NEW DELHI, AUG 15
Retired Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam will come out with a comprehensive account of war and conflict in contemporary India over the past five decades next month.
“Full Spectrum: India’s Wars, 1972-2020” is a sequel to the military historian’s “India’s Wars: A Military History, 1947-1971”, according to publishers HarperCollins India.
In his new book, Subramaniam covers every major operation that the armed forces have participated in, including the Kargil conflict of 1999, insurgencies in the Northeast, terrorism and proxy wars in Jammu and Kashmir, separatist violence in Punjab, the IPKF intervention in Sri Lanka, and the continued stress along the Line of Control and the Line of Actual Control.
Subramaniam, an accomplished fighter pilot who flew MiG-21s and Mirage-2000s in his career, says the book is a “tribute to the soldiers standing vigil through the night at lonely outposts, not knowing when an enemy sniper could bring one of them down, while the rest of the country celebrates Independence Day”.
It is also an ode to the unsung helicopter and transport pilots who snake through narrow valleys in poor weather to drop sacks of flour and potatoes or a bagful of letters, which are then read by the soldiers within the confines of a thermal tent at 19,000 feet, he says.
Finally, it is a salute to the sailors helping their captain on the bridge, navigating their frigate through a stomach-churning storm on the high seas whilst on an anti-piracy mission, he adds.
Krishan Chopra, publisher at HarperCollins India, says “Full Spectrum” takes readers behind the scenes on major campaigns and battles post-1971, combining the roles of all three Services.
