Author: Ian Cardozo
Publisher: Roli Books
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 197
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8174364994
Description
9 December 1971. 8.45 p.m. Torpedoed by a Pakistani sub-marine, the INS Khukri sank within minutes. Along with the ship 178 sailors and 18 officers made the supreme sacrifice. Last seen calmly puffing on his cigarette Captain Mahendra Nath Mulla, captain of the Khukri, chose to go down with his ship. This defining moment of the 1971 war between India and Pakistan is the basis of Major General Ian Cardozo’s attempt to understand what happened that day and why.
General Cardozo brings fresh insight into the hellish ordeal by including the heartfelt accounts of the survivors and of the members of their families. These accounts transform the stereotypical understanding of the incident; they also supplement it. We glimpse fear, trauma and death at first-hand. In the annals of war writing, General Cardozo humanizes this cataclysmic event as never before.
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
FOREWORD
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
1. The Indian Navy at War
2. What Happened in 1971
3. The Sinking of INS Khukri and Survivors Stories
4. Across the Waves the Pakistan Navy’s Survivors Stories
5. Strategy and the Principles of War Standard Operating Procedures and Naval Traditions
6. The Past and the future
AFTERWORD
ANNEXURES
GLOSSARY OF NAVAL AND MILITARY TERMS
BIBLIOGRAPHY