বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড The same day an order went out to the troops in East Pakistan that ammunition was to be conserved at all costs and that every shot must be made to count. It was not an order calculated to help morale, even of the excellent troops in East Pakistan. And it convinced Yahya that a surrender on the scale of Britain's at Singapore, which is a disaster much on the mines of the Pakistani generals, was imminent in the East unless something was done. DAY 2: Failure of the Pakistan quick-Kill A Few Minutes after midnight on Saturday, Mrs. Gandhi arrived back in Delhi from Calcutta, where she cut short a brief visit after she heard the news. In a radio broadcast, she said that India was on a "war footing." Later in the day she made a statement to Parliament, The politicians banged their desks with enthusiasm and quickly passed a Defense of India bill, giving her sweeping emergency powers. DAY 3: Retreat-or Face Mukti On Sunday, a change in tacties brought a noticeable spurt in the Indian Army's offensive on the Eastern front Instead of wasting men, material and time on the conquest of well-fortified Pakistan Army positions; a two-pronged attack was launched on Dacca. The Indians objective was to grab the provincial capital as quickly as possible and, by slicing the province in two. to isolate well-entrenched Pakistan Army units in both halves. These would either have to fall back on Dacca or dig in and be pleked off by the Mukti Bahini or the Indian Army at their leisure. This plan had the added advantage of keeping damage to the province to a minimum-an important factor since India would be expected to help re-establish the economy were a Bangladesh government to come to power. Forty miles to the south, another Indian column moved across the border below Comilla into the rail junction of Laksham. From here, there was an excellent road to Daudkandi, a key ferry point on the Meghna just 22 miles east of Dacca. The operations in these areas were facilitated by Indian air supremacy. There were no tactical air strikes by Pakistan Air Force. The Indians claimed to have destroyed all but four of the Sabres stationed in East Pakistan and these were grounded at Dacca airport by repeated Indian bombing of the only jet runway in the province. Accordingly Indian Army units investing Jessore, instead of risking a head-on clash with the 5,000 to 7,000 Pakistani troops there moved to by-pass and outflank them in the direction of Dacca. On the Eastern border of East Bengal, an Indian Army column moving through Agartala began to move westwards towards Ashuganj, where a major bridge offered access to Dacca. Chittagong, the eastern terminal of the long supply line from Karachi, was kept bottle up by fighters operating from the Indian aircraft carrier Vikrant. And Chittagong's vital road and railway link with Dacca and the north was threatened by an Indian Army thrust towards Feni, an important communications centre half way to Comilla.
