The words "Indian" and "proficient" should never be in the same sentence unless there's a negation somewhere.
Ladakh Flash Point
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He's really old now!
I don't believe this sticks with barbed wire business at all. It sounds like they were watching some WWE stuff, maybe an old episode of the Simpsons. The intent is to injure your opponent slightly more than using a baton on its own? Seems like diminishing returns. If you're going to take that level, seems more efficient to just use knives. Or from the other side, if you were an Indian soldier, you wouldn't just allow them to use such weapons without some kind of response ready in kind.
vesicles
Colonel
Firstly, the article talks about the Chinese activities BEFORE the clash, as the title of the article clearly indicates. It says nothing about what happened that faithful night.
Secondly, I was not trying to describe what actually happened on the ground that night since there is no consensus yet. I was simply trying to elaborate and discuss the potential implications based on the current narratives of the Indian media and military. Basically, I was saying, "if assuming everything the Indian media says is true, what does it mean?"
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Indian media have fanciful imagination. Border police have tasers and tear gas to apprehend and break up illegal entry groups as non lethal options, while Army soldiers have combat knives and rifles. In some circumstances, the army might take police equipment.
I don't believe for a second that PLA would attempt to engage Indians in medieval reenactment combat.
What seems more likely is that they ambushed an Indian incursion with intent to capture the leadership, partially succeeding but leading to some Indian soldiers and an officer being shot dead in the struggle. This is what caused the initial report of 3 as opposed to 20 casualties.
In the confusion, Indian soldiers might have believed that the PLA meant to kill them all and they scattered all around the mountains, some not even taking their equipment with them, this led to another 17 deaths and injuries caused by the environment.
I don't believe for a second that PLA would attempt to engage Indians in medieval reenactment combat.
What seems more likely is that they ambushed an Indian incursion with intent to capture the leadership, partially succeeding but leading to some Indian soldiers and an officer being shot dead in the struggle. This is what caused the initial report of 3 as opposed to 20 casualties.
In the confusion, Indian soldiers might have believed that the PLA meant to kill them all and they scattered all around the mountains, some not even taking their equipment with them, this led to another 17 deaths and injuries caused by the environment.
Sawhney has explained why the standard of the Indian army has dropped drastically over the past 30 years, due mainly to its focus on COIN policing duties in Kashmir.
The same thing happened to the Israeli army, which is why they took a beating from Hezbollah in their last outing in Lebanon. And now the same thing is happening to the US (again, for the second time.) The last time (Vietnam) it was so bad that the US was forced to rebuild its entire army. They clearly learned nothing.
Focusing on "COIN"-type ops always destroys traditional armies from the inside. It amazes me how this mistake keeps repeating over and over again in military history. All this focus on 'Spec Ops' these days is a symptom of this stupidity.... anyways, that's a whole separate topic.
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To be honest I'm a bit shocked by the shamelessness of Indian media/propagandists. Names of Chinese generals were literally copy and pasted to make this list of "56 Chinese soldiers". This isn't about just boasting on minor achievements and mental gymnastics anymore.
Just read an opinion piece, I think it’s a pretty good read and is pretty inline with what we have been discussing but he offers some ideas why China is picking a fight right now, with discussion of geopolitics, tho I can’t say I agree with everything, I think he give some pretty good points. If this guy’s commentary is on point then this thing should be far from over. Anyways thought I will share.
At this point, it's clear that China really tried to save Modi face here in the name of deescalation.
Imagine if the PLA let Chinese media in and run news reels on captured Indian soldiers while interviewing PLA soldiers at the scene. This is exactly what Pakistan did 2019 with that 1 fighter pilot who was captured. It's not in China's interest to put Modi in a difficult spot or further inflame nationalistic tensions in India.
Guan Yu is Guan Yu man age doesn’t stop him!
Anyway on a more serious note, the entire account from the Indians really don’t sound credible at all. If it’s a melee there are plenty more choices for weapons like you said. Plus blunt weapons with enough force and proper aim will be just as deadly.
If what the Reuter’s article said is correct then it was Indian actions that started the fight, they can only blame themselves, you don’t go, destroy and burn the other sides property in tense situations like this. More importantly if the Indians are taking action then the Indian troops should have expected a response to begin with. This shows a lack of critical thinking on the part of the commander in charge of the unit. One can’t expect the other side to not respond with force after destroying their post.
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