Steeds of War English 2022

What motivated the author to write on the Battle of Chhamb-1971, a battle fought some fifty years ago! There were four impelling reasons. First, most Indian military historians perceived this battle as a victory of the Indian Army, despite India losing the entire Chhamb Salient to 23 Division in a gruelling battle. In their war renderings, this perception stems from the misconstrued military objective assigned to 23 Division. Many Indian authors build their claim on the premise that, like Operation GRAND SLAM, the mission of 23 Division during the 1971 War remained to capture Akhnur and sever the Indian Line of Communication in Kashmir. Since 23 Division captured an area only up to the line of River Tawi and did not reach Akhnur, thus the Indians claim a victory. The fact is that 23 Division's task was restricted only to securing the River Tawi line, which it accomplished admirably. This misperception, therefore, had to be corrected.