পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪৭৬

444 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড men of the 31 Baluch-a good fighting regiment-gave up without firing a shot. Near Comilla, the commanding officer of the 25 Frontier Force, another good unit, surrendered with 100 of his men to a platoon of Indians. In the strategic railhead town of Akhaura, a vital link in the defense of Dacca, the Pakistanis had rushed in extra troops, armour and artillery, yet the whole force chucked it in after only symbolic resistance. It is not hard to see why, in the vivid phrase of Colonel Deshpande 'the Paks' morale is in their boots." Senior officers have been slipping away to Dacca with wives and families for the past fortnight. The unconfirmed rumors of special flights to get them out to West Pakistan would certainly have percolated through to the ordinary soldiers. And they already have plenty to worry about. The Indians are bombarding them through loudspeakers, leaflets, and radio broadcasts with a simple but stark message: Surrender to us before the Mukti Bahini (the Bangladesh guerrillas) get to you." There are some terrible scores to be settled and the settling has already begun; the first mangled corpese of Pakistani soldiers are beginning to turn up in the scrub or floating down the rivers in areas where the Mukti Bahini won control before the Indian Army arrived. The lightning advances of the Indian Army in last week's fighting only added to the demoralization of the Pakistanis. In a few areas, they have fought bravely are well: the Indians arc keeping very quiet about the Hill sector where an outnumbered and totally isolated Pakistani force seems to be holding out. Closer to Jessore. there were two sharp engagements-or "extremely good fights" in Colonel Deshpande's enthusiastic phrase-but they failed to halt the headlong attack on the town and the cantonment. It is clear that the Pakistanis badly misjudged the speed of the Indian advance, in the map lined operations room at Jessore the charts of Indian positions as seen by the offenders suggest they had not expected a full scale attack for another day. When the hasty evacuations began at 4.20 pm on Wednesday, the Indians were a bare 6.000 yard away. The Pakistanis left so hurriedly that the orders of the day were still on the duplicator and there were half-prepared meals in the officers' mess. The bulk of the Pakistani troops seem to have escaped, though only to the dubious security of the road to Khulna, and they seem to have taken most of their artillery pieces with them. These were probably several miles behind the cantonment and would therefore be easier to save. I saw only one burned-out Pakistani tank in the cantonment itself. The Pakistanis left behind them about 6,000 tons of ammunition and general supplies which will be badly missed in the retreat. We had reached Jessore in what was certainly one of the most bizarre columns to pass through the gates of the cantonment. A fleet of rickety yellow taxis and venerable private cars carried us the 85 miles from Calcutta in a bone-jarring, five hour journey. As we rattled past the frontier post at Petrapole, the first of the jubilant crowds appeared. From there right through to Jessore, 25 miles away, the road was lined with cheering, beaming villagers waying the new red. white, gold and green flag of Bangladesh and