War Despatches 1971

About this book

This book is a coming together of the then-young officers of the Indian Armed Forces who fought the war with grit and courage in the face of adversity. This is not just a gathering of facts but a lucid retelling of their triumphs, their many horrors, their challenges and the many battles they fought and won within and outside to put India first. A young officer who was taken prisoner, a Naval captain who left home days before his wedding, the fond memory of a martyred Lance Naik who threw himself before the enemy in order to help win a bigger battle, fifty years later, Brig B.S. Mehta brings to you essays by 29 brave Indian soldiers of the Eastern and Western Sector on what it meant to be young and in the line of fire. Each narrative is a tell-all depiction of valour, humour and horror, all of which helped them put India first. About the Editor Brigadier B.S. Mehta comes from an illustrious military family, with four brothers having fought in the War of 1971. Commissioned into 45 CAVALRY in 1966, he later raised the 13 Armoured Regiment. He has served in all the Strike Corps and also an Infantry and Mountain Division, with distinction. He has worked on deputation with the Cabinet Secretariat. He took premature retirement in 1998 to serve as Director with the Government of Gujarat. He ran the first course for retiring defence personnel at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Ahmedabad in 2000, which became the forerunner for similar courses run by Indian Institutes of Management. He spent the next sixteen years in Higher Education to finally demit as Vice Chancellor of Maharishi University of Management and Technology in 2016. Post retirement, he works as an advisor to Gujarat-based NGOs helping families and dependents of martyrs.