went without food for
more than 3 days. Without even having a map of route, they walked straight in
to the camp that was wholly surrounded by the Chinese troops.
“We descended the Dhola Mountain after the Chinese disappeared from sight. We gave up the final hope of even sighting a small tukdi (regiment) of our men. I descended rapidly out of a sheer will to live. The slope ended in a forest…the path was even tougher to navigate. Meanwhile, I had lost four of the eleven men following me. I reached a clearing, which then led to a small mud road. It was all over.”
Finally John P. Dalvi was captured by the Chinese army
on October 22 1962, at 9.22 AM. He remained as a prisoner of war from October
22 1962 till May 1963. The book doesn’t record the event of what happened during
Dalvi’s stay at the prisoner camp during those days. I guess this was carefully
censored before release of the book. Anyways, the book itself was banned in
1969.
“We landed in Dum Dum airport in Calcutta on May 4 1963. We were received cordially, appropriately. But the silence there was disquieting. I realized later. We had to prove we weren’t brainwashed by Chinese ideology. We had to prove we were still loyal to India. My own army maintained a suspicious distance. The irony cannot be harsher: this treatment from a country, which for more than a decade had brainwashed itself into holding the Chinese baton wherever it went.”
Himalayan Blunder has
simply proven its contemporary relevance in the sense of history repeating
itself: notice today’s Chinese cheerleaders who occupy disproportionate clout
in the UPA government. By the way, the Battle of Thagla began on October 20,
1962 and lasted just over 3 hours, between 5 A.M and 8 A.M. An entire brigade
was massacred. The history will never forgive Nehru and his coterie that
paved the way for the most humiliating military disaster of Indian history.
My Rating:
5/5
