Operation Desert Hawk | |||||||||
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Part of the prelude of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts and the Cold War | |||||||||
Map of the India–Pakistan border in the Rann of Kutch | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
India | Pakistan | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Gen. J. N. Chaudhuri | Maj. Gen. Tikka Khan [3] Brig. Iftikhar Khan Janjua [4] |
Operation Desert Hawk was the codename of a military operation planned and executed by the Pakistan Army in the Rann of Kutch area, the disputed area which was under Indian control from the long-standing status quo. [5] The boundary of Rann of Kutch was one of the few un-demarcated boundaries pending since the 1947 partition of India. [6] [2]
The Rann of Kutch (alternately spelled as Kuchchh) is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. The area was originally part of the princely state of Kutch, which was acceded to India [2] [7] in present-day Kutch region of Gujarat. Both countries maintained few armed police posts scattered along the border.
Pakistan planned to serve several purposes through this operation. First was to assess the response of the Indian government and military, [6] which was relatively unstable under the governance of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri after the death of India's first Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and the loss in the 1962 Sino-Indian war. [4] The second objective was to draw Indian armor southward to Kutch, away from the Punjab and Kashmir region. [6] [5] One of the objectives was to test the United States' protest over the use of US-supplied military equipment against the India, which was a violation of Pakistan's commitment. [5] [2] The Pakistan Army also got a rehearsal opportunity for the planned invasion of the disputed territory the Kashmir region administered by India, later the same year. [6]
In January 1965, Pakistan claimed the area of Rann of Kutch on the basis of the Sindh province. Pakistan's paramilitary force Indus Rangers started activity and took control over the ruined fort of Kanjarkot located on the north-west fringe of the Rann, [4] Pakistani Indus Rangers started patrolling below the Indian claimed line by January 1965 and occupied an Indian police post near the Kanjarkot fort, which was in violation of the long-standing status quo. [5]
The region's terrain and communication network and logistics was favorable to Pakistan [6] [8] [2] with all the approaches to the Rann of Kutch from the Indian side being more difficult than from Pakistan. The Pakistani railway station situated at Badin was 26 miles north of the Indian claim line and Karachi was 113 miles east from the Badin, where the Pakistan Army's 8 Division was based. Pakistan was able to move the troops quickly and easily along the border line. The nearest Indian railway station at Bhuj was located 110 miles from the border and the nearest Indian Army formation, 31 Infantry Brigade situated at Ahmedabad, was 160 miles east of Bhuj railway station. [8]
In February 1965, bilateral talks for the negotiation failed. [9]
The Pakistan Army, equipped with US-made Patton tanks, struck the Indian forces on 9 April. [9] [10] Pakistan launched a major offensive on the Sardar post comprising a brigade strength. [11] [12]
On 24 April, Pakistan launched "Operation Desert Hawk" a decisive thrust towards the Indian posts in the area deploying an infantry division and two armored regiments equipped with Patton tanks and field guns. The Pakistan Army captured four more posts and claimed the whole Kanjarkot stretch. With poor logistics and inferior military hardware, India had no other option than to retreat after offering decent resistance. [2]
In April 1965, tensions heated up in the Rann of Kutch. The 24th Cavalry finally got their chance to show what they were made of in battle, putting all their training and skill to the test. On April 17, they got the call to head to Chhor, about 800 miles towards Pakistan's southern border, for a big mission: the Army's first-ever tank assault. Fast forward to April 26, and you've got a squadron from the 24th Cavalry teaming up with folks from the 15 Punjab Regiment and 15 FFR to take on Indian-held territory. This wasn't just any skirmish—it was a major move, the first of its kind since Independence, targeting a heavily fortified enemy spot known as "Biar Bet." It was tough going, but those tanks rolled in and claimed the area after some intense fighting, with the officers and soldiers showing real guts. After some diplomatic back-and-forth, thanks in part to the UK, Biar Bet was handed back over as part of a deal between Pakistan and India. [8] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
The British Prime Minister Herold Wilson proposed a ceasefire on 28 April. Both countries signed an agreement to settle the disputed border through international arbitration by the International Court of Justice on 30 June 1965. [1] [2] The ceasefire became effective on 1 July 1965. India and Pakistan both agreed to demarcate the border by a three-member arbitration committee. The possibility of the armed conflict escalation was avoided by the active interventions of the British Prime Minister and the United Nation's Secretary-General. [19] Both nations withdrew all troops from the disputed and held areas after the peace talks as of june 30 and a pre-conflict status as of January 1965 was established. The dispute later on went for Indo-Pakistan Western Boundary Case Tribunal and was solved in 1968 [13]
The Pakistan Army decision makers assessed the Indian Army's strength and capability based on the success in the Rann of Kutch area and headed towards their next planned execution of Operation Gibraltar in August 1965. [20]
Despite India's repeated protests against the use of US-made weaponry by Pakistan against India, the President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson took no effective action against Pakistan. [2]
This attack exposed the inadequacy of the Indian State Armed Police to cope with armed aggression. So after the end of the 1965 war, the government of India formed the Border Security Force as a unified central agency with the specific mandate of guarding India's international boundaries. The Border Security Force came into formal existence on 1 December 1965. [21] Morarji Desai invited around 550 farmers, mostly Sikhs from Punjab, to settle and farm the land for border's safety and security. [22]
Since the Partition of British India in 1947 and subsequent creation of the dominions of India and Pakistan, the two countries have been involved in a number of wars, conflicts, and military standoffs. A long-running dispute over Kashmir and cross-border terrorism have been the predominant cause of conflict between the two states, with the exception of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which occurred as a direct result of hostilities stemming from the Bangladesh Liberation War in erstwhile East Pakistan.
The Indo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948, also known as the first Kashmir war, was a war fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four Indo-Pakistani wars between the two newly independent nations. Pakistan precipitated the war a few weeks after its independence by launching tribal lashkar (militias) from Waziristan, in an effort to capture Kashmir and to preempt the possibility of its ruler joining India.
The Great Rann of Kutch is a salt marsh in the Thar Desert in the Kutch District of Gujarat, India. It is about 7500 km2 in area and is reputed to be one of the largest salt deserts in the world. This area has been inhabited by the Kutchi people.
The Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, also known as the second India–Pakistan war, was an armed conflict between Pakistan and India that took place from August 1965 to September 1965. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule. The seventeen-week war caused thousands of casualties on both sides and witnessed the largest engagement of armored vehicles and the largest tank battle since World War II. Hostilities between the two countries ended after a ceasefire was declared through UNSC Resolution 211 following a diplomatic intervention by the Soviet Union and the United States, and the subsequent issuance of the Tashkent Declaration. Much of the war was fought by the countries' land forces in Kashmir and along the border between India and Pakistan. This war saw the largest amassing of troops in Kashmir since the Partition of India in 1947, a number that was overshadowed only during the 2001–2002 military standoff between India and Pakistan. Most of the battles were fought by opposing infantry and armored units, with substantial backing from air forces, and naval operations.
Kutch district, officially spelled Kachchh, is a district of Gujarat state in western India, with its headquarters (capital) at Bhuj. Covering an area of 45,674 km2, it is the largest district of India. The area of Kutch is larger than the entire area of other Indian states like Haryana (44,212 km2) and Kerala (38,863 km2). The population of Kutch is about 2,092,371. It has 10 talukas, 939 villages and 6 municipalities. The Kutch district is home to the Kutchi people who speak the Kutchi language.
Operation Grand Slam was a key military operation of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. It refers to a plan drawn up by the Pakistan Army in May 1965 that consisted of an attack on the vital Akhnoor Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir, India. The bridge was not only the lifeline of an entire infantry division of the Indian Army, but could also be used to threaten the city of Jammu, an important logistical point for Indian forces. The operation saw initial success, but was aborted when the Indian Army opened a new front in the Pakistani province of Punjab in order to relieve pressure in Kashmir. This forced Pakistan to abandon Grand Slam and fight in Punjab, thus the operation ended in failure and the stated objectives were not achieved.
Operation Gibraltar was the codename of a military operation planned and executed by the Pakistan Army in the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India in August 1965. The operation's strategy was to covertly cross the Line of Control (LoC) and incite the Muslim-majority Kashmiri population's uprising against the Indian Government. The military leadership believed that a rebellion by the local Kashmiri population against Indian authorities would serve as Pakistan's casus belli against India on the international stage.
The Battle of Lahore, also referred to as the Lahore Front, constitutes a series of battles fought in and around the Pakistani city of Lahore during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. The battle ended in a victory for India, as it was able to thrust through and hold key choke points in Pakistan while having gained around 360 to 500 square kilometres of territory. Indian forces halted their assault on Lahore once they had captured the village of Burki on its outskirts. The rationale for this was that a ceasefire−negotiated by the United States and the Soviet Union−was to be signed soon, and had India captured Lahore, It would have most likely been returned to the process of ceasefire negotiations.
The Battle of Chawinda was a major engagement between Pakistan and India in the Second Kashmir War as part of the Sialkot campaign. It is well known as being one of the largest tank battles in history since the Battle of Kursk, which was fought between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 by then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pakistani president Ayub Khan.
Major General Iftikhar Khan JanjuaHJ & BAR SPk SQA of the Pakistan Army is one of the most senior Pakistani officers to have been killed in action. He is known in Pakistan as the hero of Rann of Kutch, as he was a brigadier in command of 6 Brigade, during the fighting in April 1965 prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. He was killed in a helicopter crash, in Kashmir, during the Battle of Chamb while in command of 23 Infantry Division during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. He is one of the only two Generals of Pakistan army to die in combat.
The military history of Pakistan encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas constituting modern Pakistan and greater South Asia. The history of the modern-day military of Pakistan began in 1947, when Pakistan achieved its independence as a modern nation.
The India–Pakistan, Indo–Pakistani or Pakistani-Indian border is the international boundary that separates the nations of the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. At its northern end is the Line of Control, which separates Indian-administered Kashmir from Pakistani-administered Kashmir; and at its southern end is Sir Creek, a tidal estuary in the Rann of Kutch between the Indian state of Gujarat and the Pakistani province of Sindh.
Bhuj Airport is a domestic airport located in Bhuj in the Kutch District of the state of Gujarat, India. It is located 4 km from Bhuj.
Defence Day is celebrated in Pakistan as a national day to commemorate the sacrifices made by Pakistani soldiers in defending its borders. The date of 6 September marks the day in 1965 when Indian troops crossed the international border to launch an attack on Pakistani Punjab, in a riposte to Pakistan's Operation Grand Slam targeting Jammu. While it is officially commemorated as an unprovoked surprise attack by India, repulsed by the Pakistan Army despite its smaller size and fewer armaments, the narrative has been criticised by Indian commentators as representing false history.
The 11th Infantry Division is an active formation of the Pakistan Army. It is currently deployed in Lahore as part of IV Corps, and is responsible for the defence of that city and the surrounding areas.
The 24th Cavalry (Frontier Force) is a regiment of the Pakistan Army, raised on June 7, 1962. It was one of the armoured regiments assembled and trained following independence to meet Pakistan's growing defense needs. The officer selected to train and command the new unit was Lt Col Muhammad Afzal Khan. The 24th Cavalry was involved in the first ever tank assault in the history of the Pakistan army. It was proved to be the best cavalry unit against India.
Shakoor Lake is a lake, comprising 300 km2, located on the border between the Indian state of Gujarat and the Sindh province on the southern edge of Pakistan. About 90 km2 of the lake lies within Pakistan, whilst the majority of the lake, i.e. 210 km2, is in India. The Indian built Indo-Pak Border Road runs across the Shakoor Lake and it is joined by the Indian GJ SH 45 State Highway just east of the lake, at the Kanjarkot Fort.
17 (Parachute) Field Regiment is part of the Regiment of Artillery of the Indian Army.
Tamgha-e-Diffa (Urdu: تمغہِ دفاع, lit. '' is a Pakistani general campaign medal and is awarded along with a clasp to all ranks who take part in minor operations or campaigns within a laid down period, dates and prescribed qualifying area.