Thread by @newreck

So for ease of access I will keep adding all new books that I read in this thread.

Starting this difficult to find book.. 'Sentinels of the North East' by Major General D K Palit today..

First thing I noticed is this map of Assam in 1900. See a dashed line consisting most of North East India as we know today. Less parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Younghusband's expedition was still two years away and Lieutenant Colonel Bailey is still to survey Brahmaputra :)

Tibet is Thibet..Rangia is Tangia :)
Also notice Manipur and Tripura States within boundaries of Assam. Division of Bengal is still five years away... More later

Field Marshal Slim's 'Defeat into Victory'
See three characteristics of Chinese Army as observed by Slim. He infact had 38 Chinese Division (Vth Army of Chiang Kai Shek) under command as Burma Corps Commander.
See particularly point number (iii)

GOC 17 Divisions decision to blow bridge on Sittang River even when two of his brigades were East of river, was a fateful decision. The gates of Burma were open now. The incident should be a case study in decision making for higher Commanders.

Unfortunately with short tenures no Division Commander in Indian Army has adequate time to impose his personality on his Division or have a long term vision. We need to get out of more Generals. We need fewer learned Generals with adequate knowledge and experience to steer army

The Generalship of Japan was confident, bold and agressive. With three Divisions they were able to rout whole British Army (two divisions) and two Chinese Armies (six Divisions).

Japanese simply used 'hook tactics' to defeat their opponents. They used blocks to bring a seize mentality into defenders mind and achieve psychological ascendency and bring about collapse of defences.
I suspect Chinese experience of fighting Japanese was applied in-toto in 1962

Book 2 : 'Muhammad Ali Jinnah' by J B P Moore.

1909 was a key turning point in Jinnah's life. The British awakened a separate identity in Indian Muslims for creating a counterweight to increasingly recalcitrant Congress. In 1909, separate electorate for Muslims was announced for election to Imperial Legislative Council

Prior to this in 1905 Bengal was divided to create a Muslim majority state in East Bengal and in 1906, Lord Minto recieved a All India Muslim delegation demanding separate electorate at Shimla. After this, separate identity will be an inalienable part of Indian politics

Book: Defeat into Victory
More i read of Japanese Operations against British, I can't but admire their ingenuity, initiative, leadership and courage..We study of force ratios for offensive, see these examples and decide for urself, what are the correct force ratios for offensive.

Battle of Ngakyedauk. Japanese 55 Division minus(Doi Force) launches a holding attack on 5 and 7 British Division front. A Regiment under Tanahashi(7000 men) infiltrate through enemy defences maintaining complete surprise and lauch attack on Taung Bazaar
contd

The other battle in Kaladan Valley, East of Mayu Range. Here an Air Maintained Division- 81st West African Division was attacked by a force of 4 Battalions under Colonel Koba..they chased out the Division!

So what they lost overall. There is a great deal to learn from Japanese

Joint Operation Order on 4 February 1944. Fly in between 05-10 March 1944. 100 Gliders and 600 Dakota Sorties..9000 troops and 1100 animals landed at two places in Northern Burma, namely 'Broadway' and 'Chowringee'. Contd
Source : Defeat into Victory- Slim

This in addition to one Brigade which marched 450 miles in 6 weeks (16 Brigade). All Operations were conducted South of Myitkina in Northern Burma. N lest I forget, Wingate was the Commander who died in saddle, replaced by Lentaigne...

Slim's appreciation of impending Japanese Offensive against Imphal in March 1944. Slim almost appreciated it correctly including the likely date of attack. Still when it actually came, British had to employ another Corps (33 Corps) with almost three divisions to defend themselves

Wherein total Japanese force was one Corps(15 Corps of Mutaguchi) of three divisions plus perhaps one Reserve Division. Japanese attack was bold in conception and even at its worst, fanatical in execution...

The most interesting thing is attack by 31 Japanese Division of Major General Sato on Kohima drew in max troops of British (one full Corps) wherein Slim calls Sato as most un-imaginative among Japanese Commanders for not pushing for Dimapur...

What if he had indeed pushed.

What if Japanese had an airforce which could at least provide favourable air situation for short duration..

What if Indian National Army Units had contributed more significantly..

I hope to read a Japanese account of these fascinating battles for Japanese thinking at the time

Found this very intersting list of ammunition used by Japanese during World War II

Source : Japanese Army Handbook by A J Barker

German Influence on Japanese weapons of World War II

Japanese rank badges

Despite having poorer weapons, it was hardiness of Japanese soldiers, tactical genius of its officers and fanatical zeal with which officers and soldiers fought that gave them an edge over average allied soldier

The Japanese Army believed in results rather than appearances. Another interesting detail is that there were no designated cooks in the fighting units. The staple diet was rice and every man was supposed to cook for himself..

Read on other details as well :)

The four Rajput dynasties who played a major role in Indian History(see pic), don't think many would have heard them. Rajputs were instrumental in stopping spread of Islamic invaders in India upto beginning of 11th century.

Book : Military History of India by Lt Col H C Kar

Importance of Tarain as a place..it was in this general area that three important battles of Indian history took place. Starting from Mahabharat to Battle of Tarain (1191 & 1192) and Battles of Panipat (18th century).. All of them left a deep impression on history.

First battle of Tarain when Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Mohammad Gori. One year later Gori came back, making due corrections in his strategy and Prithviraj paid dearly for his complacency.

Started this revealing book by Ambassador P Stoban today. The book profiles Buddhism in Himalayas along with its impact on strategic power play between nations sharing borders..

When it all started..in 8th century Guru Padamsabhav went to Himalayas and said to have visited areas from Tawang to Ladakh along Himalayas while he was going to Tibet...

His Tantrayana Buddhism is known as Nyingma.
'Padmasambhava's legacy remains the religious foundation of the people of entire Himalayan range'

The next important lineage is that of Kagyu ..further sub-divided into three sub sects ..these were inspired from two Bengali saints(Trilopa : 988-1089 & Naropa : 1016-1100) and spread by Marpa & Milarepa (two Buddhist teachers of Himalayas in 11th century)

Also see in the above pic the Gelugpa Sect which was patronised by Tibetan Dalai Lamas in a tacit understanding with Mongol & Qing rulers (of China)..
The battle of influence between 'indigenous' Nyingma & Kagyu sect versus 'foreign' Gelugpa sects plays out in our Himalayas

Read about Hemis Monastery in Ladakh and major role it plays in its religious and economic life. The most interesting thing is that Chief Lama of this monastery is a Chinese citizen..read on :)

A background of Lama Satsang Respa..who is considered the chief patron of 75 percent of Buddhist population in Ladakh..

The Lama now lives in Lhasa and has a Chinese name..such ironies exist! To understand the implications of his patronship just go back to first page and see the role of Hemis in Ladakhi life...

Plan for re-capture of Burma after failure of Japanese Offensive..
Ultimately plan Y(+) was chosen..see details of the plan

Plan Y itself was subjected to Major changes as Slim's intention to box Japanese between Chindwin & Irrawady didn't materialise..Slim later chose Meiktila..see the reasons

Slim's engineers did a great job in keeping up momentum of his offensive ..they made roads & even boats(!)

Don't miss the complaint of Tank Transporters being used to carry motor launches labelled as 'prostitution of Transportation' 😂

How Tawang came to be part of India..F M Bailey & Morshead's expedition along Brahmputra mapped these areas upto Tsangpo valley in Tibet in 1912-13. Remember this is happening after collapse of last dynasty of China--The Qing Dynasty, in 1911.

What followed was Shimla agreement signed by Tibetan rep in 1914. British were troubled by reports of Russian interference in the area and due to collapse of Qing empire, Tibet had acquired suzerainty. The moment was opportune. Also remember World War I is about to start

Now after signing British made little effort to take physical control of the area. Therefore the area remained under the real control of Tibetan authorities....It's only in 1930s that British published new maps with these areas being depicted as part of British India.

British made Tawang part of West Kameng district/ North West Frontier Tract with its HQ/political officer at Charduar. Renamed Balipara Frontier Tract in 1919 & further divided into Sela Sub Agency & Subansiri area in 1946 when AR post was set up at Dirang Dzong

In 1946 the area was placed under North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) & Finally in December1950, after Chinese had invaded Tibet in 1949, Assam Rifles (2 AR) under Major A Khating was sent to assimilate Tawang physically into India. Thats how Tawang became part of India in 1951 :)

Very instructive lines Indian approach to its national boundaries. While British defined them on the basis of Russia threat, economic reasons & cost benefit analysis, Indian approach has lost the nuance & subtlety.
Contd..

It's more focussed on guarding lines on map, whatever be the cost. A very fine perspective to ponder about.
This ends the book by Ambassador P Stoban, a must read to understand nuances of Buddhism in Himalayas and power play behind it.
Do read if u can.

With lots of focus on 'five point consensus', people are comparing it to Panchasheel...
See d clauses of 1954 treaty and decide for yourself...

Starting today

Origin of 7 Cavalry dates to 1784 to Nawab of Arcots bodyguard. See it's brief history and also the squabble about Victoria Cross between 7 Cav, 16 Cav & 2 Lancers..

General Chaudhary wrote for The Statesman newspaper as it's anonymous Defence Correspondent for 10 years(1951-61).
He has himself written about it. See excerpts from his autobiography.

Couldn't help but share these extracts from book 'The Will to Power' by Friedrich Nietzsche..

Is authority of conscience bigger than authority of reason,social Instinct or history?

Can a goal be fixed for life or is it impossible to do so?

Some very searching commentary :)

Moment of Glory for 4 Corps...Race to Rangoon..300 miles in 20 days..17 & 5 Indian Divisions doing the needful

Slim's assessment of Lessons Learnt in Burma War... firstly difference in Generalship of both sides

The importance of empowerment of Junior Leaders..the need to act without orders.. importance of Understanding *Intent* of Commander

British maintained many Divisions solely by Air Transport and it was a significant winning factor..
I suppose with a large transport fleet available in Indian Military..its uses should be planned innovatively by Commanders

@threadreaderapp unroll please