I don't know how many in the group have read those books particularly of Brig. Dalvi as he is forthright in expressing his thoughts. He was captured by the Chinese and was a POW for sometime before he was released by them as part of the negotiated settlement.
I read it more than 4 decades back and have a faint recollection of some incidents which I will try to recapture and write here. He says that when he was captured, the Chinese Commanding Officer, whose prisoner Brig. Dalvi was, told him that what infuriated the Chinese was Nehru's irresponsible remark, ( I think he said it at the airport while leaving for some official trip) that he has asked the Army to " throw out the Chinese". The proud Chinese took exception to this remark and wanted to teach a lesson to Nehru to show they can't be thrown out just like that. A careless and arrogant remark resulted in the Chinese feeling strongly to teach a lesson to Nehru and we paid the price, according to his book. Gen Chaudhary I think, asked Dalvi to submit a report on his and his troops capture and insultingly remarked (to Dalvi) so that we can learn " how not to hand over a battalion to the enemy". To this Dalvi days he gave a fitting written report recalling how we were totally unprepared, lacked arms and ammunition and even proper boots. In that Chapter Dalvi says that his report must have touched some raw nerves because he never heard anything from his General thereafter. It was a total misadventure and if people recall, Sardar Patel had cautioned Nehru not to trust the chinese and get too close to them - this was immediately after independence, at least a decade earlier before the actual war. As usual Nehru ignored this sagely advice and the Nation had to pay a heavy price for his innumerable follies, including Kashmir. Yet there are people in this country who can see, hear and speak no wrong of that person. We did not deserve Patel and got what we deserved and have paid a heavy price. On Thu, Jan 2, 2025, 10:16 AM Rajaram Krishnamurthy <[email protected]> wrote: > I read it and I know why as a military man could not write the > open sequential reasons; our Indian army, if given independent powers to > decode, we do not have a better army than that. Too much intervention by > the Indian dynasty rulers. Grandfather wanted them to drive away only and > no victory of conquering the territory. How much fairness can be practiced > in the war field? IN LOVE AND WAR THERE IS NOTHING KNOWN AS FAIRNESS. So we > lost and not the General. The grandson in Sri Lanka did the same.IPKF. > Intelligence gathering is interwoven with political interference. Serving > Govt is tough; serving as senior officer with the govt is still tougher; > and sp service without power is a piece of the toughest career. K R IRS 2125 > > On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 at 22:09, 'N Sekar' via iyer123 < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> Yahoo Mail: Search, Organize, Conquer >> <https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=US_Acquisition_YMktg_315_SearchOrgConquer_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=US_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100002039&af_sub5=C01_Email_Static_&af_ios_store_cpp=0c38e4b0-a27e-40f9-a211-f4e2de32ab91&af_android_url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.mail&listing=search_organize_conquer> >> >> ----- Forwarded Message ----- >> *From:* "N Sekar" <[email protected]> >> *To:* "[email protected]" <[email protected]> >> *Cc:* "Kerala Iyer" <[email protected]>, "Rangarajan T.N.C." < >> [email protected]>, "Mathangi K. Kumar" <[email protected]>, >> "Narayanaswamy Sekar" <[email protected]>, "Suryanarayana Ambadipudi" < >> [email protected]>, "Srinivasan Sridharan" < >> [email protected]>, "Rama (Iyer 123 Group)" <[email protected]>, >> "Dr Sundar" <[email protected]> >> *Sent:* Wed, Jan 1, 2025 at 9:35 PM >> *Subject:* Re: Fwd: Snippets from Sitendra Kumar - 1962 War >> Thanks. >> >> Of these I liked The Himalayan Blunder by Brig. Dalvi the most. >> It must have ruffled many feathers. He himself says so in one chapter. >> >> Total lack of political leadership or should I say abdication by the >> political bosses was the chief reason. >> >> We somehow as a Nation can't tolerate criticisms of the leadership >> particularly of the Nehru family which nearly destroyed Bharat and Hindus. >> Dalvi exposes those blunders. >> >> If we refuse to face facts and bury them under the carpet, we will never >> learn from our mistakes and blunders. A confident Nation should have the >> courage to face facts and where necessary, take remedial action. >> >> >> N Sekar >> >> Yahoo Mail: Search, Organize, Conquer >> <https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=US_Acquisition_YMktg_315_SearchOrgConquer_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=US_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100002039&af_sub5=C01_Email_Static_&af_ios_store_cpp=0c38e4b0-a27e-40f9-a211-f4e2de32ab91&af_android_url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.mail&listing=search_organize_conquer> >> >> On Wed, Jan 1, 2025 at 8:08 PM, Chittanandam V R >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> *Received from Shri Sitendra Kumar* >> >> * A taste of censorship during 1962 war* >> >> *Kulbir Singh* >> >> *IN October 1962, I was studying in Class III in my village school. My >> father was in the Army. With the outbreak of tensions at the India-China >> border, 9 Punjab Regiment was moved from Secunderabad to Tawang in >> Arunachal Pradesh, then called NEFA (North East Frontier Agency). My family >> became anxious on learning that my father had been sent to the war zone.* >> >> *In those days, the only source of news in the village was a panchayat >> radio. The antenna was a wire mesh tied and spread between poles on the >> rooftop. The speaker was strapped on a long bamboo pole to make the sound >> audible to as many listeners as possible. As there was no supply of >> electricity in our area, the radio operated on a dry battery for the >> morning and evening news.* >> *My family would listen to the war updates as we had hardly received any >> letter from my father in recent weeks. The post office was 3 km away in the >> adjoining village. The postman would visit our village only when he had >> letters to deliver. My mother wanted me to go to the post office daily >> after school. The foot track to that village was narrow and mostly remained >> secluded. There was tall and dense vegetation all along. After school, I >> would run to the post office.* >> >> *Most of the times, the postman would give a dejected look from a >> distance. Once in a while, there was a letter for me. I would immediately >> open it and try to read it, but found many lines blackened and the text >> unreadable. I would ask the postman why some lines had been blackened; he >> would tell me that the letter had been censored by the Army. Any >> war-related information considered sensitive by the military authorities >> was blackened; this process was called censorship. That is how I, a village >> lad, learnt the meaning of ‘censor’. I would run back home with a sense of >> achievement. The family would feel elated on getting some news about my >> father.* >> >> *My grandfather, who served in the British Indian Army, would celebrate >> with drinks in the evening. All these incidents got etched in my memory. I >> got obsessed with the 1962 war and wanted to know more about it. I read The >> Untold Story by Lt Gen BM Kaul while I was studying in Class XII. While >> reading it, I would try to corroborate its contents with what my father had >> told me. Later, during my career in the CRPF, I read 'Himalayan Blunder' by >> Brig JP Dalvi, 'India’s China War' by Neville Maxwell and '1962: The War >> That Wasn’t' by Shiv Kunal Verma.* >> *I had long discussions with my dad, who would aptly sum up the reasons >> for India’s defeat — unpreparedness, an inadequate and outdated weapon >> system, troops ill-equipped for the severe winter, a lack of road >> infrastructure and, most importantly, the failure of the military and >> political leadership.* >> *-- Kulbir Singh* >> ******************************** >> *Chittanandam* >> >> -- >> To go to your groups page on the web, login to your gmail account and >> then click on https://groups.google.com/ >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "iyer123" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/274139649.7334004.1735747570191%40mail.yahoo.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/274139649.7334004.1735747570191%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Thatha_Patty" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoqmc9bVWm%2BVOTFUuJDp7ExV8YvQB0qHEBM%2Bs0_u7JtSnA%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoqmc9bVWm%2BVOTFUuJDp7ExV8YvQB0qHEBM%2Bs0_u7JtSnA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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