Battles of 1971

[leonblack08]

We are just two days away from our 38th victory day.Now when talking about 1971,we all talk about what was the reason and how everything started,or mainly about the battles between India-Pakistan.
But we hardly talk about the battles that Freedom fighters fought,as a result of which ,many people on the other side of the border thinks that they were just a bunch of rag tag guerrilla.

I found many people to be unaware of the fact that,there were a good number of soldiers and officers from Pakistan army,air force and Navy,who defected to fight for Bangladesh.
Apart from that there was East Pakistan Rifles now BDR,Police men too.These people formed the core of the freedom fighters.All these people were trained and all they needed was guns,which India provided.

And then came the students,farmers,labours who took up arms and fought bravely.These people were civilians and needed training.And India provided that too.

During the massacre at 26th march night,the members of the police force resisted the West Pakistani advance at Razarbag police lines with .303 rifles.Where they were fighting against the army with assault rifles and mortars.They halted the advance for quite some time,but eventually their resistance ended.

Now these facts,are unknown to so many of our own people.These facts must be brought up and so on this thread,we shall discuss the battles fought by Mukti Bahini in 9 months.Pictures and videos are welcome.
And hopefully my fellow country men will join too.

 

[god]

Bangladeshis are one of the most hardworkers in the south of Asia and the story of Bangladesh has been written by the great fighters of the Bangladesh who fought against a much more superior force with valor and dignity.

 

[leonblack08]

Squadron Leader(rtd) Badrul Alam talking about Bangladesh air forces' formation and the sorties it conducted.He was one of those ,who defected from Pakistan air force.

Bangladesh Air force conducted 50 sorties during the liberation war,with planes given by Indian Govt.

Full translation


The Translation in summary:

Squadron Leader Badrul Alam,along with some other Pakistan Airforce pilots,including Air Vice Marshal A K Khandakar,Air Vice Marshal Bashar,Air Vice Marshal Sorfuddin,Sq Leader Nurul Kadir and others fled to India to fight for Bangladesh.

On 23rd sept,Indian armed forces gave Bangladesh few aircrafts.Then the exiled Bangladesh Govt. decided to form an air wing for Bangladesh.Thus BAF was born.

Sqn.Leader Badrul Alam was sent to set up the force.With defected pilots and engineers from Pakistan Air force and 6 civilian pilots, the BAF was formed.With a total of 9 pilots and 57 air men,the BAF started its mission.The Wing was named as "Kilo Flight".

In the 1st ops,he and sqn. leader Sultan Mahmud attacked Narayanganj and Shamsul Alam and Akram attacked Chittagong.

From 3rd Dec to 16th Dec,BAF operated 50 sorties.

His most memorable incident of the war:

Indians were dropping off from Helicopters at Norshinghdi.At that time Pakistani forces ambushed them and inflicted heavy casualty on Indian forces.Responding to Indian forces request for help,Squadron leader Badrul Alam and Captain Saha went for air strike.

After nearing the Pakistan army position,they were under so heavy fire that even Indians asked them to abort over radio.But the pilots saw that it was too late to abort and at that angle, aborting will make them more vulnerable.
They continued the attack and their plane got 16 hits.Sqn. Badrul Alam survived a bullet by only 4 inches.

They later came to know that 21 Pakistani soldiers were killed and because of this attack the whole Pakistani ambush was foiled.Later on Indian forces went on to capture whole of Narshingdi.

There were many other ops by BAF in Kulaura,Sylhet,mostly North-Western side of Bangladesh.
First flag of BAF was raised on 28th sep 1971,and Sqn leader Sultan Mahmud was first OC of "Kilo Flight". and the head of Air force was Group Captain (Now Air Vice Marshal (rtd))A K Khandakar.

 

[leonblack08]

Bangladeshis are one of the most hardworkers in the south of Asia and the story of Bangladesh has been written by the great fighters of the Bangladesh who fought against a much more superior force with valor and dignity.

Thank you.

On this thread we will know how those battles were planned and fought.

 

[god]

Thank you.

On this thread we will know how those battles were planned and fought.

I have a doubt regarding Bangladesh Air force. India entered the war very late. So who were the soldiers for the Bangladesh Air force? Was it PAF which parted with Bangladesh? But how did Indians gave them war planes before Bangladesh was not declared. Please tell me I just got bit confused.

 

[leonblack08]

I have a doubt regarding Bangladesh Air force. India entered the war very late. So who were the soldiers for the Bangladesh Air force? Was it PAF which parted with Bangladesh? But how did Indians gave them war planes before Bangladesh was not declared. Please tell me I just got bit confused.

Bangladesh Airforce at that time was composed of Pakistan Air force men who defected to fight for Bangladesh.Those who defected were Bengali officers and air men.

BAF started with 3 PAF pilots and 6 civilian pilot and 53 former PAF airmen.So all were trained personnel.

As for giving planes,just as India has been giving arms to Freedom fighters,the same way they gave planes.BAF conducted from Agartala,India(If I am not mistaken).

 

[god]

Bangladesh Airforce at that time was composed of Pakistan Air force men who defected to fight for Bangladesh.Those who defected were Bengali officers and air men.

As for giving planes,just as India has been giving arms to Freedom fighters,the same way they gave planes.BAF conducted from Agartala,India(If I am not mistaken).

So when they were flying were they flying under Indian flag or Bangladesh flag. what about the equipment of PAF. I mean were there PAF planes also with them which were used against PAF by BAF.

 

[leonblack08]

So when they were flying were they flying under Indian flag or Bangladesh flag. what about the equipment of PAF. I mean were there PAF planes also with them which were used against PAF by BAF.

They were carrying Bangladesh flag.Please read the translation above,it says about the formation of BAF.
Bangladesh was born on 26th march,that's when we declared independence.And on 16th Dec Pakistan surrendered.So we were fighting as Bangladeshis during this 9 months.

And they couldn't bring any PAF equipment with them,as they defected with their lives in their hand.If caught they would have been court martialed for mutiny.

 

[Windjammer]

It's worth mentioning that the Pakistan made G-3 Rifle had it's first real test during this war with devastating effects, but first a little back ground to the story. Initially apart from Mukti fighters, India had pushed it's own insurgents into East Pakistan. These Indian culprits were particularly ruthless and easily distinguishable as they had shaven heads and supported a pony tail. These insurgents raided the local radio station, abducted all the civilian staff and their families, killed and mutilated their bodies and piled the corpses in the court yard and started broadcasting anti-Pakistan propaganda in both Hindi and Bengali. The local Pakistan Army commander was instructed to salvage the Radio Station, who after a brief fire fight managed to over come the insurgents with about 20 of them arrested and lined up. After a brief survey of the area, the grizzly discovery of mutilated bodies of men, women and children was made. Seeing the horror, the Commander lost it and ordered one of his men to pull the trigger, the young soldier fired a single shot from his hip, it was reported the G-3 round pierced through seven insurgents and the bullet lodged into the eighth victim. Later in the war, in the Western sector, a Pakistani ground observer shot down an Indian Mystere fighter aircraft with a burst from his G-3 Rifle.

 

[leonblack08]

16th August 1971 : "Operation Jackpot"


Although during the nine months of the liberation war,a number of
military operation by Indian armed forces was code named "Operation Jackpot".But the one we will be discussing here is about the
Bangladeshi naval commando operation,which destroyed tonnes of
Pakistani shipping anchored at Bangladeshi docks in a simultaneous
attack.
The outcome of this particular operation was very significant.

Firstly,it busted the myth of "East Pakistan was under control".The
world came to know more about the situation in East Pakistan.

Secondly,it deprived Pakistan army off valuable logistical support.With
air-drop option already cut down by India,it was a major set back for
the occupying Pakistani troops.

Thirdly,it certainly boosted the morale of Freedom fighters who were
already high on spirit and patriotism.If the war from March 26th to
August was won by Pakistani army,it can certainly be said that this
operation turned the tide.

Bangladesh naval commando operation actually originated at Toulon, a coastal city of Southern France. In 1971, there were 11 naval crews of East Pakistan who were receiving training in a Pakistani submarine.Among them, only one commissioned officer (Mosharraf Hassain*) and 8 crews decided to take the submarine and to fight against Pakistani forces. However, their plan was disclosed and they had to ran away under severe death threats from Pakistani intelligence. Out of these 9 crews, one were killed by Pakistani Intelligence and rest of the 8 managed to travel to Indian Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland. From Geneva, Indian Embassy took them to New Delhi on the 9th of April at 9:30 a.m. and set up a top secret naval training for them.

*Unsure about name

Planning

At the conclusion of Operation Searchlight, the Pakistani Army had
driven the Mukti Bahini into India, where they entered a period of
reorganization during June and July 1971 to train guerrillas, set up
networks and safe houses in the occupied territories to run the
insurgency and rebuild the conventional forces. As the pace of military
operations in East Pakistan slacked off, the civilian morale was
adversely affected, which prompted Pakistani authorities to claim that
the situation had returned to "normal". In response to this
declaration, the Mukti Bahini launched 2 operations:

1) Guerrilla attacks in targets in Dhaka by a crack commando group trained by Major ATM Haider (ex-SSG commando).

2) the simultaneous mining and damaging of ships in Chittagong,
Chandpur, Mongla and Narayanganj on the 15th of August, which became known in Bangladesh and international media as "Operation
Jackpot".

Now among naval commandos included Bengali sailors who
defected from Pakistan navy and off course the civilians.From students to workers to farmers.

 

[leonblack08]

can't copy because of Error 404:

So I am giving the PDF link of a previous thread,which includes pictures.

http://www.defence.pk/forums/milita...do-operations-1971-war-operation-jackpot.html

 

[leonblack08]

Mosharraf Hossain *,who was probably a Commodore in the Independent Bangladesh Navy later on.It was nice listening to the details of the operation from him in a TV talk show.I am just writing down some details,hope my memory doesn't betray me.

The operation was an extremely dangerous one,actually it was a "suicide mission".How often one see such a large suicide squad,except may be for the Japanese in WW2.It was suicidal,as they had to attach limpet mines to their body and
swim to the ships.Then there was the threat of triggering alarm and then get caught.Which meant certain death by torture.Every naval commando had accepted that this was a suicidal mission,yet they decided to volunteer. He mentions one particular case,where he even had to make one freedom fighter learn to swim and then given commando training.When asked,he said,"He was at the war longer than me,I was at France,but he was there from the word go".

 

[leonblack08]

One extract from the account of a naval commando.

the naval commandos had evaded all precautions of the occupation army under the disguise of ardent visitors to the locally famous shrine of Muhsin Auliya and crossed the river under their nose to reach village Gahira to target the ships at outer anchorage. Farid had fastened a 6 kg.heavy limpet mine on his chest and before plunging into the roaring water requested his leader-friend Faruq-i-Azam to read with him the kalima. It was a daring operation and Farid and his friends were wading back-stroke towards the target with cheers. Soon they faced an attack on their bare body from a concentration of shrimps in the whirling water of the confluence and four of them get lost in
the sea. But the lifeless body of Muham-mad Husain Farid with a limpet mine on his chest came back from the sea into the river alone and it reached the pontoon of the Pakistan Navy at New Mooring only to take revenge.

Source:daily star special edition

Consequences
• Chittagong: 60 commandos were sent, out of which 31 finally
took part in the sabotage operation on the 16th. Between 1:45 to 2:15AM
explosions sank the MV Al-Abbas, the MV Hormuz and the Orient barge
no.6, sinking 19,000 tons of arms and ammunitions.
• Chandpur: 18 out of 40 commandos finally took part in the
operation. 3 steamers/barges were damaged or sunk.
• Narayanganj: 20 commandos conducted the sabotage operation. 4
ships were sunk or damaged.
• Mongla: 20 commandos managed to damage 6 foreign owned ships.

 

[leonblack08]

 

[TopCat]

It's worth mentioning that the Pakistan made G-3 Rifle had it's first real test during this war with devastating effects, but first a little back ground to the story. Initially apart from Mukti fighters, India had pushed it's own insurgents into East Pakistan. These Indian culprits were particularly ruthless and easily distinguishable as they had shaven heads and supported a pony tail. These insurgents raided the local radio station, abducted all the civilian staff and their families, killed and mutilated their bodies and piled the corpses in the court yard and started broadcasting anti-Pakistan propaganda in both Hindi and Bengali. The local Pakistan Army commander was instructed to salvage the Radio Station, who after a brief fire fight managed to over come the insurgents with about 20 of them arrested and lined up. After a brief survey of the area, the grizzly discovery of mutilated bodies of men, women and children was made. Seeing the horror, the Commander lost it and ordered one of his men to pull the trigger, the young soldier fired a single shot from his hip, it was reported the G-3 round pierced through seven insurgents and the bullet lodged into the eighth victim. Later in the war, in the Western sector, a Pakistani ground observer shot down an Indian Mystere fighter aircraft with a burst from his G-3 Rifle.

Which radio station you talking about? Kalurghat of Chittagong? It was taken over by then Major Ziaur Rahman (later president of Bangladesh)? The radio station was taken over by him without any fight, later Pakistani army recaptured it but they left with transmitter and they had to take a long walk to India through Jungle. Pakistan army did not pursuit them because they were too many and hilly terrain. I never heard of any women and children in that area at that moment of time.