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The Indian Army is the largest branch of the Armed Forces of India and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The Indian Army maintains the second[1] largest active force in the world. The Indian Army is a military service, with a troop strength of over one million. It is a completely voluntary service, the military draft never having been imposed in India. The army has rich combat experience in diverse terrains, considering India's diversity on this front, and also has a distinguished history of serving in United Nations peacekeeping operations. The force is headed by the Chief of Army Staff, currently General J.J. Singh. The highest rank in the Indian Army is Field Marshal, but it is an honorary rank[2] and appointments are made by the President of India, on the advice of the Union Cabinet of Ministers, only in exceptional circumstances. (See Field Marshal (India)). General S.H.F.J. Manekshaw and the late General K.M. Cariappa are the only two officers who have attained this rank. Role-- The Indian Army doctrine defines the role of the Indian Army as "The Indian Army is the land component of the Indian Armed Forces which exist to uphold the ideals of the Constitution of India. As a major component of national power, along with the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, the roles of the Indian Army are as follows :- Primary Role: Preserve national interests and safeguard sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of India against any external threats by deterrence or by waging war. Secondary Role: Assist Government agencies to cope with ‘proxy war’ and other internal threats and provide aid to civil authority when requisitioned for the purpose." Upon British India gaining independence in 1947, the British Indian Army was divided into two parts to serve the newly created nations of Union of India and Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Most units went to India, and the rest to Pakistan. Some Gurkha units from the force were also retained in the British Army. The First Kashmir War----- Main article: Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 Almost immediately after independence, tensions between India and Pakistan began to boil over. And the first of three full-scale wars between the two nations broke out over the then princely state of Kashmir. Upon the Maharaja of Kashmir's reluctance to accede to either India or Pakistan, the locals grew impatient and launched an armed independence struggle. They quickly gained a fair amount of ground and Maharajas forces supported by few elements of regular Indian Armed forces were quickly loosing ground. The Maharaja fearing for his life asked for Indian full scale help. The than Indian Government headed by Jawahar Lal Nehru asked him to sign accession to India first. The Maharaja was so unnerved by the sucess of freedom fighters that he agreed immediatly. It is interesting that Indian forces landed at Srinagar airport within hours, suggesting that they were ready even before Maharaja signed the accession. An intense war was waged across the state and former comrades found themselves fighting each other. Both sides made some territorial gains and also suffered significant losses An uneasy UN sponsored peace returned by the end of 1948 with Indian and Pakistani soldiers facing each other directly on the Line of Control, which has since divided Indian from Pakistani-held Kashmir. Tensions between India and Pakistan, largely over Kashmir, have never since been entirely eliminated. India agreed to hold a plebesite to decide the states future, which has not been held even after 60 years. Indian Army participation in UN peace-keeping operations Presently, the Indian army has dedicated one brigade of troops to the UN's standby arrangements. Through its large in numbers, sustained troop commitments India has come in for much criticism for declining to take part in difficult operations for prolonged periods. The Indian Army has participated in several UN peace-keeping operations, including the ones in Cyprus, Lebanon, Congo, Angola, Cambodia, Vietnam, Namibia, El Salvador, Liberia, Mozambique & Somalia. The army also provided a paramedical unit to facilitate the withdrawal of the sick and wounded in Korea. Annexation of Hyderabad, 1948 Main article: Operation Polo After the partition of India, the State of Hyderabad, a princely-state under the rule of a Nizam, chose to remain independent. The Nizam, a muslim, refused to accede his state to the Union of India, although Hyderabad had an overwhelmingly large Hindu population. The following stand-off between the Government of India and the Nizam ended on 12 September 1948 when India's then deputy-Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel ordered Indian troops to secure the state. Within 5 days of intense fighting, the Indian Army, backed by the Indian Air Force, successfully defeated Hyderabad State forces. The following day, the State of Hyderabad was proclaimed as a part of the Union of India. Major General Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri, who led the Operation Polo was appointed the Military Governor of Hyderabad (1948-1949) to restore law and order. Interestingly India used force to "free" the non muslims of Hyderabad state from a muslim Nizam who acted "against their wishes", on the other hand aided another princely ruler, the Maharaja of Kashmir who was also acting against the wishes of his people. Goa, Daman and Diu Operation (1961) Even though the British and French vacated all their colonial possessions in the Indian subcontinent, Goa, Daman and Diu remained under Portuguese control. In 1961, after repeated Portuguese refusals to negotiate towards leaving, New Delhi ordered a small contingent of its troops to invade the Portuguese territories and secure them. It was called Operation Vijay. Unable to withstand the assault, Portugal signed a truce with India and gave up its control over the small territories, which formally became part of the Indian Union. The Indo-China Conflict- 1962 Main article: Sino-Indian War Since 1959 Indian Police posts had been pushed forward into territory claimed by the Chinese Government. Small scale clashes broke out as India insisted the border ran along the "traditional" watershed, in effect the McMahon Line, which China disputed. In 1962 Indian soldiers were ordered to move to the Thagla ridge near the border between Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, which formed part of the watershed, but was some three miles to the north of the McMahon line. Tensions rose further when New Delhi discovered that the Chinese had constructed a road through Aksai Chin which India claimed. In September 1962 Chinese troops made a surprising attack on the Indian soldiers from the ridge. On October 12, Nehru gave orders for the Chinese to be expelled from Aksai Chin. On October 20, Chinese soldiers attacked India in both the North-West and North-East parts of the border, entering the disputed Aksai Chin region along with Arunachal Pradesh in numbers. China then called on the Indian government to negotiate. With no peaceful agreement between the two counties, China unilaterally withdrew their troops from the territory they had occupied. The reasons for the withdrawal are disputed with India claiming logistical problems and diplomatic support from the US and China stating that it was returning to the borders that it had staked its diplomatic claim. The dividing line between the Indian and Chinese forces was christened the Line of Actual Control. A review committee was soon set up by the Indian government to determine the causes for India's defeat. The report apparently faulted much of India's armed forces command and especially the executive government for failures on several fronts. Despite frequent calls for its release this Henderson-Brooks Committee report still remains classified. Indo-Pakistani War of 1965------: A second confrontation with Pakistan took stand in 1965, largely over Kashmir. The people of Kashmir fed up from the non implementation of UN resolutions for a plebisite launched an armed struggle supported by Pakistan. Their initial sucessess worried the Indian leadership and without realising the consequences India on the pretext of Pakistan's aid to freedom fighters launched a full scale war on Pakistan, mainly eyeing Lahore (Pakistan's second largest city) and Sialkot (Industrial heart of Pakistan). Initially, the Indian Army met with considerable success in the northern sector. After launching prolonged artillery barrages against Pakistan, India was able to capture three important mountain positions in Kashmir. However, by the end of the month Pakistan had made progress in areas such as Tithwal, Uri and Punch and India had lost considerable number of troops (est. 120 dead or wounded), and tanks (30 destroyed) having captured the Haji Pir Pass eight kilometers inside Pakistani territory. In Sialkot and Lahore Indian forces met with considerable sucess in the begining but were pushed back to the border after the involvement of Pakistan's 6th Armoured division. Infact the battle for Sialkot will be remembered in the history where only one Tank regiment of Pakistan Army stopped Indian elite 1st Armoured Division for 12 days inflicting heavy losses. The war proved to be a stalemate despite India having six times larger army than Pakistan and the ceasefire on September 23 was followed by talks in Tashkent (brokered by the Soviet Union), where Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ayub Khan agreed to withdraw to virtually all pre-war positions. Bangladesh Liberation War-1971 Main article: Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 In [1971], rebellion broke out in East Pakistan, and India was forced to intervene as an estimated 10 million Bangladeshi refugees fled to India. Unlike the [1965] war, this time decisive change was effected. East Pakistan broke away with Indian intervention and became the independent state of Bangladesh. This was o