An Odyssey In War and Peace by Lt. Gen J.F.R. Jacob

Author:Lt. Gen J.F.R. Jacob [Roli Books Pvt. Ltd.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788174369338
Publisher: Roli Books
Published: 2012-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

9

The Conduct of Operations

Based on our strategy to go straight for Dacca and bypass centres of resistance, we issued orders to our formations. In the north-western sector under XXXIII Corps, 20 Mountain Division with 340 Mountain Brigade was to capture the communication centre at Bogra, and move up to the Brahmaputra river. The main thrust line was via Pirganj, then down south to Bogra, bypassing Hilli. 6 Mountain Division, which was earmarked for the defence of Bhutan and not at our disposal for the offensive was ordered by us to simulate a threat to the town of Rangpur. The inland waterways flotilla in Assam was moved to the border at Dubri to assist operations down the river. For command and control of operations in the western sector, Army HQ had earlier sanctioned the raising of II Corps headquarters on a reduced static establishment. We had anticipated this and had created the infrastructure, logistics, and communications well before personnel began arriving in mid-November. Lt Gen. T.N. Raina was nominated to command the corps. I had known Raina earlier and had been a fellow cadet and platoon officer at the Officers' Training school at Mhow. As I joined the artillery I was commissioned four months later than Raina and therefore he had become that much my senior. I briefed Raina on his tasks. He was reluctant to take risks and wanted his divisions to advance shoulder to shoulder. He had little control over his divisional commanders, Maj. Gen. Dalbir Singh commanding 9 infantry Division, openly flouting his orders and frequently being downright rude. The other divisional commander of 4 Mountain Division kept a low profile. We had originally planned for 9 infantry Division to capture Jessore and then move on to assist 4 Mountain Division which was to capture Jhenida, Magura, Faridpur, and Goalundo Ghat. The inland waterways flotilla was to move down river to Goalundo Ghat to ferry troops to Dacca if necessary. There were acrimonious discussions during the war game held at the corps headquarters. Maj. Gen. Dalbir Singh wanted to move on the main road and not bypass Jessore using the Boyra axis. In order to frustrate this plan he executed a preliminary operation of Boyra, thereby losing the advantage of surprise. Raina too wanted his two divisions to move shoulder to shoulder as he was most apprehensive about his flanks. Throughout the operation Raina was cautious, perhaps over cautious. This approach was responsible for slow progress in this sector. Fortunately some of the brigade commanders displayed dash and initiative.

In the south-eastern sector we had built up the infrastructure for the IV Corps. The corps commander, Lt Gen. Sagat Singh, had an aggressive outlook. He had 8 Mountain Division from Nagaland less one brigade under the command of Maj. Gen. Krishna Rao. The division had no artillery of its own as it had been in a counter-insurgency role. We made up the artillery component by pulling out regiments from the Chinese border. Similarly, 57 Mountain Division from Mizoram commanded by Maj.

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