by Vivek Ahuja
This is exactly what makes their silence so scary.
More so than their guns, as a matter of fact. What the hell are they thinking?”
Krishnan collected his thoughts and turned to his CO:
“Sir, what do you think is going on?” Malik grunted.
“Whatever it is Krishnan, we can be sure of one thing: we won’t like it. All I know is that Division HQ is scrambling to find out what’s going on with New-Delhi. Somebody must know what’s going on, but we sure as hell don’t. I was told by our air-force liaison that they are withdrawing our UAV support for right now because that squadron has to be relocated immediately. That sounds downright ominous to me. Division commander thinks so as well. This is why I want you to cover all the approaches to Walong. If the Chinese move a muscle, I want to know it. In the meantime I will try and figure out what on earth is happening,” Malik said as he wore his gloves back on.
Colonel Malik commanded a reinforced Battalion within the 2ND Mountain Division (MD), responsible for the defense of Walong. It was a large sector, but the 2ND MD was a large force with lot of independent firepower under its direct command.
It had taken a humiliating defeat fifty years ago at the hands of the Chinese during the cold winter of 1962-63 to hammer home the lesson on the need for flexible defense and dedicated Mountain Divisions. Napoleon had once asked his commanders if his army units spread evenly along the border were meant for defending against smugglers, for that was exactly what the result was. A military force however large, if dissipated along the border, ceases to be a coherent force. This was especially true in mountainous terrain of the Himalayas.
Malik knew it all too well, and his first plan of action in any major conflict with China was to pull his Battalion task force back towards a common defensive line to the south, codenamed “Romeo”. Here he would ensure his force regained the coherency required to fight the Chinese. After that they would advance to some of the several choke points within the passes in the region depending on where the Chinese were headed. Each of these locations was named with code name “Juliet” followed by a numeral. If the Chinese pushed them off these locations then all forces were to fall back to Romeo for regroup and counter-attack. If even this line fell, the last battalion line of defense north of Walong was the “Ragnar” line.
After that, if need be, we will fight them house to house in Walong...
Malik thought as he walked down the bank of the river towards the Dhruv helicopter parked nearby, waiting to take him back to Battalion HQ. Krishnan walked with him along with several of Malik’s staff officers.
The two man flight-crew of the parked Dhruv saw them approaching and immediately climbed back into the cockpit. Moments later the sounds of the turbines spooling up filled the ever darkening valley. The army-aviation Captain flying the helicopter lowered his helmet mounted NVGs to help see the valley more clearly. As Malik climbed back into the cabin and took his seat, he turned to face Krishnan standing outside:
“Stay vigilant tonight. We will give whatever support we can muster regardless of whatever is happening right now. Report anything suspicious directly to me. Understood?”
“Yes sir! We will hold the line!” Krishnan said even as he snapped off the salute and walked away from the helicopter. The chilling high winds from the helicopter downwash were breaking through his clothing. Thirty seconds later he watched as the helicopter flew down the valley and headed south, disappearing in the darkness. The sounds of the helicopter still echoed in the valley for several minutes before silence ensued. Krishnan stood there and glanced back at the imposing black silhouettes of the peaks to the north. He watched his breath as a small visible puff in the cold air before walking away to where his temporary command post lay on the southern slope of the peak nearby. His two-hundred men were now settled in for a long, cold night ahead...
NEW DELHI
DAY 1 + 0045 HRS
Chakri was just as abruptly interrupted from his sleep as the PM had been in his office a few minutes before, but his reaction was more composed. He immediately got up and walked along with the three men from his SPG and ordered for the phone. After he had ensured that the PM was already on the way to Palam for immediate evacuation, he picked up the phone and called up General Yadav. The latter was at Army-Headquarters where yet another frantic midnight evacuation was underway, so he was told that General Yadav and his staff were already on their way on board another air-force AW-101 towards Palam. Chakri put down the phone and walked out to see that for him there was no helicopter but rather a ground convoy of black SUVs waiting to whisk him away to safety.
Once inside the vehicles, he ordered for satellite comms to be opened between the AW-101 carrying General Yadav to Palam right away. It took a few minutes to set that up, but the vehicle was equipped for this kind of role. The comms opened up and Chakri heard Yadav’s voice above the background helicopter noises. He got to the point right away:
“General, what’s the final count?”
“One-hundred-seventy-five. We were damned lucky to have detected it all in time. We still have some time to react though, because at the current speed the missiles are still roughly an hour away,” Yadav said.
Chakri looked out at the empty midnight streets as his convoy of vehicles sped down the roads. He saw a sleeping New-Delhi populace that knew nothing of the threat.
Neither does the rest of India…he realized.
“Yadav, do we know what their targets are?”
“We have a rough idea. Based on what Air-Vice-Marshal Malhotra from the Aerospace Command said when he phoned in the threat, mostly the targets are in the northeast and the Ladakh region. In addition roughly thirty-six missiles were seen heading in the rough direction of Delhi, Bareilly and Agra. It is a safe bet that Beijing is attempting a decapitating strike against us. But like I said, we have been lucky and should be able to evacuate almost everybody out of here in time.”
“That’s good to hear, Yadav, but what about civilian casualties?” Chakri asked, and half expected the reply before it came:
“There are going to be some casualties. The air-force is getting ready for a maximum level effort to take down as many of the missiles as they can as soon as the latter come cross the Himalayas. But some are bound to get through. The Chinese guidance systems are not accurate enough for precision strikes. We are attempting to get as many people away from what we think are the major targets but an overall city level warning will have to come from the government. And that, sir, is your decision to make...”
Chakri looked out of the windows yet again and collected his thoughts. The Chinese had launched an all-out attack on this country which, even if conventional, was massive. They had hundreds of thousands of fully acclimatized soldiers in Tibet as a result of the ongoing Tibetan revolts for the past half year. They had been planning this for quite some time.
But while their original plans for a decapitation strike against the Indian government had clearly failed, their overall strike effectiveness was also decreasing as every IAF surface-to-air missile battery came online all along the border. But it wasn’t enough. One hour of warning time was still one hour no matter what you do. Chakri knew his side would take losses…
And while the Chinese attacks had been premeditated and planned, this was not a repeat of 1962 by any means, even if it superficially looked that way.
“General, what are our options for striking back at the Chinese?”
“Sir, we have several batteries of Brahmos cruise-missiles in the northeast. I have ordered them active before I left Army Headquarters. Because of their speed and response times, they will be our first counter-response weapon. One of the major targets at this time will have to include the PLAAF airbases and radar stations in Tibet.”
“What about attacking their cruise-missile launchers?” Chakri asked.
“Most of their 821 Brigade launchers are already dispersing based on what Malhotra told me. They have no more reloads to fire at us unless they clear o
ut the stocks they have kept aside for the Taiwan Theater. They don’t do that. Not when they think they are winning. Besides, those launchers are far too much to the north. As far as the smaller ranged launchers in southern Tibet are concerned, they are not worth the Brahmos missile we have with us. It’s not easy targeting small mobile launchers on the ground. The air-force is already planning strike missions on those launchers anyway. I say we go after their high value stationary targets first,” Yadav responded.
At his end, Chakri nodded in silence on hearing what Yadav had to say…
“Very well, Yadav. Do it! We have to start taking apart the Chinese ability to wage war in these first few hours. They won’t be expecting it that quick anyway. God only knows what the shape of our forces will be an hour from now when their missiles have done their work. The Chinese may have the initiative but we won’t make it easy for them!”
LEH AIRBASE
LADAKH
DAY 1 + 0055 HRS
“Let’s go people! Move! Move!”
Khurana shouted as he ran over in his flight-suit to the hardened aircraft shelter. Khurana and the rest of No. 28 Squadron detachment at Leh were the last to be scrambled from the airbase. The Fulcrum only had so much endurance once in the air. And with every single aircraft in the IAF inventory rushing for the safety of the skies, there weren’t enough IL-78 airborne tankers around to refuel everyone. Once the missiles broke through, it was anyone’s guess whether or not they would be able to land back here or not. They would need to stay up there long enough after the attack for the confusion to be sorted out before recovering to one airbase or another. But with the first missiles now entering range for his Fulcrums to attempt an intercept, they could not delay any more...
Khurana was already climbing into the cockpit by the time the two other Fulcrums taxied past his shelter towards the runway. He could see them in the distance as he settled into his cockpit and strapped himself in. Ground crewmen were running around checking the weapons hanging from the pylons. Khurana knew that these men he saw working around him would have to bear the attacks here while most of his pilots would be in the air.
“You take care of yourself down here, and keep your head down! You hear me?” he told the old, aged Warrant-Officer helping him strap into his seat.
“I heard you, sir. But do us a favor and knock out as many as you can up there. Give them hell!” he patted Khurana on the shoulder, closed the cockpit around him and then jumped off the stairs before removing them. He waved off a salute to Khurana which Khurana returned sharply just as the engines came alive inside the shelter.
Less than a minute later the Mig-29’s nose emerged from the shelter into the cold Ladakh air and the aircraft rolled towards the end of the runway. Most of the Mig-29s at Leh were already in the air except for Khurana and his wingman to his side. He looked to his right to see the main tarmac at Leh also devoid of all transport aircraft. All of the C-17s, Il-76s and An-32s had already departed. He did see a whole bunch of ground crews attempting to clear all cargo and supplies off the tarmac in anticipation of what was coming. His radio squawked back to life:
“Claw-One, this is Leh tower. You are clear for immediate departure!”
“Roger, tower. Claw-One is rolling,” Khurana released the brakes and pushed the throttle forward and clicked into afterburner. The aircraft leaped forward on the runway. His wingman to his right did the same. Several seconds later both aircraft were in the air and climbing out of Leh and above the Ladakh peaks.
“Leh tower to all Claw elements. Switch to Eagle-Eye-One for airborne control. Score one from all of us down here. Leh tower is now shutting down...”
AIRSPACE OVER SOUTHERN SIKKIM
INDIA
DAY 1 + 0100 HRS
“We have contact! Multiple inbounds detected on bearing zero-three-five! More inbounds detected! Here they come!”
The radar tracking specialist on board the Indian CABS AEW aircraft shouted into his comms headset for all inside the aircraft to hear. Even as the crew commander was rushing down the central corridor between the consoles, the radar operator was already switching the computer to track mode and checking the flight profile data…
“Confirmed Chinese cruise-missiles inbound. Tracking seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and counting many more now!”
By this time the crew commander was behind the console operator. The commander switched his headset’s comms network so that he was able to talk with the operations staff at the Eastern Air Command in Shillong...
THE INDIAN NORTHEAST
DAY 1 + 0115 HRS
War officially broke out between India and China when the first of the Chinese cruise-missiles cleared the peaks of northern Arunachal-Pradesh and streaked southwards. Almost every type of defense that could be erected on the Indian side to defend against such an attack was up and running. But they faced several challenges including short reaction time, difficult terrain for high-end surface-to-air missiles and mountainous terrain that resulted in patchy long-range radar coverage.
Of the three dozen cruise-missiles aimed at the Indian Army in the region, most went through unscathed. The radar directed gun batteries near the Tawang sector took their toll and knocked two missiles out as they entered the valley.
A handful of others were also knocked out of the skies to the east by short-ranged surface-to-air missiles of the Indian Army. But with only a dozen or so missiles aimed per Division inside Arunachal-Pradesh, the Chinese could not hope to hit much. Their missiles also lacked the accuracy required to take down specific targets inside deep mountainous terrain. So they were more aimed at the various headquarters in each Division area and also major artillery battery locations. All three Indian Division HQs and the Corps HQ had been evacuated of personnel to alternate sites in the past hour. But the evacuation had been hectic and incomplete in such a small timeframe...
The ground shook violently throughout the region as the first of the Chinese cruise-missiles slammed into their targets in the hills of Arunachal-Pradesh. Brigade and Division HQs in all three Divisions of IV Corps took hits and many went offline. The night skies lit up with orange fireballs as the Indian Army defenses took a beating. Many gun batteries in the region were mauled because of their immobility and lack of time. The UAV coverage of the border had been shut down for the last half hour as units had recovered their aircraft back on the ground for evacuating. But it hadn’t been possible to evacuate the entire equipment in an hour. The biggest blow from the attacks came when the UAV bases near Tawang, Bomdi-la and Walong took direct hits. Most of the command trailers were destroyed while others were thrown about like junk under the force of the explosions.
One crucial ISR node had gone down.
And the attacks had just begun...
Even as the three Indian Mountain Divisions in the hills of Arunachal-Pradesh reeled under the attacks, the rest of the missiles were already streaking overhead as they went south towards the main focus of the attack: the Indian infrastructure south of the Himalayas.
This was where they cleared the mountains and presented themselves to the main Indian air defenses. Several batteries of Akash SAMs now came online as the Rajendra Radars immediately picked up the contacts. But the numbers were against them. With over seventy missiles for this region diving into their targets around the Brahmaputra River, the engagement time was short.
Akash missiles leaped into the sky in barrages as the system was capable of engaging several targets at once. And they did. The skies around Tezpur, Chabua and Jorhat were lit up by orange-yellow exhausts streaking into the air with their characteristic swishing noises visible to the entire Indian population in the region. Missile launchers fired off the live rounds one after another until the launcher rails were empty. Of the seventy odd missiles racing in, thirty one were knocked out of the sky in massive fireballs and thunderclaps throughout the region. But with that short and brutal engagement complete, the crews of the Akash missile batteries watched helplessly as the remaining missile
s flew into their targets...
Airbases at Chabua, Jorhat and Tezpur received the brunt of the damage despite the efforts of the local ADGES. There were just too many missiles in the sky to take care of. The massive explosions shook the region. Contact with all three airbases was immediately lost. The road junctions north of Tezpur received a direct hit from a Chinese missile as well.
Further to the west, Hashimara airbase received multiple hits with major craters on the runway. When the smoke cleared and the shockwaves died away, raging fires had gripped the ATC building. Most of the buildings at the airbase were also shredded...
In the central sector the losses were less severe. With barely twenty-five missiles targeted at the entire sector of the border stretching from Sikkim to Himachal Pradesh, damage reports were sporadic and few. Most of the missiles fell prey to the critically placed SAMs in the region. But a few of the forward airbases received a few hits. At Bareilly airbase the main runway was severely cratered while at Agra the main ATC building was decimated to the ground, also destroying a good portion of the tarmac nearby. The destruction of the ATC would cause hindrance to the handling of large traffic at the airbase in the days to come.
In New-Delhi the damage was again minimal. With a combination of a single long-range S-300 battery north of the city and two Akash Batteries for the city alone, the defensive fire to the few incoming Chinese missiles was disproportionality high. Only one of the Chinese missiles made it into the skies above the city where it slammed into the Air HQ building in a shattering explosion and fire visible throughout the city. The building had been evacuated before the attack, but the first visible sign of the war to the mainstream Indian public was that of the furiously burning HQ building of the air-force. It was not an auspicious start to the war for the Indians…
The last of the hits to be suffered was in Ladakh. Just like other sectors of the border, the attacks here were again mainly centered on a few of the critical airbases at Leh, Daulat-beg-oldi or DBO, Chushul and Thoise. But with large presence of Indian interceptors in the skies above, only a handful of missiles broke through the defenses. Leh was the only airbase to suffer damage to its tarmac areas and buildings under these leaked missiles…