434 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড The Indian Army yesterday captured Comilla airfield, which lies between the town and the cantonment. The town is already in Indian hands. Within hours of the capture of the airfield, Lt-Gen. J. S. Arora, GOC of Eastern Command, flew there from Agartala, the remote capital of the east Indian state of Tripura. A wildly cheering reception by the "liberated" population was reported by the Army. Gen. Arora made a tour of inspection of Indian troops who have already pushed westwards from Comilla to within 25 miles of Dacca. Eastern Command described the tour as a "morale booster," further indication that the war in East Bengal is far from over, Pakistani casualties over the last four days of fighting were given by Indian officials last night as one officer and 331 men killed and 181 injured. Nine officers have been captured along with 21 junior commissioned officers and 285 other ranks. No time to count But Eastern Command has released no figures for Pakistan dead and wounded in the 24 hour battle for Jessore. Maj Gen. J. F. R. Jacob, Chief of Staff of Eastern Command, said troops "did not have time to count" The inability of Eastern Command to produce large casualty figures to match their spectacular capture of Jessore may be an indication that the cantonment town fell to the Indians more easily than they are prepared to admit. Eastern Command has resolutely declined to reveal details of Indian casualties in East Bengal, saying only that they are "always light, and never heavy." Commentators suggest that the fall of Jessore may have had less to do with brilliant Indian tactics than with Pakistan's desire to maintain defenses in the interior as her 80.000 troops in East Bengal are hopelessly outnumbered.
