In 1962, just as the war of self-defense against India was about to break out, Nehru was preparing to visit Ceylon and give interviews to reporters. A tall journalist asked: "Will the 'Livorno Project' be in full swing?"Will our army continue to attack?Nehru frowned and replied: "The 'Livorno Plan' is a highly military secret, how can you journalists know so well?".However, I have ordered the Indian army to drive the Chinese out, and we are confident of victory. We will continue to attack until the squadron leaves Indian territory without a single person left. We are not afraid of difficulties and are determined to fight to the end. Speaking about the upcoming war, Nehru said with great hope: "In this game, we are wearing the jersey of defending our homeland, we are more skilled and we are more resilient. When we shoot and score, the whole world applauds us. Now, it's time to win completely.
Nehru's vision was always full of dreams, but he never imagined that once the war broke out, the Indian army would behave completely unexpectedly. At 4:30 a.m. in the morning of 1962, Major General Prashad, commander of the 4th Division of the Indian Army, woke up with an adjutant officer, Hari Prakahi, to hear a piece of news that frightened him: "Kanzemani reported that the post had been hit hard. Prashad hurriedly put on his clothes. During the battle in pursuit of the remnants of the Indian Army's Tibetan Unit 419 in the Kejielang River Valley, Prashad learned that "Bridge No. 3, Bridge No. 4 and the Lajput Wing at the Winter Outpost had been dealt a heavy blow". He knew that this was not good, because the Indian troops in the retreat on the front line had a large number of wounded, and the only four helicopters a day were far from enough to support them. What Prashad did not expect was that the military headquarters of the Fourth Army of the Indian Army not only did not send additional support, but even ordered to stop all flights, and even the military transport planes that are usually used by the Fourth Division were stopped.
Prashad, the commander of the Indian Army's ace division, was outraged by the indifference and neglect of the military department. After the outbreak of war, the military headquarters not only did not send staff officers to inspect, provide ammunition or stretchers, but also did nothing to help the wounded, and simply abandoned them completely!Faced with this situation, Prashad knew that there was no point in venting his emotions, and the key was to keep abreast of the battle situation and make the right judgment. Therefore, he urgently interrogated the Indian soldiers who had escaped from Kanzemani in an attempt to understand the situation at the front. To Prashad's disappointment, however, the panicked soldiers did not provide valuable information, but only described the panic scene at the beginning of the night attack. By the time Brigadier Darvi of the Seventh Brigade reported an hour later, the situation had far exceeded his expectations. Major General Prashad immediately granted Darvi's request and instructed: "When you retreat, I will immediately take *** to the situation in person to grasp the battle situation of the 7th Brigade."
Dalvi hastily organized the retreat of his troops, however, this became his last call with Prashad. Three days later, at the foot of the Yaka mountain in Jundo, Brigade Commander Darvi was captured by our troops. Originally, Prashad planned to take *** to Jangdo and command the retreat of the 7th Brigade, but due to a radio failure, Major Ram Singh took the initiative to ask Ying to replace him. This led to the loss of a valuable *** and a major in Prashad, who could only return to the division headquarters and struggled to make a request to convey to the commander and chief of staff of Kaul: "We urgently need artillery support and close fire support from the air force, and at the same time need reinforcements *** to evacuate the wounded at the front, otherwise we will be defeated!".However, the military department ignored Prashad's request and even coldly said: "General Prashad, in addition to the duties of the commander of the 4th Division, from now on, you can also concurrently serve as the commander of the 4th Army!."Prashad was shocked by these words. What happened to the new commander of the Fourth Army, Lieutenant General Kaul?
It stands to reason that Kaul, as the commander of the Fourth Army, could not be ignored in formulating the "Livorno" battle plan, whether it was credit or hard work, so why was he suddenly dismissed?In fact, Kaul was not removed from his post, but left the front due to illness. He had travelled to New Delhi a few days earlier to report to Nehru on the military situation, and then returned to the Tezpur military headquarters to prepare for war. However, due to overexertion in the alpine snowfield, Kaul suddenly fell ill and his condition seemed to be getting worse. India's chief medical adviser travelled from New Delhi to diagnose Kaul's condition, and the results turned out to be more serious than expected. Despite the fact that there is a well-equipped military hospital in Tezpur, it is surprising that Kaul did not go to the hospital and went straight back home. Although his condition was not as serious as it seemed, after returning to New Delhi, he still tried to command the troops at the front. He spread a map beside his bedside, asked for more troops, and warned Dalvi: "If you and your battalion commanders object, or if you object, I will treat you with court-martial law."
The commander of the Northeast Military Region, Lai Pusen, privately issued an order to remove Kaul from his post as commander of the Fourth Army, and let Prashad, commander of the Fourth Division of the Indian Army, who was far away from the military headquarters, temporarily serve as the commander of the Fourth Army. However, Prashad was not happy, and he repeatedly made requests to the military department, but they were either rejected or ignored. In 1962, the border guards of the Indian army attacked the front line of the West Pass. He later learned that Nehru had long considered not using the air force, as it could provoke retaliation from the Chinese air force to bomb Indian cities. Without artillery support, the Indian border guards attacked the front line at the West Pass. Without air support, Prashad struggled until sunset. However, he found that Dalvi's 7th Brigade had completely broken up and was unable to stop the advance of the squadron. Early the next morning, Prashad convened a military meeting of the officers, after which he ordered the destruction of all documents and the destruction of all equipment and warehouses in Lembo.
He ordered a platoon of the 13th Douglas Rifle Regiment, as well as other remnants, to block as much as possible the squadron advancing from the Hadong Pass to Jimitang in order to cover the retreat of the divisional headquarters. Subsequently, he also ordered the destruction of all radio stations, the destruction of all codebooks, and the evacuation of Jimmy Pond with Brigadier General Karin Singh and others. It is worth mentioning that although the commander of the Indian army, who was also the commander of the Indian army, was fortunate not to become a prisoner of war of our army, he could not escape being used as a scapegoat for the defeat of the war after the war, and was finally dismissed from his post.