‘Operation LEGHORN’ and the

Battle of the Namka Chu continues..

Lt. Gen. Kaul seemed to indicate a preference for the last course, but his superior the Army Commander Eastern Command disagreed with him, and the Army Chief, General Thapar, concurred with the Army Commander in favour of Course ‘B’. The Prime Minister readily

agreed with them since it was more in line with his own thinking than withdrawing in the face of the Chinese, and thus the so-called ‘present positions’ became the line to be held by 7 Infantry Brigade. In spite of this, on return to his sector, with further reports of more Chinese

reinforcements arriving opposite them, Lt.

Gen. Kaul, wavered.

Another directive from Army Headquarters arrived on 16th October ordering aggressive patrolling, reinforcement of the forward-most position at Tsangle to a battalion, and harassing fire on enemy

movement, particularly across the Thagla Pass. With the Brigade and Divisional Commanders asking for permission to withdraw, and with the Inspector-General Assam Rifles (IGAR), some of whose posts were in the forward zone, as well as his own corps headquarters staff counseling withdrawal, Lt. Gen. Kaul sent another message to Eastern Command and Army HQ saying that the Namka Chu position was untenable, and asking for withdrawing the isolated company across the Namka Chu at Tsangle back to the southern side, ‘giving preference to

discretion over prestige.’

On 16th October, at an enlarged CMC meeting at Xishan, on the western outskirts of Beijing, it was formally decided to ‘annihilate’ the Indian forces in the Thagla area. Also present were the Tibet Military District (TMD) Commander Lt. Gen. Zhang Guohua and the Sinkiang Military Region Commander Maj. Gen. He Jiachan. Two directions were given by Mao: First, the PLA had to secure victory and

‘knock Nehru to the negotiating table’, and second, the Chinese troops had to be restrained and principled. The CMC approved the war plan prepared by the planning group.

On 17th October, the CMC sent an order to the TMD, stating that PLA forces were to ‘exterminate the Indian aggressor forces’.

To be continued....