HVK Archives: Triumph of logistics
Triumph of logistics - India Today
Manoj Joshi
()
15 May 1997
Title : Triumph of logistics
Author : Manoj Joshi
Publication : India Today
Date : May 15, 1997
Reproduced Hundreds of times and even rendered in oil, the
photograph is deeply etched in the collective memory of the
subcontinent. It depicts Lt-General A.A.K. Niazi signing the
instrument of surrender of the Pakistan Army in Dhaka on December
16, 1971. Sitting next to him is the GoC-in-C, Eastern Command,
Lt-General Jagjit Singh Aurora. To the right, behind him, is a man
with a world-weary smile which some could mistake for a smirk. He
is Maj-General J.F.R. Jacob, chief of staff of the Indian Army's
Eastern Command, and in a sense the architect of the victory.
Jacob's account, appearing a quarter-century after the surrender,
at last rills in some of the details of that historic event. India
has been ill-served by its military officers. While several books
on the wars India has fought have been published, few have ventured
into the memoir genre which requires a certain self-assurance and
intelligence. jack Jacob's memoirs are undoubtedly self-serving,
but therein lies its great value. In the process we learn that
victory in Bangladesh was an outcome of good staff work and
planning and not the handiwork of some Rommel-like generals who
swept all before them.
Operations in a terrain, a quarter of which was swamps, rivers and
lakes, was no ordinary proposition. This is where Jacob's
contribution as chief of staff of the Eastern Command came in. He
had to lead the staff team that worked out the strategy, built up
the infrastructure. organised the logistics and directed the
movement of the army led by Aurora. Victory in Bangladesh was never
in doubt. With complete domination of the air from day one and a
naval blockade along with an overall superiority in men and
materials of 4:1 and in some areas even 10:1 over the Pakistanis,
the In than Army could not have lost. But what was striking about
the campaign was the imaginative planning. command and control that
went into it. Dhaka, which Jacob rightly terms as the "geopolitical
and geostrategic heart of East Pakistan", was protected by wide
rivers and would have been a tough nut to crack had the Pakistani
commanders fought their war differently. Jacob points out that army
no and General Sam Manekshaw did not realise the importance of
capturing Dhaka at the earliest and planned instead to seize
Chittagong, Khulna and large stretches of territory to set tip a
Bangladesh government.
Inevitably perhaps, memoirs touch on assessments of individuals,
some positive and others negative, but therein lies a certain worth
in balancing out the heroic images we are used to, Jacob's
Surrender brings out Manekshaw's warts and plays down the role of
Aurora. But he is generous in his praise for the engineers, Corps
Commanders M.L. Thapan, T.N. Raina and Sagat Singh, and director,
military operations, Maj-General Inder Gill. There are some
interesting revelations. The first, pointing to the lack of proper
assessment of the situation, describes the attempt by the BSF to
take on the Pakistan Army in April 1971. The second relates to the
manner in which the Army Signal's intelligence broke the Pakistan
Navy code and helped in the accidental destruction of the Pakistani
submarine Ghazi.
Call it hindsight or sour grapes, the surrender of the Pakistani
Army in East Pakistan may have been 'a famous victory', but it was
flawed. India was unable to translate it into corresponding
geopolitical gains. Jacob points out the lack of clear strategic
aims in the western theatre and of being told off by Manekshaw on
that score. He also narrates his appeal to D.P. Dhar, then prime
ministerial adviser, for securing the guarantees for the Hindu
minority, transit rights by rail and inland waterways through
Bangladesh in 1972 itself. We all know how, the smooth-talking
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto managed to get his 90,000 Pews for a verbal
pledge to convert the Line of Control in Kashmir into an
international border. As for Bangladesh's attitude towards India,
the less said the better.
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