The battle of Hussainiwala and Qaiser I Hind - The 1971 War

[Vapnope]

The battle of Hussainiwala and Qaiser I Hind

I was searching oxford university press website and I came across a book named “The battle of Hussainiwala and Qaiser I Hind” by Lt col Habib Ahmad. The book is a detailed account of actions by the 106 brigade of Pakistan army in the battle of Hussainiwala in west Pakistan in 1971 when East Pakistan was slipping away from West Pakistan. Since the topic of 1971 is very close to my heart, I immediately ordered the book and when the book arrived I sat down to read the book.


The book was written decades after the battle of Hussainiwala and has firsthand account of actions taken by soldiers of 41st Baloch (under 106 Brigade) against the Indian oldest 15th Punjab (formerly 1st Patiala) regiment to capture Hussainiwala salient and qaiser I Hind tower, when the hostilities started at the western theater in 1971. Although the book was written to commemorate the bravery of soldiers of newly raised 41st Baloch (under 106 brigade) under author’s command however there is a brief commentary on Pakistan ruling elite, military high command and Bangalis.


The start of the book captures the political alienation in East Pakistan and overwhelming realization among the concerned Pakistanis that east Pakistan was slipping away. He penned down some of the pleasant memories from his stay in East Pakistan before 1971 war. He praised Bangalis for being simple, educated and loving people and blamed Pakistani ruling elite for the unrest in east Pakistan He also shows disdain towards the casual behavior of Yahya Khan towards the whole situation. In next chapter, he sheds light on raising of 41st Baloch and training. Next chapters are detailed account of operational planning, military drills and reconnaissance of the operation areas employing many tactics. The final chapters are dedicated to the minute details of actions of tenacious soldiers of 106 brigade under his command, capture of hussainiwala and surrender in east Pakistan.


The author believed that even after the civil unrest in east Pakistan there was a way for Pakistan to solve the problem politically instead of a military operation. He mentions officers of Pakistani military who resigned when asked to start a military crackdown in east Pakistan. Despite all that he believed that there was a way to avoid embarrassing surrender in 1971. When the situation reached to dangerous point of no return his consistent frustration with the high command on not to initiate attack on India is visible in his book.


If I may summarize the reasons according to the author why we lost east Pakistan, those would be,

1. Failure to transfer due political power to the people of east Pakistan after a fair and free election where Mujib won a landslide victory and a history of neglecting bangalis for their rights since 1947

2. A brutal military crackdown in east Pakistan to quell civil unrest and targeting students and intellectuals creating a sphere of fear and genocide

3. Inability of Yahya Khan, Abdul Majid Khan and his cohorts to launch pre-emptive strikes from western theater despite knowing India’s hand in sending guerrilla fighters to east Pakistan

4. Half-heartedly attacking India from west Pakistan at 3rd December while India had already invaded at 26th November

5. Despite the claim of “Defense of the east lies in defense of the west” military high command did not utilize the resources available to it in west Pakistan to mount an offensive. For example, 5 divisions or more under the command of Tikka Khan were kept out of action during the whole war

6. Inability of AK Niazi to hold the Dacca when he had ample men and weapon at his disposal

7. The frequent change of military plans during the war which led to the confusion and frustration among the commanders

8. Presence of people in armed forces who poisoned the ears of top brass against the most diligent commanders and presented wrong pictures of the pertaining situations

Some personal observation,

· While the offensive on Hussainiwala was planned months before the actual attack however author did not mention role of air force during the whole operation

· Indian airforce extensively strafed and bombed Pakistani forces while Pakistan airforce was absent from the action and ground forces were left to fend off using their automatics

· Author praised the bravery of Indian soldiers, especially machine gunners positioned at tower of Qaiser I hind citadel which never stopped fighting until one tank silenced them forever. The Sikh soldier who hid while Pakistani army was all around yet moved forward and disabled advancing Pakistani tank

· While the author did a tremendous job of achieving his goal however it seemed that he had no plan in place for the fall back if things didn’t go according to the plan


While I personally believe that Pakistan army had a thin chance to save east Pakistan from becoming a new country owning to the fact that we were outnumbered and had not aerial and land route available for logistics and supply lines, what do you think were the potential steps that could have saved us from the surrender?

 

[Vapnope]

@Rafi @HRK @Indus Pakistan @Dazzler @Bilal Khan 777 @django @Zibago @SecularNationalist @Tps43 @Areesh @Khafee @ghazi52 @HAIDER @Musafir117 @Sher Shah Awan @Jaanbaz @Imran Khan @ghazi52 @RealNapster @snow lake @Signalian @Knuckles @Peaceful Civilian @pakistanipower @PAR 5 @araz @fatman17 @Dubious @The Accountant @Path-Finder @The Eagle @waz @Zaki @Jango @Mentee @Path-Finder

 

[SecularNationalist]

While the offensive on Hussainiwala was planned months before the actual attack however author did not mention role of air force during the whole operation

Thats a typical behavior of army officers .They always do not appreciate the airforce.They don,t realize that they cannot win a single modern war without a airforce.In 1965 only the PAF was game changer ,the performance of army was not very impressive.

 

[Cuirassier]

Thats a typical behavior of army officers .They always do not appreciate the airforce.They don,t realize that they cannot win a single modern war without a airforce.In 1965 only the PAF was game changer ,the performance of army was not very impressive.

Armour Operations were rather poorly handled. Rest was pretty good.

 

[Trango Towers]

Things have changed a lot.
He who controls the air controls the land.
Pakistan showed its metal as a united nation on the 26tb feb onwards. India knew and never came back

 

[Mentee]

The then military high command was well aware of the agartala conspiracy and had mujib been given power whole of pakistan would have been Indias khabba - - - - -

Or ceased to exist in the worst case scenario.

 

[Indus Pakistan]

While I personally believe that Pakistan army had a thin chance to save east Pakistan from becoming a new country owning to the fact that we were outnumbered and had not aerial and land route available for logistics and supply lines,

Anbody who tells you the Pakistan had any chance of saving East Pakistan is either ignorant or plain lying. Even US Army or the Soviet Red Army or the British Army at height of it's power would have failed. Think.

• Did British Army prevail in North America against the rebels that led to birth of USA in 1778?
• Did US Army succeed in supressing the Vietcong in region not too dissimilar and far from Bangla in 1970s?
• Did the French Army succeed in supressing the Algerians in the brutal war of indpendance?

east Pakistan was slipping away

The reality is the facts on the ground would make it impoosible to keep both wings together. The fact was that there was severe disconnect between the vista occupied by both wings and nobody is innocent of this. And this existed from 1947. These were larger than any individual. I know it is always easier to blame Yayha, Bhutto, Mujib or the army or the elite. The severe disconects were and even you display them -

• How is it possible for the larger population [Bangla had more people] to break away from the smaller population [West Pakistan]?
• How is it possible that the most populous language , Bengali was not chosen as the official language of the state?
  
• How is it possible that the minority lamguage is forced on the majority? Read Bangla language riots 1950s?
• How is it possible that the capital was in the minority wing?

Today you have Bangladesh. They have Bangla as their official language, Dhaka as their capital. If the west wing had agreed to this in 1947 Bangla would have NOT broken away. But then I suspect we in the west would have broken away complaining of discrimination.

 

[Vapnope]

Thats a typical behavior of army officers

The author did not blame airforce in his book while it was my personal observation that no CAS was provided, PAF wasn't present when SU7s were bombing advancing Pakistani army.

Anbody who tells you the Pakistan had any chance of saving East Pakistan is either ignorant or plain lying

The author insisted that if we have started pre-emptive strikes earlier from the position of relative strength there was a chance that international community was going to jump in to call for ceasefire. This is where he believed that surrender could be avoided.

 

[Jackdaws]

Interesting - I wonder if there is a Kindle edition. I had read about Pak army destroying the Bhagat Singh memorials there in 1971.

 

[TsAr]

In my view when the British drew the borders they knew that both west and East Pakistan would one day part ways.It would have been difficult adhere to the wishes of both the wings. I agree with @Indus Pakistan that if it was not east then it would have been west Pakistan that would have cried discrimination.

 

[SABRE]

Interesting - I wonder if there is a Kindle edition. I had read about Pak army destroying the Bhagat Singh memorials there in 1971.

I have never heard of anything like that but generally, these stories are cooked up for propaganda purpose. During a conversation with a Bangladeshi, I found out about popular propaganda there that people in Pakistan desecrate the grave of Flt Lt. Matiur Rehman by spitting on it. He was buried in Karachi, my home town. Never saw his grave. No one outside the concerned department of the air force ever knew of the location of his grave. Nobody ever visited it. His body was eventually transferred in 2006 & we didn't come to know of it even then. Thus, it is difficult to verify if PA damaged Bhagat Singh's memorials. I see no reasons for it though. There is no negative propaganda on Bhagat Singh in Pakistan. Instead, there is a group trying to make him a national hero.

 

[Jf Thunder]

it is quite a well written and excellent account of the war in the Western front

 

[Indus Pakistan]

In my view when the British drew the borders they knew that both west and East Pakistan would one day part ways.

No. It was geography/history. Did the British force the Banglas to speak Bengali? Did the British force the Banglas to live 1,000 miles distant from west wing? Should the British have forced the west wing to have adopted Bengali language?

You know that the west wing had greater population? How many here if time machine could transport us back would accept being ruled from Dhaka, by Shaikh Hasina's Awaami League? Or having Bengali as the national language?

 

[Jackdaws]

I have never heard of anything like that but generally, these stories are cooked up for propaganda purpose. During a conversation with a Bangladeshi, I found out about popular propaganda there that people in Pakistan desecrate the grave of Flt Lt. Matiur Rehman by spitting on it. He was buried in Karachi, my home town. Never saw his grave. No one outside the concerned department of the air force ever knew of the location of his grave. Nobody ever visited it. His body was eventually transferred in 2006 & we didn't come to know of it even then. Thus, it is difficult to verify if PA damaged Bhagat Singh's memorials. I see no reasons for it though. There is no negative propaganda on Bhagat Singh in Pakistan. Instead, there is a group trying to make him a national hero.

I should have been clearer, my apologies. They inadvertently destroyed some Bhagat Singh memorials, not on purpose. If I am not mistaken, there was something about the remains of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev related to Hussainiwala

 

[SABRE]

I should have been clearer, my apologies. They inadvertently destroyed some Bhagat Singh memorials, not on purpose. If I am not mistaken, there was something about the remains of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev related to Hussainiwala

That's alright. I also did not read your comment properly. For some reason, BD came to my mind. Well, again, never heard of any advertent or inadvertent damage to Bhagat Singh's memorial by PA. It was a war, so anything is possible.