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The power imbalance between occupying Pakistani forces and the Bengali resistance in 1971 was overwhelmingly in Pakistan’s favour. On one side stood the Pakistan Army: a professional, highly disciplined military force, steeped in the British martial tradition, and equipped with modern American weaponry—Patton tanks, F-86 Sabre jets, and heavy artillery. They possessed a rigid chain of command and the ruthless efficiency of a force that had ruled the country under martial law for over a decade. On the other side was a spectral army. Its soldiers often wore lungis (traditional sarongs) instead of fatigues; they went barefoot through the mud; they carried…