The War Memorial
We made our way down from Kaho till the Namti plains, and ended up staying in a place almost as atmospheric at the abandoned army barracks we had stayed in before Mechuka. It seemed to be a reconstructed barracks - the cement work was new, but the design was just like a barracks, so maybe the guy had just moved into a decrepit building and repaired and reconstructed it.
It was as basic as could be - a bare room with unpainted walls and a common toilet - but that made it all the more romantic. It was out in the middle of nowhere, with a great view of the Namti plains. And the guy was providing food and selling booze. What more could anyone want? This was better than any fancy hotel as far as I was concerned.
Most people will remember that the world came extremely close to WWIII in 1962, when Kennedy and Khrushchev went eyeball to eyeball and the whole world collectively shat its pants and waited for the nukes to start flying.
The other thing that happened at the same time - EXACTLY the same time - was the Chinese aggression in Arunachal Pradesh. The Indo-China war started on October 20th - just as the whole world was focused on bigger and more dangerous things.
Cuban missile crisis - 16 October – 28 October 1962
Indo China war - 20 October – 21 November 1962
Seeing that the big boys were totally engrossed and would have no mindspace or interest to interfere - China poured its troops into Arunachal and kicked Indian ass!
The other thing that happened at the same time - EXACTLY the same time - was the Chinese aggression in Arunachal Pradesh. The Indo-China war started on October 20th - just as the whole world was focused on bigger and more dangerous things.
Cuban missile crisis - 16 October – 28 October 1962
Indo China war - 20 October – 21 November 1962
Seeing that the big boys were totally engrossed and would have no mindspace or interest to interfere - China poured its troops into Arunachal and kicked Indian ass!
The Indian polity was totally unprepared! The Indian army and intelligence services had been screaming for months about the Chinese build-up and VK Krishna Menon had completely ignored it. The Army was under-manned, under-equipped and hamstrung by the politicos - but they did the best they could.
The Indo-China War of 1962 was a military mismatch. China had better numbers, logistics, and preparation, while India was caught off guard. India had 10-20,000 troops with WWII era weapons and poor-to non-existent supply chains as opposed to China’s 80-100,000 troops who were already accustomed to high-altitude, awesome supply chains - and modern weapons. And also, they already occupied the higher positions on the Tibetan plateau, and the Indians were down in the valleys and thus in a disadvantageous position from the start.
The Indian army tried hard - killing 1000 odd Chinese and wounding 1200 more, but had many more losses - with nearly 3000 people killed, 1000-odd wounded and 4000-odd captured as POWS. The poor guys had no weapons, no winter gear, no food and supplies- and many of them fought to the last man.
Desperate bravery and heroic last stands apart, it was a huge rout for India - with the Chinese advancing all the way to Tezpur - within sneezing distance of Guwahati.
And then - strangely - the Chinese dusted their hands and retreated back to the original McMahon line, as soon as the Cuban missile crisis was over, and the big boys were done catching their breath and wiping their brows.
And then - strangely - the Chinese dusted their hands and retreated back to the original McMahon line, as soon as the Cuban missile crisis was over, and the big boys were done catching their breath and wiping their brows.
It was a massive show of force - resulting in no particular advantage to them, at least in Arunachal. The local people were left gasping and wondering as to what had just happened!
One theory is that the Chinese had no real aims to take over Indian territory but only wanted a grand spectacle to impress their own populations - especially after the spectacular fuck-up of the ‘Great Leap forward’ in China, where Mao had created the largest man-made disaster of all time ! He managed to destroy Chinese agriculture and triggered the Great Chinese famine - the worlds largest famine - which resulted in millions of deaths - estimates range from 15 to 55 million Chinese deaths! Mao needed to distract the people and what better way to distract people than a war?
Also, as I mentioned earlier - they made a point to USSR - Don’t fuck with us!
And anyway, they had just conquered Tibet - a land area far bigger than China - and had their hands full in killing off all the monks and tearing down monasteries and beating the fight out of the local people.
So they accomplished their objectives - whatever they were - and went back to their side of the border.
One theory is that the Chinese had no real aims to take over Indian territory but only wanted a grand spectacle to impress their own populations - especially after the spectacular fuck-up of the ‘Great Leap forward’ in China, where Mao had created the largest man-made disaster of all time ! He managed to destroy Chinese agriculture and triggered the Great Chinese famine - the worlds largest famine - which resulted in millions of deaths - estimates range from 15 to 55 million Chinese deaths! Mao needed to distract the people and what better way to distract people than a war?
Also, as I mentioned earlier - they made a point to USSR - Don’t fuck with us!
And anyway, they had just conquered Tibet - a land area far bigger than China - and had their hands full in killing off all the monks and tearing down monasteries and beating the fight out of the local people.
So they accomplished their objectives - whatever they were - and went back to their side of the border.
What it resulted in was a huge change in the Indian position on many things - on the need for a strong Army, on the need for rapid development in the North East and a strong distaste for Communism in India, and the end of Sino-Indian trust.
V K Krishna Menon had to resign, Nehru died of shock soon after in 1964, and the military, previously sidelined in decision-making, was finally given the resources and attention it deserved. Over the next few years, India ramped up defence spending, strengthened its armed forces, and built better infrastructure along the border - which came in use just a few years later in the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971.
Pakistan had thought that the Indians would be defeated and demoralised by the events of the Indo-China war, but found the Indian Army to be newly invigorated and itching to prove itself - and so got a fearful beating and lost a half of their country, when West Pakistan became Bangladesh.
It is an interesting thought-experiment to think what would have happened if the Indo-China war had not happened. Nehru and VK Krishna Menon would have completed the hollowing-out of the Armed forces, Incompetents like Kaul would have continued as Army chief and might have caused talented and capable Army officers to resign, and the Army would have remained under-equipped and antiquated.
And then what would have happened if Pakistan had attacked this depleted and demoralised force in 1965? Possibly along with China?
V K Krishna Menon had to resign, Nehru died of shock soon after in 1964, and the military, previously sidelined in decision-making, was finally given the resources and attention it deserved. Over the next few years, India ramped up defence spending, strengthened its armed forces, and built better infrastructure along the border - which came in use just a few years later in the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971.
Pakistan had thought that the Indians would be defeated and demoralised by the events of the Indo-China war, but found the Indian Army to be newly invigorated and itching to prove itself - and so got a fearful beating and lost a half of their country, when West Pakistan became Bangladesh.
It is an interesting thought-experiment to think what would have happened if the Indo-China war had not happened. Nehru and VK Krishna Menon would have completed the hollowing-out of the Armed forces, Incompetents like Kaul would have continued as Army chief and might have caused talented and capable Army officers to resign, and the Army would have remained under-equipped and antiquated.
And then what would have happened if Pakistan had attacked this depleted and demoralised force in 1965? Possibly along with China?
