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'The Indo-Pak 1965 WAR
Air Cmde
Raghubir Singh (Retd), On Phone from Pune': Definitely
we were caught unawares & got bombed throughout the night
on 06 Sep 65 at a forward AF base in the Western sector. The
1965 war was baptism by fire for most of us & looked great.
It was all together a new experience & good that it happened.
Inspite of an initial setback of losing old Vampires in ground
support ops - the IAF proved a winner eventually. However
we must keep our powder dry & remain fully prepared. Future
wars would be technology dominated -where a missile fired
from much beyond visual range could destroy an intruding aircraft
or sink a ship. It would be imperative to have modern aircraft
& states of the missiles instead of keep on extending the
fatigue life of already fatigued MiG's?
Admiral Bhatia,
ex-chairman of Mazgaon Dock Limited, ' I used to be
a student during the '65 War. I was in IIT Delhi. It was like
a blackout for everyone after hearing about the war. Every
one was very active in Punjab. I used to have a look at the
fighter planes in the sky. During the war of '71, I was a
serviceman. This war was started with Bangladesh. Many ships
were sent to Bay of Bengal and to Karachi. All our soldiers
were very enthusiastic at that moment. One day we were called
in the conference room and were told that one submarine has
been sunk. I felt sad when we heard about their heroic accounts;
& also about the letters for their dear families. During
this war, there was a great synergy in all our armed Forces'
and the biggest role was played by the aircraft - GNATS.'
Vice Admiral
R B Suri, 'Nobody welcomes a war. But sometimes it
becomes necessary to take such steps. I wish not to have another
war. We should peacefully resolve the problems we are facing
now.'
Air Marshal
V Patney, 'After the war of '65 & '71, all the
three armed forces have shown great improvement. India has
become more strong after the war of '71. India did not have
any war for so long and this shows good conflict resolving
powers of the Indian Armed Forces'.'
Col. Anil
Shorey, ex-PRO, Indian Army, 'I was quite young at
the time of '65 War & was in 10th class. But I took an
interest in the happenings of that time. I still have the
pictures of The Battle of Dongrai, Lahore. I preserved those
pictures taken by some of the Indian soldiers when they entered
in Pakistan. I have also preserved equipments used by those
Indian soldiers. I also got the things manufactured at that
time in the factories of Pakistan like soap. All these things
are still with me. Those things which I could get at that
time, inspired me to join the Indian Army.'
Read more what the ex-soldiers
have to say on the present state of affairs:
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