India’s politico-bureaucratic establishment remained 'sea blind' in the first two decades after Independence despite having a 7516.6 km vast coastline to defend.  Forget about using the Indian Navy during the first India-Pakistan war in 1947-48, the sea force was missing in action even in the second India-Pakistsan war in 1965 though the naval chief of the time, vice-admiral B S Soman, had visited some of the operational areas as an observer.

In 1971, the then naval chief admiral S M Nanda got the green signal from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to participate in the Indo-Pak war to fight along with Mukti Bahini - the nationalist militia formed by Bengali military, paramilitary and civilians of erstwhile East Pakistan.

The newly acquired Soviet missile boats of the Indian Navy destroyed many Pakistani ships, oil installations, and shore-based defence facilities in the port city Karachi.

The fighter aircraft operating from the deck of carrier INS Vikrant also struck at the enemy harbours and airfield at Chittagong and Khulna with precision contributing significantly in the defeat of the Pakistani forces.

While its actions on India’s western seaboard were quite visible as it  effectively  blocked the Karachi ocean front in the Arabian Sea not much has been highlighted about its potency in the eastern theatre because the special operation to target the enemy’s maritime activity and assets in and around East Pakistan were kept under wraps.  

Conceived by a few hardcore professional Indian Naval officers, Operation X was meticulously planned and brilliantly executed. Close to the 50th anniversary of the war, Captain M N R Samant (posthumous) and journalist Sandeep Unnithan have put together the untold story of Operation X in their book released last year.

'Operation X - The untold story of India’s covert naval war in East Pakistan 1971' is an unputdownable thriller.

The book has recorded the painstaking preparation for the operation that involved secret training of young men turning them into combat divers, many of whom were Bengali deserters  from the Pakistan navy who turned out to be valuable assets as they possessed great underwater skills.

Two of the key veterans - Commander Vijay Prakash Kapil (Vir Chakra) and Petty Officer Chiman Singh (Maha Vir Chakra) - involved in what is considered as one of the biggest covert maritime warfare operations since the Second World War shared their experiences for the first time in Mumbai on October 12, 2019, at the launch of the book by former navy chief admiral V S Shekhawat.

The book describes how between April and November 1971, this covert naval unit trained 432 Bengali youth and launched them to destroy merchant shipping which sustained the Pakistan Army in the run-up to the 1971 War. 

The marine commandos, under the operational control of Naval Intelligence sank and disabled over 100,000 tonnes of shipping destined for the ports of East Pakistan. 

Operation Jackpot, the code name for the three operations that was undertaken by Mukti Bahini under the command of the Indian army involved 176 combat swimmers who launched simultaneous attacks on the ports of Chittagong, Chalna-Mongla, Narayanganj, and Chandpur on the night of August 15, 1971. They sank 44,500 tons of shipping and damaged 14,000 tons, the single largest attack by naval saboteurs since the Second World War. 

Covert forces have been a part of all four India-Pakistan wars in 1947-48, 1965, and 1999. The 1971 war is notably the only time when India trained and assisted over 100,000 East Pakistani Bengali volunteers who became an effective force of guerillas called the Mukti Bahini (freedom force).

The naval commandos were a small elite specialized unit which operated directly under Indian Naval Intelligence. A major factor for the success of covert operations is secrecy, very necessary for achieving surprise.

The existence of this covert unit and these operations were publicly acknowledged by the Indian Navy for the first time in this book. Captain Samant, the staff officer planning and training this covert unit, passed away in Mumbai on March 20, 2019, after a brief illness.

The experience gained from this operation led to setting up the dedicated Indian Naval Marine Commando Force popularly called the MARCOS reportedly considered one of the toughest in the world and who have also been deployed in Eastern Ladakh to be part of the Special Forces troops there.

Operation X: The Untold Story of India's Covert Naval War in East Pakistan 1971 by Captain M N R Samant, MVC and Sandeep Unnithan; Publisher Harper Collins India: Pages: 272 in paperback; Price: Rs. 499

(The author is a former spokesperson, Indian Army and Ministry of Defence. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at wordsword02@gmail.com)