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SyedA 05-02-2004, 08:45 PM

Why Indo-Pak Armies Failed in War
The failures of the two armies in the various conflicts.
[A H AMIN]

Around the time of partition there were great expectations from the successor armies of the old British Indian
Army i.e the Pakistan and the Indian Army! Thus while discussing the boundaries of the to be partitioned
province of Punjab an Indian giving evidence before the Punjab Boundary Commission stated “If Pakistan
manages in a counterattack to make a 40 miles advance then the defence of India would be affected. True they
would lose Bhatinda and Dhuri and Pakistan forces were within measur-

able distance of Ambala, but they (The future Indian Army) do not lose all. Their communications are not
upset; they lose so much of the railway line up to the extent of 40 miles, but they still have the main line
bringing their supplies at right angle to their forces”. The same person in this discussion gave the Indians a
capability of advancing 500 miles inside Pakistan”!

Compare this remark with the later performance of both Indian and Pakistan Armies in actual war which was
pathetic in terms of speed of advance or area captured in all three Indo-Pak wars! On a personal level I may
add that this subject of phenomenal mediocrity at strategic as well as operational level motivated me to write
“The Pakistan Army till 1965”.

The reasons for the dismal performance of both the armies are to be seen in their historical background, the
classes which were inducted in both the armies and in the impact of British military as well as colonial legacy
on both the armies!

The reader may note that since it was the failure of success of armour that decided the issue in all Indo-Pak
Wars at least as far as any decisive breakthrough was concerned the discussion centres around employment of
armour and leadership with special reference to armour.

Before proceeding into the analytical phase a glance at two comparative decisive battles is necessary so that
necessary lessons can be linked to the analysis. The four test studies are Pakistani armours failure to achieve a
breakthrough on the first day of Operation Grand Slam in 1965, both Pakistani and Indian 1st Armoured
Division's major offensives opposite Khem Karan and Chawinda Pakistani 8 Armoured Brigade's failure opposite
Bara Pind. Following is a summary of the four battles.

Pakistani failure to achieve a decisive breakthrough on first day of Grand Slam

The Chamb Sector in 1965 was a very weakly held sector held by three dispersed Indian infantry battalions
supported by a tank squadron of AMX-13 tanks which were like matchboxes as compared to the Pattons held
by the two opposing Pakistani tank regiments i.e a superiority of 6 to 1 in tanks. Further Pakistan had immense
artillery superiority both numerical and material of 6 to 1. Pakistani 8 Inch Guns were phenomenally superior to
anything that the Indians had. Unfortunately, the Pakistani armour was distributed in penny packets to the two
infantry brigades. Thus instead of using armour as a punch it was employed as a thin net as a result of which
its hitting power was vastly reduced. Thus many tanks were lost on the first day and Indian brigade holding the
sector withdrew during the night in an organized manner. This initial setback on the first day reduced Pakistani
chances of victory which was later on compromised due to other political reasons.

Indian 1st Armoured Division's failure at Chawinda

The major Indian attack of 1965 War was launched by the Indian 1st Armoured Division opposite Chawinda on
8th September 1965. The Indian formation had four tank regiments as opposed to 1 tank regiment of Pakistan
Army! There was no infantry on both flanks of the Pakistani unit and only one battalion in its rear yet the
Indians miserably failed to outflank this unit and reach Sialkot-Pasrur Road opposite Badiana or to the South of
Pasrur! While two Indian tank regiments advancing on a narrow front unimaginatively battered frontally with a
single Pakistani tank regiment, two Indian tank regiments in the rear were not employed by an Indian GOC and

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his brigade commander paralysed by intertia vacillation and procrastination ! This was not a case of a more
martial morally superior Muslim soldier blunting a less martial Hindu soldier at Panipat but a failure on part of
two Indian commanders sitting many miles in the rear! Thus the truth in Clausewitz's pronouncement on higher
leadership “marches to turn a flank, right or left are easily combined …but let a general try to do these things
like Frederick the Great …it required the King's boldness, determination and strength of will to see the things in
this light and not to be led astray and intimidated by the danger of which 30 years after people still wrote and
spoke”.

The most interesting aspect of the first engagement opposite Gadgor being discussed is that Pakistan's 25
Cavalry which faced the Indian Armoured Division was not aware that it was facing an Indian Armoured Division
while the Indian Armoured Division commander was also not aware that there was only one tank regiment
opposing his tank division! If both knew what was the actual case then 25 Cavalry's commanding officer may
have been paralysed by irresolution and inertia and history may have been different and the Indian commander
may have gathered greater resolution and bypassed the unit! However, this is the realm of speculation! More
important is what actually happened! The Indian commander decided not to outflank the Pakistani's in front
because of three reasons i.e (1) that his four tank regiments were opposed by two tank regiments (2) no news
of his left flank protection force (3) that his rear was under attack. At the end of the day the Indian divisional
commander withdrew his division back and stayed inactive till 10th September 1965, during which Pakistan
reinforced the area with its 6th Armoured Division! The battles that followed from 11th September till ceasefire
could not be decisive since initial Indian superiority at the decisive point had been compromised! The reason
why the Indian commander thought that he was faced with two tank regiments was Pakistan's 25 Cavalry's
unusually extended line of defence, his flank protection force had lost his way because of poor map reading and
strayed out of wireless contact and the attack on his rear which unnerved him was an exchange of fire between
his left flank protection force and his own artillery guns! These three reasons were considered enough by the
Indian GOC to withdraw eight miles to the rear and do nothing for the next two days! After 11th September
when the Indians resumed advance the Pakistanis had brought reinforcements and there was no room for a
battle of manoeuvre!

Pakistani 1st Armoured Division's failure at Khem Karan

Pakistan's 1st Armoured Division with five tank regiments and additional two supporting tank regiments on the
flanks failed to breakthrough the Khem Karan area on 7th and 8th September at a time when only one Indian
tank regiment with ancient Sherman tanks was opposing the Pakistani five tank regiments having most modern
Patton Tanks. The reason of the dismal performance was not Indian resistance but poor initial planning and staff
work in not taking adequate measures to ensure crossing of one water course and one canal both in Pakistani
territory! This delayed the induction of the armoured division in the battle area enabling the Indians to reinforce
their lone Sherman tank regiment with two more tank regiments! It is ironic to note that the Pakistani plan to
attack in this sector was not new but formulated many years before the war. Here was a case like Chawinda
earlier discussed where there was failure in achieving a breakthrough despite a five to one superiority simply
because the superiority could not be put into practice due to poor initial planning and staff work.

Pakistani 8 Armoured Brigade's Failure at Bara Pind

Pakistan's 8 Independent Armoured Brigade was launched at Bara Pind on 16th December 1971! The situation
here was ironically similar to Indian situation at Gadgor on 8th September 1965! Three Pakistani Patton
Regiments were available as against one Indian Centurion tank regiment holding a bridgehead at Bara Pind-
Jarpal! Ironically as happened with the Indians at Gadgor here too the Pakistani tank brigade commander failed
to achieve a breakthrough despite a three to one superiority. The first Pakistani tank regiment was initially
launched with the initiative of the detailed planning of the attack, decentralized to the tank regiment
commander! This was a fatal decision! The tank regiment commander known as Masood Chhakrra initially
launched one tank squadron in attack. Once this squadron was badly beaten being in a frontal role against
Indian tanks in static positions, he launched his remaining two squadrons a little to the north and again with
disastrous consequences! Once the first tank regiment had failed the Pakistani tank brigade commander
launched his second regiment again with disastrous results. In short three tank regiments failed to dislodge a
single Indian tank regiment in a counter attack which was a planned contingency before the war and carried out
in Pakistani territory. Prominent in this case was failure to coordinate artillery support which was available in
abundance but not utilized in the attack plan. The Indian armoured corps historian held the view that the
Pakistanis could have broken through even without artillery support if all three squadrons of 13 Lancers had
attacked the Indian position in concentration!3

Analysis Failure occurred not because of material or numerical but other reasons

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It has been a common practice to cite insufficient numerical superiority at the decisive point as a reason for
failure. In all four cases, all decisive battles, this was not the case. The Pakistanis failed at Grand Slam despite 6
to 1 superiority on the first day. This was a case of not concentrating tanks and using them as infantry support
vehicles. The Indian failed at Gadgor despite a 4 to 1 superiority. This was a case of the Indian brigade
commander losing his nerve because of timidity and irresolution and the Indian GOC not spurring his brigade
commander and instead withdrawing to the rear for the next two days while only one tank regiment opposed his
division. The Pakistanis failed at Khem Karan despite a five to one superiority because of poor initial planning
and incorrect armour tactics in withdrawing to the leaguer at night. Again Bara Pind was a failure in not
integrating artillery in attack and in not concentrating the armoured brigade in attack.

British Colonial Legacy

Once the British initially came to India they allowed Indians entry in officer rank. The real danger in history has
always been posed not by weapons but by men of resolute description! Thus Mustafa Kemal defied superpowers
of his day not by any nuclear warhead but by generalship in the field!

Once the British came to India initially they were not aware of the dangers that Indians in higher rank could
pose to their rule! Thus once a cavalry unit Moghal Horse was raised at Patna in July 1760 it was an All Muslim
unit with Sardars Mirza Shahbaz Khan and Mirza Tar Beg. More notable was the case of Yusuf Khan!

Back in 1752 a Muslim of Pathan descent enlisted under Colonel Clive and distinguished himself in battle (not by
verbosity on courses or in model discussions) on many occasions. As a reward for excellence in battle Yusuf
Khan was made commandant of all Indian sepoys in the service of the English East India Company in 1754,
three years before Plassey, presented with a medal in 1755 and further rewarded by renting of two districts in
Carnatic for 20 Lakh Rupees in 1759 ! From 1760 onwards Yusuf Khan became more powerful and started
defying the English East India Company. The Englishman were forced to start a war against Yusuf Khan which
lasted for more than an year! All the British Troops of Madras Army were committed and peace only came after
Madura Yusuf Khan's stronghold was finally captured on 13th October 1764!4

No more Yusuf Khans! This was the Englishmen's conclusion and this they enforced religiously right till 1947!
Have no native leadership in the Indian Army! This was ensured as a policy right till 1947 even though Indo-Pak
natives were admitted synthetically in the officer rank in 1919!

While Indians were recruited as officers from 1919 it was ensured that these must be the most slavish and
meek ones! Outwardly smart and impressive in bearing, but loyal to the core, lacking initiative in higher
decision making and good till only company and platoon level! Thus the basic aim of Indian Military Academy
Dera Dun was to produce Indian officers who at best could be good company commanders and nothing more!

This system was enforced as a Machiavellian policy! Sir Sivaswamy Ayer in 1921 demanded in the Indian
legislative assembly that all seats to commissioned officer rank in Indian Army should be filled by open
competitive exam held on all India basis.The British sabotaged this scheme! Thus when Indian Military Academy
Dera Dun was established the Britisher ensured a slavish Indo-Pak officer corps by insisting that 30 out of 60
officer vacancies be given to rankers from Indian Army who had spent many years in ranks under British
officers and considered more loyal than educated Indo-Pak candidates selected on the open merit!

As a result the Indian Army and its successors Indian and Pakistan Army remained pro West and conservative in
outlook! In 1950s Ayub Khan was ready to defend Anglo Iranian Oil fields in Iran for US interests! A relationship
with USA was cemented with the rationale that it would enable Pakistan to regain Kashmir! Yet when the time
came in 1965 Pakistan's self-promoted field marshal had cold feet! The military advantage over India in 1965 in
terms of superior equipment was lost in Khem Karan not because of material inferiority, where Pakistan had
tank superiority of 6 to 1 on 7th and 8th September, but qualitative inferiority on part of Pakistani higher
military leadership! India's leading military thinker Ravi Rikhye admitted in an article on www.orbat.com that
Khem Karan had the potential to be India's Fourth Battle of Panipat had the Pakistan Army broken through!

Deliberate measures were taken to instil an inferiority complex in the Indian officers! Major General Jahanzeb
who was commissioned in 1942 states “In their regiments they were treated with undignified and unconcealed
contempt. Once a British regiment invited the Indian

C in C to dinner. On enquiry about the segregated table he was told unabashedly that it was for the attached
Indian officers”. The general further stated that till mid-thirties Indians commissioned from Sandhurst were not
allowed to enter the precincts of the Peshawar Club and there were cases when an Indian officer asked for a
chair being told by the quartermaster that Indian officers were not authorized chairs.5

Indian Army experience in WW Two

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The British Indian Army was basically an internal security army designed to ensure continuity of British rule in
India. It had no dynamic operational role. Tanks were inducted only in 1938 and Indians were discriminated
against in tank units. Major General Jahanzeb states “The Indian cavalry was the domain of the British
aristocracy. The odd Maharaja's sons were admitted on sufferance. In 1932 three cavalry regiments were
Indianised, the 3rd 7th and 16th. They accepted rich and titled Indian officers. The other regiments admitted
Indian officers almost two years after declaration of World War Two, a fact which was to cost Pakistan dearly
when it came into being”.6

To compound the fact further, the British had a phenomenally incompetent record in handling of armour and
were beaten decisively by the Germans repeatedly from 1940 till 1942 when overwhelming material superiority
enabled them to turn the tide.

In addition Indian war record was nominal since most of the Indian units in North Africa comprised of armoured
cars while in Burma where the Indian tank regiments had Shermans there was no worthwhile enemy in front
since the Japanese had very inferior tanks.

The Indian experience in WW Two was also significant. In North Africa they encountered Rommel who was a
master of armoured warfare who could appear from any direction. Thus a strange fear of enemy on the flanks or
in the rear imported from North Africa. Similarly, the Japanese who confronted the Indians in Burma were again
masters of infiltration and the emphasis that the Indian officers saw was on security and defence rather than
any bold offensive tactics.

The resultant failures in 1965 and 1971 had deep historical reasons.The Indian commanders who failed beyond
unit level consisted of men who had operated in a tactical and operational environment in WW Two where
operations were infantry biased. Even at Al Alamein the major tank attack was carried out by pure British army
units while Indian units and formations were in a static or holding role or assisting British units in the initial
breakthrough as infantry units. Thus, the post 1947 commanders of Indian and Pakistani army did not
understand the real essence of armoured warfare. It was this lack of understanding because of which both sides
failed to achieve any decisive breakthrough in all three wars.

It was a failure of the command as well as the staff system where even the staff officers on both sides were too
slow for armoured warfare and thought in terms of yards and furlongs rather than miles.Their orientation was
position oriented rather than mobility oriented and their typical idea of a battlefield was a linear one rather than
a multi-linear one. Their Burma and North Africa experience where the Japanese or Germans frequently
appeared in their rear made them extra sensitive about their flanks. These were men who thought in terms of
security rather than speed. Conformity rather than unorthodox dynamism, having been trained in the slavish
colonial “orders oriented” British Indian Army. These men had joined the army for social and personal
advancement reasons and warfare to them was a job like WAPDA rather than a supreme test of nationalism or
ideology.

Further, in the British way of war a higher commander was more interested in doing the job of those one step
junior to him that led to lack of initiative and dynamism.The same legacy was imported in the post-1947
Pakistan and Indian Armies.

Conclusion

Today the serving and retired officers of the Pakistan Army console themselves with the fact that today's officer
is far more educated than his predecessors. The matter is not as simple as it appears. Both the armies have
crossed the stage where a decisive defeat could be inflicted on each other. In the post-Nuclear Age conventional
superiority or conventional weapons are no longer decisive. Warfare has been privatized with ideological
organizations conducting a war that is spread all over the globe with multiple cells in nominal communication
with each other. Today when an army marches into operation in one region its enemies react by bomb blasts in
areas previously considered unassailable! The mainland of USA once considered impregnable has been rendered
vulnerable since 9/11.

The other country's army is no longer the decisive target to be eli-

minated as the Iraq war has proved.Iraqi resistance continues despite the demise of Iraqi Army! Airpower alone
cannot win wars as is proved in Afghanistan and Iraq!

The Indian thrust is today no longer to defeat Pakistan in Siachen or Kargil! The thrust is on cultural wars,
psychologically disarming moves and on strengthening the economy.

Seen in this context Pakistan Army is still preparing for the previous war. No effort is being made to organize
the populace for a conflict which would continue even after the conventional army has collapsed.

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The future wars will have no beginning and no end, fought with soft power and by modifying educational syllabi
and trade regulations! Conducted by proxy through minority ethnic groups and by minority sects who are
threatened by majority sects.

Conversely, the Indian leadership has realized that it would be cheaper to win the race by unconventional
means and projecting India as a moderate state with its western borders with a state full of fanatics and
lunatics who deserve to be bombed without remorse. Whatever policies that President Musharraf is following are
seen in the West as the efforts of one man, while the Pakistani nation is being increasingly perceived as an
unstable state which must not be trusted with nuclear weapons. If the military regime fails to find a viable
solution to the political problems of Pakistan and design a suitable exit strategy Pakistan's future may not be
brighter than Serbia or Somalia!

The fact that today's Pakistan is far more vulnerable than 1947 or 1965 or 1971's Pakistan is not being
understood. Nuclear weapons may not prove to be a guarantee of Pakistan's survival unless the political and
military forces decide in the best interest of the nation to respect each other! The important point to be noted is
that Pakistan was the result of a political process and the armed forces were meant to be a subordinate organ of
the political leadership!

The next threat would not be the Indian 1st Armoured Division with its many mechanically unfit tanks but
combined forces of many hostile neighbours attacking Pakistan's Nuclear facilities by stealth! The next conflict
will be multi-national and very fast moving! This time there would be no KK Singhs worrying about their flanks
since Pakistan may be facing not India alone but a combined Indian-Israeli-US onslaught!

The lesson of today's Pakistan remains that Pakistan is ill-equipped for the future challenges that it may face!
Rather Balkanisation at best and Somalisation at worst cannot be ruled out! With a crisis of legitimacy
paralyzing this country's natural growth since 1954 the future does not appear to be bright!

All depends on which country has a superior Grand Strategy and can handle its total national resources in a
better manner! The BJP is poised to win and may abandon much of its conciliatory rhetoric after the elections!
The danger is that an extremist party in India may be perceived as a civilised force in international relations.

END NOTES

Page-318-Remarks of Sir Zafrullah Khan- “The Partition of the Punjab” - A compilation of official documents-
Volume Two-National Documentation Centre-Lahore-1983-Printed at Ferozsons.
Pages-244 & 245-On War- Carl Von Clausewitz-Penguin-1974.
Page-506-The Indian Armour-History of the Indian Armoured Corps-1947-71-Major General Gurcharan Singh
Sandhu-Vision Books-New Delhi -1993
Page-28-The First Punjabis-Maj M.I Qureshi-Aldershot-Gale and Polden-1953.
Pages-21 & 22-Role of Armed Forces in the Independence of the Subcontinent-Major General Jahanzeb Khan -
Defence Journal-Vol X -No 9-1984.
Pages-52 & 53-From Bitter Lakes to Bitter Thoughts-Major General Jahanzeb Khan (Retired) -The Sabre and
Lance -1997-Golden Jubilee Issue-The School of Armour and Mechanised Warfare-Nowshera-Pakistan. On a
personal level I would like to add that this publication was a singlehanded Herculean feat of Brigadier Munawar
Rana the then commandant of that otherwise bulky and bureaucratic bastion of pedantry.

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