In February 1999, Pakistani Army personnel, disguised as jihadi militants, infiltrated into mountainous Kargil and occupied key vantage points. Their intrusion triggered a limited war between the world's newest nuclear states. It was a bitter battle, and one that threw up important lessons for India's defence preparedness, as also its responses to conflicts such as this.

This incisive book by General V. P. Malik, former Chief of the Army Staff, analyses the reasoning behind the Pakistani Army's moves and tactics and reviews crucial issues such as the extent of intelligence and surveillance failure on the Indian side and the measures necessary to redress these failings. Kargil also highlights the challenges that yet remain - as General Malik writes in the preface to this new edition, there is still an 'absence of holistic and long- term defence planning.'

Away from questions of strategy and tactics, however, Kargil is also a reminder of the unalloyed heroism that was on display during those grim weeks, heroism that become a benchmark for valour.