Rezang La

But 1962 should have been a lesson bitterly learnt. India lost due to Nehru’s indecisiveness, lack of foresight and bonhomie with the Chinese. While an unprepared India, still reveling in the lately gotten independence, suffered a humiliating defeat, the Chinese must not forget Rezang La, where a mere 120 strong company under the leadership of Major Shaitan Singh repelled 3000 strong Chinese force and killed about 1200 of their soldiers.

War favors none and leaves a country bereaving its brave. If China believes, war would make it stronger, the example of a decadent USA, which though very smartly kept war off its own land, yet smarts under its deleterious effects, should be an eloquent testimony to the destruction that it causes both to the winning and losing side. 

China has clear numerical superiority. More than numerical superiority, it has very clear superiority in weaponry, which is a generation ahead of India. While, India still struggles to keep the bureaucracy and brass aligned with the IAS hating the uniform, but the subordinate services hold the men in uniform in awe, and this dichotomy delays defense deals, priorities and procurement. To the extent that a JS can tick a Brigadier off, he is happy to preside on this delay, But it hurts the army as a fighting machine in a time, when change in warfare is happening faster than in civilian life.

Chinese army on the other hand is under a monolithic ruling party directly and the bureaucracy works in tandem to support the army. The processed of procurement are aligned to making the Chinese army a robust fighting machine, unlike India, where the largest scams are buried under defense deals.