Page 318 - Leadership in the Indian Army

He told Sinha that he was about to put him up for the award of an AVSM,
but could no longer do so after this incident. He had the battalion
commander removed from command and demoted to the rank of major. The

two officers who were directly involved were courtmartialled and sentenced
to be dismissed from service and undergo varying terms of imprisonment.
The JCO was also dismissed from service.
In September 1970, Bakshi was posted as GOC 26 Infantry Division,
which was responsible for the defence of Jammu. In 1971, operations
against Pakistan became imminent, after it was realised that the problem of
refugees from East Pakistan could not be solved by other means. Since the

primary aim of the operations was the liberation of Bangladesh, the
government had decided that only a defensive posture would be maintained
in the west. However, limited offensive operations were planned with the
intention of drawing out Pakistani reserves, so that they could not be used
for major offensives against India. Lieutenant General K.P. Candeth,
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, had

accordingly planned an advance by 1 Corps in the Shakargarh bulge, and a
two-pronged offensive by 15 Corps, with 10 Infantry Division advancing
north of the river Chenab, and 26 Infantry Division advancing south of the
river, to threaten Sialkot. Pakistan’s 15 Infantry Division, under Major
General Abid Ali Zahid, was holding defences in the Sialkot sector. To its
rear, Pakistan’s strongest strike formation, 1 Corps, had its headquarters at
Sialkot. Considering the importance of the task assigned to 26 Infantry

Division, Zoru Bakshi had been selected by Sam Manekshaw to command
the division.
The operations commenced on 3 December 1971 after air-strikes by
Pakistan, and orders were issued for the planned advances by Indian troops
to commence. However, due to the Pakistani offensive in Chhamb, 10
Infantry Division had to fall back and could not undertake any offensive

action. A brigade of 26 Infantry Division was sent to 39 Infantry Division
to make up the loss of 33 Infantry Brigade, which had been despatched to
Punch to counter the Pakistani offensive in that sector. This resulted in the
cancellation of the all-important offensive of 26 Infantry Division towards
Sialkot. However, Bakshi was not deterred by this setback and proceeded to
capture Chicken’s Neck, an important gain of the 1971 operations, which
compensated to some extent the loss of Chhamb by 10 Infantry Division.