War of 1971 - Bangladesh

[Indus Pakistan]

It is not possible to discuss military history of South Asia without Indian's bringing up the 1971 defeat of Pakistan Army in Bengal. Indian's treat this like way Russians look at Stalingrad defeat of the German 6th Army, like a incredible feat of Indian arms.

So I had a look at this war and here is some things I want Pakistani's to take note. I would ask the moderators if they could please make this thread a sticky. The war had two aspects to it because Pakistan faced two distinct but allied enemies. The Bengali and Indians. Thus it involved Pakistan forces fighting the Bengali Mukhti Bahini and fighting against Indian Army in a hostile environment.The fighting was in Bengali homeground with India adjacent whilst Pakistan was far way on the other side of the continent. Let us get some basic facts sorted out:-

Combatents

Pakistan Armed Forces versus Bengali Mukhti Bahini and Indian Armed Forces.

Air Distances.

Islamabad, Pakistan to Dhaka, Bangladesh - 1,300 miles
London, UK to Istanbul, Turkey - 1,400 miles

Sea Distances.

Karachi, Pakistan to Chittagong, Bangladesh - 3,400 miles
Plymouth, UK to Istanbul, Turkey - 3,400 miles

Population of UK 60 million
Population of Turkey 70 million

Population of Pakistan - 40 million (1971)
Population of East Bengal - 45 million (1971)

Population of India - (1971) 570 million
Population of Russia - 143 million

Total Pakistan uniformed military personnel in East Bengal - 55,000

I am going to compare the 1971 war with similar scenario today. In this scenario the British Army has deployed 55,000 men to Turkey. Assume the Turks have rebelled against British rule and Turkish Freedom Fighters (TFF) are involved in a full scale war against the British occupying army. The TFF enjoy widespread support from the Turkish civilian population. British Army units are subject ambush the moment they leave their holding positions. Soldiers are not allowed to leave strongpoints alone because of the hostile civilians and TFF attacks.

As the situation becomes extremely difficult for the overstretched British force it is clear that neighbouring Russia is openly supporting TFF fighters with traning and army. There are even reports of TFF units having Russian specialists. The British forces spread over Turkey decide to regroup around small number of strong points so as to make logistics easier. By this time British soldiers numbering only 50,000 are worn out and on their limit because of lack of reinforcements.

The British have to rely on a long winded sea route that involves a ships having to sail 3,400 miles thus making supply extremely difficult. The air route is about 1,400 miles but because lack of air transport aircraft this is not viable solution. emboldened by Russian support TFF start making bold attacks pinning British Army down to strong points beyond which TFF have control over the civilian population. British Army reacts harshly in this trying circumstances turning the Turkish civilian population even more strongly against the occupying British Army.

Reports now come that Russia has mobilized its army and is ready along all Turkish borders. British Army deperatly asks London to send more help in particular provide more fighter aircraft. British only have 16 fighters to cover all of Turkey against potential Russian attack.
In effect the British have 2 infantry divisions without any of their heavy equipment because of logistic restrictions have not been brought over and 12 aircraft to fight the TFF and contend with possible all out Russian air and ground attack from all sides of Turkey.

Suddenly the massed Russian armies invade Turkey from west, north and east. British forces already pinned down and worn out by continous fighting against TFF and trying to control the hostile civilian population face incredibly difficult position. As they are pushed back to near Istanbul they have no way of pulling out of Turkey because of lack of ships and the 3,400 miles sea journey back to UK. They have no choice but to surrender. The Turks and Russians hail decisive victory and turkey declares freedom from British occupation. Turks and Russians are dancing in the streets of Istanbul.

The British humilated but feel they did the best they could with 50,000 men fighting TFF and entire hostile Turkey as well as the mass invading Russians knowing that they are so far away from their home which is on the other side of the continent.

In the map below the red line is the sea route from UK to Turkey - 3,400 miles. The straight blue line is air route from London to Istanbul - 1,400 miles. The green perimeter in Turkey is the British Army holding line to prevent Russian ingress who attack from three differant directions with combined mass air and ground forces.

It must be noted here that between UK and Turkey most of the European countries would be UK allies and would lend air and ground facelties. In case of Pakistan the Indian landmass occupies the same area as Europe and would be hostile to Pakistan.

East Pakistan Air Operations, 1971 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

* As can be seen below the figure of 90,000 is cited as POW by Indians. However the regular Pakistan Army fighting soldiers numbered only 55,000. The rest were Police, paramilitary and civilian staff including civilian bureaucrats and their families. The paper below is Indian.

 

[Indus Pakistan]

Combatents

Pakistan Armed Forces versus Bengali Mukhti Bahini and Indian Armed Forces.

Below is the map of relative position of Pakistan and East Bengal. In between as can be seen is the landmass of India which is proximate to the European landmass between UK and Istanbul, Turkey. In other words Pakistan is UK and Bang is Turkey with India as the continental Europe. The blue line is the air route 1,300 miles however it was untenable as it would be impossible to go over India without being shot down.

That left only the red sea route from Karachi, Pakistan which sailed south in the Arabian sea avoiding getting to close to India coast because of danger of India air or naval attack. The entire route of 3,500 miles involved sailing along hostile waters dominated by India. Only in the extreme south in Colombo, Sri Lanka was there refuge. The journey then involved sailing north up the Bay of Bengal again under continous danger of Indian air or naval interdiction.

This journey is about the same disance from British port of Plymouth down to Spain, along the Mediteranean, past foot of Italy, along the Greek mainland and north into Aegean Sea finaly arriving in Istanbul, Turkey. Both distance UK-Turkey, Pakistan-Bangladesh are about 3,400 sea miles.

This is the actual Indian attack from Indian mainland. In the south Indian city of Kolkata formed one pont of axis of attack, it also included Indian attack from the north from Indian Assam and from the east from Indian Tripura and Mizoram. When this mass atack occured the Pakistani forces already were under seige by Bengali Mukhti Bahini fighters. The M-H had rbeen recieving training and weapons from India.

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Bangladesh Liberation War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
East Pakistan Air Operations, 1971 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is important also to note that there are two elements to this war that the same small beseiged Pakistani force of 50,000 men far way from home had to face. The war with Bengali freedom fighter the Mukhti Bahini supported by most of the Bangladesh civilian population who provided cover for the Mukhti Bahini fighters. To quote Mao Zedong "The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.". This is the first aspect to the war.

The second aspect began when Indian made a full scale invasion from three sides of East Bengal. This delievered the coupe de grace to a already beseiged force worn out by months of Mukhti Bahini attacks and hostile civilian population.

Mukti Bahini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The other thing thaty has to be considered is the morale of the Pakistani rroops was very low by this stage. Most of the Pakistan Army was made up of ethnic Pashtun or Punjabi's both from 1,300 miles away from the other side of the continent as shown before like UK/Turkey on extreme opposite ends of Europe.

The Pashtun/Punjabi soldiers came from a dry hilly areas areas of north west Pakistan. The Bengal delta region was nothing like they were used to to. It was tropical lush, wet and being delta region was swampy criss crossed by rivers. Movement was difficult, mechanized transport was almost impossible. Boats were needed and swimming was a must. Most of the Pashtun/Punjabi soldiers could not swim. The geography of the Bengal delta region can be seen in the map below with rivers and swamps criss crossing the area.

In fact the Bengal region in terms of climate and geography is closer to South East Asia as Burma, Thailand and Vietnam are adjacent on the east of Bengal. As can be seen in the map below Bangal is only 700 miles from Vietnam whereas it is 1,300 miles from Pakistan. The climate is almost same as Vietnam. Tropical, lush and swampy ideal guerilla warfare country as evidenced by what happened to the Americans.

In 1971 while the Bangladesh war of liberation was being fought soon to turn also into Indian Pakistan war barely 700 miles to the east of Bengal over half a million American soldiers were fighting and losing to the Viet Cong in Vietnam. Simultanous to this Pakistan Army was fighting the Mukhti Bahini soon to also face second enemy India. The superpower was defeated with ten times more men then Pakistan with the largest airforce in the world.

Yet USA did not have to face a full scale invasion by a conventional army like the Chinese army invading that Pakistan had to face. Given this is it a surprise that Pakistan lost. This war was like a boxer taking on a disabled person who is already being attacked by another person and then claming a monumental victory

 

[Indus Pakistan]

To be concluded.

 

[Infinity]

Good attempt to bring in the Comparison.....................UK didn't have borders with Russia nor Turkey................If it had may be it could have done better..............But here the case is different.................Pakistan of 1971 had had borders with India both in West & East...........You had the Latest weapons & American support..............But Result was not in your favour

 

[Psychic]

You had the Latest weapons & American support.

WRONG!!!!!!! We are talking about 1971, not 1965.

You had latest Soviet weapons and support.

 

[Kompromat]

Indian field marshal himself is on record saying that he had a 1-50 advantage and had planned the invasion, 9 months in advance.

1971 was never a fair fight and Indians especially caste Hindus can compare it as much they want to Stalingrad, however the facts still won't change.

Indians wanted a vessel state in East Pakistan, they brewed a rebellion and invaded to claim the credit over a worn out Army outnumbered by 1-50, without air support, a navy and a supply line.

True victor was still India because they not only tore Pakistan into two but also successfully turned their creation called Bangladesh into a loyal vessel state.

Thanks for posting this.

 

[Alpha BeeTee]

Behind everything there is the mighty will of Allah SWT.
When Allah has decreed a defeat for you then all the circumstances turn 180 degree against you.
This is a defense forum so the analysis wrt to defense aspects looks good here but the divine reason for this disaster was our casual and stubborn attitude towards our own basic morals and credentials.Corruption,leg pulling,self interests and being distanced from the spirit of Islam got us.
Sadly our situation is worse today.
Rasul Allah SW clearly foretold us that if you keep on holding to the Quran,u'll be good.Otherwise humiliation be uour fate.
....
On the other note,the OP is right on the money.Infact IndoPak battles have never been fair.
Indians always outnumbered us greatly..but still always failed to achieve their dream of completely dominating Pakistan infact got dominated themselves manu times.

 

[Stephen Cohen]

@Horus

Indians wanted a vessel state in East Pakistan,

Bangladesh into a loyal vessel state.

It is not a vessel state ; the word is vassal

 

[acetophenol]

I don't understand, East Pakistan was the part of Pakistan from 1947-1971, and no matter what the geographical differences are, whether the separation is 100 miles or 10000 miles, if you could not win the hearts of the local population, could not build up forces, or stage a effective counter attack, then its your fault.

May be, if the West Pakistan was strong enough to penetrate deep into Indian territory and inflict losses, or had atleast PN had a few more submarines with them, the picture would have been different.

Pakistan was not able to win the hearts of its own people in East Pakistan, Pakistan did not build up its forces and clearly did not saw what was coming or, saw it and ignored. India made use of the mistakes its enemy made. Whats wrong in it? And we were effective in doing so too, and for this, we definitely deserve credit.

 

[Kompromat]

I don't understand, East Pakistan was the part of Pakistan from 1947-1971, and no matter what the geographical differences are, whether the separation is 100 miles or 10000 miles, if you could not win the hearts of the local population, could not build up forces, or stage a effective counter attack, then its your fault.

May be, if the West Pakistan was strong enough to penetrate deep into Indian territory and inflict losses, or had atleast PN had a few more submarines with them, the picture would have been different.

Pakistan was not able to win the hearts of its own people in East Pakistan, Pakistan did not build up its forces and clearly did not saw what was coming or, saw it and ignored. India made use of the mistakes its enemy made. Whats wrong in it? And we were effective in doing so too, and for this, we definitely deserve credit.

You deserve not only the credit but also our promise that when opportunity presents itself, the score will be settled.

 

[Stephen Cohen]

@Atanz

Sir 1971 was not just a military defeat for Pakistan

It was a massive disaster

India just did not defeat Pakistan but it forever ended Pakistan's dream of attaining Parity with India

You deserve not only the credit but also our promise that when opportunity presents itself, the score will be settled.

You had the oppurtunity ; you LOST it in 1990; KASHMIR

If there was ONE time you could have taken Kashmir it was 1990

Why did you loose it because NOBODY supported you even then

Neither China ; Nor OIC and ofcourse not even USA supported you in 1990

 

[Infinity]

You deserve not only the credit but also our promise that when opportunity presents itself, the score will be settled.

Sir... sorry to say...............I don't see this happening in your or my life time....................

 

[asad71]

1.Again this pathetic obsession of India "winning" in 1971. '71 War was basically a war of resistance fought by us when the minor part of Pakistan launched an attack on us, the major part of Pakistan. India got involved for various reasons that have been discussed again and again - an opportunity to break Pakistan, an opportunity to prove the Two Nation Theory wrong, to ensure return of a million Hindu refugees that had been expelled, smashing the raging Naxalite movement, etc. However, it was a BD-Pakistan War or a war of secession, a civil war or a war of independence/liberation of BD.
2.It was never an Indo-Pak War in the East till the last few days - 22 Nov to 16 Dec, when India jumped into the fray to steal victory from us. Pakistan Eastern Command lost to us and should have surrendered to us but for the propaganda launched by Indians that we would lynch the surrendering soldiers. That was totally wrong and totally motivated. At many locations Pak troops did surrender to us and they were treated with respect due to POWs - without exception. Whatever lynching took place was targeted at the local irregulars - Rajakars, who had committed heinous crimes.

 

[volcano]

What a foolish claim.... pakistan was not fighting 1400miles from pakistan. But it is fighting 'ZERO' km from pakistan. Becouase bengal was pakistan. It is in bengal where indian muslim league formed. It is bengal which is the support base of pakistan ideology when west pakistanis where electing unionists,congress and regional parties.Without brngal,pakistan will never become reality as it is THEM who made it.
unlike uk and turkey,both pakistan,both west and east have direct lsnd border with india. if east pakistan has low armed forces,then its the mistake of your generals who believed in 'defence of east is in west'.

 

[Sine Nomine]

1.Again this pathetic obsession of India "winning" in 1971. '71 War was basically a war of resistance fought by us when the minor part of Pakistan launched an attack on us, the major part of Pakistan. India got involved for various reasons that have been discussed again and again - an opportunity to break Pakistan, an opportunity to prove the Two Nation Theory wrong, to ensure return of a million Hindu refugees that had been expelled, smashing the raging Naxalite movement, etc. However, it was a BD-Pakistan War or a war of secession, a civil war or a war of independence/liberation of BD.
2.It was never an Indo-Pak War in the East till the last few days - 22 Nov to 16 Dec, when India jumped into the fray to steal victory from us. Pakistan Eastern Command lost to us and should have surrendered to us but for the propaganda launched by Indians that we would lynch the surrendering soldiers. That was totally wrong and totally motivated. At many locations Pak troops did surrender to us and they were treated with respect due to POWs - without exception. Whatever lynching took place was targeted at the local irregulars - Rajakars, who had committed heinous crimes.

Sir,it has been honor to read your share in this topic,but sir my one silly question...
1)were WEST PAKISTANI troops killing bengalis before 1971?
India started it's game right after 1947,hint"language movement"
Agartala Conspiracy Case - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Above mentioned act happened 4 years before 1971.
Sir the truth is that,our bengali brothers were used as Pawns by India to break the largest Muslim state,and India must thank peoples like Yahya,Entire Top Brass of Pak Army,Bhutto, and Mujib Party which made it happen.
About bold part sir!what happened to biharis,where does families of those peoples went who were from west,they all were brutally raped and murdered even our those bengali brothers who stood with us got same treatment hint:45 years since that disaster but still a portion of Bengali population is executed,but sir as you are knowledgeable person you know that"History is written by the victors."India was victor it said PA killed 3 million Bengalis...it's was made history personally i think killing 12000 a day is huge figure which i think 45000 regular+10000 razkar can't make...
@syedali73 you contribution is awaited...