Dhola Post was a border post set up by the Indian Army in June 1962 at a location called Che Dong () in the Namka Chu river valley disputed by China and India. The area is now generally accepted to be north of the McMahon Line as drawn on the treaty map of 1914, though it is to the south of the Thagla Ridge, where India held the McMahon Line to lie. In June 1962, Indian forces established an outpost called the Dhola Post on the northern slopes of Tsangdhar Range, in the right-side of Namka Chu valley, facing the southern slopes of Thagla Ridge.KC OPraval, 2011, 1962 War: The Chinese invasionI, Indian Defence Review.
On 20 September 1962, amidst various border tensions, the post was attacked by Chinese forces from the Thagla Ridge, sporadic fighting continued until 20 October when an all-out attack was launched by China leading to the Sino-Indian War. Facing an overwhelming force, the Indian Army evacuated the Dhola Post as well as the entire area of Tawang, retreating to Sela and Bomdila. Chinese troops pushed Indian forces back in both theatres, capturing all of their claimed territory in the western theatre and the Tawang Tract in the eastern theatre. The conflict ended when China unilaterally declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, which can be attributed to the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis and fears of U.S. intervention to support India, and simultaneously announced its withdrawal to its pre-war position, the effective China–India border (also known as the Line of Actual Control).
After the war, the post was left unoccupied until the 1986 Sumdorong Chu standoff, after which the area was again strengthened by the Indian Army. India now has high altitude Dhaula and Bhawani posts on the ridge west of Nam Ka Chu, supported by Hathunga base camp as well as the high altitude Nelya and Pompagarh posts set further south inside the Indian territory. On the eastern side of Namka Chu, India has high altitude posts at Vasu Rock, Lungrola (Lungro La), Bantu Top, Bum La, Chumi Gyatse Falls, etc.
Location
The Dhola Post was set up by the Indian border forces on the lower slopes of Tsangdhar range on its northern side. It faced the Thagla Ridge in the north. Between two ridges, and north of the outpost, flows the Namka Chu river from west to east.KC OPraval, 2011, 1962 War: The Chinese invasionI, Indian Defence Review.
Though it was not recognised at the outset, the Tsangdhar ridge, Namka Chu valley as well as the Thagla ridge, all turned out to be part of disputed territory. The territory is to the west of the Nyamjang Chu river, which is intersected by the Indo-Tibetan border. The corresponding area to the east, that of the Sumdorong Chu valley, also turned out to be disputed, though the conflict surrounding it arose much later.
Background The map attached to the 1914 McMahon Line agreement between Tibet and British India (part of the 1914 Simla Convention) showed a straight line border running east–west in the vicinity of the Nyamjang Chu river, cutting across a ridge now recognised as Tsangdhar. Immediately to the north of Tsangdhar ridge is a higher Thagla Ridge (or Tang La Ridge). The Namka Chu river, long, flows in the valley between the two ridges, west to east, joining Nyamjang Chu at the bottom.
At the foot of the Thagla Ridge in the Nyamjang Chu valley, about 2.5 km north from the mouth of Namkha Chu, is a grazing ground called Khinzemane (). At the northeastern tip of the Thagla ridge is located the Tibetan village of Le (also spelt Lei or Lai). The villagers of Le as well as those of the village Lumpo to the south are said to have traditionally used the Khinzemane grazing ground. The Indian government claimed that the grazing ground belonged to Lumpo and the villagers of Le had to pay rent to Lumpo for its use.: (Letter from the Prime Minister of India to the Prime Minister of China, 26 September 1959): "[Villages] within Chinese territory’s [on] the other side of the Thangla ridge have been allowed to utilise these grazing pastures and for this privilege the Tibetan village of Le is paying rent in kind to the Indian village of Lumpo. In any case it is not uncommon for border villages on one side to use by mutual agreement pastures lying on the other side of the international boundary and the exercise of this privilege cannot be regarded as evidence in support of a territorial claim."
The Indians held that the boundary was supposed to follow the Himalayan watershed, which was clearly on the Thagla Ridge. They believed that the 1914 map incorrectly depicted the border due to inadequate exploration at that time and that the correct border was on the Thagla Ridge. In 1959, India had placed a post at Khinzemane at the foot of the Thagla Ridge. (Near here, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from China and crossed into India in March of that year.) The Chinese forces attacked it and forced it to retreat. After some exchanges in the diplomatic channels, India reinstated the post. During the officials' level border negotiations between the India and China in 1960, the issue was thoroughly discussed, even though it did not result in any agreement.: "[Indian] Army Headquarters had been sent the minutes of the officials' talks of 1960, as well as the final Officials' Report, in which this issue had been addressed. During the officials' talks the Chinese had also been told of the Indian view on correcting a map-drawn line; that is, the need to correlate it with the actual features on the ground. If a feature such as Thagla Ridge had not been explored when the map was issued, and if the map-drawn boundary was supposed to be set by the watershed ridge, then the line lay on the watershed ridge despite the error on the map." China continued to maintain that Khinzemane was Chinese territory.
Establishment In late 1961, India settled on what came to be called a 'forward policy' to circumvent the Chinese expansion into the disputed areas. It ordered the Indian Army to "go as far as practicable ... and be in effective occupation of the whole frontier". In the northeast frontier, Assam Rifles was tasked with setting up posts all along the McMahon Line. The Dhola Post came into being as part of this effort.
The Dhola Post was located on the northern slopes of the Tsangdhar ridge, close to the Namkha Chu valley, at about 300 metres above the level of the river. The Indian official history of the war states that the post was able to dominate the Namkha Chu valley, but it was itself dominated by the Thagla Ridge to the north. The terrain was extremely difficult: thickly wooded mountain slopes led to the area via walking tracks in narrow gorges. The closest inhabitable place was the village of Lumpo at a distance of . The posts had to be supplied by air and the nearest air drop location was on top of the Tsangdhar ridge.
A walking track was established along the mountain slope facing the Namjyang Chu valley, leading from Lumpo to a depression called Hatung La on the Tangdhar ridge. At an intermediate location called Zirkhim (or Serkhim) a helipad was constructed. The villages of Lumpo and Zemithang also had helipads, the latter able to take MI-4 Russian helicopters.
The army officer who commanded the Assam Rifles platoon, Captain Mahabir Prasad, questioned the siting of the post immediately after returning to base. He informed the Divisional Headquarters that, according to the local Intelligence Bureau sources, the Chinese knew about the Dhola Post and regarded the location as Chinese territory. They would be ready to occupy it as soon as they received orders. The Divisional Commander, Maj. Gen. Niranjan Prasad, queried the higher officers whether the territory was properly Indian, but did not receive a response. His superior, Lt. Gen. Umrao Singh commanding the XXXIII Corps, expressed his own doubts about the legality of the territory, which were also greeted with no response. Eventually the matter was referred to Sarvepalli Gopal heading the Historical Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, who answered in the affirmative, citing the Officials' Report. But, before the information trickled down to the commanders, matters came to a head.
Indian hesitations When General Prasad, the divisional commander, did not receive a reply to his query about the boundary, he assessed that it made tactical sense to occupy the Thagla Ridge preemptively. He sought permission from the Army headquarters to do so. Before the headquarters made up its mind, the Chinese occupied the Thagla Ridge on 8 September 1962.: "Prasad thought that if the area did belong to India it made better tactical sense to occupy the Thagla ridge itself. He sought permission for a pre-emptive occupation of the ridge. By the time the army headquarters obtained a clarification from the MEA’s historical division and passed it on, the PLA had occupied the Thagla ridge on 8 September.": "The division commander referred the question of whether the territory was properly Indian to higher echelons in the army command chain, and two weeks later... asked for permission to occupy the Thagla Ridge preemptively. Before any reply was received, he learned that the Chinese had recently carried out military exercises in the Dhola area and had already constructed brigade-strength (but not permanently occupied) defensive positions on Thagla Ridge. To Prasad this news precluded Indian occupation of the ridge, since the Chinese could now move onto it at short notice." Scholars find the inefficiencies of the Army command responsible for the Indian inaction, but at the same time the lack of clarity on where the border lay and indecision on how far to go in confronting the Chinese seem to have played a role. In contrast, the Chinese moved decisively.: "Therefore, the unresponsiveness of higher echelons to the questions raised by Prasad..., the need for personal intervention by Palit, the referral to the MEA..., and the fact that Army Headquarters did not respond to Gopal's information with a clear decision...—all served to prevent a preemptive Indian move. The Chinese were allowed to occupy Thagla Ridge first, starting on 8 September."
Having occupied the Thagla Ridge, the Chinese entered the Namka Chu valley on the southwestern side of the ridge and threatened the Dhola Post. The Indian Army high command saw the Chinese action as an attempt to replicate in Assam Himalaya the kind of encroachments they were already conducting in Aksai Chin. It was felt that a show of determination was called for to forestall any further encroachments; a 'no alternative' situation, in the words of scholar Steven Hoffmann. Indeed, the opposition parties were vying for blood. The Swatantra Party led by Rajagopalachari asked for Nehru's resignation. In a meeting chaired by defence minister Krishna Menon, it was decided that India would use force "to expel the Chinese from the south of the Thagla [Ridge]".
The Army headquarters ordered 7th Infantry Brigade to move to Dhola to deal with the Chinese investment of the post. The local commanders thought the operation to be utterly infeasible. Umrao Singh argued that the Chinese could easily outstrip any effort by India to induct new troops into the area since they had a roadhead leading to their positions. He recommended withdrawing the Dhola Post to the south of the map-marked McMahon Line. He was overruled by General L. P. Sen, in charge of the Eastern Command. In Sen's view any intrusion into Indian territory was unacceptable to the Indian government and the intrusion must be thrown out by force.