Sino- Indian War of 1962- The First and Only War India Lost

Sino-Indian War

India has a history of invasions though it never invaded any country but other countries have always tried to invade India. In early times, Mughals and many foreign powers invaded India and Britain even colonized India. After many efforts India became Independent but the invasion didn’t stop. First Pakistan tried to invade India in the Indo- Pak war of 1947 but they didn’t become successful. Then China invaded India in 1962 even though India was facing a big crisis at that time. This war is called the Sino-Indian War of 1962 in history and it is the only war that India lost after its Independence. In this article we will know and discuss the reason for our loss in 1962. 

Sino Indian War of 1962

The times Sino-Indian War

The Sino Indian War was fought between India and China. This 1 month war started on 20 October 1962 and ended on 21 November 1962. Actually  China abandoned all attempts towards a peaceful resolution on 20 October 1962. They invaded disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometer border in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line in the northeastern frontier. 

India never suspected that China would ever launch an attack, but it did. India was attacked on October 20, 1962 in what famously came to be known as the Sino-India war of 1962. The belief of not ever being attacked by China did not let the Indian army prepare and the result was the standoff between 10,000-20,000 Indian troops and 80,000 Chinese troops. 

Reason Of India’s Loss

During Sino-Indian War

There were many collective reasons by which India lost its battle with China. Here are some of the reasons :-

Non-use of proper forces- India did not use its Air Force or Naval Force and only relied on its army for fighting the huge Chinese troops, which fell insufficient.

Lack of preparedness- There was no war readiness on the part of the army. On receiving orders, the army had to for the first time reach a height of 14000 feet by pulling the trucks themselves. They were not even well-equipped with ammunition.

Failure of political leadership- The political leadership was not prepared to handle such a war situation. The jawana were asked to cover every kilometer of the border within a very short period of time without any maps or weapons.

Unsuitable weather- The jawans were made to fight in such cold weather for the first time. They had to fight the weather more than the troops. Further, shifting logistics was a difficult task.

India was not in a position to fight the army at all.

References from :-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War