1962: The War That Wasn't by Shiv Kunal Verma

Author:Shiv Kunal Verma [Verma, Shiv Kunal]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
ISBN: 9789384067168
Published: 2016-01-07T16:00:00+00:00

THE FIGHTING AT KIBITHU

The Chinese had first intruded into the Lohit Frontier Division in October 1957 when troops had come downriver all the way to Walong. On being challenged, the party returned to Tibet. On 28 September 1958, an officer with fifty soldiers advanced into the Di Chu Valley up to Jachap. Subsequently, they continued to send small probing parties into the area, culminating with the official note handed over by the government of the People’s Republic of China stating that: ‘Monyul, the area of Lower Tsayul including Walong, not only was inhabited by Tibetans, but was always under the jurisdiction of Tibet. British troops unlawfully invaded and occupied Walong in 1944, and it was only after the local Tibet government sent a representative of the dzongpen of Sangacho Dzong to make representations that the troops withdrew.’

This was typical Chinese misinformation. First, the entire belt, though sparsely populated, was the home of the Miji Mishmi with perhaps a scattering of Tibetans, if at all. Second, unlike the Tawang region where the writ of the Tibetan dzongpen carried weight, in the Lohit Frontier Division it had no influence. These incursions, therefore, had prompted Army HQ to move 2 Rajput into Walong to support the single Assam Rifles wing at Kibithu. Even if the Chinese considered Diphu-la to be the tri-junction, as a matter of policy, they did not like to intrude into ‘disputed territory’. The intrusions into the Lohit Frontier Division were interpreted as a clear indication that the Chinese would sooner or later try to move troops into the area, just as they had in the Aksai Chin region.

2 Rajput had spent three years in Walong, building and siting the defences on either flank of the Lohit. The Rajputs, who were to move to Mathura after their two-and-a-half year tenure, handed over to 6 Kumaon, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel C. N. Madiah, towards the end of March 1962. Eastern Command ordered the setting up of three new posts on the surrounding heights, each of which was at an altitude of over 9,800 feet. The first of these guarded the entrance to the Chu Valley and was situated sixteen kilometres west of Kibithu. The Chu post had its own DZ, while the other two new posts were in the Di Chu Valley and had a common DZ. Two additional platoons from 7 Assam Rifles (based in Jairampur) had to be flown in to man these new posts tucked away in the watershed between India and Burma. To further facilitate these changes, a second wing of the Assam Rifles was set up at Hot Springs.

Even before tension started to build up over the Dhola post on the Nam Ka Chu at the other end of NEFA, forward observation posts of the Assam Rifles started reporting a heavy build-up on the Chinese side near both Sama and Rima. Madiah was ordered by Brigadier G. S. Gill, commander of 5 Infantry Brigade, to move to Kibithu with his Tac HQ along with Charlie Company.

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