1962: The War That Wasn’t – Hard Cover

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Shiv Kunal Verma?s book ?1962: The War That Wasn?t? is an unrivalled attempt at unravelling the mystery that surrounds India?s most shameful defeat at the hands of the People?s Liberation Army of China.

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Shiv Kunal Verma?s book ?1962: The War That Wasn?t? is an unrivalled attempt at unravelling the mystery that surrounds India?s most shameful defeat at the hands of the People?s Liberation Army of China. This was a conflict between India and China across India?s Himalayan frontiers in the north and the East. It was a conflict that was never formally declared and several accounts have been written dedicated to this matter; however, none is as deterrent as the account given by Shiv Kunal Verma. He talks of the plight of the Indian solders across the northern border, all the way from Nam ka Chu in the eastern sector to Ladakh on the Western front. He talks about the horror that would have happened had the Chinese army not decided unilaterally to cease fire and stop its vicious campaign on the Indian soil. This was a conflict that saw massacre on both lands injuring over four thousand soldiers.

The book is based on several accounts from soldiers who were present in the line of fire and were able enough to give a vivid first person account on what actually took place in that unfortunate year of 1962. ?1962: The War That Wasn?t? is an account of India?s horrific escape from disaster in young Independent existence. The book is un-nerving to the extent of sending chills down your spine by citing riveting intricacies of shocking developments. The book is a result of over two decades worth of research and interviews by the author. He personally sat down with officers and soldiers from the war. The book features a deep analysis on India?s border issues with China at the time.

About the author?The book has been written by author Shiv Kunal Verma, who has dedicated over twenty years of his life in an effort to bring forth this book to the masses, so that the Indian populous can have a definitive account of what their motherland had to go through during those hard times. The book has been published by the Aleph Book Company in 2016 and is available in the form of a Hardcover.

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Product details

  • Publisher 😕Aleph Book Company; Latest Edition (4 February 2016)
  • Language 😕English
  • Hardcover 😕480 pages
  • ISBN-10 😕9382277978
  • ISBN-13 😕978-9382277972
  • Item Weight 😕739 g
  • Dimensions 😕13.97 x 3.02 x 21.59 cm
  • Country of Origin 😕India

 

Product description

Review

?Verma’s book is one of the few comprehensive accounts pieced together to give the total picture?not only of the battlescape, but also the political space. ?Week 1962: The War That Wasn?t by Shiv Kunal Verma is a courageous book that?will become a benchmark for the genre of military writing in India. ?Sunday Guardian

Verma’s meticulous detail of the battle lines is understandable for it honours the brave and the fallen?. the story is gripping and monumentally tragic.?Telegraph

?an immaculately-researched and carefully structured study that will be of interest to all Indians, and not just military history buffs. More importantly, it is likely to stand the test of time, which is the ultimate criterion for all historical treatises.?Financial Times

Shiv Kunal Verma has written [a] very detailed and highly readable account?takes us step by step through the events that led up to the conflict? Verma?s book stands out as one of the most objective and authoritative accounts? ?Biblio

Riveting in both style and substance, this book chronicles the story of an army that was let down by some of its senior officers?as well as their political masters. The book also documents the early history of the regions?and the goings-on in the Indian Army, including political meddling?? Indian Link

Three decades in the making, 1962: The War, That Wasn?t is a labour of love, sans the rhetoric and rose-tinted sunglasses. Incredibly well researched, the book dispassionately examines events and circumstances that finally culminated with the month long hostilities in the Himalayas.?Swarajya


From the Publisher

True Accounts (Books),Biographies & Autobiographies (Books),Military History (Books)

In Conversation with Shiv Kunal Verma

1962: The War That Wasn?t By Shiv Kunal Verma

Amazon A

We died, unsuccoured, helpless We were your soldiers, men of bravery and pride

Yet we died like animals, trapped in a cage with no escape Massacred at will, denied the dignity of battle

With the cold burning flame of anger and resolution With the courage both of the living and the dead,

Avenge Our unplayed livesRedeem the unredeemable sacrifice

In freedom and integrity

Let this be your inheritance

And our unwritten epitaph

Harji Malik, ?Nam Ka Chu: October 1962?

True Accounts (Books),Biographies & Autobiographies (Books),Military History (Books)

Introduction

LIVING IN THE SHADOW

After completing almost three years in the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA, now called Arunachal Pradesh), my father, Captain Ashok Kalyan Verma, was posted to the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun as a platoon commander in July 1962. For him, this move would prove to be providential, for within a few months of his departure, 282 of the men and officers he left behind in 2 Rajput would be dead. The others were wounded or overpowered by the Chinese and taken prisoner. Among the handful who succeeded in getting away, some died of cold and starvation, while a few survived weeks of unbelievable hardship and made it back to the plains of Assam through the jungles of the Kameng Frontier Division and Bhutan.

True Accounts (Books),Biographies & Autobiographies (Books),Military History (Books)

We had moved into one of the spacious bungalows at the IMA sometime in September and I doubt if there could have been a more picturesque or happier place for a little boy to grow up in. Even though I was barely two years old, I have fleeting recollections of the place: Gentlemen Cadets, better known as GCs, running and cycling along the tree-lined avenues, horses being exercised on the polo ground, the commandant?s buggy with its coterie of resplendent sowars (mounted soldiers) and ponies, our own bungalow opposite the club and the one time a huge black rat snake suddenly appeared, scaring everyone. I remember the fallen leaves strewn on the ground, the imposing clumps of bamboo and the stunning majesty of Chetwode Hall that dominated the Academy.

Then, suddenly, as the colours of autumn gave way to winter, the Academy, like the leaves on the trees, seemed to shrivel into itself. Even to me, it was obvious that something terrible had happened. Brigadier (later, Lieutenant General) Premindra Singh Bhagat was then the commandant of the Academy. An Engineer officer, he had been awarded the Victoria Cross in Ethiopia in 1941, making him the highest decorated officer in the Indian Army at the time of Independence. In his mid-forties, Bhagat?s receding hairline and bushy moustache gave him a dapper and somewhat avuncular appearance. As was the norm with all incoming officers posted to the IMA, he interviewed my father in early October. Glancing up from the dossier which contained Captain Ashok Kalyan Verma?s service record, the commandant asked him if he was happy with his new posting. The usual answer that it was a great honour did not fool the brigadier, who could perhaps sense that the young officer in front of him was holding something back.

The commandant encouraged him to speak freely and the dam burst. My father said he had been posted out of 2 Rajput in July when it was de-inducting from the Lohit Valley where it had been deployed for the last three years. The battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Maha Singh Rikh, had been on its way to Mathura, but even as the men and equipment were being marshalled onto a special train at Missamari (near Tezpur), it had been ordered to redeploy in the Kameng Frontier Division as part of 7 Infantry Brigade. With barely any winter stores or equipment, the men had somehow made their way across Eaglenest to Bomdila, Dirang Dzong, Se-la and on to Tawang. They had then been pushed further north towards the Bhutan-NEFA-Tibet tri-junction. Military circles had been anticipating an armed clash with China, and under the circumstances the only place my father wanted to be was with the men of his battalion.

Brigadier Bhagat had been the Director, Military Intelligence at Army Headquarters, Delhi, prior to moving to the IMA. Obviously he had a reasonable idea of what was happening in NEFA and asked searching questions about the Kibithu and Walong sectors in the Lohit Frontier Division. Signalling the end of the interview, Bhagat said: ?I know how you feel, but you must now concentrate on training the GCs here?that has to have your entire focus. Let us hope the situation with the Chinese will soon sort itself out and hopefully all will be well.?

Ever since the onset of hostilities between India and China on 20 October, only sporadic news had been filtering through with no clear picture emerging as to what was actually happening. In the last week of November, Brigadier Bhagat called my father to his office. Breaking the news as gently as he could, he said things had gone very wrong for 7 Infantry Brigade and 2 Rajput on 20 October in the Nam Ka Chu Valley. The commandant then said there were hardly any survivors and those who had escaped the massacre were being collected in Ramgarh in Bihar. Being posted back to the battalion was out of the question, but the brigadier suggested my father leave immediately for Ramgarh to find out what had transpired.

Buy your copy today to find out what had really transpired?.

Additional Information
Weight 0.74 kg
Dimensions 14 × 22 × 3 cm
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