@
toxic_pus:
Regardless of whatever Maneckshaw called them; these very "
cowards(sic)" harried their opposition. These
"cowards" had (in most cases) never held a gun before in their lives and were fighting a professionally trained Army in a rural terrain that was strewn with mines; most of which were the Claymore Mines. Remember the density of mines laid in rural E.Bengal was one of the greatest ever laid in modern conflicts. Since the PA was reluctant in most cases to venture forth out of cities, towns and other built-up areas which were turned into citadels; into the surrounding hinterland. These
"cowards" frequently fell like rag-dolls to these mines;
"presumably when they were running away on seeing a burly Punjabi or Pathan", in Sam's words. If they were such
"cowards", it stands to reason that they would never even have ventured into the mined areas.
But Remember;
that these very same "cowards" ensured that the PA did not venture out when the IA drove in and bypassed all the citadels. These very same
"cowards" worked very effectively as frogmen and sabotaged river boats carrying supplies in the country-side criss-crossed with rivers; where rivers were far more numerous than even rudimentary roads. Some of these
"coward" frogmen relied on river-reeds turned into 'aqualungs' to make their attacks, since they had little else by way of eqpt. This has been very well documented by V/Adm. Mihir K.Roy in his book "War in the Indian Ocean". This Naval Offr. was the then DNI at NHQ with an active knowledge of the war on the ground and intimate knowledge of the proceedings.
Surprisingly (sic), Mihir Roy speaks praisingly about these very same
"cowards" !! Adm.Roy is no more, but Capt. M.N.Samant MVC, NM. IN (retd) is still around; to set the record straight.
But for these
"cowards" and their
"cowardice"; the IA columns could well have been bogged down in the rush in to East Bengal, more so towards Dhaka. History could have then taken a different turn.
Then all stories about pushing or sending them is simply poppy-cock; those "cowards" were already in. They never came out. They joined up in straggling groups or in droves (depending on their location and the ferocity of any recent pogrom conducted by the PA and their cohorts) to the nearest center of resistance, Some of these were so far that any effort to even reach the Indian border, was fraught with the risk of getting killed on the way. Funnily enough, a good bit of the Mukti Joddhas laid eyes on India
only after the war; when they were evacuated to the ALC as Paraplegics and Quadriplegics to be be fitted with prostheses. And where I encountered them.
Remember also; that the Mukti Bahini formed out of these
"cowards" was hardly an unitary monolithic body with any real heirarchy. All that happened later, on a very
ad-hoc basis. Not all of them even held allegiance to the
'Mujib Bahini' which later morphed into the Mukti Bahini under the command of Col.M.A.G.Osmany.
Even the number of 60,000 is just off the cuff. Nobody can say how many were there, but estimates can peg the figure at nearly
twice as many.
Most of all remember; that Sam was always the
master of
"the dramatic flourish"!
Just as you need to bring some FACTS to the table.
Its as simple as that..............Fauji.
