On Oct. 20, 1962, some 20,000 Chinese troops poured out of the Himalayas overlooking India's North East Frontier Agency (NEFA). Other Chinese forces marched through the rocky wastes of the Ladakh region of Kashmir, about 1,000 miles to the west. Outgunned and outmanned by the invaders, the ill-equipped Indian army fell back. After a month of smashing Chinese victories, much of northern India lay open to conquest. But suddenly the invaders stopped dead in their tracks. Radio Peking announced that "on its own initiative" China was declaring a ceasefire. Chinese troops pulled back...
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