M A I N   N E W S

Contents of war report accurate: 1962 veterans
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 18
The leak of the closely guarded Henderson Brooks report detailing the reasons for India’s defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1962 by an Australian journalist Neville Maxwell has kicked off an intense debate in military and security circles.

While eyebrows have been raised in some quarters over “timing” of the leak, close to the polls, many former officers who had fought on the ground during the war and matched their war experiences with the available version of the report, are of the opinion that it is an accurate account of what had then happened.

“The contents of the report are accurate, though its just a staff duties’ compilation and of little value,” Maj Gen K Khorana (retd), who had served as a captain with 1 Sikh at Twang during the war, said. Though there is nothing outstanding in the report, one aspect that needs to be noted is that when the Army had asked for written directions from the government, no political aims and objectives were conveyed and only a military objective to ‘throw out the Chinese’ was given. The same was passed down the chain of command and there was total disconnect on the ground,” he added.

Brig Behl, who was commissioned in 1961 and had spent seven months as a prisoner of war near Lhasa, recalled that while they were inducted to support an Indian offensive in that area, no one had expected China to launch an attack.” He, however, questioned the timing of the leak.