Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1
History ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Definition ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Strategies and Tactics ......................................................................................................................... 3
Bangladeshs Indipendence and Guerilla Warfare.............................................................................. 5
The Beginning of the War................................................................................................................... 7
Indias Support as a Sanctuary ............................................................................................................ 7
The Events Inside Bangladesh ............................................................................................................ 8
Support from Indian Army................................................................................................................ 10
The End of the War ........................................................................................................................... 12
References ......................................................................................................................................... 13
Introduction
Guerilla and warfare- two separate words, yet when put one after the other in the

mentioned order, they from a pair where the two sit cozily, complementing each other. But

beware! Do not let their love affair between these two words fool you into taking them

lightly. As inseparable from one another as the names Romeo and Juliet, guerilla-warfare

has played a significant role in shaping the history of countries and nations. However, ask

any Bangladeshi about it, and he or she will open the gate of history and invite you almost

half a century into the past to not only explain what it is, but show it to you throw the eyes of

a country which had it very foundation forged by it.

History
To understand a phenomenon in its fullest one must try to grasp its essence from the very

roots and slowly make his or her way upwards, broadening his or her scope of knowledge,

and no better is there a way of achieving this than by starting with the phenomenons history.

Guerilla warfare is a very ancient form or warfare. The foundation of its strategies tactics

dates back to the 5th century BCE ("History of guerrilla warfare", 2017). The origin of

guerilla warfare is believed to have originated from a book called the Art of War, written

by the Chinese military strategist, which contained 13 chapters- each of which was focused

on a distinct aspect of warfare. Positioned at the front of Chinas Seven Military Classics

when the collection was created by Emperor Shenzong of Song, it has been considered to be

a comprehensive work on military tactics and strategies and had been the most influential

strategy write-up in East Asia. Not only that, is has also had a profound effect on both

Eastern and Western military thinking, legal strategy, and trade ("The Art of War", 2017).

Although the first account of guerilla warfare was an alleged battle between Emperor Huang

and the Miao in China, they were not the only one to have used it. The migratory and

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nomadic tribes of Scythians, Goths, and Huns also used guerrilla warfare to fight the Persian

Empire, and Alexander the Great. One of the most successful guerrilla wars was led by

George Kastrioti Skanderbeg against the invading Ottomans. In 1443 he rallied Albanian

forces and drove the Turks from his homeland. Skanderbeg fought a guerrilla war against

invading armies up to 20 times larger than his, by using the mountainous terrain to his

advantage. He harassed the vast Ottoman army with small "hit and run" units, as well as

using feint retreats followed by sudden counterattacks, and other tactics unknown in warfare

up to then. For 25 years Skanderbeg kept the Turks from retaking Albania, which due to its

proximity to Italy, could easily have served as a springboard to the rest of Europe ("History

of guerrilla warfare", 2017).

Fast forward to the 20th century, and perhaps one of the more widely known accounts of

guerilla warfare which can be used as an example lie with the Vietnam War fought

between North Vietnam and its supporters and South Vietnam and its supporters ("Vietnam

War", 2017).

Definition
The Oxford English Dictionary describes guerilla-warfare as: a small independent group

taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces ("guerrilla - definition

of guerrilla in English | Oxford Dictionaries", 2017). However, the true meaning of it goes

quite a length deeper. Guerilla warfare is an irregular kind of war that is fought mostly by

people who are not part of an official army. it occurs when regular people, other than the

official army, who share with a common motive takes matter into their own hands and fights

(in the literal sense of the word) for that motive or cause. These people may be ex-army

members, the working class, students, etc. Although it is mostly the irregular who fight in

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guerilla warfare, the regular or the official army may also adopt guerilla tactics to bring down

a difficult enemy.

Strategies and Tactics

Guerilla warfare uses a wide array of elements and tactics which are best suitable for facing a

large but slow or less mobile enemy. These include intelligence, espionage or depiction,

ambush and sabotage ("Strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare", 2017).

Intelligence: Intelligence is perhaps the most important element of guerilla warfare. I have

chosen to address this as an element, rather than a tactic itself is due to its all-encompassing

nature. The primary tactics of guerilla warfare all, either partially or entirely depend upon the

availability of intelligence. Here intelligence refers to having knowledge about the enemys

next moves, their plot, their strategies, their location, their strengths and weaknesses and so

on. Without intelligence, it would become rather difficult to attack a large force in its

weakness. In a nutshell, the availability of intelligence allows the attacker to strategically

attack the enemy when theyre least expecting and cause maximum damage with high

efficiency.

Espionage or deception: This is the process of employing a spy who would secretly gather

and communicate information about the enemy to the employing party, or in this case the

attacker. The spy openly mixes and mingles among the enemy, gaining their trust and playing

crucial roles in the operations; while in reality, all the information that he or she gets exposed

to is relayed back to the attacker without the consent or knowledge thereof of the enemy.

Another tactic which can be mentioned as a subset of this tactic is called an inside job.

Here the person who leaks intelligence necessary for the attacker is a person who actually

works for the enemy and has full access to important and often classified information, hence

the tactics obvious name. Secrecy, trust and deception are the tricks of this tread.

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Ambush: Ambush is a very old and widely practiced tactic in warfare where the attacking

party makes use of concealment of their presence and waits until the enemy is within striking

distance. Once the enemy is close enough, the attacker uses the element of surprise and

unleashes the attack, catching the enemy off-guard and unprepared, tipping the odds

significantly to the attackers side.

Sabotage: To sabotage an enemy force means to intentionally obstruct their operations by

damaging or disabling their units capabilities, or denying them access to certain resources a-

things which would otherwise have been trivial to their success.

Take this scenario for an example which incorporates the examples of espionage or

deception, ambush and sabotage. Say, a large enemy unit is about to attack a village at night.

Spies placed in the enemys army work up their tricks and learns about the strategy of the

mission. This intelligence includes information such as when the enemy is about to attack,

how big, in numbers, the force is going to be, what kind of weaponry loadout the enemy unit

has, which path they are going to take and so on. Through the intelligence relayed by the

spies, a small guerilla unit learns that the enemy needs to cross a bridge, which is the only

way into the village, as it is surrounded by water from all sides. To counter the threat and

sabotage the enemys plans, the guerilla unit plants explosive charges on the pillar over the

bridge and wait for the enemy unit to be cross it, while they hide in the bushes and trees,

wearing camouflaged clothing, making their virtually un detectable, ready for the ambush.

Just as the emery unit get on the bridge, the explosive charges get triggered and detonated.

The explosion immediately kills a large portion of the unit, reducing it into just one-thirds of

its initial size. The rest of the unit is not dead yet, but severely injured- the perfect condition

for the ambush to be deployed. In the heat and chaos of the moment, the guerilla unit

unleashes their firepower, killing the remaining enemy soldiers.

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Bangladeshs Indipendence and Guerilla Warfare
26th March is observed as the Independence Day of Bangladesh. The War of Liberation

started on 26 March 1971 and finished with the freedom of Bangladesh on 16 December

1971. The resulting war was the climax of a progression of occasions, circumstances and

issues adding to the dynamically falling apart relations among East and West Pakistan. The

inquiries of land changes, state dialect, between wing monetary and managerial incongruities,

commonplace self-sufficiency, the guard of East Pakistan and numerous other noteworthy

inquiries had been stressing the relations between the two wings of Pakistan far back to the

time when the country severed the chain of British rule in 1947.

The general election of 1970 had made Sheik Mujibur Rahman the leader of the Awami

League. In the election, the party won 167 seats out of 169 allocated for East Pakistan,

making Sheik Mujibur Rahman the outstanding representative of the general population of

East Pakistan and winning him the biggest share in the Pakistan National Assembly. Be that

as it may, the Pakistan common and military decision coterie had declined to hand over the

ruling power to newly found peoples leader Sheik Mujibur Rahman and his Awami League.

Sheik Mujib likewise declined to respect the weight put on him for the unfair distribution of

power. Sheik's memorable address on 7 March 1971 made this indicate very clear the

Pakistani military. At that point started the common rebellion development. In the interim

talks began among Mujib and Yahya to determine the extraordinary issues. While holding

talks, the Pakistani military was conveying more troops to Bangladesh and in the meantime

wantonly killing blameless regular folks everywhere throughout the nation. This

unmistakably demonstrated they were not at all serious or willing to hand over power to the

chosen agents of Bangladesh. Just as soon as the talks had failed to bring about any positive

outcome, the genocide started, with the Pakistan armed force's crackdown on the general

population of East Pakistan on the midnight of 25 March 1971 ("Bangladesh Liberation

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War", 2017). The Bengali fighters serving in the then Pakistan Armed Forces and para

civilian army powers proclaimed in a split second their solidarity with the general Bengali

population's Liberation War.

On the midnight of March 25, 1971, the Pakistani army was ordered to launch an assault on

the Bengali people. This operation was called Operation searchlight and two headquarters

were established for this. Major General Rao Farman Ali with 57 Brigade under Brigedier

Arbab was responsible for operation in Dhaka city and its suburbs while Major General

Khadim Raja was given the responsibility of the rest of the province. Lieutenant General

Tikka Khan assumed the overall charge of the operation ("Operation Searchlight", 2017).

The Bengali students and political activists in Dhaka started to establish a resistance outside

the cantonment. In an attempt to stop the Pakistani column from entering the city premises,

roadblocks were raised. When the first group of Pakistani military arrived, they faced

resistance at the Farmgate area which was about a kilometer from the cantonment, as the

resisting party laid down huge tree trunks in the middle of the road to form roadblocks. Other

objects like old and dysfunctional vehicles were also used. At the road block, hundreds of

people gathered and raised their voices in slogans for a while to stop the Pakistani army from

advancing, but their intentions and voices were no match for the gun fires of the Pakistani

army. Moving with haste, the Pakistani column, in fact, moved into the city before the

scheduled time and started the genocide ("Operation Searchlight", 2017).

Without showing even the slightest bit of mercy, the military killed and destroyed everything

that lay their path. The tanks roared through the streets of Dhaka blasting indiscriminately at

the people and official and residential buildings. They shot down bunches of settlements and

set them alight. Scores of mounted gun blasts were audible, while the tanks thundered into

the city's main roads. The corridors of living arrangement at Dhaka University were attacked

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and numerous dwellers there were fiercely murdered and mangled. They additionally

slaughtered countless faculties and professors of Dhaka University. The Hindu concentrated

ranges of old Dhaka were especially focused on. They began slaughtering the general

population, set fire to their homes, plundered their assets and raped the ladies. The genocide

that was executed on the unarmed individuals was flashed on the world press ("Operation

Searchlight", 2017).

The Beginning of the War

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was captured and imprisoned by the Pakistan army on March 26,

1971. Parallelly, Bangladesh's independence was announced by Major Ziaur Rahman on

behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Kalurghat radio station at Chittagong. These two

parallel events marked the start of the Liberation War.

There were unconstrained uprisings all through Bangladesh taking after the call of freedom.

Respondents of the call for the war included government workers, political activists, students,

specialists, laborers, experts and individuals from the general population ("Proclamation of

Bangladeshi Independence", 2017).

Indias Support as a Sanctuary

India was in full support of the freedom fighters, and on 27th march, Prime Minister of India

Mrs. Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) to open the border for the

free and un conditional passage of tormented and scared Bengalis to sought for a safe place

for temporary shelter inside the Indian territory. This proved to be a lifesaving favor for the

Bengali people. Soon after the initial resistance demonstrated by the freedom fighters of

Bangladesh, numerous opportunity warriors traversed into the Indian region to have safe

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asylum, due predominantly to the foe's staggering prevalence of prepared officers and current

weapons ("Bangladesh Liberation War", 2017).

Refugee camps were established by the governments of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya

and Tripura. However, they were soon serving a dual purpose. The camps became ready grounds for

recruitment of the freedom fighters. The students, peasants, workers and political activists joined the

Mukti Bahini with high spirit to rescue Bangladesh from the Pakistan army. These newly joined

Mukti Bahini guerilla soldiers received training on guerilla war tactics and how to used weapons and

bombs. Once they were ready to get back out into the war zone, they were posted to different sectors

to fight the enemy. Thus, the scattered and briefly withdrawing simple freedom fighters were

soon once again gathered together under a single lead. The headquarters of the Bangladesh

Forces was established at 8 Theatre Road, Calcutta which started functioning from 12 April 1971.

Lieutenant Colonel M A Rab and Group Captain A K Khandaker were appointed as Chief of Staff and

Deputy Chief of Staff respectively ("Bangladesh Liberation War", 2017).

The Events Inside Bangladesh

On this side of the border, the senior officers of the liberation army assembled at the

headquarters of 2nd East Bengal On 4 April at Teliapara, a semi hilly area covered by tea

gardens where Colonel M. A. G. Osmany, Lieutenant Colonel Abdur Rob, Lieutenant

Colonel Salahuddin Mohammad Reja, Major Kazi Nuruzzaman, Major Khaled Mosarraf,

Major Nurul Islam, Major Shafat Jamil, Major Mainul Hossain Chowdhury and others were

present. In this meeting four senior commanders were entrusted with the responsibility of

operational areas. Sylhet-Brahmanbaria area was placed under the command of Major

Shafiullah. Comilla-Noakhali area was given to Major Khaled Mosharraf while Chittagong-

Chittagong Hill Tracts was given to Major Ziaur Rahman. Kushtia-Jessore area was placed

under command of Major Abu Osman Chowdhury. In the meeting the organizational concept

of the freedom fighter forces and the command structure were established. Colonel M. A. G.

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Osmany assumed command the liberation forces, later named as Mukti Bahini. It was this

Mukti Bahini that brought the guerilla warfare into the limelight of the liberation ("Mukti

Bahini", 2017).

Meanwhile, an exile government called the People's Republic of Bangladesh aliased as

Mujibnagar Government headed by Tajuddin Ahmed was formed on 10 April which moved

to Calcutta. On the next day Tajuddin Ahmed announced the names of three more regional

commanders. Captain Newazish for Rangpur region, Major Najmul Haque for Dinajpur-

Rajshahi-Pabna and Major Jalil for Barisal-Patuakhali region. All these regions were later

named as sectors. All of Bangladesh was divided into eleven such sectors and different sub-

sectors for operational purposes during the Sector Commander's conference held from 10 to

17 July 1971 ("Bangladesh Liberation War", 2017).

Besides Mukti Bahini, many other guerilla units organised inside Bangladesh at various

location to fight Pakistan Army. These units included Kader Bahini of Tangail, Latif Mirza

Bahini of Sirajganj, Akbar Hossain Bahini of Jhinaidah, Hemayet Bahini of Faridpur, Quddus

Molla and Gafur Bahini of Barisal, Afsar Bahini of Mymensingh and Aftab Bahini of

Mymensingh. Also, A crack platoon consisting of daring youths, mostly students, operated

most valiantly in Dhaka city. These units were established as a local force based on their own

strength taking part in a number of battles with the occupation army. Siraj Sikdar, leader of

Sorbohara Party, also organized his own force in Barisal. Another unit named as Mujib Bahini

was organized in India with the active assistance of Major General Oban of the Indian army

an expert on guerilla warfare. Mujib Bahini was trained at Dehradun. Student League leaders-

Sheikh Fajlul Haque Mani, Tofael Ahmed, Abdur Razzak and Sirajul Alam Khan were

organizers of this unit ("Mukti Bahini", 2017).

The Mukti Bahini consisted of the both regular (military) and the irregular (nonmilitary)

forces. The regulars were later called Niomita Bahini (regular force) and the irregulars were

9
called Gono Bahini (people's Force). The regulars included East Bengal Regiment and EPR

troops. The irregular forces, which after initial training joined different sectors, consisted of

the students, peasants, workers and political activists. As mentioned before, although the

Mukti Bahini had fought many successful battles in putting up initial resistance. But within a

short time, they were temporarily contained by the Pakistan army and were compelled to

withdraw to the safe sanctuary in the Indian territory. The Mukti Bahini was, however, re-

equipped, reorganized and retrained. As a result, it got into fighting with fresh zeal after

April-May 1971 ("Mukti Bahini", 2017).

The Irregular forces were deployed inside Bangladesh territory to adopt guerilla warfare

against the enemy. The regular forces were engaged in fighting in conventional way. The

first conventional brigade named as 'Z' Force was created in July. Major Ziaur Rahman was

appointed commander of this brigade and the brigade was named as 'Z' Force after the first

letter of his name. This brigade consisted of 1, 3 and 8 East Bengal. Second regular brigade 'S'

Force was created in October and consisted of 2 and 11 East Bengal. 'S' Force was named

after the initial letter of the name of its commander Shafiullah. Similarly, the 'K' Force

created with 4, 9 and 10 East Bengal which was commanded by Khaled Mosharraf ("Mukti

Bahini", 2017).

As the war continued, it became inevitable that the Pakistani army was simply too strong to

be beaten in conventional style warfare, hence the decision was taken to form large guerilla

forces all over the country. All Sector commanders were accordingly ordered to recruit, train

and induct guerillas inside the country ("Bangladesh Liberation War", 2017).

Support from Indian Army

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One important aspect to mention about the liberation war of Bangladesh is that not only

India, but the Soviet Union and her allies and general masses in Japan, and Western

countries stood solidly behind Bangladesh ("Bangladesh Liberation War", 2017).

From November, onwards, Bangladesh was not fighting alone in the war anymore. India

finally expressed their intent to help Bangladesh with Indian armed force. Lieutenant General

Jagjit Singh Aurora, Commander, Eastern Command of Indian Army, became the commander

of the joint forces. The joint command of the Mukti Bahini and the Indian Army, however,

started operation from the evening of 3 December, when the Pakistan Air Force bombed

Amritsar, Sree Nagar and the Kashmir valley. Rages with vengeance, the Indian armed forces

were immediately ordered to hit back the Pakistan army and thus the Indo-Pak war broke

out. The Mukti Bahini and the Indian army continued advancing inside Bangladesh and the

defeat and surrender of the Pakistan army became a matter of time. International efforts for a

cease-fire before Bangladesh is fully liberated failed due to Soviet veto in the United Nations

Security Council ("Bangladesh Liberation War", 2017).

The Mukti Bahini and the Indian armed force kept progressing inside Bangladesh, chipping

away at the strength of the Pakistani army, making the surrender of the Pakistan armed

force inevitable. Worldwide endeavors for a truce before Bangladesh was completely freed

did not work out because of Soviet veto in the United Nations Security Council

("Bangladesh Liberation War", 2017).

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The End of the War
The Indian troops and the Mukti Bahini of No 11 Sector reached Tongi on 14 December and

Savar in the morning of 16 December. Major General Jamshed, commander 36 Division of the

Pakistan Army received Major General Nagra at Mirpur Bridge near Dhaka City. The Mukti

Bahini and the Indian forces entered Dhaka city in the morning too. Major General Jacob, the

Chief of Staff of the Indian Eastern command landed at Dhaka airport in the afternoon. with

the draft instrument of surrender. A fleet of helicopters landed on the tarmac of Dhaka airport

in the evening, with Lieutenant General Aurora and his staff. Group Captain AK Khandaker,

Deputy Chief of Staff, Bangladesh Forces represented the Mukti Bahini. Lieutenant General

AAK Niazi received Lieutenant General Aurora. The instrument of surrender was signed by

Lieutenant Jagit Sing Aurora and Lieutenant General Niazi at the Ramna Racecourse (now

Suhrawardy Uddyan) at 5PM on December 16, 1971, thus making Bangladeshs victory and

ending the Liberation War of 1971 ("Pakistani Instrument of Surrender", 2017).

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References
Bangladesh Liberation War. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War
guerrilla - definition of guerrilla in English | Oxford Dictionaries. (2017). Oxford
Dictionaries | English. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/guerrilla
History of guerrilla warfare. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_guerrilla_warfare
List of sectors in the Bangladesh Liberation War. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27
March 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sectors_in_the_Bangladesh_Liberation_War
Mukti Bahini. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukti_Bahini
Operation Searchlight. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Searchlight
Pakistani Instrument of Surrender. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_Instrument_of_Surrender
Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27 March
2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_Bangladeshi_Independence
Strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27 March
2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_and_tactics_of_guerrilla_warfare
The Art of War. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 26 March 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War
Vietnam War. (2017). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War

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