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BOOK REVIEW

The Lightening Campaign

By
Maj Gen D K Palit, VrC (Retd)

INTRODUCTION

1. This book by Maj Gen D K Palit, VrC (Retd) is about the most

decisive liberation campaign in Military history giving the country of 75 million

people its independence in one lightening campaign.

2. As per the Author, Indian forces with incredible swiftness, brought a

formidable enemy to his knees and took 93000 of them prisoners. Due to

such victory in the 1971 war foreign observers have compared this

achievement of Indian armed forces to the German Blitzkrieg of World War II.

3. The real achievement of Eastern Command was that it outwitted the

enemy by passing tactics over ground that was previously thought to be in

operable before the enemy could realize what had hit them our columns were

converging on Dacca. The war was over before the battles were won.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

4. Born in 1919, Major General D K Palit followed his families Military

tradition by accepting a commission in the Indian Army in July 1939.

5. He served with Baluch regiment in the second world war and with

the 9th Gorkhas after the partition of India. Winning one of India’s highest

Military honours, the VrC.

6. He was promoted to the rank of Major General in 1963 and fought

in the 1965 war against Pakistan. A noted Military historian, General Palit is

Author of over a dozen books including “War in deterrent age”.

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PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES

7. The book was published on 14 January, 1972 by Lancer Publisher.

8. The language is simple & lucid. Various maps and sketches have

been used by the author to help the readers to understand the contents of the

book.
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CRITICAL ANALYSIS

9. It is undoubtedly the one of the best books written on the 1971

INDO-PAK war.

10. The author has not used any material that can be classified as

security but compiled the account mainly from discussions with former

colleagues and friends and from press reports both Indian and foreign.

11. The author has cleared the general misconception of the collapse of

Pakistan Army in Bangladesh. In many places like Hilli, Jamalpur, Khulna and

other strong holds the enemy had put up a bitter resistance – often having to

be physically destroyed before the post could be captured.

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RELEVANCE IN OUR CONTEXT

12. Being a history of a war, the book has got a lot of relevance in one

context.

13. I enables us to understand and analyse the factors that came into

affect in 1971 war.

14. The book should be read by all defence personnel to broaden their

horizons about the conduct of a war.

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CONCLUSION

15. The book is a true first hand account of the 1971 war and liberation

of Bangladesh. The writer has very systematically covered almost all aspects

of the war taking the help of relevant pictures, photographs, maps and

sketches.
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CONTENTS

Ser No List of Contents Page No.

1. Introduction 1
2. About the Author 2
3. Physical Attributes 3
4. Critical Analysis 4
5. Relevance in our context 5
6. Conclusion 6