The Epic Battle of Longewala

Many books have been written about this iconic Cold War era jet fighter.Most cover fairly well... the design, development,and to a certain extent it’s long operational service with many Air Forces around the world.There are some excellent reference books catering to the plastic scale model making community.Some scale model builders also tend to be military history enthusiasts.Some of these enthusiasts including me,are of the view that in the case of the Hawker Hunter the definitive book about this aircraft’s service with the Indian Airforce is still waiting to be written!The IAF was one of the largest and longest operators of the Hawker Hunter.It operated the type extensively across multiple theatres and in various roles in 2 hot wars with Pakistan during 1965 and 1971.The only book which covers the Hunters service with the IAF with some degree of detail and balance is “Hawker Hunter the operational Record “ by Robert Jackson.But obviously considering that it also covers the entire worldwide service of this aircraft, its chapter on the IAF Hunters is unable to record a quite a few of the significant operational engagements (both air to air as well as air to ground) that took place.But of all the action that the Hunter saw during its long illustrious career with Air Forces around the world...its most decisive was the one between a detachment of 6 IAF Hunters (this increased to 14 in subsequent days) versus 2 Pakistani Armoured Regiments, in the Rajasthan desert, primarily over a period of 2 to 3 days in Dec 1971.Essentially a completely unexpected overnight armoured assault found an Indian Army company post(at Longewala) as the only obstacle on their drive to the city of Jaisalmer, where incidentally the Hunter detachment was forward based.Through that first night the Pakistani armoured assault got engaged and successfully held up by the Indian infantry company.A few minutes after the Dawn that followed,the first pair of Hunters arrived over the company position, and with an Army AOP Krishak serving as airborne FAC, started taking out the Pakistani tanks one by one.The rest as they say is History( but with many amazing details waiting to be discovered!)Over the years this history has been covered by a few books.A couple of good ones actually written by 2 of the primary participants, namely the Hunter base commander and the AOP flight commander.However,this latest book by Air Marshal Bharat Kumar is in my view the ultimate narrative that can be written about this epic battle.I say this because having access to the previous first person accounts and a lot of other official records and reports subsequently available, this narrative not only captures the fascinating level of detail previously achieved...but actually goes on to seamlessly add even more relevant (and confirmed) facts which help generate a great overall perspective.So while some of us are still waiting for the ultimate Overarching Hunter book!.... I have no hesitation in calling “The Epic Battle of Longewala” the definitive book which records for posterity what is without a doubt the Hawker Hunters finest hour in battle.

In an absolute feat of marathon reading spree, I completed this book in a record time of 6 days.Book was received on the 19th and I finished the final lines of the final chapter today at 11:10am.Its an absolute thriller of an account of one of the most important battles and turning points of the 1971 war.The book stands true to its name "The Epic Battle of Longewala". Its an epic indeed, as there are not many military booksthat maintain such intricate history of each and every mission during a particular battle in a war. This book details every single intricacyof how the battle unfolded, how the strategies of both India and Pakistan panned out and how at the tactical level, every single mission and every singlesortie flown and every single enemy asset damaged caused a battle that started with a complete and total surprize offensive turned in the favour of the defenders.The book is not overly detailed and maintains just the right amount of information required to keep the military history in perspective and also keeps the reader'sinterest by detailing the tactical level of the battle.122 Squadron, that flew the Hunters under the command of the tireless and ever energetic base commander, Wg.Cdr. MS Bawa, definitely deserves the credit for turning thetide around in this battle. The author did a great job of breaking our perception of what is shown in the movie "Border" which, as a matter of fact, is the only viewpoint (though distorted) of the general public to this battle.Me being a scale modeller and an avid reader of Indian military history books, plus with some insights of this battle shared by my father who was Ex. IAF and a 1971 veteran, when I was very young, always knew that "Border"had its share of historical distortion. This book definitely came as a surprize to me and was a complete eye-opener to that battle.Though at one point the book becomes a little monotonous as it details every single sortie of every single mission flown by every single pilot, so some may find that bit a little stretched but if you'rethe type who likes to read each and every detail, the book does not disappoint. From a scale modeller's perspective the book gives details of the S.Nos. of all the Hunter aircraft flown during the battle.Due credit was also given to the pilots of the AOP, Major Atma Singh, and Capt. Sangha who were definitely of great help to the Hunter pilots during the battle and later as well.As the author rightly puts it... a "Turkey Shoot" day for the pilots, its definitely a must read for a military historian or even a military history buff.

Very condescending view of history. Ignores service & sacrifice of an entire division to claim air power won the battle alone! Needless to say, Army’s Artillery Air OP of 12 Div that guided IAF on to targets, have been shown under Air Force awards chapter. One good aspect was to document the incredible contribution of IAF towards the overall war effort, a more balanced write up would have done justice to brothers in arms. Jai Hind.

Author did not give respect to the efforts made by the Army - and the language was also not appropriate!

Well written book. A must read for every Indian as it gives a great picture of how the IAF operates.