Though many Defence experts say that the 1965 India-Pakistan war was keenly and evenly fought by both the countries, with India having the upper hand, Major (retd.) D. Krupanidhi, who was in the thick of action then, says that it was a clear victory for India.
Having fought the Chinese in 1962 and the Pakistani Army in 1965 and 1971, the war veteran said, “There is no ambiguity in saying that the Indian Army had defeated Pakistan on both the occasions. In 1965, it was Pakistan that led the incursion and aggression, and we not only repulsed their attack but also crossed the LoC to get into their territory.”
A student of Mrs. A.V.N. College, Krupanidhi joined the Indian Army in the 1950s as second lieutenant and was posted in the Sialkot sector of Jammu Kashmir during the 1965 war.
Posted in the Indian Army Corps of Signals, our duty was to see that communication was intact between various divisions of the Army.
There were a number of times when we had to take our mobile communication units right up to the Pakistan border to keep the communication flowing between the artillery and infantry units, and the Indian Air Force, he reminisced.
The 1965 war between India and Pakistan was a full-scale war, as all units of the Armed forces were used, he said.
“Apart from heavy artillery shelling and massive infantry movement, we had seen the largest use of battle tanks and armoured vehicles post the World War II. Air Force also played a major role,” he said.
The veteran who had quit the Army in the 1970s as a Major, joined the Border Security Force (BSF) and served the central police organisation for over three decades.
He still keeps an empty 120 mm artillery shell from the 1965 war as his prized possession.
