A story from a third-generation soldier of the 1st Battalion, the 5th Gorkha Rifles (FF) who was killed in combat.A ghost story narrated to the author by an officer of the Garhwal Rifles while on a visit to Lansdowne.A gripping account of the air raid on Pakistan's airfield at Sargodha in 1965 led by Wing Commander O.P. Taneja, VrC.These are some of the stories featured in Major General Ian Cardozo's book Beyond Fear, stories that inform the reader that fear is not exceptional. It is common to all human beings. The question is: Do we face fear or run away from it? Through these thirteen stories, he reveals to the reader how military personnel conquer fear. He calls it 'biting the bullet'.Through the twists and turns of his stories, he brings out how honour, love, courage, trust, hope, faith and loyalty help the soldier in his quest to conquer fear and that these very qualities can help the reader deal with fear in their everyday lives. These stories also show that real life can sometimes be stranger than fiction.
An under-strength Gorkha battalion undertakes the Indian Army's first heliborne operation deep behind enemy lines, defeating a Pakistani force twenty times its strength. Fighters of the Indian Air force target the Government House in Dhaka in a daring air raid, forcing the Pakistani government in Dhaka to capitulate and surrender. Four battle casualties become close friends at the Artificial Limb Centre in Pune in the war's aftermath.In this collection of true stories, decorated war veteran Major General Ian Cardozo recounts what really happened during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, piecing together every story in vivid detail through interviews with survivors and their families. The book also seeks to commemorate the lives of those who were killed and wounded in this war, which took place fifty years ago.From the tragic tale of the INS Khukri and its courageous captain, who went down with his ship, to how a battalion of the Gorkhas launched what we accept as the last khukri attack in modern military history, these stories reveal what went on in the minds of those who led their men into battle-on land, at sea and in the air.
