• ISBN13: 9788126907625
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Politics and Current Affairs
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd
• Publisher Imprint: Atlantic
• Publication Date: July 28, 2022
• Pages: 160
• Original Price: INR 695.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 300 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): Asia / South / General

1965 War was the first all-out clash between the two nations—India and Pakistan, after the Partition in 1947. Y.B. Chavan, India’s former Defence Minister, recorded in his own hand the 22-day war. The inside story reveals: • Utter failure of intelligence on timing of Pak attack. • How and why Chavan ordered IAF to launch attack without even informing the PM. • Why India attacked across the international border? Reasons as per Chavan recording, “If we fail—and I cannot even imagine of it—the Nation fails”. • How a Division Commander bolted from the theatre of operation. • How the Army Commander sacrificed over 300 men for “the Greater Glory of his Regiment”. • Why the Indian Army did not march into Lahore. • Occasions when the Army Chief almost lost his nerve. • How the Defence Minister, the Army and Air chiefs worked as team. • How PM kept his cool and emerged as a great leader in War. • Was it a Futile War? Did India lose in Tashkent what was won on battle-fields. • Finally, how the political leadership re-established its proper relationship with the defence forces leadership and wiped out bitter memories of the 1962 India-China War. The book is a tribute to the IAF that was deployed in war for the first time after the Independence. Also to India’s armoured Regiments that fought valiantly and destroyed myth of superiority of the Pattons.

R.D. Pradhan joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in the erstwhile Bombay State in 1952. In 1960 he joined Y.B. Chavan, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra as his Private Secretary. In 1965 he joined the Ministry of Commerce and handled several landmark negotiations. In 1967 he was appointed as India’s Representative in Geneva to UNCTAD and GATT and later joined the UN. In 1982 he was appointed the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra and in 1985 the Union Home Secretary. In 1987 he became the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and also acted as Governor of Bihar. He was awarded Padma Bhushan for distinguished Public Service in negotiating peace accords for the Punjab, Assam and Mizoram. As an author he has to his credit books like Working with Rajiv Gandhi and Debacle to Revival—On Y.B. Chavan’s Tenure as the Defence Minister. He has written several books in Marathi as well. Currently settled down in Mumbai, he is Vice-chairman of the Nehru Center and a Trustee of the Y.B. Chavan Foundation.

• SECTION I

• 1. A Momentous Decision
• 2. Backdrop to Operation Gibraltar
• 3. Geographical Features and Indian Army’s Appreciation
• 4. The Attack
• 5. A Defence Minister’s Diary

• SECTION II

• PART - I: MILITARY OPERATIONS

• 6. Surprise: Pak Offensive
• 7. Operation Riddle: Counter Offensive
• 8. Of Cowardice and Panic
• 9. Turning the Corner
• 10. The Stupid Incident
• 11. Stepping Up of Pressure
• 12. Retreat to the Beas
• 13. The Chinese Checkers

• PART - II: UN & OTHER DIPLOMATIC INTERVENTIONS

• 14. Last Phase
• 15. War & Diplomacy
• 16. U Thant’s Diplomacy
• 17. Ceasefire Drama

• SECTION III

• 18. Preparation for Role
• 19. Defence Minister and the Chiefs
• 20. Higher Direction of War
• 21. A Futile War
• 22. Future of India-Pakistan Relations: Chavan’s Reflections
• Annexure: Statement by the Defence Minister Regarding the NEFA Enquiry
• Index
• LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
• Captured weapons and ammunitions being shown to Defence Minister
• Captured weapons and ammunitions being shown to Defence Minister
• Defence Minister with Air Officers and Gnat that shot down Pakistan’s F-104
• Y.B. Chavan addressing Army Officers and Jawans
• Defence Minister visiting Front with COAS
• Y.B. Chavan with Jawans
• Pak’s Patton Tanks captured in Khemkaran Sector
• At dinner hosted for the Chiefs: (left to right) Air-Marshal Arjan Singh, Gen. J.N. Chaudhuri, C. Subramaniam, Admiral D.S. Soman
• President Ayub greeting PM Lal Bahadur Shastri
• Tashkent Conference in session
• PM Lal Bahadur Shastri with President Ayub, Kosygin and others
• PM Lal Bahadur Shastri signing the Agreement with Y.B. Chavan by his side
• LIST OF MAPS
• The Chhamb Sector
• Pakistani Thrust and India’s Counter-thrust (Western Sector) The Western Front
• Pak Offensive Plan
• Khemkaran Sector