Memories of 1971 Indo-Pak War

In October 1971, I was serving as an instructor in Signal School, INS Venduruthy, Cochin (now Kochi). I had gone to Bombay (now Mumbai) to participate in the Navy Golf followed by the Inter-Service championship as a member of the Navy team. On my return to Cochin, I was urgently summoned by my OIC, Cdr ‘Clinker’ Karve, who told me that I had been appointed as Fleet Communications Officer (FCO), Eastern Fleet. As there was no such fleet at that time, I requested him to stop pulling my leg and let me rest after a tiring train journey. He explained that this was no joke, a new Fleet had been formed and I should pack up my bags and take the next train to Vishakhapatnam (Vizag).

With a warlike situation developing with Pakistan and possibilities of operations in the Bay of Bengal, the Naval Headquarters had decided to divide the hitherto single Indian Fleet into two with the Western Fleet based at Bombay and the Eastern Fleet at Vizag. I was therefore to join the staff of the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) RAdm SH Sarma.

We had hardly settled down in a temporary office in the naval base at Vizag when we were told that we had to embark on Vikrant for exercises as the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS),  Adm SM Nanda, wanted to watch the new Fleet in action. Vikrant was at sea off Vizag, so we had to board the ship by helicopter. We were told that we were going on board for a day or two but as the stay could get longer, we should carry an extra set of uniform and the evening mess dress, the Red Sea rig. So with two sets of uniform, the evening wear and a pajama suit, we choppered on to the carrier.

It was the first time that the new fleet staff got together to conduct exercises and that too watched by the CNS and the C-in-C Eastern Naval Command (FOC-in-C East), VAdm N Krishnan. Luckily we gelled well and the big brass was satisfied that the fleet was in good hands and the ships ready for action. CNS and FOC-in-C choppered back ashore and we were left on board for what would turn out to be almost 2 months!

We were ordered to proceed to Port Blair and keep the Fleet battleworthy. We kept exercising at sea and as a carrier group, the main accent was on air operations and anti-submarine warfare as we knew that Vikrant was a prize target for Pakistan which had a submarine, the Ghazi, capable of operating in the Bay of Bengal, far from her base in Karachi. We were also aware that Pakistan had a fairly extensive network of intercepting high frequency (HF) radio transmissions, the usual method of ship-shore communications in those days and concealing the position of Vikrant was our chief concern. We, therefore, tried to completely avoid such transmissions at sea while making use was of landline sources while in harbour. This was easy while we were in Port Blair as it is a naval base with good communication facilities.

Towards the end of November, when war seemed imminent, we were moved off to Port Cornwallis, the northernmost island in the Andamans, so that we could launch air attacks on the then East Pakistan within a few hours. We had logistic requirements but not wanting to break radio silence, I decided to proceed ashore by boat to find the island police wireless station to transmit our signal traffic to NHQ/ENC. Not having much to do in harbour, Adm Sarma decided to accompany me. When we landed ashore, we discovered that the wireless station was miles away on the other side of the island. Just then a jeep happened to drive by. We stopped and with some bullying by the Admiral who blared out the exercise of presidential powers in an emergency, we managed to convince the reluctant driver to take us to the police station, clear our messages and drop us back to the jetty.
Later, we discovered how effective our radio policy was. The Pak Navy did not know our uptodate location and Ghazi was off Vizag while we had already moved within striking distance of East Pakistan. As we know, Ghazi was sunk off Vizag soon after the war started.

While waiting for action, the large flight deck of Vikrant provided good opportunity for physical activity. Unique, however, was the use of the quarterdeck for golf. The ship had a number of keen senior golfers like the second-in-command, Cdr HML (Bhaisahib) Saxena and the Engineer Officer Cdr BR (Billoo) Chowdhry apart from Lt MB (Mike) Bhada and self. Mats and nets were rigged up to allow fullblooded drives while buckets were used for pitching in golf balls!

The order to attack the airfield at Cox's Bazar came on the night of 3 December and the next morning, air attacks were carried out by Vikrant's Seahawk aircraft. Before the first sortie, the atmosphere on the carrier was electric and tense, not knowing what awaited our pilots. The mood changed to ecstasy when they came back all intact after successful strikes. I recall the Squadron Cdr, Lt Cdr SK (Gigi) Gupta, being garlanded and hoisted on the shoulders of his colleagues and taken all around the flight deck like an Olympic champion! Thereafter, air attacks were mounted relentlessly on Pak ships, naval and port facilities in Chittagong, Khulna, Mongla and Chalna harbours.

The Fleet action resulted in an effective blockade in the Bay of Bengal preventing any supplies from reaching East Pakistan and escape of Pak troops and ships. This was a huge factor that led to the surrender of 93000 Pak troops headed by Lt Gen AK Niazi and the resultant birth of Bangladesh.
While the operations were in progress, the submarine threat was ever present as we learnt of the sinking of the Ghazi only towards the end of the operations and could not totally discount the possibility of another submarine in the area. Shallow waters, sea turbulence and shoals of fish often resulted in sonars sounding submarine and even torpedo warnings. High speed being an anti-submarine measure, Vikrant would often rev up to its maximum speed of a paltry18 knots resulting in the ship shuddering and straining which would alarm all on board of an imminent threat.

Having softened the enemy through air attacks, preparations were on for amphibious landing of troops at Cox's Bazar. A number of naval and merchant ships carrying army troops were converging off the landing site. In the midst of all this, we received a signal from the landing ship Magar, "Periscope sighted, confirm friendly." Because of the heavy signal traffic and incorrect precedence, the message reached us after about 45 minutes. We knew that none of our submarines were in that area, so if there was a submarine it would be Pak's and defenceless Magar would by now be toast! Fortunately, it turned out that Magar had mistaken a fishing stake in tidal waters for a periscope and was quite safe. However, the signal, broadcast as it was for all to receive, resulted in the landing units scattering all over. It took quite some time to get everyone back on track and delayed the landings by a couple of days.

The entry of the US Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal was a cause for concern. CO Beas, Cdr L Ramdas (later CNS) made a signal to FOCEF asking what action should be taken on encountering the US Fleet. The reply of the Admiral was classic, "Exchange identities and wish them the time of day!" As we know, the US Fleet never came anywhere near us and was only meant to frighten us in which it completely failed.

Came 16 December and the Pak troops surrendered and Bangladesh was born. The job done, Vikrant was told to return and received a tumultous welcome in Madras (Chennai), its first port after the war. A number of gallantry awards were won by its personnel led by MVCs for the CO, Capt Swaraj Parkash and the Seahawk squadron commander, Gigi Gupta.

While Vikrant was told to return, FOCEF received personal instructions from CNS to disembark and proceed to Chittagong to supervise clearance of mines from the harbour channel so that ships could operate safely. Vikrant's choppers put us down on land with our two sets of cotton uniforms in pretty cold weather. We spent two days in Agrabad Hotel which was expensive before organising makeshift arrangements at the deserted Chittagong naval base. Messing was in the landing ship Gharial which because of its shallow draught had managed to enter harbour.

Our problem was that we did not have any minesweepers to do the sweeping! Intelligence had told us that the mines were of the ground variety and had been randomly laid. After much deliberation, it was decided to requisition two fishing boats and trawl a thick wire between them hopefully to catch any mines. Bikash Ghosh, the FTASO, scoured the market till he got a suitable piece of wire. Thereafter, he in one boat and Mohan Chandy, the FGO, in another, went up and down for several days sweeping the channel.

On 31 December 1971, we celebrated the New Year's Eve at the Chittagong Club. Bikash and Mohan left early as they were slated to go for the final check sweep in the morning. Looking forward to a lazy morning, I waited to ring in the New Year and returned to the mess well after midnight. There I found the FOO, Cdr Vyas, waiting to tell me that they had decided to send another boat as a rescue vessel and that I should board it by 6 am!

It was a unique start to the New Year and I was sleepy as hell but orders are orders. To compound it, I found that the so-called rescue vessel had a much deeper draught than the minesweeping boats. This meant that even if the minesweepers went over a mine without touching it, the rescue vessel was more likely to be struck! With a hope and a prayer, we trailed the boats the whole day. Fortunately nothing untoward happened. A safe channel was marked and a message sent to the Naval and the Eastern Naval Command HQs that shipping could resume. Soon after, we returned to Vizag on Gharial, having missed all the victory celebrations!

Till........

To celebrate their Liberation Day on 16 December every year, the Bangladesh government invites around 25 veterans including 2 from the Navy who took part in the 1971 War on the Eastern front, as state guests with their wives. I volunteered to go in 2017. I have never witnessed such warm hospitality ever. Apart from the 16 December parade, there were functions galore with warm, emotional praises and tributes and precious souvenirs. The highlight was Sheikh Hasina's reception where she spent 4-5 minutes talking to each of us inquiring about our part in the war, thanking and telling us that we had played a large part in the birth of her country. After tea and snacks, we were waiting for her to leave but she stayed till the end and saw us off. We were truly touched by her words and hospitality and she certainly won our hearts.

P.S. The Sharma family was well represented in the war on both fronts and that too on the flagships of the two fleets with Shashi Mama on board Mysore. Also, Akhila's brother Tony (Col SC Mehrish) fought with his regiment 16th Rajput in Hili Sector on the eastern front. He had the mortification of seeing the soldier next to him killed in enemy fire.