Dated 12th December 1971 , Sunday

Rupees 0.25 Paise

DEC 12 : WESTERN SECTOR:-  It was a day of Major gains for Indian Army troops in the western sector. Troops of 62 Mountain Brigade under Brig Zail Singh and 42 Mtn Brigade under Brig Michigan had taken the town of Kushtia where fierce battles took place on the 9th.

The town of Khustia is important as the Hardinge bridge lies across the river Madhumati adjoining the city and Khustia offers the passage to the bridge. The enemy troops stationed in the town retreated across the bridge. They blew up one of the  spans  and  also

left a disabled Chafee Tank on one of the spans in a crude effort to block the pathway in the bridge.  The taking of this town has now cleared the Jhenida Sector completely of all enemy troops.

This means that now II Corps can focus completely in the Jessore sector by taking Khulna and resuming its drive to

Dacca. It also means that troops of the Red Eagle Divison can now be diverted to the Jessore Sector to assist troops of the 9 Inf Division already there.

XXXIII Corps Sector

Meanwhile in the North western sector, XXXIII Corps had occupied the town of Gobindganj had been.. [Read Full Story]

Dec 12, DACCA: Lt Gen AAK Niazi, The Pakistani Army Commander in East Pakistan today gave an impromptu press conference to journalists at the Dacca airport. The General was on a tour of Dacca defenses when he decided to stop at the Dacca airport.  The questions were met with answers of bravado and sarcasm.

To a question on what his   future  plans  were, The General said it was to fight to the 'last man, last round'. To the question if he has got sufficient troops to hold of the Indian advance, Niazi said, "Dacca will fall only over my dead body".

He then pointed out to his chest , "They will have to drive a tank over this". It would be interesting to see if Gen Niazi will stand by word. Some attribute his new find bravado to the reports of the US 7th fleet in the Bay of Bengal

Dec12 Eastern Sector: A spokesman here today has confirmed that the Mukti Bahini and the Indian Navy had jointly carried out Operations in the southern part of East Pakistan.  The Force known as Force alpha under the command of Cdr Mohan Rao Samant  assisted by Lt Cdr J P A Noronha entered the Ports of Mongla and Khulna and caused the destruction of   Shipping and facilities in these Harbours. The Operation was executed last week and was completed by Dec 10th.
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Previous Issues

Dec 12,   Jamnagar : For the first time ever, a F-104 Starfighter was engaged in aircombat by an Indian Air Force MiG-21 and shot down in aircombat. This happened at Jamnagar today at 1402 Hrs.

Two MIG-2IFLs at the ORP were scrambled to set up a CAP at 10,000 feet over the ainield. Minutes earlier, Mobile Observation Posts along the Saurashtra sea coast had reported two bandits flying low, crossing the coast line in the qeneral direction of Jamnagar, with its vital air base.

Shortly, the airfield came under attack. The bandits (Now identified as F-104A Startighters) carried out a front gun attack on aircraft parked near the runway . The second F-104, spotted our MiG-21s first and immediately turnedoff and headed north.

A smiling Flt Lt  B B Soni in the cockpit of his MiG which has just returned, looking at the celebrating IAF officers on the ground.

The lead F-104 continued at high speed along the runway and as he tried to exit, One of our MiG-21s flown by Flt Lt Bharat Bhushan Soni, dived down and positioned himself behind and above the F-104, allowing the .... [Read Full Story]

IAF air ops in the west:

Dec 12, NEW DELHI: Over the past two days, the IAF had carried out several missions striking positions in Chamb, Kahuta, Shakaragarh and Rajasthan sector.

A Spokesman had said that two Indian Pilots were killed in seperate accidents involving MiG-21 fighters. Flt Lt Ashok Dhavle was killed near Adampur, while Fg Off P K Sahu crashed trying to land at Palam. A Helicopter on a Casevac sortie crashed in Kashmir when it stuck some power lines. Two Hunters were also written off in landing accidents in the East.

Two aircraft were lost in combat missions yesterday. Flt Lt K K Mohan is missing from his sortie in a Su-7 over Pakistan yesterday. A MiG-21 was lost to AA fire damage in East Pakistan. The Pilot Sqn Ldr Gill ejected but was rescued by the East Pakistani Civilians and transported to Agartala.

Dec 12, Western Sector: Close on the heels of the news of the Starfighter being shot down over Kutch, Another  IAF pilot today accomplished a similar feat. But this was undertaken in a much inferior aircraft against an adversary much more capable and superior.

Flt Lt S S Malhotra, of Nol.32 Squadron, known popularly as Mad Mally was tasked with flying a Photo Recce sortie against the Pakistani Air Field of Risalawala. His Squadron flies the Sukhoi-7 ground attack aircraft.

As Flt Lt Malhotra proceeded with his mission over Risalawala, he was intercepted by two Pakistani MiG-19 aircraft. The Mig-19 is a versatile twin

Flt Lt S S Malhotra of No.32 Squadron

engined jet aircraft which is nimble and agile. The PAF flies the chinese copy of the aircraft called the F-6 and it has been recently been equipped with the deadly  Sidewinder Missiles. Facing such odds in his Ground Attack Sukhoi is daunting to say the least. The Sukhoi is not an agile dogfighter and .... [Read Full Story]