This is the story of the fateful events leading to the dismemberment of Pakistan as seen through the eyes of the General Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Command; who was responsible for all military operations in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, and Northern Rajasthan.

As the crisis in the East deepened, more and more Indian formations were moved there and for a time the long Western border lay unguarded. A Pakistani attack at this time would have had very serious consequences. The stresses and strains and the anxiety felt at the time, the many false alarms of imminent Pakistani attacks are recounted, as also the planning of the defence and the build-up in the West. Yahya Khan, finally driven to des¬peration and knowing that he had no hope of victory in the East, staked his all on a rapid and successful campaign in the West, hoping to offset the losses in the East with gains in the West. With this in view, on the afternoon of 3 December 1971, he unleashed his forces in the West. The onslaught was preceded by an air, strike and a three-pronged attack in Poonch, Chhamb and Fazilka.

The book details graphically the manner in which these attacks were blunted and how the troops in Western Command then took the offensive themselves, wresting the initiative from the enemy, thus putting an end to all the hopes that Yahya Khan cherished of victory’ in the West.