By Maj Gen Jagatbir Singh (RETD),
Deepti Singh’s most current book” June 2020 Road To Galwan From Where It Began “ is both a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, with the beginning being the ‘ Night at the Cliff’ which recounts the events that night seen from the eyes of a young soldier who had yearned to join the Army following his family traditions. The ethos of the brave men who sacrificed their lives for the country can be summed up by his grandfather’s words;” Let your decision be to stroll every single tricky step and, when you decide on to stroll, you will be proud of what you are. Take lengthy leaps and jump across frozen rivers to save our motherland from enemies across the border.” In reality for these heroes in uniform who have been present on these icy heights that evening, this is a evening that will forever stay etched in the memory of these who survived.
Thereafter, the book has been divided into 5 Chapters every single dealing with a various theme. The initial ‘Drawing the Invisible Lines’ provides the historical background of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) a term offered by the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in November 1959, in a note to Prime Minister Nehru.It traces the history of the two Ancient civilisations more than the centuries and the truth that Buddhism was a widespread thread involving knitting powerful diplomatic, cultural and industrial ties.
The aspect on the Western border is most detailed and provides us an understanding of how complicated the challenge of resolving the border dispute is. What she clearly brings out is the disparities in the 3 lines of the survey carried out by the British below WH Johnson, Sir John Ardagh and McArtney. The aspect of the British wanting a frontier and not wanting a border with Russia and thereby prepared to accede territory to China lies at the crux of the unsettled borders. As Lord Hardinge stated in 1889 “The stronger we can make China at this point and the more we can induce her to hold her own over the whole of the theKashgar- Yarkand region, the more useful will she be to us as an obstacle to Russian advance along this line.” The truth is that though the British took terrific pains at surveying the border, they kept altering their policies and stance on its delineation major to a predicament exactly where one is actually ‘defending the undefined’. Surprisingly, the border involving Xinjiang and Ladakh was clearly defined proper from the sixth Century.
Regarding the boundary in the East, after once more Divya has gone into all the relevant information and also highlighted the part played by Major Bob Khathing, fromUkhrul, Manipur who had been awarded the Military Cross in World War II and as an officer of the Indian Frontier Administrative Service (IFAS) just after an arduous trek from Tezpur raised the Indian flag at Twang on 07 February 1951. Incidentally this was carried out on the orders of the then Governor of Assam which was not appreciated by Prime Minister Nehru who ordered a comprehensive cover up of this historic occasion.
‘ Friend or Foe’ covers the period of the fifties and talks about the variations in the mindset of the Chinese who have been governed by Sun Tzu’s college of believed such as ‘deception’ and ‘pretention’ and India who advocated peaceful coexistence and defence of their territory. It talks about the letter written by Sardar Patel to the Prime Minister exactly where he talks of the language spoken by China getting ‘not of a friend but a future enemy’. Other historical troubles touched upon are the occupation of East Turkmenistan now Xinjiang and the Army below cover reconnaissance mission by Lieutenant Colonel RS Basera to ascertain the status of the highway which had been constructed by way of Aksai Chin. Surprisingly, the Prime Minister when confronted with the report felt that “partial information without proof would taint the flourishing rapport with the neighbours.”
‘Swords Were Raised as Language Failed’ is an intriguing heading for events major up to the 1962 conflict. The Prime Minister’s strategy was transformed when he declared “not an inch of territory will be ceded to China”. The Forward Policy was place into impact in November 1961 and Deepti brings out the variations of opinion involving the Defence Minister Krishna Menon and the Army Chief General Thimayya, she also talks about euphoria just after the Goa Operations which took location in 1961 which may perhaps have led to a false sense of self belief.The query that the author tries to answer is “Whether the war was provoked by political leadership as a result of army deployment at the borders, so called the forward policy.” She clearly brings out that the lessons learnt in Exercise ‘LalQuila’ carried out by Lieutenant General SPP Thorat in March 1960 which highlighted the preparedness of the Army was dismissed as “futile “ by Krishna Menon and never put up to the Prime Minister.
The next Chapter ‘1962: The War Front’; predictably covers the war. What is interesting is the quotation of Chairman Mao at a meeting with top leadership of the PLA; “Nehru sticks his head out and insists on us fighting him: for us not to fight him would not be friendly enough. Courtesy demands reciprocity”. The face off at Thagla and subsequent engagements clearly brings out the manner in which soldiers fought against overwhelming odds with nothing at all significantly to boast of other than raw courage and a sense of pride in belonging to a certain unit. An instance is offered of SubedarPratap Singh of 9 PUNJAB who was to proceed on retirement but alternatively of going to the Regimental Centre remained with his battalion as it was probably to be involved in action and subsequently laid down his life though defending the nation.The variations in perceptions of different boundaries, as nicely as the manner of deployment of troops is nicely elucidated but what stands out is the bravery and commitment of the troops in speak to at Thagla, BumLa, Walong and Rezang La. After the unilateral ceasefire the Chinese withdrew from the Eastern Theatre but retained their gains in Aksai Chin.
The last Chapter ‘The Road to Galwan’ now jumps to a period of more than fifty years. Unfortunately it does not do due justice to the intervening years and merely highlights the financial progress made by each nations. In spite of many self-confidence creating measures incredibly tiny was accomplished on ground. Unfortunately, the events in Sikkim in 1967, Sumdrong Chu in 1986 and the more current Doklam incident in 2017 as nicely as the frequent transgressions by the Chinese have not been covered. What has been brought out is the geography of the region exactly where Galwan is described as ‘one of the most treacherous landscapes on earth’ and the history of tensions in this area.Ironically 58 years later, China wished to occupy locations from exactly where she withdrew in 1962.
The concerns which stay unanswered are the factors for this conflict timed in the middle of the most extreme pandemic which impacted all nations, leaving them grappling with the world’s most really serious wellness crisis. As the author says there are only postulates ranging from elevated unrest in China due to the pandemic, Chinese issues on the infrastructure development in the vicinity of the LAC, as nicely as the transform in the constitutional status of J&K. But there are no rigid answers.
A book which will appeal to readers, it is an effortless study nonetheless could have had far better maps and there are some editing errors .Undoubtedly the author has been capable to present substantial details on the background of Indo-China relations and events major up to the conflict in 1962in a lucid manner with a terrific deal of clarity.She has also highlighted specific troubles that merit the reader’s interest.The resolution provided of a demilitarized Zone as exists involving the two Koreas is novel but is unlikely to be pushed by either India or China.Unfortunately, there is no template that can be applied presently to assure that the uninhabited locations stay unoccupied. In this case the gap involving idealism and realism is incredibly wide.
(The author is an Indian Army Veteran. Views expressed are individual and do not reflect the official position or policy of TheSpuzz Online. )