alternatehistory.com

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was seen as inevitable because of a host of intersecting factors, most importantly the unrest in the area that would become Bangladesh.

The Pakistani military knew it was numerically inferior to the Indian Army, and as such had to think outside of the box in order to gain an advantage and force a decision quickly if war seemed unavoidable. By late November it was deemed so. On December 3rd, the Pakistani Air Force launched aircraft on a first strike modeled after the Israeli decapitation raids that kicked off the Six Day War in 1967. The raids were code named Operation Chengiz Khan. They failed in their mission, as they launched only a few dozen so as to keep local air superiority over Pakistan. They also ordered the attacking aircraft to drop their bombs from high altitude at a single pass so as to avoid Indian aircraft and AAA.

But what if the Pakistanis had thrown all their air power into this initial raid, as the Israelis had with theirs, and achieved the affect they were hoping for? What if they had been able to paralyze the Indian airbases at Srinigar, Pathankot, and Awantipur, which it struck without dealing with any Indian aircraft and only very light anti-aircraft fire?

(Yes...MacCaulay's been reading to make up for the Bangladesh/India/Pakistan thread in FH)
Top