It is shocking that my regiments commanding officer who was never killed in 1965 war is listed as killed in action in 1965 war.More so because a general officer should not be so ill informed . Photographs are excellent but no source of photos has been acknowledged. The respected general requested my photos and published one , but did not name me , whereas he has named other photos. The factual data is not accurate like he claims that Major sher ur Rahmans 29 cavalry squadron had two tank troops whereas it had three tank troops.Maps drawn by a Britisher are not helpful and sketchy. Helion has done bad copy editing and there are too many spelling mistakes. I bought this book with great interest but was disappointed.
History of Pakistan Armoured Corps titled “AT THE FORWARD EDGE OF BATTLE-A history of the Pakistan armoured corps” , authored by major general Syed Ali hamid (Retired) was published by “The Army Press,Islamabad” in 2015.
The book was supported by Pakistan Army and the writer was provide full access to all records.
The book’s foreword was written by general K.M Arif , an ex army vice chief and preface by general Jehangir Karamat , an ex army chief.
Sadly this book was a big disappointment, analytically , factually and layout wise.
The worthy author remained in communication with this scribe before the book was published in 2015 , but totally went off the radar after the book was published .
He had earlier requested for some of my armoured corps service photographs which I gladly , shared with him .
However it was a shock to know from my military academy instructor lieutenant general ghumman in 2016 that the book had been published in 2015. Shock , in the sense that the worthy author did not bother to inform an officer whose cooperation he had earlier sought in form of photographs.
I tried to buy the book , but could not find a copy .
Finally I bought a copy of this book on 25th January 2023 from a bookshop in Rawalpindi.
In the meantime I had bought two volumes of this book republished by Helion Books UK in 2020-21 , and did write short reviews, which were published by the Amazon website.
The book has no list of battle honours won by the armoured regiments or the armoured corps.This leaves the reader in the dark , unless he is already an expert !
The author hoodwinks , all details about casualties suffered by the armoured corps , which leaves a reader totally in darkness , about how much combat did a particular regiment see in a war.
On the whole the author is non committal about any matter and habitually makes roundabout and inconclusive statements.
The author changed Pakistan Army chief ,general Gracey’s arm of service.
On page nine the author makes a false and non factual statement about 11 Cavalrys class composition in December 1940.
He fallaciously claims that 11 Cavalry had two squadrons of Punjabi Muslims mixed with some Ranghars,Hindustani Muslims and Khattak Pathans, without citing any reference.
11 Cavalry did have two squadrons of Punjabi Muslims on adhoc basis and a squadron of Sikhs , but no Pathans. A squadron of Hindustani Muslims and Ranghars was approved by Indian Army headquarters in mid 1941 and added.
On page-73 , footnote iii, the author makes a shockingly false claim , which was entirely avoidable , if he had bothered to , simply consult Indian Army lists , freely and readily available worldwide , as well as in Pakistan.
Syed Ali Hamid false claimed that Sir Hisamuddin Khan , alias HD , joined 3rd Cavalry (FF) , as a VCO in 1895-96 and participated in the Tirah campaign .
This was a total distortion of history as Husamuddin had nothing to do with Tirah Campaign and only joined 3rd Punjab Cavalry on 16th September 1900, as clearly mentioned in the army list of 1902.
That a general officer , a two star , son of an eminent Pakistan Army , military historian , makes such basic factual mistakes is mind boggling !
The author totally hoodwinks the fact , why Husamuddin was promoted to officer rank on 7th October 1919.
This was for rendering the greatest service to the British Indian Empire ! Informing the British officers.
The author states that 23rd Cavalry (Frontier Force) fought in Iraq in WW 1 , but hoodwinks the fact that the regiment was sent to Mesopotamia , as a punishment from Lahore after then Risaldar Major Husamuddin ,broke the secret news that the regiment was about to rebel to the British in 1915.
On page 73 the author claims that Sir Umar Hayat Khan Tiwana was commissioned in 17th Cavalry with honorary rank of lieutenant .This seems a false claim as army lists of that period totally refute this claim.
Sir Umar Hayat Khan is shown in all lists of that period as an honorary officer in 18th King George’s Own Lancers:--
The author misses the first Indian commissioned as an officer in Indian Cavalry on 25th August 1917 , Aga Casim Shah.
Again Mirza Osman Ali Baig commissioned in 7th Light Cavalry in 1924 , who later rose to be Pakistan’s foreign secretary , finds no mention in this so called armoured corps history:--
Massaud Khan of this scribes regiment , whose name was spelt as Massaud Khan is spelt by the author as Masud Khan ;---
On page 91 , the authors claim that Umar Khan was commissioned in 2nd Lancers is totally non factual and false:--
Umar Khan was commissioned in 6 Lancers and later transferred to Scinde Horse and never served in 2 Lancers.
PAVO Cavalry’s Tommy Massaud Khan’s famous proposal to attack Srinagar using PAVO armoured cars finds no mention in this badly written book.
Daffadar Sadiq Shah of PAVO Cavalry , much praised for his performance in 1948 war in Pakistan Armys official history published in 1970 finds no mention in the book.
On page 124 , the authors claim that the Indians cleared Dras and Kargil in summer is false as both these areas were cleared by Indians in last quarter of 1948.
On page 125 the authors claim that a plan was approved against Indian lines of communication in Akhnur area is blatantly false and incorrect.
The Pakistani attack plan was aimed at Beri Pattan much north of Akhnur, as clearly mentioned in the 1970 official history of Kashmir war.
On page 132 Syed Ali Hamid false claimed that British rule was established in Peshawar in 1852 , whereas this happened in 1849.
Cavalry and infantry of the corps of Guides were constituted as separate units in 1922 and not in 1939 as the author claimed on page-133 :--
Risalpur is north of river Kabul and not east of River Kabul as mentioned on page 134.
24 Cavalry was raised in Lahore in 1962 and one of my regiments squadrons was used as nucleus but the writer stated on page-218 states that it was raised at Nowshera.
Sabre and Lance Jubilee edition of 1997 also clearly states that 24 Cavalry was raised at Lahore.
On page-211 the authors claim that general Yousuf was retired as he objected to major general Haq Nawaz being given command of 1st Armoured Division is false.
Yousuf was retired as he and another general Adam Khan had objected to extension being given to Ayub Khan as army chief.
The most shocking part of the book is labelling the wrong officers in photographs. An unforgivable error !
On page -230 he names lieutenant colonel Bashirullah Babar , as , “Sardar Ali Imam”.
The writer callously omits mentioned majors Fakhr e Alam and Malik Sultan on page-233 while disussing 13 Lancers operations in operation Grand Slam.
Both these officers penetrated 18 to 22 miles inside Indian territory and lost their lives but were not awarded any gallantry awards.
On page 247 the author claims that a troop of 25 Cavalry pursued the Indians till Maharajke. However major Shamshad of 25 Cavalry who fought the battle states that there was no pursuit but this tank troop lost its way and went on a wild goose chase .
On page-249 the writers claim that 22 Cavalry was at Narowal is also incorrect.
On page-252 the writer shockingly kills my regiments commanding officer , while also changing his original regiment from 2 Lancers to Scinde Horse.
This is an absolutely false and shocking claim as the officer was never killed in action in 1965 but died in 1990s.
The writers claim that general officer commanding 6 armoured division drove in to the battle zone on page-253 is also questionable and inaccurate.
On page 283 , the author gave a totally wrong description omitting the fact that 22 Cavalry was never tasked to attack Longanewala but to bypass it.
The author also totally whitewashed 33 Cavalry’s false alarms where its squadron fled the battlefield and its squadron commander was sacked from command.
He also whitewashed 20 Lancers squadron commanded by a future three star bolting away , which was on record mentioned by Punjab regiments official history of 1984 and by colonel sardar Yahya Effendi who was DQ Changez Force.
Extracts from this scribes book “Punjab Regiment Infantry Battalions in 1971 war” are as below :---
On page 309 the author is unduly tactful in whitewashing the fact that colonel Qayyum , a Bengali officer was upset over 1971 events , as the officers real brother was murdered without cause by a trigger happy soldier !
This is being too tactful , while a simple admission of the fact would not have reduced this highly inaccurate history’s stature !
The authors omitting Kanwar Mohammad Sharif of 19th Lancers who went to RMA Sandhurst and sadly died in a road accident in Kharian is in bad taste ! Whereas , he mentions all types of Toms dicks and harries in the book !
On page 311 , he mis-names , Javed Hussain, alias Mitchum , as Javed Nasir , which is bad history writing.
The author names many relatives who served in tank regiments but misses many , which is strange . Examples as below:--
• Taimur Shah , brother of brigadier Hassan Shah , guides is missed.
• Kanwar Javed Shabbir son of Naib Risaldar Shabbir is missed.
• Captain Usman, 22 Cavalry and 19 Lancers , brother of Brigadier Saad , 13 Lancers is missed.
• Asim Najmi , 53 Cavalry , son of major Najmi Guides is missed.
• Misses Zafar Mirs son Haseeb Mir, 53 Cavalry.
• Misses Sabahuddin , 54 cavalrys son Zia.
• Misses major Mustafa , 38 TDUs major I.B Khan’s son who joined 38 cavalry and rose to three star general rank.
Saeed Tiwana 12th Cavalry did not join 4th Cavalry,as the author stated on page-316, on raising but 24th Cavalry on raising.
Major General Eftikhar did not join 3/10 Baluch after independence as stated on page-321 but in 1942 , five years before independence.
While mentioning Parsee officers on page-324 he mentions Rustam Dara of 5 Horse/38 Cavalry but forgets Mayar Dhatgara of 25 Cavalry.
The writer makes a very shoddy and false claim on page -326 that later major general Wajahat literally re-raised 11 Cavalry after 1965 war.The regiment was absolutely intact and the claim is most ludicrous.
On page 346 makes highly inaccurate claims confining Ranghar recruitment to two villages kanour and kalanaur whereas Ranghars were recruited from whole districts of Rohtak,Gurgaon, Hissar and Karnal.
Misses Nao Rohtak village in Lyallpur which supplied lions share of Ranghars of 11 Cavalry, Skinners Horse and 19 Lancers from 1898 till 1947.
On page 352 makes a false claim that 11 Cavalry has Pathans.
On page 384 , rather snidely did not mention this scribe by name , although he published my photograph driving an ARV , while on various places he specifically named officers in photographs. He had specifically requested for this photo for the book from this scribe.
On page 429 , makes a totally false claim that during Brasstacks in 1987 the Pakistan Army moved into Bahawalnagar whereas in actual fact the Pakistan armys strategic reserve 1st armoured division was moved to Chichawatni and Pirowal forests.
On page 464 makes a totally false claim that second Pakistan Army chief Gracey was from the armoured corps.
Credits general Raja Sarup with creating corps reserves on page 346 and conveniently ignores the fact that the real primer for this was an article by later LTG Israr Ghumman in citadel journal of staff college in 1991 or so.
Glorifies awarding an SJ to colonel Nazir of 4 Cavalry who was captured by Indians in 1965 which is absolutely ludicrous.
Strangely the general repeats all the above mentioned mistakes in the later UK edition of history published by Helion books five years later in 2020.
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