Verma Shiv Kunal (56 results)

Condition: New. pp. 120.

Condition: New. pp. 120.

Condition: very_good.

Hardcover. Condition: New. During the 1965 war, around the flat fields and irrigation canals of Khemkaran town, dust rose in clouds and the horizon appeared deceptively open. It was in this daunting landscape that India attempted to advance on 6 September, and was met with fierce resistance by Pakistani artillery. Indian units were forced to pull back, regroup, and choose their ground. That ground was Asal Uttar, meaning true north. The line that formed there did not possess depth in the classical sense. In fact, it was a thin line composed of tired men who dug their heels in and refused to look over their shoulders. But had it broken under sustained pressure, the defence of the Punjab plains would have become nearly impossible. The Indian crews' Sherman tanks were going up against the Pakistani Army's M47 and M48 Patton tanks, which had an evident technological advantage. 1965: Holding the Line at Asal Uttar describes how the Indian forces repelled Pakistan's modern armoured division that had arrived with confidence, numbers, and a belief in its own invincibility. The book is a meticulously detailed account of the battle by Brigadier Harash Vir Singh of Deccan Horse, one of the oldest and most storied cavalry regiments of the Indian Army. Constructed using restrained, dignified recollections from veterans, it records a crucial episode of India's military history that holds many lessons for the ages to come.…

Hardcover. Condition: New. There are moments in a soldier's life that divide time into before and after. For young 2nd Lieutenant V. K. Singh such a moment arrived in the aftermath of the Bangladesh War of 1971, when he was sent to investigate what was vaguely called a 'race improvement camp'. There, he witnessed a scene for which no amount of military training could have prepared him. The Bangladesh War is recounted well and often in terms of its operational brilliance leading to the surrender of Pakistan and the birth of a new nation. However, in these retellings, the reason that compelled India into war that year is entirely overlooked. In 1971: The Genocidal War, General V. K. Singh attempts to define the systematic massacre in East Pakistan as genocide, a term long denied to it. Based on General V. K. Singh's first-hand accounts, this book describes in detail the events that preceded the war: the hapless human tide of refugees that started flowing into India in the early months of 1971, the rise of fragile makeshift camps across the frontier and the diseases that followed, India gearing up for hostilities amid strained resources and immense psychological pressure, and the creation of the Mukti Bahini that often worked in conjunction with the Indian Army. The collapse of Pakistani forces was swift and surrender ceremonies were conducted on 17 December. Yet, the military victory did not erase the mass violence that had preceded it. Both factually meticulous and evocative, this book makes a poignant effort to restore dignity to a tragedy largely erased from history. …

Hardcover. Condition: New. 27 October 1947. Shortly after dawn, Indian troops begin landing at the Srinagar airfield amid extreme uncertainty. It's possible that the airfield, which lies within striking distance of Pakistani soldiers, has already been overrun. Regardless, the airlift of Indian soldiers continues swiftly and with incredible audacity. On 7 November, the Battle of Shalateng, the first deliberate offensive undertaken by Indian forces in the Kashmir Valley, is fought. The invaders, unprepared for a coordinated mechanized thrust, collapse completely. In 1947: The Battle of Badgam and Shalateng, Colonel Ajay Kumar Raina records a definitive account of the India-Pakistan conflict over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir following Partition. He looks at the persistence of British influence during the transition from empire to independence, and how it allowed Pakistan to strategically invade Jammu and Kashmir, while India remained mired in diplomatic uncertainties. The book shows how Jammu and Kashmir was absorbed into India under conditions that were fundamentally different from those applied elsewhere, and how this anomaly lies at the heart of the Kashmir dispute. Drawing on archival records, official correspondence, and first-hand accounts, this book depicts how the survival of the valley was secured in those first critical days after India achieved independence. It restores a sense of balance to the Jammu and Kashmir question and invites an 'honest reckoning with the past'.…

Hardcover. Condition: New. 1 September 1965. As the Pakistan Army breached the border and launched an attack on Indian defences to capture the Akhnoor Bridge—the main route leading to north Kashmir—the Indian Army found itself heavily outnumbered. Their only hope was support from the Indian air force. At Independence, after the departing British divided the Royal Indian Air Force between the countries, the air forces of India and Pakistan couldn't have been more different. While the Pakistan Air Force boasted a state-of-the-art fleet of F-86 Sabres and F-104 Starfighters, the Indian Air Force relied on an ageing fleet of Vampires, Toofanis, and Liberators. However, in the first decades after Independence, India began to rely heavily on a lightweight transonic fighter: the Gnat. In the first major war fought by India and Pakistan in 1965, a titanic struggle would take place in the skies between the Indian Gnats and the Pakistani Sabres. The Sabre Slayers: The Air Battles of the 1965 War with Pakistan chronicles the 22-day war fought at 15,000 feet in air. Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar and Shiv Kunal Verma draw on archival records and first-hand accounts to honour the memory of those Indian Air Force officers who displayed immense courage and skill in winning the air war against vastly superior enemy aircraft.…

Hardcover. Condition: New. In the summer of 1999, a single peak in the stark, desolate wilderness of the Siachen Glacier became the battleground between India and Pakistan. As conflict engulfed the Kargil sector, intelligence revealed activity atop Point 5770—a strategic peak from which one could command the southern part of the glacier. The Pakistan Army had established Bilal Post and reclaiming it was both imperative and daunting. In 1999: The Battle for the Heights of Point 5770, Lieutenant General Konsam Himalay Singh and Shiv Kunal Verma retell a gripping episode of the Kargil War when the soldiers of 27 Rajput battalion led by Major Navdeep Singh Cheema climbed the perilous mountain peak to launch an attack on the enemy. This is a riveting account of courage, leadership, and a hard-won victory in extreme conditions.…

Hardcover. Condition: New. On 20 October 1962, in the freezing valley of the Nam Ka Chu, 2 Rajput and other regiments faced impossible odds against a relentless Chinese assault. While Chinese troops occupied the commanding heights above the valley, Indian soldiers struggled with inadequate clothing, limited ammunition, and treacherous terrain. Yet, despite the disadvantages, the men of 2 Rajput, 7 Infantry, and 1/9 Gorkha Rifles stood their ground against overwhelming assaults from both front and rear. In 1962: Death Trap in Nam Ka Chu, Major General Ashok Kalyan Verma and Shiv Kunal Verma reconstruct one of the most devastating battles of the Sino-Indian War, and tell a story of tremendous courage, self-sacrifice, and survival against all odds. Drawing on archival records and the writings of Major General Ashok Kalyan Verma, the book revisits the morning of one of the darkest days in India's military history. …

Condition: New. pp. xxi + 425 Illus.

Condition: New. pp. xxi + 425.

Condition: New. pp. xxi + 425.

Hardcover. Condition: New. ISBN:9789382277972 N.A.

Condition: New.

Condition: New.

Condition: New. pp. 576.

Hardcover. Condition: New. ISBN:9789390652464 N.A.

Condition: New.

Soft cover. Condition: New. ISBN:9789392210310 N.A.

Condition: Brand New. New. US edition. Expediting shipping for all USA and Europe orders excluding PO Box. Excellent Customer Service.

Soft cover. Condition: New. ISBN:9789392210310 N.A.

Condition: New. pp. 576.

Soft cover. Condition: New. ISBN:9789392210990 N.A.

Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New. In 1965, while India was still licking its wounds from the disastrous war against the Chinese in 1962, the belligerent Pakistanis decided to wrest Kashmir from India. To test the waters, they launched their first military probes into the Rann of Kutch between February and May; India responded. By the end of July, India gave in to the dictates of the UN and stood down the troops it had mobilized in the Punjab and Kargil sectors in response to the Rann of Kutch skirmishes. Pakistan then launched its masterstrokeOperation Gibraltarin Kashmir in August. Nearly 12,000 trained mujahids were covertly deployed in multiple groups, each named after historical plunderers of the subcontinent. Confident that they had superior armour (M-47 and M-48 Patton tanks), better fighter planes (F-86 Sabres and F-104 Starfighters), and better submarines (Daphnes) than India, the Pakistanis expected that in the event of an expanded war, the Indians would collapse just as they had against China in NEFA three years previously. However, India repulsed the attack and cut off the entry and exit points into the Kashmir Valley by capturing the Haji Pir Bulge. Operation Gibraltar fizzled out. Pakistan then launched Operation Grand Slam in September 1965 in Chhamb and Jaurian. The resultant Indian counter-attack saw the focus shift to various other sectorsLahore, Barki, Kasur (Khem Karan), Fazilka, Sialkot, and Barmeron the international border. With the two air forces getting involved almost immediately, the armed skirmishes turned into full-scale war. As they had in 1962, the junior officers and men of the Indian armed forces acquitted themselves admirably despite the on-the-fly reorganization of forces, lack of intelligence, obsolete equipment, and lacklustre military leadership. What could have ended in victory instead culminated in a stalemate. Official Indian figures put the total number of casualties at 12,714, out of which 2,763 were killed, 8,444 wounded, and 1,507 went missing. An estimated 2,000 casualties took place after the ceasefire, raising questions about the effectiveness of the UN as a global peacekeeping body. Neutral observers put Pakistani deaths at over 5,000. The conflict ended when the Tashkent Agreement was signed by Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and President Ayub Khan on 10 January 1966, agreeing to observe the ceasefire lines and withdraw armed personnel to positions that they had held before 5 August 1965. Starting with the wounds of Partition and the disagreements over Kashmir, and based on the author's research of the terrain, and numerous interviews with soldiers, officers, bureaucrats, and others who had a first-hand view of the conflict, 1965: A Western Sunrise is the definitive account of the 1965 war between India and Pakistan.…

Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New. The book is a Force 12 hurricane, dropping only to a 10 gale now and then, for it sweeps one along breathlessly from incident to incident, place to place, name to name. From the arresting prologue itself, the book is brutally honest, exhilarating and even self-deprecating. It is a story that most of Young India must read, for it provides an incredible ring-side view to critical events in the 1980s and 90s that shaped the destiny of the nation. The author's subsequent credentials as a military history writer, his earlier works and his vast exposure to virtually every part of the subcontinent, place him in a unique position to paint scenario after scenario where the reader is completely mesmerised by the cinematic unfolding of events. Which genre does this book fit into? This autobiography, however, doesn't depend on his earlier works for its literary place: it is sui generis, defiant of classification. The nearest one can come to is to call it a thriller in the garb of a life story in the first person - for it is Shiv Kunal's life story. And it reads like a thriller because it is incredible; the more so, because it is wholly true. His being the son of a distinguished general from a famous regiment may have helped, but not all army brats, however exalted, have this devil's own luck. It is the kind of life most only dream of, and very few (if any) have the good fortune to live and write about. …

Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: New. The eight states of India's Northeast make up only 8 per cent of the country's land mass, but they are home to over one hundred tribes, each with its own unique culture. The terrain, predominantly hilly, ranges from snow-capped Himalayan peaks to tropical rainforests, and the national parks and preserves contain exceptional scenery and an abundance of wildlife, from red pandas to snow leopards. Now, for the first time, noted documentary filmmakers and photographers Dipti Bhalla Verma and Shiv Kunal Verma provide a comprehensive introduction to this little-known yet captivating part of the world. Bhalla and Verma conduct us from the towering Kanchenjunga massif in Sikkim to the tea plantations of Assam, to the astonishing biodiversity of Arunachal Pradesh, to the martial tribes and Baptist churches of Nagaland, to the birthplace of polo in Manipur, to the living root bridges of Meghalaya, to the farms nestled among the hills of Tripura and Mizoram. The authors take us into the lives of the many peoples of Northeast India, who maintain their traditional customs and beliefs even in the face of growing ecological threats. They trace the history of the major population groups from the earliest records to the present, and illustrate their characteristic art forms, from dance to architecture. Special sections are devoted to Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Khangchendzonga National Park and Kaziranga National Park, all three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Dipti Bhalla Verma, cofounder of the production company KaleidoIndia, has made numerous films about the people, natural heritage and armed forces of India. Shiv Kunal Verma is the author or coauthor of more than a dozen books, including the highly acclaimed Northeast Trilogy, The Long Road to Siachen and 1962: The War That Wasn't. As the cofounder of KaleidoIndia.…

4th Impression. Hardback. Near very good in near very good, edge worn and plastic protected, d/w. Spine and boards dented. Please email for exact postage quote and information on any available discounts (PLEASE NOTE: International Economy shipping is by sea and may take up to 90 days to arrive).