Chinese-Indian War 1962

The border between China and India was disputed because it had been established by the British and the Chinese government believed a border demarcated by an imperialist power was illegitimate and should be renegotiated. Bickering over the border had been a source of military confrontation since 1959 when Indian patrols discovered Chinese military units entrenched in disputed territory. Unable to reach political accommodation on disputed territory along the Himalayan border, the Chinese attacked India on October 20, 1962. The timing of this war coincided with the Cuban Missile Crisis between the USA and USSR.

Chinese divisions leading the assault were trained and equipped for mountain warfare; the Indian divisions deployed along the Himalayan border were understrength and lacking artillery, tanks, equipment, and even adequate articles of clothing. In Ladakh, east of Kashmir, the Chinese attacked south of the Karakoram Pass at the northwest end of the Aksai Chin Plateau and in the Pangong Lake area about 160 kilometers to the southeast; defending Indian forces were ejected from their posts in the area of the Karakoram Pass and from most posts near Pangong Lake. In the North-Eeast Frontier Agency, north of Assam, the Chinese forces advanced easily despite Indian efforts at resistance. The Chinese made an offer to negotiate on October 24th after capturing Tawang. The Indian government promptly rejected this offer.

With a lull in the fighting, however, the Indian military desperately sought to regroup and reinforce its forces in the North-East Frontier Agency and Ladakh and to prepare against possible Chinese attacks through Sikkim and Bhutan. The reinforcements and redeployments in Ladakh proved insufficient to further advances by the Chinese armies. In the North-East Frontier Agency, Indian forces launched an attack on November 13th but concerted Chinese counterattacks eliminated the minor gains achieved and the Chinese now advanced toward a major frontier town nearly fifty kilometers from the Assam-North-East Frontier Agency border.

The Chinese did not advance farther and on November 21, 1962, declared a unilateral cease-fire; they had accomplished all of their territorial objectives and mauled the Indian armed forces. Chinese forces later withdrew from most of the conquered land and several kilometers behind the line of actual control that existed on November 7, 1959. After more than thirty years of border tension and stalemate, high-level bilateral talks were held in New Delhi starting in February 1994 to foster confidence-building measures between the defense forces of India and China.

Notes

[1] Correlates of War (CoW) reports 500 Chinese battles deaths; Clodfelter reports over 1,000. Wortzel reports the offical Chinese claim of 722 battle deaths.

[2] CoW reports 1,353 Indian battle deaths; Clodfelter reports 1,423 killed and 1,644 missing (believed killed). Wortzel reports the official Indian claim of 1,383 killed and 1,696 missing; he also reports the Chinese claim of 4,897 killed and wounded. Believing Clodfelter about the reported missing are believed killed and noting the sum of killed and missing plus wounded claimed by India is consistent with the Chinese account, the Indian official figures for killed and missing is used here for battle deaths.

References

Clodfelter, 1090-1; COW160; India - A Country Study; Kohn, 451-2; Wortzel, 327-52.

Larry M Wortzel. Concentrating Forces and Audacious Action: PLA lessons from the Sino-Indian War. Laurie Burkitt, Andrew Scobell, Larry M. Wortzel. The Lessons of History: The Chinese People's Liberation Army at 75. Strategic Studies Institute. 2003.

Category

Inter-State War

Region

South Asia

Belligerents

China, India

Dispute

Territory

Initiation Date

October 20, 1962

Termination Date

November 21, 1962

Duration

1 month, 2 days
(33 days)

Outcome

Unresolved Truce
(Chinese victory)

Fatalities

Total: 3801
China: 722^[1]
India: 3079^[2]

Magnitude

3.6