| Sino-Indian
War 1962-1963 |
State |
Entry |
Exit |
Combat
Forces |
Population
|
Losses
|
China
|
1962 |
1963
|
4000000 |
890000000
|
3000
|
India |
1962 |
1963 |
1000000 |
600000000 |
4000 |
Unable
to reach political accommodation on disputed territory
along the 3,225-kilometer-long Himalayan border, the
Chinese attacked India on October 20, 1962. At the
time, nine divisions from the eastern and western
commands were deployed along the Himalayan border
with China. None of these divisions was up to its
full troop strength, and all were short of artillery,
tanks, equipment, and even adequate articles of clothing.
In
Ladakh the Chinese attacked south of the Karakoram
Pass at the northwest end of the Aksai Chin Plateau
and in the Pangong Lake area about 160 kilometers
to the southeast. The defending Indian forces were
easily ejected from their posts in the area of the
Karakoram Pass and from most posts near Pangong Lake.
However, they put up spirited resistance at the key
posts of Daulat Beg Oldi (near the entrance to the
pass) and Chushul (located immediately south of Pangong
Lake and at the head of the vital supply road to Leh,
a major town and location of an air force base in
Ladakh). Other Chinese forces attacked near Demchok
(about 160 kilometers southeast of Chusul) and rapidly
overran the Demchok and the Jara La posts.
In
the eastern sector, in Assam, the Chinese forces advanced
easily despite Indian efforts at resistance. On the
first day of the fighting, Indian forces stationed
at the Tsang Le post on the northern side of the Namka
Chu, the Khinzemane post, and near Dhola were overrun.
On the western side of the North-East Frontier Agency,
Tsang Dar fell on October 22, Bum La on October 23,
and Tawang, the headquarters of the Seventh Infantry
Brigade, on October 24. The Chinese made an offer
to negotiate on October 24. The Indian government
promptly rejected this offer.
With
a lull in the fighting, the Indian military desperately
sought to regroup its forces. Specifically, the army
attempted to strengthen its defensive positions in
the North-East Frontier Agency and Ladakh and to prepare
against possible Chinese attacks through Sikkim and
Bhutan. Army units were moved from Calcutta, Bihar,
Nagaland, and Punjab to guard the northern frontiers
of West Bengal and Assam. Three brigades were hastily
positioned in the western part of the North-East Frontier
Agency, and two other brigades were moved into Sikkim
and near the West Bengal border with Bhutan to face
the Chinese. Light Stuart tanks were drawn from the
Eastern Command headquarters at Calcutta to bolster
these deployments.
In
the western sector, a divisional organization was
established in Leh; several battalions of infantry,
a battery of twenty-five-pounder guns, and two troops
of AMX light tanks were airlifted into the Chushul
area from Punjab. On November 4, the Indian military
decided that the post at Daulat Beg Oldi was untenable,
and its defenders were withdrawn over the 5,300-meter-high
Sasar Brangsa Pass to a more defensible position.
The
reinforcements and redeployments in Ladakh proved
sufficient to defend the Chushul perimeter despite
repeated Chinese attacks. However, the more remote
posts at Rezang La and Gurung Hill and the four posts
at Spanggur Lake area fell to the Chinese.
In
the North-East Frontier Agency, the situation proved
to be quite different. Indian forces counterattacked
on November 13 and captured a hill northwest of the
town of Walong. Concerted Chinese attacks dislodged
them from this hard-won position, and the nearby garrison
had to retreat down the Lohit Valley.
In
another important section of the eastern sector, the
Kameng Frontier Division, six Chinese brigades attacked
across the Tawang Chu near Jang and advanced some
sixteen kilometers to the southeast to attack Indian
positions at Nurang, near Se La, on November 17. Despite
the Indian attempt to regroup their forces at Se La,
the Chinese continued their onslaught, wiping out
virtually all Indian resistance in Kameng. By November
18, the Chinese had penetrated close to the outskirts
of Tezpur, Assam, a major frontier town nearly fifty
kilometers from the Assam-North-East Frontier Agency
border.
The
Chinese did not advance farther and on November 21
declared a unilateral cease-fire. They had accomplished
all of their territorial objectives, and any attempt
to press farther into the plains of Assam would have
stretched their logistical capabilities and their
lines of communication to a breaking point. By the
time the fighting stopped, each side had lost 500
troops.
The
war was over, but a new diplomatic war had begun. After
more than thirty years of border tension and stalemate,
high-level bilateral talks were held in New Delhi starting
in February 1994 to foster "confidence-building
measures" between the defense forces of India and
China, and a new period of better relations began.
