পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪৭৫

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443 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড DAY 4: Enter tanks-and the vultures On Monday December 6, India made its long-expected recognition of the "Republic of Bangladesh." Mrs. Gandhi told cheering MP's in the Lok Sabha (House of the People) that"... Pakistan is totally incapable of bringing the people of Bangladesh back under its control. Now that Pakistan is waging war against India, the normal hesitation on our part not to do anything which might be construed as intervention has lost its significance..." Pakistan retaliated by formally breaking off diplomatic relations with India, the first such break since both countries became independent in 1947. In the East the fall of Feni to Indian troops cut Chittagong off completely from Dacca. The Indians now pushed on towards Ashuganj and Daudkandi where they hoped to ford the River Meghna for the assault on Dacca. DAY 6: "The Pak's morale is in their boots' On Wednesday, Indian aircraft bombed and strafed Karachi, and Russian-built Indian missile boats bombarded Karachi from the sea, damaging three freighters, one of them British, But the main Indian thrust of the day was on the ground, in East Bengal. Philip Jacob son after a brief disagreeable stint in the Presidency jail in Calcutta along with our photographer. Penny Tweedie, and three other journalists (for crossing the border without the right permission from the Indian Army) crossed again in rime to watch the Indian Army's biggest success of the war to date: the capture of Jessore. This had been the HQ of the Pakistani. 16th Division and the strongest fortified point on the whole western border of East Bengal. Jacobson also began to understand why Pakistani resistance was collapsing in the East. The total collapse of the Pakistani Army's resistance in Jessore is one of the most intriguing puzzles of the war in the East. For weeks, Indian Army sources and other expert observers had been predicting that a stern siege, involving heavy Indian casualties, would be needed to take the Jessore cantonment-a vast military complex covering an area of several miles just outside Jessore town. At the beginning of last week, Indian intelligence reported that a full infantry brigade-some 5,000 men-was defending the cantonment, supported by heavy artillery, about 40 tanks, a formidable network of minefields, reinforced bunkers and dug-in anti-tank emplacements. All the signs were that the Pakistanis would stand and fight. Instead, in the stinging words of Colonel P. S. Deshpande, the jaunty commanding officer of the Indian 9th Division: "They ran away." In less than 24 hours, Indian tanks and infantry took an objective they had estimated might require up to a week's bitter fighting. The vital Jessore airstrip was captured, literally, without a single-shot being fired: "Now one round," Colonel Deshpande repeated gleefully. The reason for this astonishing collapse lies, more than anything else, in the utter demoralization of most of the Pakistani Army in Bangladesh. Throughout last week, Pakistani units were surrendering without resistance. At Kalampur, the garrison of j60