ABSTRACT

Since 1984 the Indian and Pakistani armies have been locked in the world’s highest war on Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram Himalaya. This remote location is the world’s only nuclear trijunction as well as a source of drinking water for significant portions of India and Pakistan, and its possession is considered by both governments to be key to their national security. In the past, alpine battles were fought predominantly on glaciers with a precipitation-dominated accumulation type; Siachen, however, gains most of its new ice mass from avalanches and icefalls. This has presented unique challenges in tactics and logistics, rendering many of the strategies of modern conventional warfare useless, and the style of mountain warfare these challenges have produced has impacted both the combatants and the glacier itself. Existing literature on Siachen, while it discusses the verticality of the conflict, has done little to analyze the singular nature of warfare on a high-altitude glacier with an avalanche-heavy accumulation type. This paper draws on USGS Landsat data, glaciological mass balance studies, hydrological studies, firsthand combat accounts and historical reviews of the region to examine the unique tactics, logistics and impact of warfare on Siachen Glacier.

摘要

自1984年以来，印度和巴基斯坦军队就在喀喇昆仑喜马拉雅山的锡亚琴冰川上陷入了世界上最高的战争。这个偏远地区是世界上唯一的核三合点，也是印度和巴基斯坦大部分地区的饮用水源，两国政府都认为拥有该地区对其国家安全至关重要。过去，高山战役主要在以降水为主的堆积型冰川上进行；然而，Siachen 的大部分新冰块都来自雪崩和冰瀑。这在战术和后勤方面提出了独特的挑战，使现代常规战争的许多战略变得毫无用处，这些挑战所产生的山地战风格对战斗人员和冰川本身都产生了影响。现有的关于锡亚琴的文献，虽然它讨论了冲突的垂直性，但几乎没有分析在具有雪崩堆积类型的高海拔冰川上战争的奇异性质。本文利用美国地质调查局 Landsat 数据、冰川质量平衡研究、水文研究、第一手战斗资料和该地区的历史回顾来研究战争对 Siachen Glacier 的独特战术、后勤和影响。