For the past several years, the Indian Army had been occupied in counterinsurgency operations. This had involved deployment well away from the LoC, mainly to block likely infiltration routes along valleys and approaches to the towns and villages where these routes converged. Foot patrols and air reconnaissance sorties along the LoC were the exception rather than the rule. The intrusions were thus not detected till early May. On May 03, 1999, local shepherds reported seeing strangers digging in on the heights. Over the next few days, three Army patrols were sent out. All were repulsed with casualties. Lack of intelligence on the extent of the infiltration and other details made planning difficult. The Army now launched, Operation Vijay, to evict the intruders. However, carefully directed enemy artillery fire resulted in the destruction of the Army’s main artillery dump on May 09. Over the next few days, Army casualties mounted. The number of intruders, initially assessed byt the Army Headquarters as being between 80 to 100 by May 18, continued to be revised upwards, finally being estimated as between 1600 and 2500.42 Initially, however, local commanders were quick to downgrade the scale of the intrusion; it is safe to say that the Army was in denial. This delayed any request for air support that could have been made
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 13:25:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015