55 years of 1962 war with China

The 1962 war as most of us know portrayed Chinese as the aggressors, who ripped apart the "Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai" construct forever. Here's what happened

The Indians had observed a massive build-up across the border and there had been several encounters between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA in the days before the main attack. But the sheer coordination of the Chinese attacks on October 20, 1962, and the days that followed stunned the Indian security establishment.

According to Brigadier John Dalvi: At exactly 5 on the morning of 20th October 1962, the Chinese Opposite Bridge III fired two Verey lights. This signal was followed by a cannonade of over 150 guns and heavy mortars, exposed on the forward slopes of Thagla.. Thagla Ridge was no longer, at that moment, a piece of ground. It was the crucible to test India's foreign defence policies.

On the western front in Aksai Chin, the fighting was spread out over a swathe of land from north to south, covering a distance of approximately 600 kilometres.

Most of the attacks by the PLA seemed to be confined to dislodging Indian troops from the outposts that had been established as a result of the government's Forward Policy rather than for capturing territory.

The Chinese had no intention to move forward deep into Indian territory, as they did in NEFA (The North-East Frontier Agency).

Already smarting from the Dalai Lama's escape to India in early 1959 and the bitter exchanges over the Mc-Mahon Line, which it considered to be a "legacy of British imperialism", China decided to teach India "a lesson" it would never forget through the one-month war.

China's late strongman Mao Zedong had launched the 1962 war with India to regain control of the ruling Communist Party after the debacle of his 'Great Leap Forward' movement in which millions had perished.

Lack of coordination among the intelligence agencies, shaky credibility of sources, inconsistent intelligence flow are among the key problems pointed out by the inquiry into the 1962 debacle.

The glaring intelligence failures of the 1962 conflict with China led to massive changes in the security establishment, including the creation of R&AW as a dedicated foreign intelligence agency.