Lt. Gen. SPP Thorat’s note written to the government on October 8, 1959 was seen by Prime Minister only in October 1962 after the debacle in NEFA.

TODAY (September 24), in Pune, the Indian Army will pause to honour one of its most remarkable but under-recognised soldiers. The autobiography of Lieutenant General SPP Thorat is being re-released in the presence of the Chief of Defence Staff, 

NEW DELHI: Events leading up to the 1962 India-China war will be in sharp focus again next week when chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan releases the revised edition of the autobiography of the late Lieutenant General SPP Thorat, one of the most respected army officers of that era and whose prescient warning about Chinese intentions were ignored by the government at the time.

The CDS will release the revised edition of the book, From Reveille to Retreat – An Autobiography, in Pune on September 24; the book was first published in 1985 and went into its last reprint two decades ago. The latest version, published by Hedwig Media House, omits some portions that are no longer relevant and includes many previously unpublished papers and photographs.

One of the chapters in the autobiography deals with the North-Eastern Frontier, capturing the aggressive Chinese actions along the northern borders in the late 1950s, the government’s refusal to admit any danger to India, the stark differences between the political and military leadership, Thorat’s strained relations with the then defence minister VK Krishna Menon and the defence of the North-Eastern Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh) being entrusted to the para-military force Assam Rifles and not to the army.