The Guns of December

THE nation is justly proud of its armed forces. Their achievements in the 14-day war are not merely a tally of so many square miles of territory won and so many losses inflicted on the enemy. Of that, the record is good enough. But they have given such a thrashing to the aggressor that it should serve as a salutary lesson to him forever. The hubris of the Islamabad Generals lies crumbled in the dust of Dacca and on the banks of Munnawar Tawi and Basantar. By their magnificent performance India’s armed forces have toned up the national psyche. The Indian should no longer wallow in self-pity. In NEFA in 1962 the Chinese caught us on a sticky wicket and beat us badly. The 1965 ‘Test’ with Pakistan was more or less a draw, though we had the upper hand. In the last and final round, as General Yahya Khan put it, we won by an innings and more. This time, our team played for a decision and got it for all the world to see. When the guns stopped firing on December 17, Pakistan had lost its eastern half for good and even the rump was in danger of being overwhelmed by Indian arms. An objective assessment of the campaigns in the east and west, in all the details, will be the job of the military historian long after the dust of battle settles. But on the face of it, the performance of the three services is impressive by any standard. The Indian Army’s blitzkrieg in the east naturally caught more attention of the world as the issue of the war was primarily there. Even with the Mukti Bahini’s splendid support the logistical difficulties involved in the operations were so much that it was feared the enemy would hold out long enough to upset our military and political calculations. The movement of the US 7th Fleet into the Bay of Bengal as the siege of Dacca was underway made the suspense almost unbearable.

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