Mobilizing for War : Major General PC Sen (Retd)

Major General PC SEN
Sep 5, 2018 · 10 min read

Dark clouds

The narrative begins in a quiet and leafy hill station in Eastern India during 1999, when our battalion of the Indian Army, was suddenly asked to move to North India.

This was part of the response of the Army to counter a misadventure by our westerly neighbor in the Himalayan heights. The road from Srinagar (capital city of Kashmir, in North India) goes to the towns of Dras, Kargil and Leh in the east, through series of high mountain passes like Zoji La and this was the only fully developed but a tenuous link to Srinagar. The road (now known as National Highway 1) passes uncomfortably close to some of the posts of our westerly neighbor. This neighbor, sensing an opportunity, decided to interdict movement along this road. The sketch and the photo below show the road traversing through an inhospitable terrain of the high Himalayas.

The army chief and three more senior officers of our neighbor (now onwards referred to as the Nark Forces) war gamed that, by occupying few posts on the ridge they can cut off the towns on this highway from Srinagar and rest of India by interdictory fire. Initially, the plan was to occupy few posts vacated by our troops during winter. However, when they moved in, found many of our posts vacant and thus emboldened, occupied many more. This gave then a commanding view of the road, hence accurate and observed artillery fire could be brought on the road. The sketch below shows the situation.

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Meanwhile the Indian political leadership was on a trip to improve relationship with Nark, and our defense forces, somewhat taken in by the prevalent mood of reconciliation in the country, was kind of somnolent, and was caught rather unawares. However, once alerted, the situation was quickly appreciated and a swift and massive retaliatory response decided. It as adage in the army that mountains suck army. For offensive operations, large number of additional troops were thus required. Accordingly, our formation in the East was asked to move to Northern Indian Railhead junction of Jammu, which is in the plains, in the foothill of the Shivalik Ranges. We were then expected to move by lorries to the operational area in the Himalayas.

Bedlam

Our battalion was spread over few hundred kilometers, on the India China border, as companies and as small detachments (I was the commanding officer of the outfit). The order for this sudden mobilization, as just one paragraph cryptic order, came as a thunderclap. Lack of any useful information, made it worse. Anxiety and confusion reigned supreme, as it always happens in a situation like this. Ours was a specialized unit, engaged in repair and maintenance of equipment. The repair points were immediately flooded with equipment of all types, many were almost derelicts. These sub units and detachments were filled up of defective equipment, to be immediately repaired; like rifles, machine guns, artillery guns, mortars, radio sets, trucks, water tankers, what have you. Meanwhile the loading of vehicles for our own mobilization continued, with limited available manpower. Many personnel with families staying in our areas wanted leave to dispatch their families. Leave of all kinds were blocked, of course. Personnel on leave were recalled by telegram.

The initial few days of pandemonium was overcome with determination; clear orders followed, resulting in engagement of troops in repair, with frantic pace of loading. Within a span of few days, we were told to move to specific railway stations. Most of these railway stations were far from the garrisons and required almost a day’s drive. We have detailed mobilization schemes prepared and rehearsed during peace time. That came in handy now. I had also carried out detailed TEsWT (Tactical Exercises without Troop) with all officers. How to mobilize, deploy and redeploy were practiced with lecture / demo. I recall going through the answer papers for a snap test after one of the TEsWT under a bridge, over a mountain rivulet, sitting on a boulder. The peace time activities are all on telephone lines, not on radio, to maintain radio silence. Hence these radio sets are rarely used. A detailed communication exercise with full deployment of radio sets of all types was done and it helped us to keep these in operation ready conditions.

The repair and simultaneous loading of trucks continued almost round the clock. It was raining and often there were no electricity. The troops were magnificent in their response. I remember sitting in my office, working with a kerosene lantern on my table, at around mid-night, while it was pouring outside. With a ferocity with people only from the valleys of Himayan tropics have experienced. I felt at that moment that we definitely cannot meet the mobilization deadline. However, a quick feedback in the morning showed that everything has happened as it should have!

Our responsibility was also to ensure keeping all roads cleared of any broken down vehicles and other equipment. Since we were in the mountains, even few blockages in the roads would upset the mobilization plan.

I spoke to my superior officers and managed to place recovery vehicles from other units, as we pulled out ours from posts. The offices are locked out and a small rear party was earmarked to be left behind.

The order to start to mobilize came by a signal. Almost immediately, the loaded vehicles started off towards the station. It was almost hundred km away.

Move

Since we had huge covered trucks containing machinery, our train was declared ‘Over Dimensional’ by the railways and we were moved by a circuitous route avoiding low over bridges and tunnels. It took us almost a week to reach Delhi, which otherwise takes only a day! We moved during the extremely hot month of May, and it was most trying for the troops. However, the excitement and cheering by the populace on the stations kept the morale high. In one particular station before crossing over the mighty Ganges, we were kept waiting for almost four hours, so that a luxury train could be given a pass. Since, our train had a White Hot priority, this was unacceptable, infuriated, somewhat, we stormed into the Station Master’s office and knocked some sense into him. We crossed Delhi through a winding route, avoiding overcrowded railway stations and ultimately reached a small station called Chakki Bank near Jammu. (Chakki is a rivulet).

The Indian railway has special Hospital Trains, and we found large number of injured troops being evacuated to larger hospitals in the rear areas on these trains. All young boys, bandaged heads and limbs with saline bottle stands. We were told that they are from an Infantry battalion that took a hill feature in a hand to hand combat. The serious cases have been kept in hospitals near battle fields, these boys were slightly better and were being taken to the hinterland. It was a grim scenario. By the time the news about the battle were coming up and the situation has been restored, somewhat. The rag tag Nark forces were being pounded by our long range artillery guns and the situation was being slowly brought under control. Long convoys of Bofors and other assorted artillery guns were winding up their way to the battlefield. The Sikh gunners had opened their turbans and beards, mounted on the trucks, with hairs and beards flowing, it was a most frightful (impressive) sight .We quickly unloaded and started moving towards Jammu. The picture below shows the Jammu township. The meandering river is the Tawi.

We moved northwards to a temporary camp and then again southwards. We were told to occupy a camping ground with all our equipment. The briefing was that the formation would be used for offensive (attacking) role in the western Kashmir, apparently to draw out troops and equipment of Nark Forces from elsewhere. Although, extensive planning was afoot with number of sand model exercises etc., the troops were relatively relaxed, and were waiting for the next move. As they say, in the army, there is lot of hurry and then there is lot of wait. The sketch below shows the areas where we were moving.

The troops including officers were staying in tents, it was extremely hot and we managed to fit ceiling fans inside the tents with some modifications. I think it was Arnold Toynbee who said that the most warlike ferocious tribes like the Seljuk Turks also quickly settled down to a well-ordered village life in India. We came from a salubrious hill station, cool and misty, almost akin to English weather, and here we were out in the open with strong warm breeze and limited electricity. In this inhospitable conditions, we carried out all repair and maintenance activities, including stripping of artillery guns and changing all rubber seals. It is a special procedure requiring lots of facilities like air conditioned gun hygiene rooms etc. We took care of dust and temperature by innovative means and competed the task. The senior most officer from my regiment came riding a helicopter from the Headquarter to see this strip inspection and suitably impressed, granted substantial amount to modernize the repair facilities in field conditions. We were also given many computers to modernize automation.

Meanwhile, detailed planning was being put into action for an attack, and I moved in for a reconnaissance of the route to be followed for the ammunition convoys and deployment. Dumping of ammunition, is critical for any operation. How much and where is a giveaway to the enemy. It has to be done quickly and in secrecy. We did lots of decoy reconnaissance to confuse our friends. The whole battle procedure was rehearsed and we were ready to go, suddenly cease fire was declared. The Nark Forces did not except such swift and massive response. They were ill equipped and ill supported. Overall it was a short duration tactical surprise win for them with strategic blunder in underestimating Indian response and a comprehensive defeat,. Ultimately, many regulars of Nark Forces died of wound/ starvation / fatigue. Their bodies were not even claimed by the Nark Forces, under the cloak of deniability.

The Prime Minister of Nark land had panicked and dashed off to USA seeking intervention by the POTUS. It was on 4th July, when it is a holiday in USA. Anyway, behind the scene diplomacy ensured dawning of an uneasy peace. We had few deaths in this whole process, especially tragic were death of two very young soldiers form cerebral malaria. They suffered almost a week in the hospital, with high fever and delirium. It was extremely sad day for us to hand over the mortal remains to their parents. Two lorries were modified as hearses and with black flags flying, they were off to the villages of these martyrs.

Although the war was over, and lost territories recovered, we were kept in the camping ground, as a ready reinforcement. We moved our companies often, and we realized that what was very painful process of moving, became almost like a second nature. We were ready to up stick our tents and go within few hours anywhere to anywhere. I also noticed that the officers and troops became increasingly smarter, more agile, receptive to orders and quite comfortable with sudden changes and always more neat and orderly in the new camps. I also noticed less disciplinary problems and almost no points during the troops during our meets (called durbars or Sainik Sammelans — ‘Meet the troops’). I have often, thought about this aspect, and feel that our troops, mostly from rural areas, like to be in wide open areas, and are happiest under the shade of a tree next to a river or a stream. Our billets in garrison towns are constructed buildings in pseudo European style, counter to the well-ordered village life, described by Arnold Toynbee.

After almost a year and a half, the situation was fully under control and the battalion was ordered to move back to the east. The process of move back begun, however, I had left the unit after finishing my tenure and had gone back to my hometown, Delhi on a sabbatical to the Indian Institute of Technology, a premier institution of learning. .

Tailpiece

This operation in Kargil is perhaps the last of the conventional wars between the two adversaries. The Nark Forces now have nuclear weapons and have developed close ties with another of our neighbors. Thereby making such large scale conventional warfare well neigh impossible. The hostile state can only be subjugated by making his options restricted, and cause decay in its societal and economic structure. This is war by other means. Men in uniform are not required in such wide canvas skirmishes.

After few years, I was invited to the battalion by the then Commanding Officer. I had lunch with officers and went around the unit area. The ordeal and tribulations of the mobilization to a battle area during the hot month of May were forgotten, except perhaps recorded in the Regimental History Book.

They were back to the well-ordered village life.

Credit

The photos and the sketches have been taken from internet. No specific names or places have been mentioned, respecting the confidentiality of the nature of move and the operations.

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