From: “Hamid Hussain” <humza@dnamail.com>
To: “defence Journal” <defjrnl@pathfinder9.com>
Sent: Friday, december 13, 2002 6:08 AM
Attach: Pakistan and 1973.doc
Subject: Letter to Editor

Pakistan’s military contribution in 1973 Arab-Israeli War

Dear Editor:
The October issue of Defence Journal has two mentions about 1973 Arab-Israeli War. One an article by Colonel Bukhari about the war and the second is the comments by Major General Syed Wajahat Hussain in his interview. For historical accuracy, some points need to be clarified. General Wajahat states that after ceasefire during his visit, he visited many Syrian installations and ‘famous battle site of Mount Hermon’ which seem to be a mistake either on Syrians part or his. Mount Hermon (Arabs call it Jabal-el-Shaikh) was lost by Syrians on October 21 and Israelis re-occupied it. The details of operations of 1973 war were published in my article in the November 2002 issue of Defence Journal.
As far as I have the information obtained from various sources, I’ll narrate it. It will be very helpful to get the record straight, if some of the air force officers who participated in the operations write in detail. Colonel Bukhari and General Wajahat had stated that Pakistani pilots participated in the operations during the war. They have used vague terms such as ‘our pilots shot down a number of Israeli planes’, ‘shot down first ever Israeli planes’ and ‘we had lost a few pilots’.
Pakistani pilots had served in Syria on deputation but none was there when hostilities started. Total of 16 volunteer Pakistani pilots were dispatched who arrived in Damascus. Eight of them went to Egypt but by that time ceasefire was in place. They stayed there as instructors and never participated in any combat missions. On the Syrian front, although Syria had not officially accepted the ceasefire but the major battle was all over and now minor skirmishes were on with Syrians on defensive. In Syria, all eight Pakistani pilots were in the same squadron at Dumayr air base. They participated in routine patrolling over Syrian and Lebanese skies. To my knowledge, the only encounter with Israeli planes was during one of such routine patrols in April 1974 (six months after the war was over) in which an Israeli Mirage was shot down (the pilot safely ejected) by a Pakistani pilot (Flight Lt. Sattar Alvi). As far as I know, no Pakistani pilot had died in action during that time period.
When a soldier performs well, give him all the credit and praise him for his valour. One has to be very careful as if ‘macho-mania’ gets into the head of the soldier, it can cause severe deterioration of performance. I’ll give one example and let the readers make their own judgement. The purpose is to point to the anomalies and not to belittle the able and brave officers. Four awards of gallantry (two by Pakistan and two by Syria) were awarded to two Pakistani pilots for the action I just described in which only one plane was shot down. For any professional army, it is critically important that facts should be kept straight. Exaggerated accounts of battle performance and creation of myths can be more lethal to any army than the enemy’s fire power. Pakistan has already learned its lessons from such misguided adulation.
The above account which I gave is according to whatever information I could get. I’ll greatly appreciate, if there is any factual error in this account to be pointed by the officers who have the first hand information.

Kind Regards,
Hamid Hussain
Port Jefferson, New York
December 5, 2002

‘U’ for Unity
It was April 1948 that Quaid-e-Azam accompanied by Miss Fatimah Jinnah came to our Edwards College Peshawar. I was 17 then and am 73 now, but I remember vividly each and every moment of this historic visit. Our Principal, Mr. A.M.Dalaya, had requested the Quaid, the head of the state, to address the students and staff of the college, which he had graciously accepted. It was an afternoon function and out in the open in the college hockey ground which was between the Science Block and the college hostel. All the students, around 350, meticulously dressed in college green blazer and striped ties were seated on the chairs under the shamianah. A stage had been set on a raised platform under a canopy with chairs for the college staff, Mohtarma Fatimah Jinnah and the Chief Minister of the province of NWFP, Khan Abdul Qayoom Khan. Professor Imdad Hussain was in attendance to Quaid and Miss Jinnah. Captain David (Retd), the PTI was the overall incharge of the arrangements. There were no fanfares, no pompous ceremonies, no bureaucrats around, only the Chief Minister and the students and the staff members of Edwards College. Not even the official photographers or camera men. It was an exclusive function for us only. Mr. Dalaya had taken good care of even the smallest detail and ensured orderliness and clock like precision of all matters, which was to the liking of the Quaid’s nature. In his brief and to the point address of welcome, the Principal did not ask for any funds or grant, which used to be and probably still is the norm on such occasions. He instead thankfully mentioned the Chief Minister saying that he took care of college’s such monetary needs.
Quaid moved majestically to the rostrum to deliver his speech. He looked visibly pleased with the arrangements around, display of discipline by the students and the general atmosphere of great orderliness. He thanked the Principal for his welcome address and appreciated his gesture of not burdening the economy of a newly born state by requesting for a grant. And then, the Quaid looking at Khan Abdul Qayoom Khan jokingly expanded his both arms around his waist mimicking Khan’s plump belly and said smilingly, “You say that Khan takes care of your monetary needs but I am sure it will be very rare in his case.” Everyone present laughed albeit decently. Those who had heard him before said that it was the first time that Quaid had cut a joke in public and that too on stage. Quaid spoke for about 25 minutes. He dwelt mainly on the role of the youth and expectations of the nation from it in a newly born state. He advised us to gird up our loins and set about making Pakistan worthy of its name. There was a pin drop silence throughout his speech. This caught up his attention too and he in a manner of appreciation remarked, “Churchill said that ‘V’ stands for victory”, and Quaid made a V with his two fingers. But I must say that ‘U’ stands for Unity and made a U with the thumb and the index finger of his right hand. While saying “U stands for Unity” Quaid was continually pointing the ‘U’ made by his fingers at the students and moving his arm from side to side to cover the entire assemblage. This ‘U stands for Unity’ resounds even today in my ears, but alas did we ever stand for it?
On this 126th birthday of the Quaid-e-Azam, kindly allow me to make an appeal to all, particularly the youth of the nation to revive this ‘U stands for Unity’ by greeting each other from now on with making a U with our thumb and index finger and pointing it at each other, the way the great Quaid did in April 1948. Let’s greet each other from here onwards on every occasion warranting display of patriotism, unity, jubilation or a personal victory with a raised U, the way others do in the world by making a ‘V’ with their fingers. It will remind us of the Unity that we owe to the Quaid-e-Azam.
Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad
Pakistan Paindabad.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
30, Westridge-1
Rawalpindi 46000
Tel: (051) 546 33 44

From: “Mike Learmonth” <aprw21@dsl.pipex.com>
To: “defence Journal” <defjrnl@pathfinder.com>
Sent: Saturday, december 21, 2002 4:14 AM
Subject: RE: Maj Gen ICA Lauder dSO OBE

Dear Sir,
Many thanks for getting back so quickly. Some background info on my late grandfather, Maj Gen ICA Lauder DSO OBE, he was Commandant of Quetta Staff College from 2 Feb 48 to 31 Mar 52 and a Maj Gen A Tilly took over from him until 4 Aug 54. My late grandfather had been, after Independence, invited by the Pakistan Government to return as deputy QMG in Pakistan and soon after appointed the first Commandant of Quetta Staff College. Being the first post-partition Commandant he had the task of organising the New Pakistan Staff College from scratch. He had previously been a member of the Directing Staff at Quetta from 1940-42. In 1952 he moved to Malaya where he later commanded the Malayan Home Guard with his HQ at Kuala Lumpur. I have managed to acquire some old copies of the ‘Owl’ (the College’s Newsletter) which has given me much information, but lacking any photographs, stories and anecdotal pieces. Unfortunately, my late grandfather died before I really had a chance to know of his exploits. I really appreciate your help and thank you for your swift reply. If any of your readers have any photos, papers, stories or indeed knew him that they could share I would be very much in your debt.

Yours truly,

Major Mike Learmonth
Learmonth@dsl.pipex.com
London

From: “David L. Yarkony” <yarkony1@bezeqint.net>
To: <defjrnl@pathfinder9.com>
Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 3:25 AM
Subject: The October War

Dear Sir
The article on the October War made a big impression on me and my friends to whom I suggested to read it. I will be thankful if you could publish the following —

The October War Some Comments, Clarifications and Remarks
The Fourth Round (November 2002 issue of the PDJ) by Columnist Hamid Hussain is a well-put study that is based on a comprehensive and in-depth research and presents a balanced overview of the 1973 War.
Nevertheless, some comments, clarifications and remarks are in place.

Comments
a. Ariel Sharon was the Commanding General of the Southern Territorial Command (STC) before he retired from the IDF, several months before the Yom Kippur War. Under his command the STC not only planned, but also made actual preparations for crossing of the Suez Canal.
After his retirement, he was appointed CG of one of the divisions and played a most vital role in the war by turning the tide with the crossing of the canal (east-to-west), thereby forcing the Egyptian troops westwards to
kilometer 101 (the milestones were numbered from Cairo).

b. The Arab Military Option by Saad al Shazly. The article stated that in 1967, al Shazly successfully outmanoeuvred Sharon. Sharon commanded one of the divisions operating along the Central Axis. It wasn’t a question of outmanoeuvring Sharon; it was more a race to reach the Suez Canal. Shazly trying to get away with as much of his forces intact to the west of the Canal, while Sharon tried to reach the water-line and by thereby stopping the Egyptian forces from escaping with heavy equipment (tanks, APC’s, artillery).
By the way, for many years hundreds of T-54/55 and BTR-152 was incorporated in the Israeli ORBAT. Up gunning the T-54/55 from 100-mm to IMI manufactured 105-mm (unification of ammo supply), changing the radio equipment, etc.

Clarifications
The Israeli artillery on the eve of October 6, 1973 consisted of:
Artillery mortars 120 and 160-mm (Soltam); Gun-howitzers — 105-mm (Priest SP); towed (Soltam) and 155-mm SP (Soltam and US) and US made 175-mm, and —
Russian artillery captured from the Syrian and Egyptian sources in 1967 war 122-mm; 130-mm, 152mm guns and howitzers and 240-mm rocket launchers.

Remarks — The Egyptian Front
Maoz. A heavy field fortification (made from bombproof shelters, fighting positions, obstacles, etc.) built for all around defence at the time of crossing the Canal: some of them were uninhabited, some occupied by a skeleton crew and the rest occupied by forces less than the planned strength. One of them Budapest was fully manned and was not captured, even though the road leading to it was under attack by the Egyptian commandos and Budapest was cut off for more than a week, still it was relieved by the IDF.
Taoz. Field fortification forming the second line, more shelters than fighting positions. Manned by forces held in reserve.
The approximate number of tanks in all of Sinai (and not on the Bar Lev Line only) was 300.
Egyptians got full control of the 102-mile-long east bank less a few miles controlled by Budapest strong point in the north, which was never captured.

Remarks — The Syrian Front
a. Syrian Armaments Deal with the Soviets. The third armaments deal (or was it the fourth?) made by the Syrians in May 1973 didn’t include Russian SP artillery (only in the seventies the Russian artillery outgrew the towed-artillery era). The Syrians developed a prototype mounting the towed D-30 122 mm field howitzers on the T-34 chassis.

b. The number of tanks on both sides (either in contact or in operational readiness) was greater than Centre and South Army Groups employed by the Germans in the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa. Bearing in mind that the Syrian front was only 70 km long as opposed to the 2,000-km of operation Barbarossa, the concentration and size of forces per km-front made this indeed a battle of giants.

c. German Paratroopers landed by gliders on the top of Fort Eban Emael/Belgium in 1940 succeeding to occupy it against odds of 1:6.5. The Israelis forgot this lesson and left the fortification of Mount Hermon built more to withstand artillery fire than to enable to defend it against ground troops open to such an attack. When some of the Syrian Commando troops landed very near to the fortifications, not enough fighting troops were available to defend it.
Those who don’t learn from the history are bound to repeat past mistakes.

d. The Barak Brigade was heavily mauled but succeeded to fight on as testified by the growing numbers of Syrian tanks destroyed after October 7.

e. Aker was right saying that the Golani Brigade took Mount Hermon after a heavy fight and a real bloodletting on both sides.

f. The Syrian armour operating across the 1967 Ceasefire Line was over 800 tanks strong.

g. On the Golan Front, on the eve of war, Israel had about 200 tanks divided between two brigades (Barak Brigade commanded by Colonel Benyamin Shoham and 7th Armoured Brigade commanded by Major General Raphael Eytan).

h. On the eve of the Yom Kippur War the Divisional Commander in charge of the Golan Heights was BG Raphael Eytan (Raful). Under his command were two brigades: the Barak Brigade (commanded by Colonel Benyamin Shoham, killed in the first day of the battle) and the 7th Armoured Brigade (GHQ reserve) commanded by Janos Ben-Gal. The 7th Brigade was trans-located north three days before the eruption of the war. You can imagine what could happen when on the opening day of the war only a single brigade of tanks would be available to stop the Syrian onslaught.

i. Saasa line was never breached by Israelis throughout the war. After pushing the Syrian forces back, capturing territory defined by the volcanic hills, there was no attempt to penetrate the Saasa Line. The Syrian Front settled down to patrol and artillery activities. The “schwerpunkt” of the Yom Kippur War was transferred to the Egyptian Front.

j. They fought a kind of guerrilla war but with tanks full with ambushes, flanking hit and run and enticing Syrians into traps. This strategy was unplanned and was an ‘on-spot improvisation’ by local commanders. Small unit action — yes, guerilla war no.

k. Syrian Air warfare

[1] September 13 the result of this air battle, in which more than 100 aircraft from both sides took part resulted in 13:0 in favour of IAF. Not a single Israeli aircraft was lost on that day in air battle;

[2] Nearly all the Israeli aircraft lost in the north were due to SAM and AAA than to dogfights;

[3] I cannot accept the following statement —
Knowing the technical superiority of Israeli air force, they avoided dogfights. Egyptian aircraft would attack Israeli targets and return quickly. The air defence barrier was then switched on.
The Israeli pilots were better trained and had a better intelligence/operation and maintenance base than the Egyptian and Syrian pilots.

[4] It should be stated, that the so-called “air defence barrier” was switched on sometimes too quickly and by that succeeded to shoot down (quite) a number of Egyptian planes (blue-on-blue).

And a ? —
The material and human loss of this three-week conflict was enormous. Notwithstanding that there is a wide margin of difference between rival claims of the combatants, how come that the result of this men and “material schlact” still ended in Israel’s favour?
The rough figures of losses, given in various publications:

Country Dead Wounded Tank loss Airplane Loss
Israel 2,355; 9,000 about 500 115

On the combined Arab side, while no official figures have been released -

The rough estimates are 5,000; 10,000 about 1,200 370

Nonetheless that Israel was the “surprised” party -

The ratio in Israel favour: 1:2 +/- 1:2.4 1:3.2

In summary, let me quote only three key sentences/observation from this article:
Arab-Israeli conflict is not only military and political, but also psychological.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an important factor in destabilization of the region but by no means the only one.
The bogey of Israel has overshadowed all other factors in Arab political consciousness.
An astute observer had predicted long time ago in 1974 that the rich oil-producing Arabs ‘have to defend
themselves and their riches against far more immediate and real dangers than Israel’.
Iraq and Iran presents a more and present danger to Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf States than Israel.
And for the end, let me add one more remark -

Quotation -
The fact is that planning on both Syrian and Egyptian front had nothing to do with the Palestinian issue.
That is true even today, as radical Islamist elements use the Palestinian issue to promote and justify violence for their own means.

Remarks
As nearly no books from Israeli sources were mentioned (and I understand the difficulties to acquire them in Pakistan, not being even sure that you can buy them in Israel today), I would like to recommend to add at least three books to the Selected Readings:

[1] Dado, 48 years and 20 days The life of David Elazar CoS/IDF written by Hanoch Bartov,
published in 1981

[2] October Earthquake, an authoritative summary of events September-October 1973 by Zeev Schieff, a well-known military commentator, published in 1974.

[3] The War of Atonement by Major-General Chaim Herzog, KBA, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson/London 1975. MG Herzog was twice Director of Military Intelligence who after retirement was one of Israel’s leading military and political commentators and regular contributor to Israeli, British, German and American newspapers, broadcasting for the Israeli TV and Radio, BBC and various American and European networks. One of his books, Israel’s Finest Hour (1967) was a bestseller for many months.

Sincerely

David L. Yarkony
yarkonyl@bezeqint,net

December 20, 2002

Mr. Ikram ul-Majeed Sehgal,
The Managing Editor,
“Defence Journal”
Karachi.

Sir,
I avidly read the book review on “Far from a donkey”, the life of Gen Sir Ivor Maxse, on pages 129-130 of the Defence Journal issue of September 2002. The learned book review editor deserves profound compliments for having condensed 239 pages of the book in only two pages. He has also briefly highlighted some of the battles Ivor Maxse had fought against the Dervishes of the Khalifa. I humbly feel that it will not be out of context if I am allowed to narrate some pertinent facts, pertaining to those battles, which may not have been mentioned in the actual text of the book.
As a humble student of history, many years back, I had read about the Dervishes movement which was started by Mohammad Ahmad (known as Mahdi Sudani, though he never claimed to be the “promised Mahdi”. He had also never professed to have received revelation.) for implementation of the teachings of Quran and Sunna. He forcibly introduced Fitrana, Ushar and Zakat. The people of Sudan in particular were inspired by his unblemished moral character, personal examples and sermons. In 1882 the British forces occupied Egypt and the people of Sudan accepted the tutelage of Mahdi as saviour from the foreign domination. He declared Jehad against the foreign rule. Armed with primitive weapons (swords, lances and absolete muzzle loaders) Mahdi’s followers, in ragged clothes, defeated the British forces at Elobeid and Khartoum. They captured many other towns. Their tactics were new and they displayed unexpected skills. After victory they remained a coherent force. Mahdi died in 1885 and was succeeded by his unscrupulous Khalifa who was fond of adulation and mercilessly indulged in crushing those who challenged his extravagances and absurdities.
In 1892 Gen Kitchener was appointed C-in-C of the forces in Egypt with the mission to avenge Gordon and rescue Sudan from the grip of the Dervishes. In every battle the Dervishes were armed with swords, lances and some had muzzle loaders, they had no artillery. During 1897 in the Battle of Dongola about 10,000 Dervishes were killed whereas the British forces had lost about 150 soldiers. In the battles of Abu Hameed and Berber, during August 1897-September 1897, a large number of Dervishes were killed and a great number were chained as prisoners. In the famous battle of Atbara (April 1898) a few thousand Dervishes were killed and a greater number wounded. In the decisive battle of Omdurman Gen Kitchener’s army was nearly 30,000 strong with 125 guns, 10 gunboats and many steamers. The Khalifa’s army was 60,000 strong but most of the Dervishes were armed with primitive weapons. On 24 August 1898 the battle started. About 11,500 Dervishes were killed and 16,000 wounded. Kitchener’s army lost 49 soldiers and 202 were wounded.
After the capture of Omdurman, on orders from Kitchener the tomb of Mahdi was destroyed with gunfire. His grave was dug out and bones were thrown into the Nile. Some historians say that his skeleton was hanged. His skull was mounted in silver and retained by Kitchener as a trophy. Later the skull was taken by Gen Reginald Wingate and he was said to have drunk champagne in it on each anniversary of the Battle of Omdurman. According to one British historian “using the skull of a defeated, tiresome adversary represents a long tradition among barbic — and allegedly more civilized generals.” These were revengeful deeds to satisfy the egocentricity of Kitchener and his comrades in arms. It is said, many years later, the skull was buried.

Yours sincerely

Lt. Col. (Retd.) M. A. Gilani

Dear Editor:
The inclusion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the list of those ill-fated 21 countries, whose nationals and citizens are required to undergo mandatory but humiliating so-called “Registration Process” is highly unjustified, critical, illogical, unwarranted, irrelevant, uncalled for and inhuman.
It is surprising as well as bewildering that why India, the biggest terrorist state in the world after Israel and USA is not included in the list although two of its citizens were caught by the FBI Agents on the American soil with terrorists stuff and evidence last year after the tragic WTC attacks of 9-11?
On the other hand, no Pakistani citizen is neither accused nor arrested by the US Security Agencies inside America since 9-11 for indulging in any kind and all kinds of the so-called “terrorist activities” directly or indirectly, implicitly or explicitly, knowingly or unknowingly.
Why then this bashing, biased treatment and discriminating attitude towards the Islamic Republic’s land and people whose government is the biggest supporter and ally of the US government since its creation in 1947 in general and in its ongoing “War on Terrorism” since day one in particular?
It is interesting to note that initially, Armenia was also included in the list of the said countries whose citizens were required to get themselves registered with INS but hats off to the able and dedicated Government of Armenia in general and its brave, enlightened and awakened people both inside and outside its territory in particular, within less than 48 hours, the US State Department was forced to withdraw its name from the list.
There are lots of lessons to be learnt from this single, unilateral, faithful, disciplined, effective and result oriented action of Armenian people and their government only for those who understand, which has resulted in turning the tables on the so-called “Super Power of the World”.
History is testimony to the fact that in case of the so-called “Iron man Commando General” of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, it took President Bush just a “Short Midnight Telephone Call” last year to force him to bulge under pressure and take a one hundred and eighty degrees turn in the name of “National Interest” which in fact were only “self-serving” and to protect and promote his own and ruling junta’s “vested interests” against the wishes of more than 85% of the masses.
The main reason why the Bush Administration has included the name of only Muslim countries in the said list except North Korea is very simple and straightforward.
All these countries are unfortunately run and led by corrupt, unscrupulous, dictatorial, autocratic, UN-elected, self and clan serving, ineffective and paper tiger leaders notorious for subjugating the legitimate rights of their own people on their own soil. Therefore, the hawks in the Bush Administration knew very well that come what may, to save their thrones and extend their illegal stay in office, they would never ever show any solid resolve and protest like the Armenians did in this case.
Therefore, they felt free to do whatever they wanted to do against the ordinary people of these hapless and helpless countries including putting them in the X-ray camp in Cuba without any charge or violation while their rulers are busy playing flute in their fortress like castles of residence.
Is there any change in the offing somewhere or across the horizons? I leave it upto the educated readers of your columns to decide.

Thanks and Best Regards,
Sincerely,

Engr. Aamir A. Salaria,
St. Louis, Missouri 63131,
U.S.A
PH: + 1 - 314 - 660 - 2623
FAX: + 1 - 314 - 317 - 8797
CELL: + 314 - 435 - 1095

Dear A. H. Amin,
A contrary view of the 5th Light Infantry
“ The 5th Light Infantry was a regular battalion of volunteers — not conscripts forced into military service — so there can be no excuse for mutiny. It was a bad regiment anyway: CO reported on as being ineffective, BOs having personal arguments in front of the soldiery etc. Although all the men were Muslim, there were fierce disputes between the Punjabi Mussalmans, Pathans and Ranghars, largely over the appointment of the next Subedar Major whom each racial group felt should be one of theirs. Mir Mast did not get the Iron Cross from the Kaiser, although it was widely believed at the time, but there is no record of it in the German archives. Pathans were always liable to desert and most of the desertions from the IA during the First War (and there weren’t many) were Pathans (see my Sepoys in The Trenches, The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914-15, Spellmount Publishers, 1999). His brother Mir Dast won the VC at Second Ypres for actions which were undoubtedly worthy of such award. There were those who said he shouldn’t get it as his brother had deserted, but these were (rightly) overruled”.

Yours sincerely
Paul Pettigrew
Son of Col H.R.C. Pettigrew 2/14th
Punjab Regiment

From: “Asim Siddiqui” <asjid@usa.com>
To: <defjrnl@pathfinder9.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2002 11:58 AM

Subject: Proposed modification in the design of super-7 aircraft

I would like to draw attention of the aeronautical engineers that are engaged in the “SUPER-7” project to the attachment with this letter. I have carried out some research in the design of this aircraft that is considered PAF second line of defence. The first flight of this aircraft is expected in June 2003 and that day shall be remembered like April 8 or May 28 in our history. Although the aircraft is superior to F-16 in many respects but the only thing it lacks is the payload (hardpoints). I think that problem can be solved if the inlets are shifted slightly towards the lowerside of the wings as shown in the attachment. If this can be done then the hardpoints can be increased to 9 (presently 7) and there is a chance of more weapon storage under the wings and on the wing tips. In addition, I have also made further adjustments in its design.
I hope that you will publish this in your next edition.
Your sincerely,
A.J.S.