I would like to write a series of articles on the ongoing military confrontation with China on the LAC in Ladakh. I am not a military expert but I have read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. I am also reading another book which deconstructs the mind of Sun Tzu and it is from this second book that the concepts of this article are based. Overall, it is Sun Tzu’s strategies that are being discussed here.
The first point I would like to make in this article is about weather and terrain. The LAC is situated on terrain which has extremely harsh and cold weather conditions. I remember a newspaper article which said that even the terrorists from Pakistan who seek to intrude into Kashmir do not do so in the winter months. They wait for the weather to improve and seek to intrude only when it is warmer.
This being the case and knowing that the Chinese will have mastered Sun Tzu we can expect them try to take advantage of weather and terrain. We can expect them to try to subject the Indian troops to the worst of weather conditions and secure the best possible conditions for their own soldiers. This use of terrain and weather conditions is something that we should also employ in our various military skirmishes.
One strategy recommended in the book on Sun Tzu is luring the enemy to march in the middle of a storm while our own troops rest in sheltered comfort. Once the storm has subsided and the enemy is out in the open and in extreme discomfort we can lead our own well sheltered and rested army to win the battle.
As is the case with weather so also terrain can be used as a weapon. The enemy can be reduced to dire straits by a combination of these two factors. For example after the enemy troops have marched through a howling storm and been lured into a terrain that has a deep gorge one side and our own well rested troops on the other it can be expected that we will quickly win the encounter.
Another point is regarding the morale of the troops. Napoleon Bonaparte once famously stated – Morale is to material is as three is to one. This may not apply entirely in this age of nuclear weapons but in the coming days and months it is necessary that that the morale of our troops is good.
For this purpose propaganda may be necessary and our soldiers need to be convinced about the justice of the cause they are fighting for. One way of motivating the soldiers is the COVID-19 narrative.
One of my cousins pointed out that although the COVID-19 virus originated in Wuhan, China as a whole is remarkably free from the pandemic. A Google search done today reveals that the Chinese have less than 85 thousand cases and less than 5 thousand fatalities.
Compare that with countries like USA, Brazil, the countries of the EU and India who have been almost brought to their knees by the pandemic.
It is entirely possible – although it has not been proved as yet – that the Chinese deliberately concealed the seriousness of the COVID threat from the rest of the world. We need to also look at the fact that the Chinese government is refusing to allow an international probe into the reasons for the pandemic.
This being the case our soldiers can be motivated to fight by convincing them about the origins of the pandemic and Chinese complicity. It may not have been proved as yet but as Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception.”
So these are some points I would like to make in this article. Hope you found it useful and thanks for reading.
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