A READY RECKONER : THE ART OF WAR Sun Tzu
‘Art of War’ by Sun Tzu, is an exceptional account of the military strategy and warfare ever written. Unfortunately, the chosen expressions and language, the flow of the text and elucidation of what Sun Tzu said and meant, is not easy to comprehend. The endeavour, therefore, in this ‘Ready Reckoner’, has been to reorganise it and make it more adaptive to a modern-day military mind. Further, to aid the DSSC aspirants, relevant questions which get thrown up as you read along, have been culled out and indicated at the end of each chapter. Wish you a happy reading!!
Major General Joydeep Bhati, SM, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, was commissioned in December 1980 into the Mechanised Infantry Regiment. He through his illustrious career of 38 years has served the Indian army with distinction.
He has had the honour of commanding a Mechanised Infantry battalion in both Counter Insurgency environment and Op PARAKRAM. He also had the privilege of commanding an Infantry Brigade in a Strike Corps. In staff, he has been a Brigade Major of an Armoured Brigade, Colonel General Staff in the Army Training Command, Colonel Administration of a RAPID and Major General Operation Logistics in two commands.
Besides all the basic courses, he has attended the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and Higher Command Course at Army War College, Mhow.
Post superannuating, he has settled at Agra where he continues to contribute to society in multifarious ways.
Colonel Shashank Kaushal has been a soldier for 23 years in the Indian Army. He did all his mandatory courses to include Commando, Infantry Young officer’s Course and Mechanised Young officer’s Course, Junior Command and prestigious Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He was an instructor Class A at Indian Military Academy and later GSO1 at an Independent mechanised Brigade in western Sector. He also had a tenure as Colonel MS and Military Advisor to GoC-in-C in two different commands including Army Training Command. He has authored one fiction “Inspiration Stories on Wheels (Travel Short Stories)” and second book is in the pipeline with one of the big five publishers. Having taken voluntary retirement from army to pursue his literary passion he is settled in Gurugram and continues to write about various issues of social relevance.
General Heinz Guderian’s Panzer Leader Ready Rackoner
The book ‘Panzer Leader’, Guderian’s memoirs, is a lucid and intriguing account of the Third Reich, under the Fuehrer, from the German perspective. For a follower of warfare and history alike, it is a captivating and enlightening read.
But for those of us who are not bestowed with the luxury of time, we present for you this truncated…. ready reckoner, in a simplistic reading format. Though being a relatively short account, it retains within itself the essence and essentials of the major campaigns and the characters which shaped German responses and its fluctuating fortunes during the Second World War. For the students of history, in military or civil domains, we have also made it convenient to list out ‘pertinent questions’ which get thrown up as we proceed to read and enjoy this exceptional narrative. Wish you a happy reading!!
Ready Reckoner : Gen Vo Nguyen Giap
It seems like yesterday when I appeared for DSSC and prepared extensively for one year. I always felt the aim of the exam was to enhance the knowledge threshold and to be able to clearly articulate our thoughts. Military history is one of the subjects which troubled me for a long time.
To start with the preparations, Military History is very time taking and requires an extensive research. The prescribed books and the USI notes or the DGMT precis were a good help but could not give me the correct overview of the campaign or the biography. The initial overview itself is missing from all the books or notes and without the overview, reading the book becomes a nightmare because first reading of the book makes turn the pages back and forth. I felt there was a need to create a ready reckoner for the military history examination preparations.
When I finally prepared my notes, I realised that it still lacked the broad understanding and reasons for the concepts applied. I made the overview, in the end, a month prior to the examination and then complete notes became easy to read, comprehend and assimilate.
Now after hanging my uniform I felt I could use the same skills for the benefit of young DSSC aspirants by giving them the overview of personality, geography, campaigns in more military like presentation. It is a humble effort to make the biography interesting and easy to remember. The major campaigns and different perspective of both adversaries makes it so confusing for the first-time reader that one is likely to give up half way. This book will help you to get big picture, op art and the military appreciated reasons for various actions during the course of campaign and the growth of military leader. The most interesting part of the Biography is to understand the new concepts applied by a leader, the thought process and the military circumstances behind the timing of application of concepts.
This book is an amalgamation of prescribed and recommended books, open source research and conversations with some senior veterans. At places the names of campaigns in both are different and the force levels described are also different. The official history or Vietnam and their perspective is completely at variance. It posed an ethical dilemma for me as the books by victors always tells a different tale while the truth may be different so I avoided any contradictory analysis and stuck to military analysis only.
Remember, it is the continuity and planning that will help you achieve the desired results. Its best to start early and slow, than to clock large number of hours in last few months. Make your time plan. Get your notes ready. Look for the previous years’ examiner’s comments and understand the common mistakes. Arm yourself by practicing answer writing and getting it marked by some experienced seniors. I sincerely hope that the ready reckoner lives up to the name and proves useful for the preparations.
All the best for your preparations.
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