Table of Contents Author’s Note ------3 This Man Changed Everything ------5 Wars that Defined our borders ------8 1. First Kashmir War 1947 ------10 2. Operation Polo ------13 3. Operation Vijay ------18 4. Operation Meghdoot ------21 Heroic Battles ------23 1. Operation Cactus ------25 2. Operation Ashwamedah ------27 Humanitarian Missions ------28 1. Operation Sukoon ------30 2. Operation Safe Homecoming ------31 3. Operation Rahaat ------32 4. Other Evacuations by India ------34 Bonus ------35 Author’s Note
A true patriot tries to instil patriotism in his fellow mates and keep himself dedicated to the nation.
While we might never get a chance to give our lives for our country, but yes we can do a small contribution to the country --- Just support our army men and remember our martyrs in our prayers.
This eBook speaks about wars our Indian Armed Forces fought to make our country a safe, secular and peaceful nation.
Date: 7th January 2017 Dedicated to all the martyrs who died fighting to make our lives more secured This man changed everything
First Lt General of India
Image Source: - http://india-shinning.blogspot.in/2011/12/lt-general-nathu-singh-rathore-first-lt.html This man changed everything (Cont…)
After gaining Independence, a meeting was organized to select the first General of the Indian Army. [1]
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru chaired that meeting. Leaders and Army officers were discussing to whom this responsibility should be given.
In between the discussion Nehru said, “I think we should appoint a British officer as a General of Indian Army as we don’t have enough experience to lead the same.” Everybody supported Nehru because if the PM was suggesting something, how can they not agree?
But one of the army officers abruptly said, “I have a point, sir.” Nehru said, “Yes, gentleman. You are free to speak.” He said, “You see, sir, we don’t have enough experience to lead a nation too, so shouldn’t we appoint a British person as first PM of India?” This man changed everything (Cont…)
The meeting hall suddenly went quiet.
Then, Nehru said, “Are you ready to be the first General of Indian Army?”
He got a golden chance to accept the offer but he refused the same and said, “Sir, we have a very talented army officer, my senior, Lt Gen Cariappa, who is the most deserving among us.”
That day we got the first Field Marshal of Independent India K M Cariappa[2]
Image Source: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodandera_M._Cariappa#/media/File:Field_Marshal_KM_Cariappa.jpg Wars that defined our borders Wars that defined our borders
The British controlled 565 princely states during 1947 in Indian subcontinent. While leaving India, they gave a choice to all princely states to either join India, Pakistan or stay Independent.
Man Instrumental for India’s unification
The Iron Man of India – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
In this series, We will list down four wars that resurrected India how it is today
1. First Kashmir War 1947 (Erstwhile J&K princely state) 2. Operation Polo (Hyderabad) 3. Operation Vijay (Goa) 4. Operation Meghdoot (Siachen Glacier)
Image Source: - http://www.14gaam.com/history-of-sardar-vallabhbhai-patel.htm First Kashmir War -- 1947
Jammu and Kashmir was one of the largest princely states in India during Independence enjoyed a huge majority of Muslims in the region governed by a Hindu King. [3]
While this state was independent under the British India, acted as a buffer to Central Asian invasion before Indian Independence.
After British transferred power to the new Indian government, the Central government had a task to bring in 565 princely states under one secular nation – India.
Hari Singh, the then Kashmir King wanted to stay independent or join India.
The region of Gilgit was very important for both the new countries. Pakistan wanted to deploy troops into this region even if Kashmir joins India because of its strategic importance, but India wouldn’t accept any external forces into its territory. [4] First Kashmir War – 1947 (Cont…)
Pakistan couldn’t digest the fact that a Muslim majority state like Kashmir is not a part of the new nation formed on religious lines.
Poonch was a high taxation region in the valley. With Muslims in Poonch being heavily taxed with less economic prospects, Pakistan felt the region would support them in conquering Kashmir.
Pakistani troops entered the valley and occupied Gilgit and so-called Azad Kashmir in their conquest.
They instead of reaching Srinagar, went on to loot residents of Gilgit and Azad Kashmir.
Hari Singh asked for help from India, which India did on one condition – Signing the Instrument of Accession to India, which officially means unification of Kashmir and India.
Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession to India on 26th October 1947 – celebrated as Accession Day in India First Kashmir War – 1947 (Cont…) India immediately airlifted troops to the deployed them in Srinagar. The Indian border operations, codenamed under Operation Vijay, Operation Gulab and Eraze, Operation Bison and Operation Easy avoided the Pakistani forces from reaching Srinagar and stopped them at Uri.
PM Jawaharlal Nehru then went to the United Nations against the occupation of Pakistan in Kashmir, making Kashmir a disputed territory. The UN declared a ceasefire in 1949 along the territorial occupancy of both the nations, which later became the Line of Control after the Simla Agreement in 1972.
India was declared a winner as it controlled 2/3rd of the land in Kashmir valley.
Image Source: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1947#/media/File:J%26K10low.jpg Operation Polo
Operation Polo or Police Action was the name given to the unification of Hyderabad State into Indian Union.[5]
The Nizams were independent rulers of the state of Hyderabad, a state with 85% Hindu population and arguably the largest princely state in British India.
The Nizams had entered into an agreement with the British under the subsidiary alliance, when helped him maintain significant ruling autonomy in his kingdom, but external affairs were handled by the British for a fee. Operation Polo (Cont…)
One of the richest states in India, the last Nizam ( Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan) was among the richest people in the world, has featured in the TIME also.[6]
Image Source : - http://guruprasad.net/posts/sardar-patel-prevented-hyderabad-becoming-another-pakistan-operation-polo/ Operation Polo (Cont…)
India got independence on 15th August 1947. Many princely states joined the Indian Union after a humble meeting with the Iron Man of India. But Hyderabad stayed reluctant. It wanted to remain Independent or join Pakistan. Joining Pakistan wasn’t an easy task, but in a landlocked region to stay independent, it needs ports and the Nizam was in no mood to have good relations with India. This brought suspicion to the Indian government.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel clearly stated that Hyderabad couldn’t remain independent as it didn’t make sense for the unification of the entire sub-continent as one country, thereby might provoke other princely states to fight to stay Independent.
The Indian government signed a Standstill agreement with Hyderabad stating that it couldn’t join Pakistan but could stay independent. But due to violation of the agreement from both the sides, this agreement didn’t stand long. Operation Polo (Cont…)
Nehru was reluctant for any military intervention in the unification of Hyderabad as advised by the Britishers, but Patel went his way. Nehru’s concern was justified as he felt Pakistan would attack on India, if it annexes Hyderabad, equally ignorant of the fact that Pakistan was in no mood to do so.
On September 13, 1948, Patel started the attack on the erstwhile state of Hyderabad at Naldurg fort at the Solapur Highway. After being victorious, then the Indian Army attacked the state from Jalna, Surjapet and Adilabad.
The army of Razakars of about 2,00,000 was defeated in a one-sided battle by the 35,000 Indian Army troops within 100 hours. In a high level meeting between the Home Minister of India and the last Nizam of Hyderabad, the state was handed over to the Indian Union, making the last Nizam Rajpramuk of the Hyderabad state and allowed him to keep all his wealth. Operation Polo (Cont…) The second major reason for the unification of Hyderabad was important for India was to save the majority population from the atrocities of a religious ruler.
Despite enjoying an overwhelming majority in the state of Hyderabad, the Hindus were not given equal representation in the state politics, army, etc…. With increasing loot, murder and rape against a particular sect of people, it alarmed the Indian government to stop these atrocities at the earliest, prompting Patel to force military action on Hyderabad state.
When the richest man in the world surrenders to the Iron Man of India --- The last Nizam was granted 5 million rupees by the Indian Government for allowing the unification.
Image Source: - http://itsalexanderthegreat.blogspot.in/p/liberation-of-hyderabad-state-india.html Operation Vijay Portuguese settlements existed in India even before the British came to rule the entire sub-continent. While the British reduced their influence only to Goa and other enclaves in Dadra and Nagara Haveli; they refused to surrender their territory to the new Indian Union. The French surrendered their territory in 1954 without much fanfare, Portuguese territories were unified to the Indian Union by the Indian Armed Forces in 1961.[7]
While before Operation Vijay, in 1954 the Indian forces took over all Portuguese enclaves like Dadra and Nagara Haveli. To access to the port, they needed to travel 20km through the Indian territory which was the major reason for unification into the Indian Union as a Union Territory.
Image Source: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Goa Operation Vijay (Cont…)
The Portuguese were adamant with Goa, considering it as an overseas territory of Portugal, with similar legal rights to the citizens of Goa as of Portugal.
India’s demand was justified. As an integral part of the Indian sub-continent and emotional/religious feelings of the residents of Unified India, Goa was a top priority for India to be unified. Portugal tried to fear India with dialogue, but was unprepared for any war with India.
Emotional/religious feelings are associated with the Saraswat Brahmins living in Goa before the Portuguese rule. Saraswat Brahmins were tortured, rape, murdered and mass converted to Catholics in 1500s, forcing them to run towards the Konkan Coast to save their faith. But our temples were still situated in Goa. These sentiments couldn’t be ignored. We all are grateful to the Indian government to help us restore the temples which were left in bad shape by the Portuguese Empire. [8]
After annexation of the Portuguese territories except Goa in 1954, the Indian authorities had stopped giving visas for visiting Goa, and complete a cut-off of trade with Indian Union also. Operation Vijay (Cont…)
A 45000 troop Indian Army with a light carrier aircraft attacked the 3995 guarded Portugal settlement in Goa on 18th December 1961.
The Indian army first attacked from the east of Goa to capture Panjim and Margao. Later on the air force attacked at the Dabolim Airport an blew down its runways keeping the other establishments intact.
Then later on the Indian Navy on INS Mysore and INS Trishul attacked the inhabited Anjidiv Islands.
Finally, the navy fought at the Mormugao harbour to completely annex Goa as an India territory.
Portugal appealed in the International Court of Justice on the Indian activity in Goa and its other settlements in 1962. However, they recognized Goa and other territories as a part of India with India signing of a treaty with Portugal in 1974. Operation Meghdoot Operation Meghdoot was the codenamed operation to capture the world’s highest battlefield: - The Siachen Glacier, fought on the 13th April 1984 piping China and Pakistan.
The most trusted RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) had foiled the plans of the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) by executing the plan 4 days before the Pakistani forces had planned to occupy Siachen Glacier.[9]
Actually Siachen Glacier was a left part of the war between China, India and Pakistan, who respectively acquired their territories in Kashmir, leaving a triangular Siachen Glacier vacant in the entire activity.
Image Source: - http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/how-raw-outsmarted-isi-to-win-siachen-for- india-through-operation-meghdoot-263062.html Operation Meghdoot (Cont…)
The Pakistani forces had ordered an artic gear from an London supplier (150 in number) to occupy the Siachen Glacier which all the three countries had claims.
The RAW got the indication of the same and ordered the same gear (300 in number) from the same supplier, that too without ISI getting a clue about the deal. On top of that, India received the gear faster than Pakistan.
Pakistan had planned on April 17th ,1984, but India decided to occupy Siachen Glacier on April 13th, 1984. Some troops were airdropped for precautionary measures, but most troops travelled by foot to escape the Pakistani radars.
India achieved the feat on the decided date, but when Pakistan came to know about the same, they attacked Indian troops to occupy the Glacier. But Pakistan despite having an advantage to occupy the Glacier from the PoK, couldn’t make any significant dent to India’s occupancy of the Siachen Glacier. Heroic Battles Heroic Battles Heroism is what defines Indian Armed Forces.
India has fought various heroic battles which made India a dependable military force in the world.
Some heroic battles India has fought 1. Operation Meghdoot 2. Operation Cactus 3. Operation Ashwamedah
Image Source:- http://www.alignthoughts.com/18-shocking-facts-you-want-to-know-about-indian-soldiers- at-siachen-glacier/ Operation Cactus Operation Cactus was the codename to the 1988 military coup by the Indian Armed Forces to save the Maldivian President Abdul Gayoom and his government from insurgencies led by a Maldivian Businessman Abdullah Luthufi with the help of Tamil insurgent group People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE).[11]
Actually, the PLOTE and Maldivian rebels took over the government by infiltrating the capital Male and wanted to prison the President to establish their government. But somehow, the President escaped and passed on the message through the Maldivian Ambassador to India, Pakistan, United States, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other Indian Ocean countries.[12]
Sri Lanka and Malaysia kept their armies at bay. US and UK worked with India to establish crucial information, but US didn’t want to directly intervene in this matter.
India proves it mettle again to keep the coup at bay. With no proper maps available, 300 troops were airlifted 2700 km south of the India’s Capital within nine hours of the appeal by President Gayoom. Operation Cactus (Cont…)
The Indian forces landed at the Male airport and took it in control the moment they landed on the airstrip.
Several other troops came in from the Cochin Air Base and through Navy ships Godavari and Betwa.
A total of 1600 troops brought the situation under control in the nominally democratic Indian Ocean nation within few hours.
Soon all troops were withdrawn with some troops stationed for another month, in order to protect the government from any potential coup.
We became a peace-keeping agent after this event. With Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka and Operation Cactus in Maldives, India received appreciation from the world nations like the United Kingdom and United States. Operation Ashwamedah
This operation is well known as the five minute operation too. A hijacker named Mohammed Yunus Shah claimed to have grenades and pistols on a Srinagar-bound Indian Airlines flight, which took off from Delhi on April 24th 1993.
The flight was asked to be flown to Kabul, but needed a refuel, which it tried to get in Lahore. But the Lahore Air Traffic Control department rejected the use of the Lahore Air Space. After circling round Lahore for a long time, the flight landed in Amritsar.
The hijacked demanded refuel of the aircraft and to be flown back to Kabul. But the Indian delegate (Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police of Amritsar) tried to negotiate with the hijacker.
Later on, he threatened the government that if his demands weren’t met, he would blow up the aircraft and fired a bullet in the cabin, which went past the aircraft. At 01:00 60 NSG commandos entered the aircraft and shot the hijacker with a silenced pistol. The operation got over at 01:05 on April 25th 1993. Humanitarian Missions Humanitarian Missions
India is a peace loving nation. Whether is it the separation of East Pakistan from West Pakistan when the atrocities on Bangladeshi citizens increased, or bringing back foreign nationals from Yemen when it was in a war with the Royal Saudi Forces.
Some interesting evacuation missions 1. Operation Sukoon 2. Operation Safe Homecoming 3. Operation Raahat
Image Source:- https://www.mea.gov.in/indian-mission.htm?132/Libya Operation Sukoon In the 2006 Lebanon War between Lebanon and Israel was a gruesome war fought between Israel and Lebanon (backed by Iran) for 34 days. This war led to casualties of over 100+ local and foreign civilians for both sides combined.
The Indian Navy then went on to execute Operation Sukoon to evacuate the citizen of India, Sri Lanka and Nepal from the conflict zone. Over 10000 Indian citizens and 2200 citizens of Nepal and Sri Lanka were struck in the conflict zone.
The Indian Navy sent the destroyer INS Mumbai, the frigates INS Brahmaputra, INS Betwa and the fleet tanker INS Shakti for this mission.
The Indian Navy evacuated 2280 people, including other nationals and kept a watch in international waters of Lebanon to ensure the safety of other Indian nationals in the country.
This was one of the largest evacuation by the Indian Navy since Indian Independence.[14][15] Operation Safe Homecoming The Arab Spring had come to Libya after Egypt and Tunisia. The civil war was to pull down the world’s-longest ruling dictator Muammer Gadaffi.
There were 18000 Indian nationals present in Libya. But with a closed central airport and runway at Benina International Airport was completely destroyed, thereby obstructed any kind of airlift.
The Indian Navy sent three ships, namely INS Mysore, INS Aditya and INS Jalashwa from Mumbai to Libya on 26th February 2011 and reached the ports on 8th March 2011.
The Air India along with few chartered flights had evacuated many Indian nationals from Libya before the ship reached Libya(through Indian diplomatic ties), thereby collectively 15000 Indian nationals were evacuated from Libya during the civil war.[16] Operation Raahat
This operation was carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in the war country of Yemen due to Royal Saudi Forces attack.[16]
The MEA officials advised the nationals to stay aware of the war situation, but still 5000 Indian nationals were stuck in the country of Yemen.[17]
With no-close fly zone in Yemen, Indian forces chose Djibouti for the evacuation process by sea.
India was approached by forty nations for evacuation namely Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Slovenia, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Thailand, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Image Source:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Raahat Operation Raahat (Cont…)
The Indian Navy sent INS Sumitra, INS Mumbai, INS Tarkash, MV Kavaratti and MV Corals.
Indian Air Force sent two c-17 Globemaster (Capacity of 600) and Muscat city was used to deploy two Air India Airbus A320 flights for the evacuation.
Close to 5600 people were evacuated out of which 3570 were Indian nationals. Foreign nationals from 40 countries who couldn’t sent their units for evacuation of their nationals were very grateful to India.
India received appreciation on a global level as a peace keeping force who wants to help all citizens of the world, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, etc…. Other Evacuations by India
India has proved to be an international leader in evacuating people in war-struck regions of the world. Some other famous ones are 1. Kuwait Evacuation in 1990 2. June 2014, NSA advisor Ajit Doval negotiated the release of 475 Indians in Iraq 3. 1000 Indian nationals were evacuated from Ukraine in June 2015
A super-hit movie has been made on the Kuwait evacuation during the Iraq-Kuwait war ---- Airlift. The main protagonist Akshay Kumar has played a brilliant role as Ranjit Katyal in the movie.
Image Source:- http://jagranfilmfestival.co.in/?p=804007 Bonus: - My favourite War strategy Pakistan during the 1971 war had better intelligence services compared to India. Unbelievable right.
The ISI was established by Pakistan in 1948 while RAW was established in India in 1968 after an intelligence gap during the Sino-Indian War and Indo-Pak War of 1965.
India had executed Operation Python and Operation Trident using superior naval forces on the Karachi Port paralyzing the Pakistani forces.
But we know that Pakistan and India share the same language as we were one unit before 1947. Using the same language of India as the language used by Pakistan would help them decode into our intelligence secrets easily.
Therefore, the Indian Armed Forces employed South Indian soldiers across the important border points so that communication between them wouldn’t be decoded easily. [18]
Today, RAW is much stronger than ISI. It has started showing its superiority since 1984 Siachen Conflict Shashank Kamath References
[1]http://india-shinning.blogspot.in/2011/12/lt-general- nathu-singh-rathore-first-lt.htm [2]https://nammakannadablog.quora.com/Field-Marshal- K-M-Cariappa-Kipper [3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo- Pakistani_War_of_1947 [4]https://reflectionsvvk.quora.com/Blaming-Nehruji-1- 1948-War [5]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_annexation_of_H yderabad [6]http://guruprasad.net/posts/sardar-patel-prevented- hyderabad-becoming-another-pakistan-operation-polo [7]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Goa [8]http://udaypai.in/grandmas-konkani-lullaby-and-a- tragic-goan-story/ [9]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Meghdoot [10] http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/how-raw- outsmarted-isi-to-win-siachen-for-india-through- operation-meghdoot-263062.html [11]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Maldives_coup_ d'%C3%A9tat [12]http://pragati.nationalinterest.in/2014/04/operation- cactus-indias-1988-intervention-in-the-maldives/ Refrences (Cont…)
[13]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Airlines_Flight_ 427 [14]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sukoon [15]http://www.oneindia.com/2006/08/11/international- media-appreciates-operation-sukoon-1155299940.html [16]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Safe_Home coming [17] http://www.dailyo.in/politics/yemen-india- operation-rahat-vk-singh-sushma-swaraj-syed- akbaruddin/story/1/3023.html [18] http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/7-war- strategies-used-by-indians-across-generations-that-will- blow-your-mind-229760.html