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A/C Kaiser Tufail's Clarfication to Admiral's Prakash's Review

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Did IAF win 1971 war? Pak scholar says no. Ex-Indian Navy chief says debate with facts
ADMIRAL ARUN PRAKASH RETD. 20 February, 2018
1971_Instrument_of_Surrender-696x495.jpg

1971 Instrument of Surrender| Wikipedia Commons
India’s bureaucracy is responsible for the vacuum in military history. But there’s a new crop of young scholar-warriors eager to fill this gap.

Disregarding the counsel of wise men, from Herodotus to George Santayana, Indians have consistently ignored the importance of reading, writing and learning from history. So, when retired US Air Force Brigadier ‘Chuck’ Yeager, head of the US Military Assistance Advisory Group in Islamabad during the 1971 war, says in his autobiography that “the Pakistanis whipped the Indians’ asses in the sky… the Pakistanis scored a three-to-one kill ratio, knocking out 102 Russian-made Indian jets and losing 34 airplanes of their own…”, we are left fumbling for a response.

Other Western ‘experts’ have alleged that, in 1971, the Indian Air Force was supported by Tupolev-126 early-warning aircraft flown by Soviet crews, who supposedly jammed Pakistani radars and homed-in Indian aircraft.

Where does one seek authentic information about India’s contemporary military history?

The Ministry of Defence website mentions a History Division, but the output of this division is not displayed, and it seems to have gone into hibernation after a brief spell of activity. A Google search reveals copies of two typed documents, circa 1984, on the internet, titled ‘History of the 1965 War’ and ‘History of the 1971 War’ (HoW), neither of which is designated as ‘official history’.

A chapter of the latter document, deals with the air war in the Western theatre, and opens with a comparison of the opposing air forces. The 1971 inventory of the IAF is assessed as 625 combat aircraft, while the PAF strength is estimated at about 275. After providing day-by-day accounts of air defence, counter-air close support and maritime air operations, the HoW compares aircraft losses on both sides, and attempts a cursory analysis of the air war.

The IAF is declared as having utilised its forces “four times as well as the PAF” and being “definitely on the way to victory” at the time of cease fire. Commending the PAF for having managed to survive in a war against an “enemy double its strength”, it uses a boxing metaphor, to add a (left-handed) complement: “By its refusal to close with its stronger enemy, it at least remained on its feet, and in the ring, when the bell sounded.”

This is this phrase that Pakistani Air Commodore M. Kaiser Tufail (Retd) has picked up for the title of his very recent book: “In the Ring and on its Feet” [Ferozsons (Pvt) Ltd, Lahore, 2017] about the PAF’s role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Commissioned in 1975, this former Pakistani fighter pilot is a historian and bold commentator on strategic affairs. Currently unavailable in India, the book may, prima facie, be accepted as authentic, because the author asserts that in two of his appointments, he was the “custodian of PAF’s war records”, which he was, officially, permitted to access in writing the book.

Tufail starts with an attempt to dispel the “ludicrous Indian fabrication about Pakistan having initiated the war”, and offers the thesis that since war was already in progress, the ineffective 3 December PAF pre-emptive attacks were merely “first strikes” meant to overburden the IAF’s retaliatory capability. Apart from this half-hearted attempt at obfuscation, the rest of Tufail’s narrative is refreshingly candid, free of hyperbole and – one hopes – reliable. Having served in an IAF fighter squadron during the 1971 war, I was fascinated by Tufail’s account, and share a few of his frank insights into wartime events in this article.

Tufail suggests that the wartime PAF Chief, Air Marshal Rahim Khan, was an inarticulate, short-tempered and lacklustre personality, who, at this crucial juncture, chose his two most important advisors – the ACAS (Operations) and the Deputy Chief – from the ranks of transport pilots! His problems were compounded by low service morale, due to the massacre of 30 airmen in East Pakistan and defections by Bengali PAF personnel.

As far as the two orders-of-battle are concerned, it is interesting to note that the HoW figures of 625 combat aircraft for the IAF and 273 for the PAF are pretty close to Tufail’s estimates of 640 and 290 respectively. A fact not commonly known, in 1971, was, that while the IAF’s work-horses, Sukhoi-7s, Hunters, Gnats, HF-24s, Mysteres and Vampires, were armed only with 30/20 mm guns, the opposition had the advantage of air-to-air missiles. While all PAF Western-origin fighters carried Sidewinders or R-530s, Yeager tells us: “One of my first jobs (in Pakistan) was to help them put US Sidewinders on their Chinese MiGs… I also worked with their squadrons and helped them develop combat tactics.”

Tufail provides a tabular account of both IAF and PAF aircraft losses, with pilots’ names, squadron numbers and (for PAF aircraft) tail numbers. To my mind, one particular statistic alone confirms Tufail’s objectivity. As the squadron diarist of IAF’s No.20 Squadron, I recall recording the result of a Hunter raid on PAF base Murid, on 8 December 1971, as “one transport, two fighters (probable) and vehicles destroyed on ground”. In his book, Tufail confirms that 20 Squadron actually destroyed five F-86 fighters in this mission – making it the most spectacular IAF raid of the war!

Particularly gratifying to read are Tufail’s reconstructions of many combat missions, which have remained shrouded in doubt and ambiguity for 47 years. Personally, I experienced a sense of closure after reading his accounts of the final heroic moments of 20 Squadron comrades Jal Mistry and K.P. Muralidharan, as well as fellow naval aviators Roy, Sirohi and Vijayan, shot down at sea. Tufail also nails the canard about Soviet Tupolev-126 support to IAF, and describes how it was the clever employment of IAF MiG-21s to act as ‘radio-relay posts’ that fooled the PAF.

Coming to the ‘final reckoning’, there is only a small difference between the figures given in the HoW and those provided by Tufail for IAF losses; both of which make nonsense of Yeager’s pompous declarations. According to the tabulated Pakistani account (giving names of Indian aircrew), the IAF lost 60 aircraft. The HoW records the IAF’s losses in action as 56 aircraft (43 in the west and 13 in the east).

However, a dichotomy surfaces when it comes to PAF losses. While Tufail lists the tail numbers of only 27 aircraft destroyed, the HoW mentions IAF claims of 75 PAF aircraft destroyed, but credits only 46 (27 in the west and 19 in the east).

Using ‘utilisation rate’ per aircraft and ‘attrition rate’ as a percentage of (only) the offensive missions flown by both air forces, the HoW declares that the IAF’s utilisation rate being almost double, and its attrition rate being half that of the PAF, “…had the war continued, the IAF would certainly have inflicted a decisive defeat on the PAF”.

Adopting a different approach, Tufail concludes that the overall ‘attrition rate’ (loss per 100 sorties) for each air force as well as aircraft losses, as percentage of both IAF and PAF inventories, are numerically equal. Thus, according to him, “…both air forces were on par… though the IAF flew many more ground-attack sorties in a vulnerable air and ground environment”.

He ends his narrative on a sanguine note, remarking that, “The PAF denied a much stronger IAF …the possibility of delivering a knock-out punch to it”.

Air Commodore Tufail’s book clearly demonstrates that there are at least two good reasons for writing war histories; lessons are learnt about the political sagacity underpinning employment of state military power, and militaries can test the validity of the Principles of War.

Sensible nations, therefore, ensure that history is not replaced by mythology. Like Kaiser Tufail, there is a whole new crop of young scholar-warriors emerging in India too, eager to record its rich military history.

But as long as our obdurate bureaucracy maintains the inexplicable ‘omerta’ vis-a-vis official records, this deplorable historical vacuum will persist.

Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) is a former Chief of the Naval Staff.

Clarifications to Admiral Prakash’s Review of ‘In the Ring and on its Feet.

1. I clearly conceded in the Preface that we lost the war, so I find the surrender picture out of place, though it may have been inserted by the publisher to rub it in or spice it up.

2. As to the initiator of the war, how can the Indian invasion of East Pakistan on 22 November be denied, or is it that an invasion doesn’t count if the ingredients of air strikes and armour assaults are missing? I touched upon the much-flogged point that Indian writers harp upon – PAF’s pre-emptive strikes. We were not pre-empting an Indian invasion (which had already taken place), so technically it was not a pre-emption per se. It was just opening up another front. Therefore, the comment about a “half-hearted attempt at obfuscation” is rather strong and unwarranted.

3. As for your ‘cherry-picking’ of some adverse remarks about Air Mshl Rahim Khan, I would have appreciated if you had also included some of the following points: “The PAF was led by Air Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan, an officer with a bearing as impressive as his credentials. Soon after his commission in 1944, Rahim saw action in World War II, when he flew Vultee Vengeance dive-bombers in RIAF’s No 7 Squadron while stationed in Burma. Interestingly, Air Marshal Rahim Khan’s IAF counterpart in 1971 was the former Squadron Commander of No 7 Squadron, Air Chief Marshal P C Lal. Later in the PAF, Rahim flew Hawker Tempest and Hawker Fury in No 9 Squadron. He started to move on the fast track in the PAF when, in 1951, he was selected to command No 11 Squadron, PAF’s first jet fighter Unit equipped with the challenging Supermarine Attacker. Rahim went on to command PAF Station Mauripur (later named Masroor), which was PAF’s largest Station in terms of assets, as well as physical area. He did his staff course at RAF Staff College in Andover, and later, his defence studies course at Imperial Defence College in London. Well qualified in air power and war studies, he went on to command the PAF Staff College in Karachi. His staff jobs at Air Headquarters included those of ACAS (Ops) and ACAS (Admin). As ACAS (Ops), he was at the forefront of planning and conducting air operations during the 1965 Indo-Pak War. The C-in-C, Air Marshal Nur Khan, who had been appointed just 45 days prior to that war, was completely out of touch with the PAF, having been on deputation to PIA for a long period of six years. Rahim not only assisted his boss competently, but gained useful experience in the conduct of operations that he was to put to good use in 1971.”

4. I never mentioned that Rahim Khan’s ‘problems were compounded by low service morale’, though I did say that, “Two incidents that occurred prior to the 1971 war – which are sure to have rankled Air Marshal Rahim and exacerbated his wrath – need to be seen in context of their subsequent impact on the mind-set of the C-in-C and his Air Staff.” I have, regrettably been misquoted.

5. Your comment that, “all PAF Western-origin fighters carried Sidewinders or R-530s” needs to be tempered with a clarification that only about 75% of the Sabres carried Sidewinders, and there was only ONE sortie flown on the Mirage III with the useless R-530.

6. About Chuck Yeager, all I have to say is that he was a big mouth and a braggart. If you have read his book, he makes a preposterous claim that he had exceptional vision, and could see 25 NAUTICAL MILES easily. Now as for the bit where he states, “I also worked with their squadrons and helped them develop combat tactics,” it is utter balderdash. All he did was to fly a couple of sorties on the Sabre in Peshawar, due to his friendship with Air Mshl Rahim, both having a penchant for hunting and fine Scotch.

7. Your comment, “However, a dichotomy surfaces when it comes to PAF losses. While Tufail lists the tail numbers of only 27 aircraft destroyed, the HoW mentions IAF claims of 75 PAF aircraft destroyed, but credits only 46 (27 in the west and 19 in the east)” needs clarification. I have given the tail numbers of 22 aircraft that the PAF lost in the West, while tail numbers of the five lost in East Pakistan were not available, as the squadron authorisation book, as well as individual pilot log books were left behind in Dacca. I am willing to challenge any Indian historian or military person to share with me details of lost PAF aircraft that number more than 27. In fact, if I were to obfuscate these losses, I would have easily covered up at least three in the Murid raid by IAF’s 20 Sqn that the IAF did not know about, or the F-6 aircraft shot down by Wg Cdr S S Malhotra over Lyallpur that the IAF was never sure about.

8. Your observation: ‘attrition rate’ as a percentage of (only) the offensive missions flown by both air forces, the HoW declares that the IAF’s utilisation rate being almost double, and its attrition rate being half that of the PAF, “…had the war continued, the IAF would certainly have inflicted a decisive defeat on the PAF”. My comment: Why would HoW cherry-pick only the offensive missions? Sir, EVERY mission is to be counted for determining the attrition rate, so let us be fair in conceding that the IAF and PAF had an EQUAL attrition rate at the end of the war. I have taken the number of sorties flown by IAF based on the ‘Official History of the 1971 Indo-Pak War’ by S N Prasad, which was ‘leaked’ to Times of India (by the Indian government of course) in 2000.

9. Your final comment: “He ends his narrative on a sanguine note, remarking that, “The PAF denied a much stronger IAF …the possibility of delivering a knock-out punch to it”. Yes sir, SANGUINE! Why not? To force a draw on an opponent two-and-a-half times bigger calls for a drink. Bottoms up, Admiral!

Kaiser Tufail 20 Feb 2018

@Oscar @Horus @araz @Dazzler @Taimoor Khan @Hodor @Irfan Baloch @gambit
 
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Did IAF win 1971 war? Pak scholar says no. Ex-Indian Navy chief says debate with facts
ADMIRAL ARUN PRAKASH RETD. 20 February, 2018
1971_Instrument_of_Surrender-696x495.jpg

1971 Instrument of Surrender| Wikipedia Commons
India’s bureaucracy is responsible for the vacuum in military history. But there’s a new crop of young scholar-warriors eager to fill this gap.

Disregarding the counsel of wise men, from Herodotus to George Santayana, Indians have consistently ignored the importance of reading, writing and learning from history. So, when retired US Air Force Brigadier ‘Chuck’ Yeager, head of the US Military Assistance Advisory Group in Islamabad during the 1971 war, says in his autobiography that “the Pakistanis whipped the Indians’ asses in the sky… the Pakistanis scored a three-to-one kill ratio, knocking out 102 Russian-made Indian jets and losing 34 airplanes of their own…”, we are left fumbling for a response.

Other Western ‘experts’ have alleged that, in 1971, the Indian Air Force was supported by Tupolev-126 early-warning aircraft flown by Soviet crews, who supposedly jammed Pakistani radars and homed-in Indian aircraft.

Where does one seek authentic information about India’s contemporary military history?

The Ministry of Defence website mentions a History Division, but the output of this division is not displayed, and it seems to have gone into hibernation after a brief spell of activity. A Google search reveals copies of two typed documents, circa 1984, on the internet, titled ‘History of the 1965 War’ and ‘History of the 1971 War’ (HoW), neither of which is designated as ‘official history’.

A chapter of the latter document, deals with the air war in the Western theatre, and opens with a comparison of the opposing air forces. The 1971 inventory of the IAF is assessed as 625 combat aircraft, while the PAF strength is estimated at about 275. After providing day-by-day accounts of air defence, counter-air close support and maritime air operations, the HoW compares aircraft losses on both sides, and attempts a cursory analysis of the air war.

The IAF is declared as having utilised its forces “four times as well as the PAF” and being “definitely on the way to victory” at the time of cease fire. Commending the PAF for having managed to survive in a war against an “enemy double its strength”, it uses a boxing metaphor, to add a (left-handed) complement: “By its refusal to close with its stronger enemy, it at least remained on its feet, and in the ring, when the bell sounded.”

This is this phrase that Pakistani Air Commodore M. Kaiser Tufail (Retd) has picked up for the title of his very recent book: “In the Ring and on its Feet” [Ferozsons (Pvt) Ltd, Lahore, 2017] about the PAF’s role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Commissioned in 1975, this former Pakistani fighter pilot is a historian and bold commentator on strategic affairs. Currently unavailable in India, the book may, prima facie, be accepted as authentic, because the author asserts that in two of his appointments, he was the “custodian of PAF’s war records”, which he was, officially, permitted to access in writing the book.

Tufail starts with an attempt to dispel the “ludicrous Indian fabrication about Pakistan having initiated the war”, and offers the thesis that since war was already in progress, the ineffective 3 December PAF pre-emptive attacks were merely “first strikes” meant to overburden the IAF’s retaliatory capability. Apart from this half-hearted attempt at obfuscation, the rest of Tufail’s narrative is refreshingly candid, free of hyperbole and – one hopes – reliable. Having served in an IAF fighter squadron during the 1971 war, I was fascinated by Tufail’s account, and share a few of his frank insights into wartime events in this article.

Tufail suggests that the wartime PAF Chief, Air Marshal Rahim Khan, was an inarticulate, short-tempered and lacklustre personality, who, at this crucial juncture, chose his two most important advisors – the ACAS (Operations) and the Deputy Chief – from the ranks of transport pilots! His problems were compounded by low service morale, due to the massacre of 30 airmen in East Pakistan and defections by Bengali PAF personnel.

As far as the two orders-of-battle are concerned, it is interesting to note that the HoW figures of 625 combat aircraft for the IAF and 273 for the PAF are pretty close to Tufail’s estimates of 640 and 290 respectively. A fact not commonly known, in 1971, was, that while the IAF’s work-horses, Sukhoi-7s, Hunters, Gnats, HF-24s, Mysteres and Vampires, were armed only with 30/20 mm guns, the opposition had the advantage of air-to-air missiles. While all PAF Western-origin fighters carried Sidewinders or R-530s, Yeager tells us: “One of my first jobs (in Pakistan) was to help them put US Sidewinders on their Chinese MiGs… I also worked with their squadrons and helped them develop combat tactics.”

Tufail provides a tabular account of both IAF and PAF aircraft losses, with pilots’ names, squadron numbers and (for PAF aircraft) tail numbers. To my mind, one particular statistic alone confirms Tufail’s objectivity. As the squadron diarist of IAF’s No.20 Squadron, I recall recording the result of a Hunter raid on PAF base Murid, on 8 December 1971, as “one transport, two fighters (probable) and vehicles destroyed on ground”. In his book, Tufail confirms that 20 Squadron actually destroyed five F-86 fighters in this mission – making it the most spectacular IAF raid of the war!

Particularly gratifying to read are Tufail’s reconstructions of many combat missions, which have remained shrouded in doubt and ambiguity for 47 years. Personally, I experienced a sense of closure after reading his accounts of the final heroic moments of 20 Squadron comrades Jal Mistry and K.P. Muralidharan, as well as fellow naval aviators Roy, Sirohi and Vijayan, shot down at sea. Tufail also nails the canard about Soviet Tupolev-126 support to IAF, and describes how it was the clever employment of IAF MiG-21s to act as ‘radio-relay posts’ that fooled the PAF.

Coming to the ‘final reckoning’, there is only a small difference between the figures given in the HoW and those provided by Tufail for IAF losses; both of which make nonsense of Yeager’s pompous declarations. According to the tabulated Pakistani account (giving names of Indian aircrew), the IAF lost 60 aircraft. The HoW records the IAF’s losses in action as 56 aircraft (43 in the west and 13 in the east).

However, a dichotomy surfaces when it comes to PAF losses. While Tufail lists the tail numbers of only 27 aircraft destroyed, the HoW mentions IAF claims of 75 PAF aircraft destroyed, but credits only 46 (27 in the west and 19 in the east).

Using ‘utilisation rate’ per aircraft and ‘attrition rate’ as a percentage of (only) the offensive missions flown by both air forces, the HoW declares that the IAF’s utilisation rate being almost double, and its attrition rate being half that of the PAF, “…had the war continued, the IAF would certainly have inflicted a decisive defeat on the PAF”.

Adopting a different approach, Tufail concludes that the overall ‘attrition rate’ (loss per 100 sorties) for each air force as well as aircraft losses, as percentage of both IAF and PAF inventories, are numerically equal. Thus, according to him, “…both air forces were on par… though the IAF flew many more ground-attack sorties in a vulnerable air and ground environment”.

He ends his narrative on a sanguine note, remarking that, “The PAF denied a much stronger IAF …the possibility of delivering a knock-out punch to it”.

Air Commodore Tufail’s book clearly demonstrates that there are at least two good reasons for writing war histories; lessons are learnt about the political sagacity underpinning employment of state military power, and militaries can test the validity of the Principles of War.

Sensible nations, therefore, ensure that history is not replaced by mythology. Like Kaiser Tufail, there is a whole new crop of young scholar-warriors emerging in India too, eager to record its rich military history.

But as long as our obdurate bureaucracy maintains the inexplicable ‘omerta’ vis-a-vis official records, this deplorable historical vacuum will persist.

Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) is a former Chief of the Naval Staff.

Clarifications to Admiral Prakash’s Review of ‘In the Ring and on its Feet.

1. I clearly conceded in the Preface that we lost the war, so I find the surrender picture out of place, though it may have been inserted by the publisher to rub it in or spice it up.

2. As to the initiator of the war, how can the Indian invasion of East Pakistan on 22 November be denied, or is it that an invasion doesn’t count if the ingredients of air strikes and armour assaults are missing? I touched upon the much-flogged point that Indian writers harp upon – PAF’s pre-emptive strikes. We were not pre-empting an Indian invasion (which had already taken place), so technically it was not a pre-emption per se. It was just opening up another front. Therefore, the comment about a “half-hearted attempt at obfuscation” is rather strong and unwarranted.

3. As for your ‘cherry-picking’ of some adverse remarks about Air Mshl Rahim Khan, I would have appreciated if you had also included some of the following points: “The PAF was led by Air Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan, an officer with a bearing as impressive as his credentials. Soon after his commission in 1944, Rahim saw action in World War II, when he flew Vultee Vengeance dive-bombers in RIAF’s No 7 Squadron while stationed in Burma. Interestingly, Air Marshal Rahim Khan’s IAF counterpart in 1971 was the former Squadron Commander of No 7 Squadron, Air Chief Marshal P C Lal. Later in the PAF, Rahim flew Hawker Tempest and Hawker Fury in No 9 Squadron. He started to move on the fast track in the PAF when, in 1951, he was selected to command No 11 Squadron, PAF’s first jet fighter Unit equipped with the challenging Supermarine Attacker. Rahim went on to command PAF Station Mauripur (later named Masroor), which was PAF’s largest Station in terms of assets, as well as physical area. He did his staff course at RAF Staff College in Andover, and later, his defence studies course at Imperial Defence College in London. Well qualified in air power and war studies, he went on to command the PAF Staff College in Karachi. His staff jobs at Air Headquarters included those of ACAS (Ops) and ACAS (Admin). As ACAS (Ops), he was at the forefront of planning and conducting air operations during the 1965 Indo-Pak War. The C-in-C, Air Marshal Nur Khan, who had been appointed just 45 days prior to that war, was completely out of touch with the PAF, having been on deputation to PIA for a long period of six years. Rahim not only assisted his boss competently, but gained useful experience in the conduct of operations that he was to put to good use in 1971.”

4. I never mentioned that Rahim Khan’s ‘problems were compounded by low service morale’, though I did say that, “Two incidents that occurred prior to the 1971 war – which are sure to have rankled Air Marshal Rahim and exacerbated his wrath – need to be seen in context of their subsequent impact on the mind-set of the C-in-C and his Air Staff.” I have, regrettably been misquoted.

5. Your comment that, “all PAF Western-origin fighters carried Sidewinders or R-530s” needs to be tempered with a clarification that only about 75% of the Sabres carried Sidewinders, and there was only ONE sortie flown on the Mirage III with the useless R-530.

6. About Chuck Yeager, all I have to say is that he was a big mouth and a braggart. If you have read his book, he makes a preposterous claim that he had exceptional vision, and could see 25 NAUTICAL MILES easily. Now as for the bit where he states, “I also worked with their squadrons and helped them develop combat tactics,” it is utter balderdash. All he did was to fly a couple of sorties on the Sabre in Peshawar, due to his friendship with Air Mshl Rahim, both having a penchant for hunting and fine Scotch.

7. Your comment, “However, a dichotomy surfaces when it comes to PAF losses. While Tufail lists the tail numbers of only 27 aircraft destroyed, the HoW mentions IAF claims of 75 PAF aircraft destroyed, but credits only 46 (27 in the west and 19 in the east)” needs clarification. I have given the tail numbers of 22 aircraft that the PAF lost in the West, while tail numbers of the five lost in East Pakistan were not available, as the squadron authorisation book, as well as individual pilot log books were left behind in Dacca. I am willing to challenge any Indian historian or military person to share with me details of lost PAF aircraft that number more than 27. In fact, if I were to obfuscate these losses, I would have easily covered up at least three in the Murid raid by IAF’s 20 Sqn that the IAF did not know about, or the F-6 aircraft shot down by Wg Cdr S S Malhotra over Lyallpur that the IAF was never sure about.

8. Your observation: ‘attrition rate’ as a percentage of (only) the offensive missions flown by both air forces, the HoW declares that the IAF’s utilisation rate being almost double, and its attrition rate being half that of the PAF, “…had the war continued, the IAF would certainly have inflicted a decisive defeat on the PAF”. My comment: Why would HoW cherry-pick only the offensive missions? Sir, EVERY mission is to be counted for determining the attrition rate, so let us be fair in conceding that the IAF and PAF had an EQUAL attrition rate at the end of the war. I have taken the number of sorties flown by IAF based on the ‘Official History of the 1971 Indo-Pak War’ by S N Prasad, which was ‘leaked’ to Times of India (by the Indian government of course) in 2000.

9. Your final comment: “He ends his narrative on a sanguine note, remarking that, “The PAF denied a much stronger IAF …the possibility of delivering a knock-out punch to it”. Yes sir, SANGUINE! Why not? To force a draw on an opponent two-and-a-half times bigger calls for a drink. Bottoms up, Admiral!

Kaiser Tufail 20 Feb 2018

@Oscar @Horus @araz @Dazzler @Taimoor Khan @Hodor @Irfan Baloch @gambit
It is an Indian he is talking to after all, whose BEST attitude with regards to ANYONE other than selves is condescending appreciation- such insecure mentality by the Indians regarding anyone except themselves is sadly another reason why peace with them is impossible.
 
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It is an Indian he is talking to after all, whose BEST attitude with regards to ANYONE other than selves is condescending appreciation- such insecure mentality by the Indians regarding anyone except themselves is sadly another reason why peace with them is impossible.
Well, Sir Tufail has written to the Indian Admiral and pointed out all the errors in his review.
Let's see what the Admiral who seems totally unprofessional redeems himself.
 
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Well, Sir Tufail has written to the Indian Admiral and pointed out all the errors in his review.
Let's see what the Admiral who seems totally unprofessional redeems himself.
Why would they?
If you repeat a lie enough times it gets believed; majority of the Indian nation lives on lies about us, why would it make a difference or create any moral imperative on the Admiral to give a different statement?
 
. .
Why would they?
If you repeat a lie enough times it gets believed; majority of the Indian nation lives on lies about us, why would it make a difference or create any moral imperative on the Admiral to give a different statement?
Yes, no questions asked and no explanation given as far as Indians are concerned but on Professional level, the Admiral will be forced to choke on his own vomit.
I only wish our media would also pick up and carry this story.
 
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Yes, no questions asked and no explanation given as far as Indians are concerned but on Professional level, the Admiral will be forced to choke on his own vomit.
I only wish our media would also pick up and carry this story.
Indians Love exaggerating Stuff

Army lied to the nation on Laungewala'
Rahul Singh, Hindustan Times New Delhi, March 02, 2008

First Published: 01:38 IST(2/3/2008) | Last Updated: 01:44 IST(2/3/2008)
Two days after Hindustan Times published the shocking revelation by Maj. Gen. Atma Singh (retd) that the Army faked the famous battle, an air ace who controlled the strikes that finished off the Pakistani armour has said the Army has hoodwinked the nation with false tales of valour.

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Some other veterans of the 1971 war have also raised questions about this “golden moment” in India’s military history, romanticised by the 1997 Sunny Deol superhit, Border.

Air Marshal MS Bawa (retd), who was commanding the Jaisalmer base from where the IAF Hunter fighters operated in the battle, told Hindustan Times, “The services were the only organisation with some credibility. The Army has torn that apart by faking the entire operation.”



Atma Singh, who won the Vir Chakra for gallantry at Laungewala, had said no ground battle was fought, and the Army had merely rehearsed the operation on a sand model to cover up for its senior commanders’ incompetence.

The Army had, on February 24, given Defence Minister A.K. Antony a blow-by-blow account of how Major K.S Chandpuri (later Brigadier) leading just 100 men, had frustrated an attack by a Pakistani brigade backed by 45 tanks. Chandpuri got the Maha Vir Chakra, and his alpha company (23 Punjab) won six awards.

Bawa, then a wing commander, told Hindustan Times: “If the Army wants to stem this rot, it has to act against officers responsible for this propaganda. Or else, you will have a series of ketchup colonels and fake encounters.”

Shadow of doubt over Bawa’s Hunters flew some 220 strike missions, including 35 over Laungewala. They destroyed 37 tanks. He rubbished the Army’s claims of hitting two tanks and killing three Pakistani officers.

“The military leadership schemed to glorify the Army’s role. I landed at Laungewala on December 5 and saw a handful of infantry soldiers hunkered down in their trenches, scared,” Bawa said. The Army had made a mockery of gallantry awards.

When contacted for his version, Brig. Chandpuri heaped praise on the IAF. “It was virtually due to them that Laungewala was saved and threat to Jaisalmer neutralised.”



He, however, trashed criticism of the military leadership, crediting his generals for their “unstinted support.” He said his men didn’t give in despite overwhelming odds. The government had honoured him with the MVC, and he needed no other certificate, Chandpuri said.

What exactly happened in Laungewala according to the Army?

While according highest importance to its accomplishments, the Army gives full marks to the Air Force too. But sources in Army Headquarters couldn’t provide a chronological account of what happened. The history of the 1971 war, like that of previous wars, had not been de-classified, they said.

On December 3, 1971, Pakistan carried out air strikes against 24 Indian bases. Action shifted to Laungewala on the night of December 4-5, when the Army’s 12 Division was planning an offensive into Rahimyar Khan in Pakistan.

However, the Pakistanis surprised Indian forces by crossing the border at three different points, (border posts 632, 635 and 638), and surrounding the Laungewala post by 2 am on December 5. According to the popular depiction of the story (shown in the film Border), a famous ground battle followed, with a small, heroic band of Indians holding off a massive wave of Pakistani armour.

The IAF at that time didn’t have night fighting capabilities, and the first Hunters were scrambled only at 7.15 a.m., and the Pakistani armour was bombed out of existence. Ceasefire was announced on December 16.

An excerpt, accessed by this writer, dated December 5, from the war diaries of the Air Force’s 14 CMU (care and maintenance unit) reads: “Never in the history before, a more decisive battle has ever been fought between the Air Force alone versus the armour as was at Laungewala.”

Colonel P.S. Sangha (retd), an army pilot who won the Vir Chakra, said the battle was an Air Force victory. Fighter pilots won eight Vir Chakras.

Colonel D.R. Singh (retd) of 17 Rajputana Rifles, who reached the post on December 5 to provide reinforcements to Chandpuri, corroborated Bawa’s claim that barely 20 men were at the post. “The rest had run away. The role of 23 Punjab has been dramatically exaggerated,” he said.

Chandpuri said the controversy had created an avoidable misunderstanding between the Army and Air Force. “It has also demoralised soldiers and hurt their feelings.”
 
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Yes, no questions asked and no explanation given as far as Indians are concerned but on Professional level, the Admiral will be forced to choke on his own vomit.
I only wish our media would also pick up and carry this story.
He wont, he is celebrated in India.
The problem with Indians is summed up
Simply by their inate and incurable mentality of “Yes he is a liar, but our liar is better than your liar”
 
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It is an Indian he is talking to after all, whose BEST attitude with regards to ANYONE other than selves is condescending appreciation- such insecure mentality by the Indians regarding anyone except themselves is sadly another reason why peace with them is impossible.

I really don't understand what causes such offence. The Air Cdre has cleared up a number of assumptions and mistakes by the Admiral, and said or done nothing that would cause offence. Second, regarding condescension, might it not be just amusement at some of the things done, said to be done, stated, or said to have been stated? It is difficult to see condescension in making a point, an amused point, about things that were not done well by the other side, just as it is difficult to see outrage in the Air Cdre's putting the ball back in the Admiral's court in most cases where facts, or the reputation of individuals, were concerned.

Personally, I was delighted at their common appreciation of Chuck Yeager, about whom the diplomat in charge of the American Embassy at the time wrote at length, and with an equally amused tinge to his narration.

Why would they?
If you repeat a lie enough times it gets believed; majority of the Indian nation lives on lies about us, why would it make a difference or create any moral imperative on the Admiral to give a different statement?

Misinterpretation, possibly, assumption that one's own side's narration has more credibility than the other's, perhaps the sometimes unquestioning loyalty that becomes second nature to military men, and is difficult to shake off when writing from a critic's point of view.

As your remark implies, a majority of Indians might live on lies about Pakistan; presumably a minority does not. There is not sufficient evidence about the Admiral to suggest that he is one of those who does live on lies about Pakistan.

I also submit very respectfully that I would not take seriously a civilian's description of an Admiral of the Indian Navy as being unprofessional. A pithy but brutal depiction of the accuser's personal standing was provided to me by a very senior member of this forum, in better days when he had not entirely tired of the entire Indian nation, but I shall in my deprecation of the scurrilous accusation merely confine myself to the facts of the offender's remoteness from anything in the nature of a direct experience of the military profession, or of the ethics of military professionals, or of the competence of a rank amateur to gauge what is in fact professional.

@Joe Shearer Why are you lying to poor India people.

I don't know.

I will be informed what is wrong with me, as well as what is wrong to my misled audience soon enough; let's wait for it and not seek to emulate our masters.
 
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I really don't understand what causes such offence. The Air Cdre has cleared up a number of assumptions and mistakes by the Admiral, and said or done nothing that would cause offence. Second, regarding condescension, might it not be just amusement at some of the things done, said to be done, stated, or said to have been stated? It is difficult to see condescension in making a point, an amused point, about things that were not done well by the other side, just as it is difficult to see outrage in the Air Cdre's putting the ball back in the Admiral's court in most cases where facts, or the reputation of individuals, were concerned.

Personally, I was delighted at their common appreciation of Chuck Yeager, about whom the diplomat in charge of the American Embassy at the time wrote at length, and with an equally amused tinge to his narration.



Misinterpretation, possibly, assumption that one's own side's narration has more credibility than the other's, perhaps the sometimes unquestioning loyalty that becomes second nature to military men, and is difficult to shake off when writing from a critic's point of view.

As your remark implies, a majority of Indians might live on lies about Pakistan; presumably a minority does not. There is not sufficient evidence about the Admiral to suggest that he is one of those who does live on lies about Pakistan.

I also submit very respectfully that I would not take seriously a civilian's description of an Admiral of the Indian Navy as being unprofessional. A pithy but brutal depiction of the accuser's personal standing was provided to me by a very senior member of this forum, in better days when he had not entirely tired of the entire Indian nation, but I shall in my deprecation of the scurrilous accusation merely confine myself to the facts of the offender's remoteness from anything in the nature of a direct experience of the military profession, or of the ethics of military professionals, or of the competence of a rank amateur to gauge what is in fact professional.



I don't know.

I will be informed what is wrong with me, as well as what is wrong to my misled audience soon enough; let's wait for it and not seek to emulate our masters.
I think the ACdre’s irked and surprised tone has expressed what I wrote better than anyone- the Admiral willfully skewed quoted and is skewing numbers to paint a positive picture towards India.
 
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I think the ACdre’s irked and surprised tone has expressed what I wrote better than anyone- the Admiral willfully skewed quoted and is skewing numbers to paint a positive picture towards India.

I am only asking you, and everyone else, to remember that the Admiral was quoting the numbers on record on our side, which is not a wilful distortion; such things are known to have occurred when losses of aircraft have been recorded, right from WWI onwards. As far as I know, the Air Cdre put the matter to rest by citing tail numbers, and once he has taken the Admiral's figure and explained precisely what he thought were the facts, the matter is clearly decided.

My only point was not to assume a malicious intention on the part of the Admiral, but merely to see that he had a point of view; perhaps a point of view based on mistaken and/or defective data, but nevertheless a different point of view.
 
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I'm somewhat dismayed by some of disclosures made by the Admiral.
Although he retired as Chief of the Naval staff, yet he claims to have served in an IAF fighter squadron in 1971 and also says he was squadron diarist of IAF’s No.20 Squadron.
He also conveniently excludes MiG-21 from IAF's units and includes Vampires which were reportedly withdrawn from front line service after the first encounter of 1965 war.
 
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I am only asking you, and everyone else, to remember that the Admiral was quoting the numbers on record on our side, which is not a wilful distortion; such things are known to have occurred when losses of aircraft have been recorded, right from WWI onwards. As far as I know, the Air Cdre put the matter to rest by citing tail numbers, and once he has taken the Admiral's figure and explained precisely what he thought were the facts, the matter is clearly decided.

My only point was not to assume a malicious intention on the part of the Admiral, but merely to see that he had a point of view; perhaps a point of view based on mistaken and/or defective data, but nevertheless a different point of view.
Admiral mis-quoted him, cherry picked and painted a completely different picture of Air Marshl Rahim Khan while he was actually doing a 'book review' resulting in a response from book's author. And you are still not sure what caused such offence..
 
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[QUOTE="Windjammer,]I'm somewhat dismayed by some of disclosures made by the Admiral.
Although he retired as Chief of the Naval staff, yet he claims to have served in an IAF fighter squadron in 1971 and also says he was squadron diarist of IAF’s No.20 Squadron.
He also conveniently excludes MiG-21 from IAF's units and includes Vampires which were reportedly withdrawn from front line service after the first encounter of 1965 war.[/QUOTE]

A simple Google search will show that ADM. Arun Prakash was deputed to the IAF during the 71 air war.
Here is a link to an article which quotes the Admiral speaking very kindly of Kaiser Tufail and his book.
You can even see the group photo showing Admiral Prakash in the standing row.

(Just google Arun Prakash Kaiser Tufail ndtv)

As far as Vampire jets in 1971, please don't doubt the facts stated by someone who was actually there !
Not only VAMPIRES, even vintage Harvards were employed by the IAF !
And stop believing that canard Pakistani fanboys love , that vampires were withdrawn after the1965 single day loss of 4 or 5 aircraft. Vampire jets attacked Pakistani positions till the last day of the 1965 operations!

Is Google that difficult to access in Pakistan??
 
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