The report which itself starts with the words of Sun Tzu: "Know Yourself, Know Your Enemy: A Hundred Battles, A Hundred Victories" cries in pain the dreadful events, or rather I would say BLUNDERS that lead to the strategic defeat of India in the 1962 War. In this series, let's get into the lengths and breadths about what were the reasons, and who were responsible and their decisions behind the infamous Sino-Indian War.
Why we chose the Brooks-Bhagat Report as the basis?
The Brooks-Bhagat report was the main review of the operations both in the political and military sphere about the decisions of the government in conjunction with the Army, a comprehensive report bringing out the mistakes (particularly tactical mistakes explained in detail) which proved to be disastrous for the Indian Army and lessons learnt which led it to improve and allow India to become the 4th mightiest superpower in the world today.
This series is based on the Brooks-Bhagat Report, which is one of the most classified military secrets of India and is still a CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET whose some parts actually got leaked via the fragile pockets and hearts of Government babus. While the full report still lay in secret accessible only to a handful, the leaked ones indeed do indicate the blunders done during the period of 1959-1962 that led to the loss of dignity and precious parts of Ladakh with lessons learnt some of which are allegedly still unaccounted or resolved for.
While you might have heard about the report a few years ago with some news sites do actually giving some information on it, MOST OF THE INDIANS STILL HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT THE HENDERSON BROOKS-BHAGAT REPORT, largely due to it being a military document and some complex terminology. Here we do a detailed and easier analysis with better understandable language with images and maps of the full (leaked parts of the) report in subsequent series of posts. So, stay with us while we go through the depths of it, explaining in a simpler way.
But first things first, let us get an overview of what we're dealing with here exactly. The report was written by two highly intelligent, brave and decorated officers of the Indian Army namely Lt. Gen. T.B. Henderson Brooks and Brig (later Lt. Gen.) PS Bhagat, Victoria Cross.
(For those who know what Victoria Cross is, skip this paragraph. If you don't know what it is, I would have suggested you to halt and drink a glass of water and meditate; but as you're here anyways, so, it is the highest and most prestigious award given in the British rule for showing unprecedented valour and bravery in face of the enemy. So, in short, P.S. Bhagat was a special breed of humans, who are known as fearless and dauntless with utter sense of intellect. While you don't even know what Victoria Cross is, you might be now wondering that why was an Indian Army soldier awarded a British medal. He was awarded Victoria Cross for his courage and dauntless fighting spirit fighting the enemy in Sudan, while serving in the British Indian Army before Independence in World War 2).
They were asked to make a report as an "Operations Review" of the events leading to the 1962 Sino-Indian War, which holds (spoiler) the bureaucracy and Army Headquarters Staff a lot responsible in making "unforgiving" mistakes during the course of incidents which led to the War.
The report starts with a little introduction, which reads:
"1. The Chief of the Army Staff on 14 December, 1962, instituted an operations review to go into the reverses suffered by the Army, particularly in the KAMENG Frontier Division of NEFA**(see below). The terms of reference for the review were to enquire into what went wrong with the following:
a) Training.
b) Equipment.
c) System of Command.
d) Physical fitness of the troops.
e) Capacity of commanders at all levels to influence the men under their command.
2. The Review was to be carried out by Lt. Gen. TB HENDERSON BROOKS, assisted by Brig. PS BHAGAT VC (Victoria Cross). "
Map of NEFA, you can see KAMENG frontier division at the western side. Image: Wikipedia
It is followed by the fact that whole pre-requisite scenario of various developments to outbreak of hostilities will have to be examined and analysed to lay an easy foundation for the understanding and taking lessons from the report, as we will see in coming posts.
Remember, this is written to give you the basic idea and a pre-requisite revision for the coming report. Don't worry, we've got you covered and will convey the report to you in the simplest manner possible, and the same was thought by the authors 58 years ago. With a summary of the layout of the report, 6 major landmark events have been listed for reference and easier understanding:
a) In OCTOBER 1959, the INDO-TIBET Border became the responsibility of the Army after Chinese aggression seen in NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh)** and LADAKH.
b) Introduction of "Forward Policy" by the Government of India in November/December 1961.
c) Surrounding of GALWAN post in LADAKH- 10 July, 1962 and DHOLA post in NEFA- 8 September, 1962.
d) Raising of IV Corps (Corps is a battlefield formation which contains several Divisions)*** and announcement of eviction operations- 4 October, 1962
e) Outbreak of hostilities (start of war)- 20 October, 1962
f) Cease Fire (ending of war)- 21 November 1962.
The review mentions that these landmark points are key successive stages in which the war preparations and developments can be properly understood. So here, they have formed a base line for the report. It also mentions that developments in NEFA are closely correlated to developments in LADAKH and any study of the war must be made in conjunction with developments in the Western Theatre (mainly referring to LADAKH) and thus, the review studies both and for simplicity each (Western and Eastern) sector has been studies separately. "Actions on one that had repercussions on the other have, however, been correlated."
Stay sharp for the next part. This was like, an introduction chapter. Big revelations will be made, with big names on the loose. We will not venture into the total history of agreements made in 1913 and the roots of the dispute, instead will cover the tactical facets and inefficiencies of the leadership during the advent of military hostilities and what went wrong in the plannings of the war.
Key:
**: Arunachal Pradesh was earlier called NEFA. For the rest of the chapters we will be using NEFA only.
***: You should know this both for your GK and understanding: https://www.ssbcrack.com/2013/10/formation-and-structure-of-indian-army.html
By: Ayush Jain
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