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Indian Army "Faked" Battle of Laungewalla

IAF won Laungewala: Pak brigadier

New Delhi, March 24, 2008

The view that it was the Indian Air Force, and not the army, that won India the Battle of Laungewala in 1971, has just got another push. And this time it comes from a former Pakistani brigadier who himself led forces into Laungewala.

Brig (Retd) Zahir Alam Khan, in his autobiography The Way It Was — Inside the Pakistan Army, said the IAF battered Pakistani tanks at Laungewala, primarily because they were not supported by their own air force.

The Laungewala battle has been in the eye of a remarkable storm of introspection in India too, with a galaxy of Indian war heroes questioning the authenticity of the official army version of the events.

The story, first broken by Hindustan Times on March 1, has stirred what could yet emerge as one of the bigger scandals in Indian military historiography.

Major General Atma Singh (retd), who won the Vir Chakra for gallantry at Laungewala, told HT that no ground battle was fought by the army.

Khan says the Laungewala operation was meticulously planned. Under “Operation Labbaik” as it was called, Pakistani forces started from Reti in Pakistan and entered India from Tanot area. They were to have taken over Laungewala and then proceeded on to capture Jaisalmer.

However, the author said, as there was no support for the Pakistani troops from their own air force, the IAF ‘Hawker Hunters’ had a field day bombing Pakistani tank formations.

“The IAF, which appeared a little after seven o'clock, flying without any opposition from the Pakistan Air Force, had four Hawker Hunters ... Anything that moved was immediately attacked, otherwise the Hunters circled for their endurance and before returning to their base, attacked the tanks that had been located.”

Khan also reveals the Pakistani army’s role in helping insurgents. He says it helped and trained Mizo insurgents in East Pakistan.

Khan further says that an unsuccessful coup attempt was made to overthrow President Yahya Khan, who handed over power to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto soon thereafter.

He said several top army officers had “drafted a letter asking President Yahya to resign and hand over power or else 6 Armoured Division would march on Rawalpindi and enforce his removal.

“Major General M.I. Karim, the then GOC, was asked to sign the letter and (he) did so. Col Javed Iqbal and Col Alim Afridi flew to Rawalpindi and delivered the letter to the CGS (Chief of General Staff) who conveyed the contents to President Yahya.”

Following this, pro-Yahya sections in the army decided to airdrop commandos on the division headquarters with plans to seize it. Thus, the coup attempt was foiled.
 
Honestly, I would never believe anything in this article which was published by an Indian in New Delhi. :sniper:
 
Makes sense to me. PAF had few planes to provide ground support in the East, and an unchallanged air force can wreak havoc on ground troops.
 
Makes sense to me. PAF had few planes to provide ground support in the East, and an unchallanged air force can wreak havoc on ground troops.

Laungewala is on India's western border with pakistan.Not in the east.
 
Indian strength at Longewal
120 troops
2 Recoilless Guns
4 Hawker Hunters

Pakistani strength at Longewal
2000+ troops
65 Tanks
5 Field guns
3 Anti-aircraft guns
138 Military vehicles

Indian Casuality
2 men, 1 jeep mounted recoiless gun

Pakistani Casuality
200 soldiers. 50 tanks destroyed/abandoned; 40 APCs and 50 other vehicles.

source - Battle of Longewala - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wonder how could 4 Hawkers achive such a great victory without Army?
 
Indian strength at Longewal
120 troops
2 Recoilless Guns
4 Hawker Hunters

Pakistani strength at Longewal
2000+ troops
65 Tanks
5 Field guns
3 Anti-aircraft guns
138 Military vehicles

Indian Casuality
2 men, 1 jeep mounted recoiless gun

Pakistani Casuality
200 soldiers. 50 tanks destroyed/abandoned; 40 APCs and 50 other vehicles.

source - Battle of Longewala - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wonder how could 4 Hawkers achive such a great victory without Army?

2 casualties?? Someone's playing a joke on wikipedia. Don't trust that site.
I'll try to find another source. We lost a lot more men.
 
Like it has been discussed earlier. Looking at the vast numbers of Pakistan Army, Indian soldiers were scared and hided. Therefore.. not many casualties. Whereas Hunters bombed the **** out of Pakistan Army (whereas PAF was not even informed to take a counter). Pakistan Army however was successful to complete its objectives.
 
Like it has been discussed earlier. Looking at the vast numbers of Pakistan Army, Indian soldiers were scared and hided. Therefore.. not many casualties. Whereas Hunters bombed the **** out of Pakistan Army (whereas PAF was not even informed to take a counter). Pakistan Army however was successful to complete its objectives.
Are you kidding me?? The operation was a disaster. They just lost a bunch of soldiers and tanks without capturing any land. If the IAF had not bombed them, they would have obviously gone on to attack other Indian posts or maybe even cities close to the border.
 
Like it has been discussed earlier. Looking at the vast numbers of Pakistan Army, Indian soldiers were scared and hided

Care to provide backup to your claims. The troops were stationed at Longewala and as far as history recounts they did not abandon base nor did they backoff. As far as I know them staying put at Longewala will few men with the possibility of meeting huge armour division was by it pretty much valiant.

Whereas Hunters bombed the **** out of Pakistan Army (whereas PAF was not even informed to take a counter)
Yes the hunters bombed the **** out of pakistani army and it is called Closed Air Support
Shows how well some one had planned their operations..What kind of leader assumes that his troops would not be engaged by enemy airfire.
Pakistan Army however was successful to complete its objectives
Kindly enlighten us to what those objectives were. The idea was to create a diversionary attack in the western front in order to divert the Indian army from the eastern front and it failed misrably.
 
LOL!!! I found an amazing article on MSN India.


Army lied to the nation on Laungewala, says air ace
New Delhi: Two days after Hindustan Times published the shocking revelation by Maj. Gen. Atma Singh (retd) that the Army faked the famous battle, an air ace who controlled the strikes that finished off the Pakistani armour has said the Army has hoodwinked the nation with false tales of valour.

Some other veterans of the 1971 war have also raised questions about this “golden moment” in India’s military history, romanticised by the 1997 Sunny Deol superhit, Border.

Air Marshal MS Bawa (retd), who was commanding the Jaisalmer base from where the IAF Hunter fighters operated in the battle, told Hindustan Times, “The services were the only organisation with some credibility. The Army has torn that apart by faking the entire operation.”

Atma Singh, who won the Vir Chakra for gallantry at Laungewala, had said no ground battle was fought, and the Army had merely rehearsed the operation on a sand model to cover up for its senior commanders’ incompetence.

The Army had, on February 24, given Defence Minister A.K. Antony a blow-by-blow account of how Major K.S Chandpuri (later Brigadier) leading just 100 men, had frustrated an attack by a Pakistani brigade backed by 45 tanks. Chandpuri got the Maha Vir Chakra, and his alpha company (23 Punjab) won six awards.

Bawa, then a wing commander, told Hindustan Times: “If the Army wants to stem this rot, it has to act against officers responsible for this propaganda. Or else, you will have a series of ketchup colonels and fake encounters.”

Shadow of doubt over Bawa’s Hunters flew some 220 strike missions, including 35 over Laungewala. They destroyed 37 tanks. He rubbished the Army’s claims of hitting two tanks and killing three Pakistani officers.

“The military leadership schemed to glorify the Army’s role. I landed at Laungewala on December 5 and saw a handful of infantry soldiers hunkered down in their trenches, scared,” Bawa said. The Army had made a mockery of gallantry awards.

When contacted for his version, Brig. Chandpuri heaped praise on the IAF. “It was virtually due to them that Laungewala was saved and threat to Jaisalmer neutralised.”


Army lied to the Indian nation
 
But everyone is silent on awards received by IA, Also such a meager force of IA could strive off mighty army of Tanks and APC's of PA the night without inflicting damage? Guess they would have been toasted and would not have lived to see the IAF doing the rest.
 
Great, so it is faked?

Good, what?

The sad part is the outcome of the battle and the dead and the burnt tanks that thought it was a cakewalk to take on the Indians is what counts, what ho?

So, who lost in this battle? India or Pakistan?

Nothing to get one's pant wet with excitement.

The bottom line counts!!

So long as one gets that, it is fine.

It is called Lessons Learnt in the military!!
 
Former Pakistan Brigadier spills the beans on 1971 war

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force battered Pakistani tanks in their already-botched ground offensive at Longewala in the 1971 war, primarily because they were not supported by their own Air Force despite urgent pleadings.....

These are some snapshots from a book authored by a former Pakistani Brigadier, who himself arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from his Dhanmondi residence in Dhaka on March 25, 1971.......

The Way It Was — Inside the Pakistan Army by Brig. (Retd.) Zahir Alam Khan has been dubbed by its Indian publisher ‘Natraj’ as “the first honest and no-holds-barred autobiography of a soldier in the Pakistan Army.”

Brig. Khan, a trained commando, himself led the forces into Longewala, an operation which was meticulously planned.

Under ‘Operation Labbaik’ as it was called, the Pakistani forces started from Reti and entered India from the Tanot area.

They were to have taken over Longewala, Ramgarh and Ghotaru and then proceed to capture Jaisalmer.
“IAF had a field day”

However, the author said, that as there was no support to the Pakistani troops from their own Air Force, the Indian Air Force ‘Hawker Hunters’ had a field day bombing Pakistani tank formations as these were rendered sitting ducks.

“The IAF, which appeared a little after 7o’clock, flying without any opposition from the Pakistan Air Force, had four Hawker Hunters ... Anything that moved was immediately attacked, otherwise the Hunters circled for their endurance and before returning to their base, attacked the tanks that had been located.”
Jammed guns

Countering commentators on the battle who claimed that the 22 Cavalry did not use its anti-aircraft machine guns, Brig. Khan said these had got jammed by the desert sand and five tank commanders were killed trying to **** the jammed machine guns with their feet.
The Hindu : Front Page : Former Pakistan Brigadier spills the beans on 1971 war

Interesting!
 

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