Bangladesh Liberation War: The Air Attack That Changed Minds - And History

Dhaka, 14th December 1971:

Imagine, you are the Governor of East Pakistan, in a high-level meeting at the Government House, your office cum residence, to decide the fate of your government in Dhaka.

The matter is urgent, as the Indian Army troops with the Mukti Bahini are closing in from all sides.

General Niazi and his senior staff officers as well as all the Government¡¯s advisers are present for the meeting.

Just the previous day, Niazi has famously declared in front of a camera to Associated Press newsmen, ¡°We will fight to the last.¡±

His bravado seems infectious, if not too convincing.

There is still a chance that India might shy away from a bloody battle in the streets of Dhaka that will kill more civilians in addition to the millions already dead.

That prospect might force the Indians to agree to a ceasefire.

That would be a face-saving end to your illustrious public career spanning 22 years.

Yes, it seems tempting to back Niazi, the boisterous fool who just might pull it off.

Imagine yourself in this situation.

What would you do?

Ask Niazi to continue fighting or advise him to surrender?

Guwahati, 14th December 1971:

The Station Commander¡¯s jeep came to a screeching halt outside the 28 Squadron Operations Room and he practically ran inside. He found the Commanding Officer (CO), and said, ¡°A very critical and urgent task from Air Headquarters. We must attack the Circuit House in Dhaka at 1120 IST today. There¡¯s a meeting going on there, with all the top officials.¡±

Indian Time 1120 meant 1150 Dhaka time, and the current time was 1055.

So, there were just 55 minutes to go.

The Station Commander gave him a tourist map of Dhaka, saying, ¡°The target is here, next to the road crossing.¡±

Taking the map, the CO looked at it and then at the Station Commander. The map had hundreds of road crossings, and all looked identical.

Being a pilot himself, the Station Commander understood, nodded in sympathy, and said, ¡°Hurry!¡±

It takes 25 minutes to reach Dhaka. Plus, another 15 minutes to start the engines and taxi on the ground from dispersed locations to the runway.

Four MiG 21 aircraft were ready with 32 rockets each, but rockets are not the best weapons against concrete buildings.

And there was no time to load 500 kg bombs, as that would take at least an hour. There was no point attacking the building after the meeting was over and the officials had dispersed.

So, there was not enough time to brief the pilots about the mission, no clarity on the target, and not the most suitable weapons loaded on the aircraft.

But the mission was critical, so it had to be done.

Four pilots rushed to the aircraft and started the engines.

That¡¯s when a senior pilot came running to the CO¡¯s aircraft, waving a piece of paper.

It read, ¡°Target is Government House, repeat, Government House and not Circuit House.¡±

The CO looked at the tourist map. At least the new target was in a big green patch, easier to identify from the air and with lesser chances of collateral damage to innocent Bengali brethren. He smiled.

Four MiG 21 fighters raced down the runway, each carrying a belly drop tank and two rocket pods.

There are many variables in an aerial attack on a ground target with unguided weapons.

From aircraft speed, to the angle of dive, to the prevailing winds, to firing too early or too late, and many other minor things that can make a difference between a hit and a miss.

In case of most static targets, there always is a second chance, if you miss it the first time. Today, they did not have that luxury. The human targets would disperse at the first sign of an attack, and never again assemble under one roof.

Painting by Group Captain Deb Gohain

Dhaka, 14th December 1971:

You, the Governor of East Pakistan are listening to General Niazi ramble on and on about the ¡®help¡¯ that is coming from the South (US Seventh Fleet sailing into the Bay of Bengal) and from the North (Chinese dropping their paratroopers to help defend Dhaka.)

You know that the claimed help is unlikely, but are glad that Niazi believes it.

That would encourage him to fight, giving your civilian peacemakers the leeway required to drive a hard bargain with the Indian government.

That seems like a good idea, you think, even if the casualties would be many. How can anyone avoid a few deaths in a war?

As you¡¯re thinking, you hear a boom. Followed by another, and another.

You realise that the Indian Air Force is literally knocking at your door. They not only know that you are here, they also know there¡¯s a meeting going on. And they¡¯re deadly accurate, as always.

Then the roof of the palatial Government House comes crashing down.

What would you do next?

Dhaka Government House, after the attack/Twitter

Here¡¯s a report from the New York Times:

DACCA, Pakistan, Dec. 14¡ªThe entire regional government of East Pakistan resigned today, dissociating itself from further actions of the central administration of President Yahya Khan in the country¡¯s West.
Dr. A. M. Malik, Governor of East Pakistan, wrote the draft of the resignation letter with a shaking ballpoint pen on a scrap of office paper as Indian MIG©\21¡¯s destroyed his official residence, Government House.
Governor Malik, surrounded by the ministers of his East Pakistani administration, showed the draft of his resignation to a United Nations official, John Kelly, and to Gavin Young of The Observer, a London Sunday paper.
They had been trapped with him in his bunker during an air raid. Dr. Malik¡¯s wife and daughter huddled in a nearby room.
All morning, Dr. Malik and his regional cabinet had been unable to decide to resign or hang on. The Indian air raids finally resolved the issue.

Four more Indian fighter planes followed the first wave, bombing and strafing the Government House.

The sheer shock of the air attack propelled the Governor into action. He resigned, ran and sought refuge with United Nations office in a hotel, which was a ¡®neutral¡¯ zone and safe from Indian air attacks.

General Niazi, left to his delusional diatribe, made a lot of threats but surrendered just two days later, thus ending the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

We will cover the story of the surrender in the next article.

This is the tenth in a series covering the major air actions of the 1971 war on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary. Watch this space.