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India and Pakistan have had a violent relationship since the times the two nations were born out of the partition of British India. In fact, India has a history of fighting four wars with Pakistan. Unfortunately, its first war, which in many ways was one of the most crucial operations, has not been given the due coverage by military historians and the media.
It is unfortunate that there has been bitter rivalry between these two forces on who played a more vital role during the three wars, however, the war of 1947-48 to save Kashmir was an outstanding example when the two supplemented and complemented each other against all odds in the interest of the nation. This book by Air Marshal Bharat Kumar is a sincere effort to chronicle the vital role played by IAF in that most incredible war India can be rightly proud of. There is no doubt that the war of 1947-48 was a unique war in the annals of modern warfare in more ways than one. Pakistan claimed that it was the raiders not under their control who were fighting the Indian troops. It was proved beyond doubt that 100,000 troops were transported by train and motor transport, fed, lodged and trained and kept in camps with full support from the Pakistan army. It may be recalled that Pakistan made similar claims of raiders fighting their war in 1965 and in 1999 as well. This was a strange war which was fought by the troops of both the countries not under the leadership of the commanders of their own respective nations but under the commanders of a third nation ie United Kingdom. It was India's own choosing to retain the British officers as heads of the three services immediately after Partition. Our leaders believed that both the newly formed nations lacked enough experience in higher command. The loyalty of British officers to the Indian government was suspect right from the time of independence. Fortunately for India, our commanders of Army and Air Force proved their civilian masters wrong when the chips were actually down. Since the British Chiefs serving the Indian and Pakistan forces owed their loyalty to their masters, both the commanders kept each other informed of their secret war plans. This could be the only war in which the two enemies shared information on regular basis. Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw, MC has this to say about the war, "It had been the most absurd of wars. There can be no precedent in the history for a situation in which armies commanded by two senior British officers in telephonic communication, were restrained with difficulty from closing with each other." India will ever remain indebted to the likes of Air Commodore Mehar Singh who landed at Leh on May 24, 1948 and Major General Thimayya, but for whose unprecedented and daring actions against orders from the higher headquarters, the war would have surely been lost to the evil designs of Pakistan. Mehar Singh was also the first to land at Poonch airstrip. No doubt there were many firsts performed by Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) like landing at Leh, the highest airfield in the world at that time, use of "Bomber Dakota" or supply drop by Tempest aircraft. These actions were unbelievable by the standards of those days. This was the only operation in which the two Warrant Officers of the Indian Air Force had the honour of being awarded the Vir Chakras for gallantry. Pandit Nehru has been criticised on a number of occasions because of his differing views of war with Sardar Patel, however he stood like a rock when asked by British Prime Minister Atlee, who on learning about Indian airlift to Srinagar, asked Nehru to contain further movements of Indian troops and replied, "I do not think it would be helpful if I were to comment on the action your government has taken". Heroic dare-devil deeds of pilots, engineers and other personnel of the Indian Air Force were indeed legendary in nature and will continue to inspire future generations. The book is a rare account of the valour of the Indian Air Force based on detailed research. It is a must read for all military professionals and others who may be interested in India's brave armed forces.
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That is why most Indians
are aware of the 1965, 1971 and 1999 Kargil wars but only few know
anything about the 1947-48 war that was forced on us by Pakistan and
the fact that but for the heroic joint operation of Indian Army and
Indian Air Force, the history and geography of India could have been
different.