Forfatter billede

Arjun Subramaniam

Forfatter af India's Wars: A Military History, 1947-1971

4 Works 67 Members 3 Reviews

Værker af Arjun Subramaniam

Satte nøgleord på

Almen Viden

Medlemmer

Anmeldelser

So, this work, on the whole, seems like a solid study of the Indian Republic's first generation of military conflict, while offering a window into the mentality of the professional Indian officer; for the author this is something of a memoir. On the other hand, there is no denying that Subramaniam writes better about the aviation and political aspects of this history (having been a pilot, a flag-grade officer, and an academician), than he does about land warfare. As the book goes on, and the wars get bigger, the tactical and operational coverage seems to get more shallow.

I'll also admit that I found a few dumb errors that put me off of the book, mostly in regards to the captions of some of the illustrations. At the start of the chapter on the 1965 Indo-Pak War, a supposed drawing of a Centurion tank is actually a Matilda; as any player of "World of Tanks" would inform you. Less funny is a picture of a Sikh infantryman guarding "Japanese prisoners of war," except that one of these prisoners is wearing an American uniform with corporal's stripes and the China-Burma-India patch, and is, presumably, a translator; that's kind of insulting.

Still, it's hard to be too mad at a book that ends with the admonition: "Happy reading!"
… (mere)
½
 
Markeret
Shrike58 | 1 anden anmeldelse | May 15, 2021 |
The author seems to have read my review of his previous book. :D The second volume deals with India's wars from 1971 onwards. While it can be argued that these events are all recent history and should therefore be written about only after a considerable length of time has passed, there still are great lessons to be learned from all that has happened since 1971. The author has done great service by bringing military history to a wider audience and laying out clearly lessons from each of these conflicts. Some themes:
- The last major full-border conflict was in 1971. All conflicts since have been localized, short duration and very intense, with some under a nuclear overhang.
- Future conflicts will require greater synergy between forces. The appointment of the CDS and the theater commands seem like steps in the right direction.
- Limited, high intensity warfare with cyber and NBC overhang will be a given in the very near future.
- The armed forces need to move faster and be more open to change. Very tough given the centralized, top-down hierarchy but doable.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
sriram_shankar | Dec 14, 2020 |
To any keen observer of Indian history (military included) and follower of the news, the story of India's post-independence wars would be well known. The exploits of Hoshiar Singh, Shaitan Singh, Arun Khetarpal is the stuff of legend that at least I have been reading about since I was a kid. Additionally, the author has done a good job of chronicling the larger geo-political environment which lead to these wars. The stories of battles are also very well narrated.

The stories of the battles and the wars apart, what stood out were the first and last chapters (Sighter Burst and others) that gives the reader a birds-eye perspective and highlights various trends in India's military history. They really helped this lay reader appreciate the contours of our military posturing as it exists today and where it might go tomorrow.

As the author himself admits, stopping at 1971 does India's armed forces a great disservice as they have been involved in a large number of small scale, low-intensity 'wars' and covert operations that I am sure has further shaped their outlook. Reading about these exploits would have been fascinating.

In another volume perhaps?
… (mere)
 
Markeret
sriram_shankar | 1 anden anmeldelse | Jul 21, 2016 |

Statistikker

Værker
4
Medlemmer
67
Popularitet
#256,179
Vurdering
½ 4.3
Anmeldelser
3
ISBN
8

Diagrammer og grafer