AK NAVY CRIPPLED OFF KARACHI
Three Destroyers go down in daring IN
raid Enemy air losses up.
Hindustan Times Correspondent, New Delhi, Dec. 5 – It was Navy Day on Sunday. A task force of the Western Fleet sailed to within 20 kilometers of Karachi harbor and in a surprise attack hit three Destroyers of the Pakistan Navy sinking two of them and perhaps a third one also. The Pakistan Destroyers sunk were ‘Khyber’ and ‘Shahjehan’ which had a complement of 300 and 250.
In another action in the Bay of Bengal, the Navy brought to the surface a Pakistani submarine which disappeared after sending out a distress signal. Naval Headquarters later confirmed that the submarine had been sunk and that it was a French Daphne class vessel.
Admiral Nanda of the Indian Navy congratulated the naval personnel and asked them to keep on hitting the enemy. A Defence Ministry spokesman in New Delhi said on Sunday that Chittagong port was not safe for neutral shipping which had been advised to move off from the port. Action against the port installations had been stalled because the Navy did not want to hurt neutral vessels. This would not be so hereafter, it was said.
However, all of the glory was not that of the Navy. Both the Army and the Indian Air Force maintained their superiority over the enemy, worsening his thrusts and offensives even before they were launched. In the eastern sector more than 230 sorties were undertaken on Sunday and there was not a trace of the PAF though it still had three Sabres with it.
The Army opened up new fronts across the Rajasthan desert when it launched a two-pronged attack from Barmer and Jaisalmer into Sind. Latest reports said the troops had advanced some 40 kilometers within Pakistan territory.
In two days of war Pakistan has lost 47 aircraft, including five Mirages, 61 tanks and many armored vehicles as against Indian loss of 17 aircraft.
Two F-104 Starfighters were shot down over Amritsar today. Over 400 Pakistani soldiers have surrendered to the Indian troops, most of them in BanglaDesh.
The Pakistani thrust in Longanwala in Jaisalmer, supported by infantry and armor, has been halted and blunted, according to a Defense Ministry spokesman. Pakistan’s objective appears to be Ramgath town.
The Indian positions at Longewala have been reinforced and 14 Chinese made T-59 tanks destroyed by ground troops and 23 in aerial strikes. The spokesman said although the Pakistani thrust was nearly 15 miles deep in the desert their troops would find it extremely difficult to retreat as their vehicles had got bogged in the sand.
At other points on the western front the Indian troops are holding on to their positions and have repulsed repeated Pakistani attacks. The Indian side is expecting a major Pakistani offensive in this sector. And is waiting to give the invaders “a hot reception” wherever it may try to penetrate our defenses.
The Army made a 16-mile deep thrust into Sind from Gadra Road in the Barmer sector and captured Gadra city. Mahajan-ki-Dhani, four miles south-west of Gadra Road. Ghazi 26 miles west. Vasarah 32 miles south west and Relnur 36 miles north of Gadra city. The offensive is going well. The thrust appears to be directed towards the important Pakistani town of Hyderabad.
Poonch Shelled
In the Kashmir and Punjab sectors neither side has penetrated into the other’s territory and the fighting was confined to border positions. Pakistani artillery is shelling Poonch heavily. Indian troops captured Kasba, 4.5 miles north-west of Poonch. In Chhamb, Pakistan made a probing attack yesterday and tried to capture a hill feature. The attack was repulsed with heavy enemy casualties. Fifty Pakistani troops of the 13 Frontier Rifles were killed in the engagement.
The Pakistan Air Force today attacked Pathankot, Srinagar, Amritsar and Bhuj civil airport but no damage was done. The pilot of a Starfighter shot down over Amritsar has been captured. The IAF continued daring day-light raids on heavily defended targets deep inside Pakistan including the airfields at Lahore, Mudir, Mianwali, Sarkot, Sakesar (signal unit), Sargodha and Drigh Road, near Karachi.
Three IAF planes failed to return to base. The airport installations at Cox’s Bazar have been put out of commission. Pakistani aircraft carried out six attacks on Agra city and airport; the severest one lasted 15 minutes.
While IAF carried out 100 sorties today, the PAF carried out less than 20. The IAF is going for airfields, installations and heavy concentrations and supply routes to break Pakistan’s intention of attacking India. It could be that the PAF was keeping its limited stocks in reserve or that most of the Pakistan airfields had been damaged.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 06.12.1971