Operation Chengiz Khan was the code name assigned to the
pre-emptive strikePre-Emptive Strike is a three track, digital EP released by Five Finger Death Punch on July 10, 2007. It was only released to the American iTunes Music Store. The live version of "The Devil's Own" was recorded in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Track listing:...
s carried out by the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) on the forward airbases and
radarRadar is an object detection system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The term RADAR was coined in 1941 as an acronym for RAdio Detection And...
installations of the
Indian Air ForceThe Indian Air Force is the air arm of the armed forces of India. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
(IAF) on the evening of 3 December 1971 and marked the formal initiation of hostilities of the
Indo-Pakistani war of 1971The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian and Bangladeshi sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's 3 December 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
. Mounted in three waves between 17:39 and 23:00 hrs, the strikes were targeted against Indian Airbases of
AmritsarAmritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
,
AmbalaAmbala is a city and a municipal council in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India. The city is located on the border of the states of Haryana and Punjab in India. Politically; Ambala has two sub-areas: Ambala Cantt and Ambala City, a approximately 6-7 kilometers apart from each other...
,
AgraAgra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It finds mention in the epic Mahābhārata where it was called Agrevaṇa , or 'the border of the forest'. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Rājā Badal Singh , whose fort, Badalgarh, stood on or...
, Awantipur,
BikanerBikaner is a District in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan in northern India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. It was formerly the capital of the princely state of Bikaner. The city was founded by Rao Bika in 1486 and from its small origins...
,
HalwaraHalwara is a township in Punjab state in India. Located in the Ludhiana District close to Village Toosa , Halwara lies on the Mullanpur-Raikot road. It is also famous for its Air Base.Recently there were plans to build an international airport in the city...
,
JodhpurJodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, it was the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
,
JaisalmerJaisalmer ,,, nicknamed "The Golden City", is a town in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured...
,
PathankotPathankot a city and a municipal committee in Gurdaspur district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was a part of the Nurpur Princely state ruled by the PathaniaMANGOTRA Rajputs prior to 1849 A.D. It is a meeting point of the three northern states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir...
,
SrinagarSrinagar , is the capital of the northernmost state of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir that is situated in India-administered Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. The city is famous for its lakes and houseboats...
and Uttarlai as well as against air defence radars at Amritsar and Faridkot.
In an address to the nation on radio that same evening, the then Indian Prime Minister
Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ( Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977...
held the airstrikes as a declaration of war against India
and the Indian Air Force responded with initial airstrikes that very night that were expanded to massive retaliatory airstrikes the next morning.
Operation Chengiz Khan was the code name assigned to the
pre-emptive strikePre-Emptive Strike is a three track, digital EP released by Five Finger Death Punch on July 10, 2007. It was only released to the American iTunes Music Store. The live version of "The Devil's Own" was recorded in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Track listing:...
s carried out by the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) on the forward airbases and
radarRadar is an object detection system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The term RADAR was coined in 1941 as an acronym for RAdio Detection And...
installations of the
Indian Air ForceThe Indian Air Force is the air arm of the armed forces of India. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
(IAF) on the evening of 3 December 1971 and marked the formal initiation of hostilities of the
Indo-Pakistani war of 1971The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian and Bangladeshi sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's 3 December 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
. Mounted in three waves between 17:39 and 23:00 hrs, the strikes were targeted against Indian Airbases of
AmritsarAmritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
,
AmbalaAmbala is a city and a municipal council in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India. The city is located on the border of the states of Haryana and Punjab in India. Politically; Ambala has two sub-areas: Ambala Cantt and Ambala City, a approximately 6-7 kilometers apart from each other...
,
AgraAgra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It finds mention in the epic Mahābhārata where it was called Agrevaṇa , or 'the border of the forest'. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Rājā Badal Singh , whose fort, Badalgarh, stood on or...
, Awantipur,
BikanerBikaner is a District in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan in northern India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. It was formerly the capital of the princely state of Bikaner. The city was founded by Rao Bika in 1486 and from its small origins...
,
HalwaraHalwara is a township in Punjab state in India. Located in the Ludhiana District close to Village Toosa , Halwara lies on the Mullanpur-Raikot road. It is also famous for its Air Base.Recently there were plans to build an international airport in the city...
,
JodhpurJodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, it was the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
,
JaisalmerJaisalmer ,,, nicknamed "The Golden City", is a town in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured...
,
PathankotPathankot a city and a municipal committee in Gurdaspur district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was a part of the Nurpur Princely state ruled by the PathaniaMANGOTRA Rajputs prior to 1849 A.D. It is a meeting point of the three northern states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir...
,
SrinagarSrinagar , is the capital of the northernmost state of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir that is situated in India-administered Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. The city is famous for its lakes and houseboats...
and Uttarlai as well as against air defence radars at Amritsar and Faridkot.
In an address to the nation on radio that same evening, the then Indian Prime Minister
Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ( Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977...
held the airstrikes as a declaration of war against India
and the Indian Air Force responded with initial airstrikes that very night that were expanded to massive retaliatory airstrikes the next morning. and continued hitting PAF installations through the duration of the war. Statements released by both of the nations the next day confirmed the "existence of a state of war between the two countries", although neither government had formally issued a
Declaration of WarA declaration of war is a formal performative speech act or signing of a document by an authorized party of a government in order to initiate a state of war between two or more nations. The legality of who can declare war varies between nations and forms of government. In many nations power is...
.
Background
In March 1971,
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
(formerly
East PakistanEast Pakistan was a former province of Pakistan which existed between 1947 and 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal Province based on a plebiscite in what was then British India in 1947. Eastern Bengal chose to join the Dominion of Pakistan and became a province of Pakistan by the name East...
) declared independence from
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
starting the
Bangladesh Liberation WarThe Bangladesh Liberation War
was a civil war in Pakistan resulting in the separation of Bangladesh and West Pakistan . The war broke out after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared Bangladeshi independence on 26 March 1971...
following rising political discontent and
cultural nationalismCultural nationalism is a form of nationalism in which the nation is defined by a shared culture, as opposed to, for instance, its ethnicity or its institutions....
in East Pakistan and the brutal suppressive force from West Pakistan in response (see
Operation SearchlightOperation Searchlight was a planned military extermination carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in erstwhile East Pakistan in March 1971. Ordered by the government in West Pakistan, this was seen as the sequel to "Operation Blitz" which had been launched in...
).
The crackdown by
West Pakistan forcesThe Pakistan Army is a branch of the Pakistan military that protects the state borders and territories.The Pakistan Army, combined with the Navy and Air Force, makes Pakistan's armed forces the sixth largest military in the world. The Army is modelled on the United Kingdom armed forces and came...
was seen as extremely disproportionate and about 10 million refugees fled to the
eastern provinces of IndiaEast India, or more properly Eastern India, is a region of India consisting of the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Orissa. The states of Orissa and West Bengal share some cultural and linguistic characteristics with Bangladesh and with the state of Assam...
. Facing a mounting humanitarian crisis, India started actively aiding and re-organizing what the
Mukti BahiniMukti Bahini , also termed as the "Freedom Fighters", collectively refers to the armed organizations who fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was dynamically formed by Bengali regulars and civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh's independence on March...
Bangali rebels.
Pakistan came under increasing criticism from
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Europe as the plight of the refugees and their impact on the Indian economy were highlighted by
Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ( Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977...
in the UN and on a number of global tours. However, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
showed little interest in the crisis and actively opposed aid, intervention or support to the Mukti Bahini (possibly fearing advancement of Soviet influence deep into South Asia). India's aid to the Mukti Bahini continued unabated, and fighting between the Mukti Bahini and the Pakistani Forces grew increasingly vicious. On 9 August 1971, India signed a
twenty-year co-operation treatyThe Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation was a treaty signed between India the Soviet Union in August 1971 that specified mutual strategic cooperation...
with the Soviet Union which promised military support to either nation should she be attacked. This provided India cover against any possible Chinese intervention in aid of Pakistan it went to war with India. To the Pakistani leadership, it became clear that armed Indian intervention and secession of East Pakistan was becoming inevitable.
The strategy of pre-emption
By October 1971, the Mukti Bahini had started launching massive raids deep into East Pakistan with active support of the Indian Army troops. The situation had detoriorated to a state of active
undeclared warAn undeclared war is a conflict that is fought between two or more nations without a formal declaration of war being issued.In the United States, a Declaration of War customarily has to be passed by the legislature. There is no format required for declaration of war. The term "Declaration of War"...
in the East by the end of November, when
IndianThe Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to ensure the national security and defense of the Republic of India from external aggression and threats, and maintaining peace and security within its borders...
and Mukti Bahini forces launched offensives on both the eastern and western borders of East Pakistan. Regular Indian army troops engaged and mauled Pakistani armour
at GaribpurThe Battle of Garibpur fought on November 20 - 21, 1971 was one of the first engagements of between Indian and Pakistani troops during the Bangladesh Liberation War prior to the initiation of hostillities on 3 December, 1971...
while offensive manouvres were launched
in AtgramThe Battle of Atgram Complex, fought on the 21 November, 1971 between the 5 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army and the 31 Punjabs of the Pakistan Army, was one of the first engagements between the two opposing forces that preceded the formal initiation of hostilities of the 1971 Indo-Pak War, and...
against Pakistani border posts and communications centres along the eastern border. The Mukti Bahini also launched an offensive on Jessore at this time. It was clear to
IslamabadIslām ābād is the capital of Pakistan, and is the tenth largest city in Pakistan with an estimated population of over 673,766 in 2009...
by this time that open conflict was inevitable, and that East Pakistan was indefensible in the long run.
Yahya KhanAgha Muhammad Yahya Khan, H.Pk, HJ, S.Pk, psc was the President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, following the resignation of Ayub Khan. He has one son, Ali Yahya and one daughter, Yasmeen Khan.-Early life:...
chose at this point to try to protect Pakistan's integrity and to hold India by
Ayub KhanMuhammad Ayub Khan , N.Pk., H.Pk., HJ, psc, was the first military ruler of Pakistan, serving as the President of Pakistan...
's strategy -
"The defence of East Pakistan lies in the West".
This policy made the assumptions that an open conflict with India would not last long due to international pressure, and since East Pakistan was undefendable, the war-effort should be concentrated on occupying as large an area of Indian territory as possible as a bargaining tool at the negotiating table. To this end, Gen.
Tikka KhanGeneral Tikka Khan, HJ, HQA, SPk, was Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff from 3 March, 1972 to 1 March, 1976....
had proposed an offensive into India, and the PAF's "overriding priority was to give maximum support to this offensive". The initial plans for the offensive called for at least a temporary cover of air dominance by the PAF under which Khan's troops could conduct a lightning campaign deep into Western India before digging in and consolidating their positions. In order to achieve air dominance, Pakistan decided to launch an
offensive counter airOffensive Counter-Air is a military term for the suppression of an enemy's military air power by destroying or disabling the aircraft on the ground and/or destroying or crippling the runways and other infrastructure necessary to operate them....
strike codenamed
Operation Chengiz Khan on Indian airbases.
A second objective for the PAF was to conduct
air interdictionAir interdiction is the use of aircraft to attack tactical ground targets that are not in close proximity to friendly ground forces. It differs from close air support because it does not directly support ground operations and is not closely coordinated with ground units...
against the supply routes for the Indian troops opposing Khan's proposed offensive, but these were accorded as secondary targets to be engaged after the Operation started.
Operation Chengiz Khan
The PAF's strikes were based on the same strategy of pre-emptive neutralization of enemy air capability followed by the
Israeli Air ForceThe Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces...
on
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
ian and Arab air forces in
Operation FocusOperation Focus was the opening airstrike by Israel at the start of the Six-Day War of 1967. It is sometimes referred to as "Sinai Air Strike" since the focus was primarily on airfields around the Sinai Peninsula. At 07:45 on June 5, 1967, the Israeli Air Force under Maj. Gen...
during the six day war.
The decision to hit India with a pre-emptive air-strike was taken on 30 November 1971 during a meeting between the Pakistani President Gen.
Yahya KhanAgha Muhammad Yahya Khan, H.Pk, HJ, S.Pk, psc was the President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, following the resignation of Ayub Khan. He has one son, Ali Yahya and one daughter, Yasmeen Khan.-Early life:...
, Chief of Staff Gen.
Abdul Hamid KhanGeneral Abdul Hamid Khan, HQA, SPk, was the Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army under President General Yahya Khan, and the de-facto Army Commander-in-Chief during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and the subsequent Indo-Pakistani War....
, and Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen.
Gul Hassan KhanGeneral Gul Hassan Khan, SPk, SQA, was the last Commander-in-Chief, Pakistan Army. General Gul Hassan, a Sunni Pashtun born in Quetta, was educated at La Martiniere College in Lucknow and the Royal Indian Military College , Dehradun, India. He was commissioned in the Indian Army on 22 February, 1942...
.
The objectives of the strike were:
- To surprise the IAF by attacking its forward airfields when it was least expected.
- To neutralize these in order to obtain at least temporary battlefield air superiority in the West.
- To counter-balance the Indian numerical advantage by hitting the Forward Operating Bases of the Indian Air Force as a measure reducing the weight of expected counterattacks on PAF's own bases.
To achieve surprise, the decision was made to strike on a Friday, the day of the
jumu'ahJumu'ah is a congregational prayer that Muslims hold every Friday, just after noon in lieu of dhuhr...
(
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
Sabbath), at 17:45 hrs when shifts in IAF control centers were changing. Emulating its operations' experience in battle against the Indian Air Force during the Indo-Pakistani Conflict of 1965, the decision was made to hit the Indian bases in a two wave
duskDusk is the beginning of darkness in the evening. It is often confused with sunset, which is the daily disappearance of the sun below the horizon. The sky generally remains bright and blue for some time after the sun sets. This period is known as twilight. Dusk is the end of the evening civil...
strike followed by a number of night-
interdictionThe purpose of interdiction is to delay, disrupt, or destroy enemy forces or supplies en route to the battle area. A distinction is often made between strategic and tactical interdiction. The former refers to operations whose effects are broad and long-term; tactical operations are designed to...
missions through the night. However, the plans for the strike also anticipated the Indians to secure their aircraft in
blast penA blast pen was a specially-constructed E-shaped double bay at British RAF World War 2 fighter stations, being either or wide and front-to-back, accommodating aircraft for safe-keeping against bomb blasts and splinters during enemy air-attacks....
s. Also, anticipating difficulty in target acquisition for camouflaged targets such as fuel tankage, ammunition dumps and command centers the primary objectives set for the Operation were the runways and air defense radars.
The first strikes
The final orders for the strike were issued at 17:30 hrs. The first formations were in air and heading for their targets by 17:40 hrs. Officially, it was announced via government channels that the airstrikes were launched in response to attacks along the western border on
Pakistan RangersThe Pakistan Rangers are a paramilitary force under the control of the Ministry of the Interior of the Pakistani government. In 1995 the Pakistan Rangers divided into two parts, one called Pakistan Rangers Punjab, with its headquarters in Lahore, and the other called Pakistan Rangers Sindh, with...
' outposts by regular troops of the
Indian armyThe Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to ensure the national security and defense of the Republic of India from external aggression and threats, and maintaining peace and security within its borders...
, which the Indian Air Force was providing support to. The Indians would later deny any engagement on the Western Front. However, the Indian air defence radars failed to detect the approaching formations. The first indications for the Indians of the impending assault was the roar of the strike aircraft over their airfields, while in
DelhiDelhi, known locally as Dilli , and also by the official name National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest metropolis by population in India...
, the air-raid sirens were the first indications for newsmen, gathered for the daily brief of the East-Pakistan situation, that something was going on.
The first two waves deployed 32 aircraft. Of these, 24 were F-86F Sabres equipped with bombs, 8
Mirage IIIThe Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the late 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. It was a successful fighter aircraft, being sold to many air forces around the world and remaining in production for over a...
s armed with bombs, and 4 F-104s armed with cannons. The raids were limited to one pass at a relatively high level with the pilots ordered not to operate below 300m AGL as defence against
ground fireAck Ack may refer to:* Anti-aircraft warfare* Ack Ack , American Hall of Fame racehorse...
.
- Pathankot — The first of the strikes were mounted against Pathankot
Pathankot a city and a municipal committee in Gurdaspur district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was a part of the Nurpur Princely state ruled by the PathaniaMANGOTRA Rajputs prior to 1849 A.D. It is a meeting point of the three northern states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir...
AB. Led by a flight of two Mirage IIIThe Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the late 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. It was a successful fighter aircraft, being sold to many air forces around the world and remaining in production for over a...
s (a reconnaissance craft and a strike escort) a six ship mission of F-86Fs flying from Murid and led by Wg. Cdr. S N Jilani hit Pathankot with unguided rockets and dropped several 125kg bombs. The main target of this strike was the runway, which suffered minor damage and took the Indian ground crew several hours to repair. These missions went unopposed since the IAF had not scrambled any interception, and faced only AAAck Ack may refer to:* Anti-aircraft warfare* Ack Ack , American Hall of Fame racehorse...
. Pathankot was covered by interceptors from Adampur following this first strike during the time it took the ground crew to repair its runway.
- Amritsar — At 17:45 hrs, four Mirages flying from Sargodha
Sargodha is a city in the Sargodha District of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is located in northeast Pakistan. It is 8th largest city of Pakistan and also known as Pakistan best Citrus producing area. It is an agricultural trade centre with various industries...
and led by Wg. Cdr. Hakimullah attacked Amritsar AB. Hakimullah's flight was armed with two 500 kg bombs each, which the strike used efficiently hitting the first 300m of the runway and cratering it enough to leave it nonoperational for several hours. However, the Amritsar runway was repaired within the same night to receive detachments of Mig 21s and Su-7 that flew against Rafiqui AB the next morning. A second strike of two F-104 StarfighterThe Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was an American single-engined, high-performance, supersonic interceptor aircraft that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 until 1967. One of the Century Series of aircraft, it continued in service with Air National Guard units until it was phased out...
s, led by Wing Commander Amjad H Khan hit the P-35 radar station at Amritsar, rendering it inoperational for nearly an hour. Indian air defence gunners claimed to have shot down one F-104 while attempting to pinpoint the radar location, but Pakistanis deny this claim.
- Srinagar — Srinagar
Srinagar , is the capital of the northernmost state of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir that is situated in India-administered Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. The city is famous for its lakes and houseboats...
was hit at 17:50 hrs by a flight of six F-86Fs led by Wg. Cdr. Changezi. Flying from Peshawar' onMouseout='HidePop("1967")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Light_aircraft">light aircraft
A Light aircraft an aircraft that has a maximum gross take-off weight of or less.Many aircraft used commercially for freight, sightseeing, photography and scheduled flights are light aircraft....
parked near the runway.
All the Pakistani aircraft deployed in this first wave were recovered safely. However, the orders to make relatively high level passes also compromised the effectiveness of these strikes, with the result that IAF ground personnel were able to complete the repair to whatever damage was caused within the same night, hindered only by the follow-up waves.
Within forty-five minutes of these strikes, Pakistani troops had shelled India's western frontier and were reported to have crossed the border at Punch in the state of Jammu.
Followup counter-air strikes
The third wave of the PAF counter air strikes were directed to strike
AmbalaAmbala is a city and a municipal council in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India. The city is located on the border of the states of Haryana and Punjab in India. Politically; Ambala has two sub-areas: Ambala Cantt and Ambala City, a approximately 6-7 kilometers apart from each other...
,
AgraAgra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It finds mention in the epic Mahābhārata where it was called Agrevaṇa , or 'the border of the forest'. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Rājā Badal Singh , whose fort, Badalgarh, stood on or...
and
HalwaraHalwara is a township in Punjab state in India. Located in the Ludhiana District close to Village Toosa , Halwara lies on the Mullanpur-Raikot road. It is also famous for its Air Base.Recently there were plans to build an international airport in the city...
around 18:00 hrs and continued in single or two ship formations through the evening until at least 22:30 hrs. These strikes involved fifteen
B-57 CanberraThe Martin B-57 Canberra was a twin jet engine, light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft which entered service in the 1950s...
s, four
T-33T-33 may refer to:*T-33 Shooting Star a U.S. jet trainer*T-33 Light Amphibious Tank a Soviet light tankSimilar designations:*Alfa Romeo Tipo 33*London Buses route T33*Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T33...
s, and one C-130. The B-57s flew seven single ship sorties. At least two of these would be lost that evening to Indian groundfire over Amritsar and Halwara respectively. However although, like the first waves, these did not cause significant damage except in Uttarlai and Halwara, these flights did impede to some extent the IAF's preparation for retaliation.
- Ambala — Ambala was a hit by a two ship B-57 formation led by Wg. Cdr. Rais Rafi. The flight hit the runway with eight bombs, causing minor damage.
- Agra — Like Ambala, Agra, which lay deepest among the PAF's targets that evening, was struck by a two ship mission of B-57 led by Wg. Cdr. Yunus and suffered minor damage. Ironically, the first Indian Counter strikes launched that very night included the Canberra
The English Electric Canberra is a first-generation jet-powered light bomber manufactured in large numbers through the 1950s. It proved to be highly adaptable, serving in such varied roles for tactical bombing, photographic, electronic, and meteorological reconnaissance...
s of No.5 Sqn were based at Agra.
- Halwara — Halwara was struck twice on the night of the 3rd. The first of these was by a two ship flight of B-57s led by Sqn. Ldr. Abdul Basit. This flight struck the runway with eight bombs, three of which landed on target and significantly damaged it. Halwara was attacked a second time by a single B-57 bomber just before midnight. The arrival of the aircraft was detected by radar and the anti aircraft defences were ready. The aircraft dropped some bombs on the runway and airfield. On the second pass, the B-57 was hit by a Surface to Air Missile. The aircraft was seen streaming smoke. Radio Pakistan would later announce that one of its bombers crashed after returning from a raid. One of the bombs dropped by the aircraft was equipped with a delayed fuse. It exploded while being examined and killed a navigator from the missile squadron. Halwara was not repaired before early the next morning.
- Amritsar and Bikaner — Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
was attacked a second time at around 22:10 hrs by the flight of Flt. Lt. Javed, hitting the runway again, but his aircraft was shot down over Amritsar. BikanerBikaner is a District in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan in northern India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. It was formerly the capital of the princely state of Bikaner. The city was founded by Rao Bika in 1486 and from its small origins...
was attacked by Sqn. Ldr. Haq while Pathankot was struck by Flt. Lt. Sultan Arshad. Neither of these caused any significant damage.
- Sirsa — Sirsa was hit by Sqn. Ldr. Alvi with bombs equipped with time-delayed fuses, damaging the runway heavily and forcing the runway to be closed for the rest of the night.
- Uttarlai — Four T-33s
The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star is an American-built jet trainer aircraft. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948, piloted by Tony LeVier. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then designated T-33A. It was used by the...
from A-Flight No.2 Squadron, led by Sqn. Ldr. Qureshi, hit Uttarlai, causing damage to the runway. These were launched at the same time as the second strike over Srinagar. Uttarlai was attacked a second time later that night by Wg. Cdr. Akhtar. The net damage to the runway was significant enough to keep the runway closed for six days and for the taxiway to be used instead.
- Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Jamnagar — In the south, Sqn. Ldr. Ishtak Qureshi's bombs hit the underground power cable at Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer ,,, nicknamed "The Golden City", is a town in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured...
, cutting off the power supply and telephone connection for six hours. At the same time, JodhpurJodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, it was the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
was hit by two B-57s led by Sqn. Ldr. Sohail Mansur while Jamnagar was hit by Flt. Lt. Ejaz Azam.
The later flights were not expected to achieve any significant objectives which they miraculously did, and also aided to hamper any counter-air strike by the IAF. The pilots were all qualified for night flying and were to continue flying such raids for the rest of the war, gaining the nick-name
"Uttarlai Night Mail".
The Indian retaliation
As Indian Prime Minister
Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ( Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977...
addressed the nation on radio shortly after midnight informing about the Pakistani attack, the
Indian Air ForceThe Indian Air Force is the air arm of the armed forces of India. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
struck back. By 21:00hrs, the
CanberraThe Martin B-57 Canberra was a twin jet engine, light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft which entered service in the 1950s...
s of the No.35 Squadron and No.106 Squadron, as well as No.5 and No.16 squadron were armed and ready for their foray deep into Pakistan. These flew against eight Western Pakistani airfields of Murid, Mianwali, Sargodha, Chander, Risalewala, Rafiqui, and Masroor. In total, 23 combat
sortieSortie is a term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops from a strongpoint. The sortie, whether by one or more aircraft or vessels, usually has a specific mission....
s were launched that night, inflicting heavy damage to Sargodha and Masroor. The PAF units stationed on these airfields had to operate from taxiways for the following two days.
Through the night The IAF also struck the main East Pakistani airfields of Tejgaon, and later Kurmitolla. At the same time, the IAF was deploying additional aircraft to its forward airfields for the strikes that were to follow the next morning. Within two days, the Indian Air Force was to achieve
complete air supremacy in the EastEast Pakistan Air Operations incorporate the interdiction, air defence, ground support, and logistics missions flown by the Indian Air Force in support of the advancing Mitro Bahini in the then eastern theatre during the Indo-Pakistani conflict of 1971...
and repeatedly strike PAF western airfields and prevent it from providing support to the
Pakistan ArmyThe Pakistan Army is a branch of the Pakistan military that protects the state borders and territories.The Pakistan Army, combined with the Navy and Air Force, makes Pakistan's armed forces the sixth largest military in the world. The Army is modelled on the United Kingdom armed forces and came...
ground troops.
Analysis
In total, the Pakistani Air Force dropped 183 bombs over 12 target runways and 120 hits were reported by the pilots. However, of its stated objectives, the PAF was unable to neutralize the Indian Air Force in the west although it certainly achieved surprise. The Indian Air Force was unable to offer any resistance to the first waves other than ground fire. The damage to the facilities, albeit limited, also meant that the third wave went unchallenged in the air.
However, compared to
Operation FocusOperation Focus was the opening airstrike by Israel at the start of the Six-Day War of 1967. It is sometimes referred to as "Sinai Air Strike" since the focus was primarily on airfields around the Sinai Peninsula. At 07:45 on June 5, 1967, the Israeli Air Force under Maj. Gen...
that it emulated, Operation Chengiz Khan failed nearly totally to affect the Indian Air Force. A prime reason was that Indian Intelligence sources in Yahya Khan's office had been able to pass on information about the planned dusk strikes in the last week of November, and the IAF was prepared to face such a strike. Placed on red alert, it withdrew its planes from the forward bases for the evenings of 1 and 2 December, believing the deciphered date to be the 1st of December. On the insistence of the then intelligence chief, the alert was carried over to the 3rd as well, depriving the PAF of the vital target assets it would have hit when its aircraft flew in over the Indian Airfields.
Just as importantly, only a limited section of the PAF's strike capability was employed during Operation Chengiz Khan. Also, compared to the
Israeli Air ForceThe Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces...
's preparation for airstrikes against
EgyptianThe Egyptian Air Force, or EAF , is the aviation branch of the Egyptian armed forces. The EAF is headed by an Air Marshal . Currently, the commander of the Egyptian Air Force is Air Marshal Reda Mahmoud Hafez Mohamed...
s (the Israeli pilots had flown against replicas of the most important Arab airfields) and the use of
specific armamentNamed for a mythical medieval French sword, the Durandal is a bomb developed by the French company Matra , designed to destroy airport and airfield runways....
s, the PAF had been limited by servicability before the USA supplied spare parts in March of the year and training was limited if any. Constraints of the fledgling Pakistani economy also meant the development of its military could not be supported. The Pakistani Air Force thus lacked ammunition for effective runway denial. A failure of intelligence also meant that the strikes were launched at a time when the Indian Air Force was only initiating forward deployment and not finished operational deployment.
Lastly,
East PakistanEast Pakistan was a former province of Pakistan which existed between 1947 and 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal Province based on a plebiscite in what was then British India in 1947. Eastern Bengal chose to join the Dominion of Pakistan and became a province of Pakistan by the name East...
i personnel of the PAF who defected may have revealed some of the plans, and it appears that IAF was expecting a pre-emptive strike against its forward airfields. A large-scale offensive was therefore doomed to fail, likely to cause heavy losses and bring the PAF in a position where it could never seriously challenge IAF operations. It is therefore notable that the PAF achieved tactical surprise, without strategic surprise.