K.K. Nanda

War with No Gains K.K. Nanda

I was ordered to attack a Pakistan's-very strong defensive position, opposite me on the same night. It made no sense to me, particularly when my entire Brigade Sector was under intense shelling and Pakistan, having the initiative could attack that night. Under the then prevailing circumstances I was certain that lifting of troops from one of my forward infantry battalions would unbalance me and I, therefore, had no option but to refuse the GOCs order. He was livid and very angry and that led to my fighting Maj Gen E'Desouza rather than Pakistan during the fortnight of the War. For all my subsequent offensive actions, he refused to give me any additional troops from his reserve Brigade, which was located in my Sector only and that too without any ground holding responsibility or any other commitment. We, of course, did our best but that was not good enough. My Brigade would have achieved much more, if additional resources had been allotted to me by the GOC for specific tasks. In this bargain the Indian Army and the Nation lost a golden opportunity to capture real estate in POK. -Excerpt from the book This book by Lt Gen KK Nanda serves a good purpose in portraying important aspects of Army life in Operational Areas and during War. It is of value to professionals as well as to the general public, interested in defence issues.