The Tibet and Aksai Chin Story:
India and China were not neighbours. They had a buffer State between them called Tibet. China illegally occupied Tibet and also East Turkmenistan (now renamed Xinjiang). To connect these two territories it built a road on an Area which belonged to India called Aksai Chin. Eventually China gobbled up entire Aksai Chin. Then Prime Minister Nehru refused to use Air force to throw China out, for the reasons known to Nehru only.
Fast Forward to 1993 when India China signed an agreement not to use fire arms or explosives within 2 kilometres of the “Line of Actual Control”. The stupidity here was that line of actual control is not laid out on any map and signed by both parties. The same treaty was repeated several times and objection of the army to define Line of Actual Control was ignored. We know the reason why it happened between 2004 to 2014 and who was acting as China’s ally here.
Initially India believed that like Doklam where China after showing aggression for 73 days went back, it will retreat. India repulsed the provocation. Read here about it. But India decided that China must be given a taste of it’s own medicine. The medicine of deceit and aggression.
In 1962 or so China had occupied the area shown below in the map as Helmet Top and Black Top but China was not maintaining physical presence. See below map, this area is Spangur Tso (Lake), an area south of Pangong Tso and east of Chushul.
This area provided tactical dominance and strategic advantages. The heights are named Black Top, Helmet, Magar and Gurung Hills stretching right up to Rezang La etc. On the night of 29th August the Indian Army took over Helmet Top and Black Top Area in time period of 120 minutes long before Chinese Army could reach these tops though it started early. Here is the story:
Past midnight Indian Army was warned of troop movement of Chinese Army with about 500 troops. Under the cover of darkness it wanted to reach the Black top and helmet Top which was technically in it’s possession but it was not physically present there.
Since past about a month the elite Indian Mountain Force called Indian Frontier Force or Vikas Battalian was in the area fully acclimatized to the height and atmosphere. The troops of this battalions are so physically fit that they can run when others find walking difficult.
Indian troops moved up to the LAC, and waited for the green signal. Some troops mounted on high mobility vehicles and drove straight to the 3 km ridgeline waiting for signal. At the word go, these troops crossed over into the enemy claimed territory with lightning speed. The Frontier Force occupied the hills, beating their own targeted timings of 120 minutes.
Now by the time Chinese troops may arrive one complete infantry brigade with over 2,000 troops was holding the heights overlooking the Spangur Tso/Lake. They were also armed with French Milan anti-tank missiles and Carl Gustav rocket launchers.
At the break of dawn when Chinese Army reached the top panting with stress, the Indians had literally out manoeuvred the enemy and rendered the their armoured tanks at Moldo redundant. The Chinese with their club wielding troops advanced towards the positions now held by the Indians only to be shocked by Indian Army prescence. The Indians troops warned the advancing troops, but the China men tried to continue the climb.
Fire
All those who were feeling bad about this war may cheer up now. Chinese wanted to repeat a Galwan with their clubs. However India has made up its mind now. No righteousness for the unrighteous. A message straight from Mahabharat. The Indians fired a few warning shots in the air. Suddenly Chinese were in awe of new ground realities of the war. They had no plan to face fire arms. But they returned again later in the day.
This time they arrived with their armoured personnel carriers, driving on their cemented road from Moldo to Rezang La but the Indian troops were at a stone’s throw from the Moldo garrison, dominating each and every move of the enemy with anti-tank missiles and rocket launchers. It is not clear if any warning was shot but it is possible. Now the Chinese armoured personnel carrier halted and returned. Disappointed, dejected and lost.
Any armed clash hereafter would have proved suicidal as India is on commanding heights with fire power. See the map above The annihilation of enemy garrison was assured in the quick sand of fire power from all sides.
This is the paradigm shift in policy which made the Defence Minister of China to insist on meeting with Indian Defence Minister where he was responded in plain language. I wonder if Indian Defence Minister may have recited from Mahabharat itself. The message is clear:
Sandeep Bhalla's Blog 