General Khan the military ruler of Pakistan decided to go to war against India in 1965. The war began in Kashmir but soon was being fought along the border between West Pakistan and India. Both sides were fairly equal in the air and in tanks and the war ended in a draw.
In this second episode on the Sino - Indian War of 1962, I look at the fighting in the Aksai Chin region in Eastern Kashmir where Chinese troops defeated the Indian Army and occupied the region. I also look at the long term effect of the war.
In October 1962 at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Chinese troops attacked Indian along their disputed border. This episode looks at the fighting in the North east frontier Area. A biography is given of V.K.K. Menon, the Indian defence minister who failed to prepare the Indian military for the Chinese attack.
A biography of Indian Prime Minister Nehru and the story of his work with the international non aligned movement which attached a great deal of support from the newly independent third world nations. However relations between India and China which had been good for a decade decline.
India and Pakistan between 1947 and 1949 fight their first war against each other for control of Kashmir. The population of the area was mainly Muslim but its ruler was not., he tried to keep Kashmir independent but when Pakistani troops invaded he was forced to call for help from India, which sent troops and airplanes to fight for control of the area.
In 1947 India was to gain its independence but it had to broken up into two nations, India and Pakistan known as Partition. In the run up to this the India was to witness an outbreak of murder, rape and the following out from their homes of millions of people. A biography of the first leader of Pakistan, Muhammad Jinnah is given.
This is a special one off tribute to Queen Elizabeth the Second who died in September. It tells of her life and the British armed forces which she commanded from 1952 to 1965, when British troops, sailors and airmen were active in fighting in several parts of the world.
In this episode I will tell of the rule of Mao over China following the Communist victory in the civil war to his death. It was a very bloody period with millions of Chinese dying during this time. Purges would be a regular event.
An overview of the Chinese military intervention into the Korean War and how the Chinese military developed during the Korean War. Improvements in the Chinese logistic system and the ability to dug tunnels to avoid American firepower.
An account of Tibetan resistance to Chinese control of Tibet. In 1959 this would led to the Tibetan uprising in which over eighty thousand people would be killed. The Dai Lai would go into exile in India and form a Tibetan Government in exile. The biography of the Dai Lai is given.
The Chinese Communists saw Tibet as part of China. Talks between the Chinese and Tibetan Government failed to reach an agreement. The People's Liberation Army defeats a Tibetan Army led by Ngapoi, who would become an ally of the Chinese as they took control of Tibet, his biography up to 1954. is given.
The Chinese Communists overrun the Nationalists in Southern Chain and capture the island Hainan. They then defeat the warlords in Northern Western China. The Nationalist flee to Taiwan where Chiang Kai-Shek regains power. In the United States the Republicans blame President Truman and his secretary of state George Marshall for the lost of China.
Chiang Kai - Shek is removed from power as Nationalist leader. Stalin suggest a cease fire but the Chinese Communists reject it. A British warship is trapped by Communist artillery in the River Yangtze River. Communist troops cross the River Yangtze and capture the city of Shanghai.
After the Communist victory in Manchuria, they march into Eastern China. The capital Beijing falls to them after a 40 day siege. The Communist win another major victory in a battle in Eastern China. An account of Deng Xiaoping (a future leader of China) during the Chinese Civil War. How Communist terror gained them control of the countryside.
Chiang Kai-Shek in June 1946 sends his Nationalist Army into North China and Manchuria to destroy the Communists. The American Government imposed an arms embargo which includes, new motor lorries, the Nationalist supply system collapses. The Nationalist forces in Manchuria are first besieged and then defeated by the 8th Red Route Army commanded by Lin Biao, his biography is given.
After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, the Chinese Nationalist reoccupied the cites of Eastern Police along with them came their secret police led by Dai Li, known as the Chinese Himmler, his biography is given. Under American and Soviet Government pressure Chiang Kai Shek and Mao meet and pretend to reach a peace agreement. In fact fighting was already breaking in some areas as early as 1945.
The Long March to Civil War
The background to the Chinese Civil War, the fighting between the Nationalists and the Communists, in the twenties and thirites. The Long March when Mao led the Communists to North China. The uneasy peace between the two sides in order to fight the Japanese from 1937. A biography of Nationalist leader Chian Kai-Shek. The problems within the Chinese Nationalist Army in their war against Japan. August 1945 when the Soviet Red Army invades Manchuria.
The American bombing of North Vietnam is halted over the 1965 Christmas period. In this final episode of this series, I look at the state of the American military effort in South Vietnam at the end of 1965 though the prism of the Fulbright Hearing in the US Senate held in February 1966. A biography of Senator Fulbright.
Military actions in South Vietnam during November and December 1965. The American Army launch a series of search and destroy operations including operation Hump to find and kill the Viet Cong, yet none of them result in a total victory, thee Viet Cong when they wish are able to break off contact. Growing doubts exist within the American military leadership of General Westmoreland's tactics.
The first major battle between regular American soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division and regular North Vietnamese troops. There re two major engagements, one at landing zone X-Ray, biography of the American commander Lieutenant Colonel Moore. Hundreds of American troops are killed but even more North Vietnamese die too.