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From the battlefield The War, Worry and the
Way Out.
Basically, the book highlights the battles fought by 161 Infantry Brigade in the 1947-48, 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars. It first gives an account of the 1947-48 war and then describes logically the various battles fought by 161 Brigade. Similarly, the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars are discussed before dealing with operations of 161 Brigade. While 161 Brigade was the first brigade to land at Srinagar Airport, 1 Sikh was the first unit that reached Srinagar to secure the city. Later, it moved forward. 161 Brigade inflicted severe defeat on Pakistani raiders in the battle of Shalatang and later advanced fast to the Uri area, west of Baramula. For reasons not clear, it was diverted to move towards Poonch instead of advancing towards Muzzaffarabad. It was a blunder. However, when 161 Brigade reverted back to Uri from Poonch link-up, the Pakistanis had moved some regular troops to the Uri area. Nevertheless, 161 did not really make a concerted effort to advance towards Muzzaffarbad, states the author. The 1965 Indo-Pak war has been covered in a precise and lucid manner, particularly the battles that took place in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani forces did not attack 161 Brigade occupying defensive positions in Uri and so it was not really involved in the operations. However, 161 Brigade provided firm base for operations of 68 Infantry Brigade, which captured strategically important position of Haji Pir Pass that unfortunately we vacated after the Tashkant agreement with Pakistan. The book analyses well the 1971 Indo-Pak war bringing out clearly Indian as well as Pakistani strategies. The author took over 161 Infantry Brigade a few months before the 1971 war. The brigade was deployed for defensive operations on the hill positions. He started off on a wrong foot with his General Officer Commanding (GOC) Maj-Gen E. Desouza. Unfortunately, their differences continued during the war also. Though both officers were professionally competent, their differences arose over the planning and conduct of operations, which sometimes happen during wars. The main task of 161 Brigade was to defend its area and also undertake limited offensive operations to capture some forward Pakistani posts. The author describes in a scintilating and dispassionate manner the various battles fought by his units, bringing out instances where a battalion commander takes council of his fears while a courageous Company Commander leads his troops from the front and gains success in a difficult situation. The author mentions his GOC’s whims and fancies but is candid enough to mention his own faults too. The book frankly discusses some flaws in the system of awards, which are given after the war. In the 1971 war, 19 Infantry Division had three brigades—161 and 104 Infantry Brigades were deployed in forward areas in Uri and Tangdhar sectors while 278 Infantry Brigade was kept behind as the divisional reserve. It was a short war in which both the forward brigades were involved in the battle, with 104 Brigade capturing the area in the Lippa valley in an offensive operation. However, its commander was not given any award. Kapil Nanda who commanded 161 was not given any award either, which is understandable. Surprisingly, the commander of 278 Infantry Brigade, which did not take part in the operations at all, was given an AVSM (Ati Vashisht Sena Medal) "presumingly preparing themselves for the offensive tasks", remarks the author with some justification. Well, such things do happen in a war and the military officers should learn to take such situations in their stride. The book giving dispassionate accounts of various battles and the actions of commanders under the stress of wars should be helpful to military commanders at various levels. Therefore, it can be a useful addition to any military library.
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Leadership
