At this point it would be interesting to note that the PM,
the DM and the FM were abroad, and had not deemed the NEFA situation warranted
an early return. In their absence, the officiating DM, Mr. Raghunath, held a
meeting to discuss the Thagla situation with Gen. Sen. It was decided that:
a. The Chinese were to be
evicted from the North bank of Namka Chu
b. Thagla Ridge was to be contained
c. Tsangle was to be patrolled.
Note that these were the exact same
objectives and orders that were issued earlier to Brig. Dalvi and were later
countermanded. Gen. Sen ordered Gen. Umrao Singh to come up with an operational
plan to meet the above objectives. (Gen. Umrao Singh, as is pointed out earlier,
had consistently resisted Operation Leghorn.) Gen. Umrao Singh passed the
assignment to Brig. Prasad who in turn passed it to Brig. Dalvi. The
Appreciation prepared by Brig. Dalvi attempted to show how unrealistic Operation
Leghorn was. The envisaged operation would require supplies and equipment in
amounts far beyond what airdrops and porters could deliver prior to the onset of
winter. Moreover, this was assuming that the Chinese strength would remain
constant at one battalion.
The plan called for a limited
flanking movement from Bridge V at western edge of the valley. This move was to
be in 3 stages: Lumpu to Tsangdhar via Karpola, Tsangdhar to Muskar and then to
Tseng Jong. When Gen. Umrao Singh saw this draft, he was not satisfied, stating
that it was too optimistic, but forwarded it to Gen. Sen with his adverse
comments. Gen. Sen overruled Umrao and ordered Dalvi to go ahead with the plan.
However, this brought the Umrao-Sen conflict to criticality. Sen met the defense
minister and asked for permission to remove Gen. Umrao from GOC XXXIII Corps.
Krishna Menon agreed and on 3rd October it was decided that Lt. Gen. B. M. Kaul
(on leave at that time) would replace Umrao Singh.
Questions? Comments? Errors? We'd love to
hear from you!
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