Page "East Pakistan" Paragraph 35

Since its unification with Pakistan, the East Pakistan Army had consisted of only one infantry brigade, which was made up of two battalions, the 1st East Bengal Regiment and the 1 / 14 or 3 / 8 Punjab Regiment in 1948.

These two battalions boasted only five rifle companies between them ( an infantry battalion normally had 5 companies ).

This weak brigade, under the command of Brigadier-General Ayub Khan ( local rank Major-General – GOC of 14th Army Division ), together with the East Pakistan Rifles which was tasked with defending East Pakistan during the Kashmir War of 1947.

The PAF, Marines, and the Navy had little presence in the region.

Only one PAF combatant squadron, No. 14 Squadron Tail Choppers, was active in East Pakistan.

This combatant squadron was commanded by an air force Major PQ Mehdi ( later four-star general ).

The East Pakistan military personnel were trained in combat diving, demolitions, and guerrilla / anti-guerrilla tactics by the advisers from the Special Service Group ( Navy ) who were also charged with intelligence data collection and management cycle.