Western Command (India)
Western Command is a formation of the Indian Army, active since 1947. It has seen action during the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971. The present Army Commander of the Western Command is Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra. [1] After the partition of India, the erstwhile command headquarters of which north India formed a part, Northern Command, went to Pakistan. The communal violence of partition necessitated the raising of a new command headquarters to relieve Army Headquarters of the day to day overseeing of operations of the two independent areas in north India.[2]:4
This command, initially named Delhi and East Punjab Command was raised in Delhi on 14 September 1947 with Lt Gen Sir Dudley Russell, KBE, CB, DSO, MC as the first commander. It had under it :[2]:4
On 26 October 1947, following the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India, Western Command was put in charge of all Indian Army operations to seize the area for India.[2]:12
Initially a division sized force Jammu and Kasmir Division was raised on 5 November 1947 under Maj Gen Kalwant Singh for overseeing operations in Jammu and Kashmir.[2]:29 This was later split into two parts - Ja (Jammu) Division (under Maj Gen Atma Singh) and Sri (Srinagar) Division (under Maj Gen K.S. Thimayya) to oversee operations in Jammu and Kashmir respectively.
Today the command reportedly consists of:[citation needed]
- Headquarters Western Command at Chandimandir
- II Corps, headquartered at Ambala, Haryana
- 1st Armoured Division headquartered at Patiala
- 14th RAPID at Dehradun
- 22nd Infantry Division headquartered at Meerut
- 474th Engineering Brigade
- 612th Mechanised Independent Air Defence Brigade
- IX Corps, headquartered at Yol, Himachal Pradesh
- 26th Infantry Division headquartered at Jammu
- 29th Infantry Division headquartered at Pathankot
- 2nd Independent Armoured Brigade
- 3rd Independent Armoured Brigade
- 16th Independent Armoured Brigade
- XI Corps, headquartered at Jalandhar, Punjab
- 7th Infantry Division headquartered at Firozpur
- 9th Infantry Division headquartered at Meerut
- 15th Infantry Division headquartered at Amritsar
- 23rd Armoured Brigade
- 55th Mechanised Brigade
- II Corps, headquartered at Ambala, Haryana
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/lt-gen-chachra-takes-over-as-western-army-commander/1006379.html
- ^ a b c d Sinha, Lt. Gen. S.K. (1977). Operation Rescue:Military Operations in Jammu & Kashmir 1947-49. New Delhi: Vision Books. p. 174. ISBN 81-7094-012-5. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
[edit] Further reading
- Richard A. Renaldi and Ravi Rikhye, 'Indian Army Order of Battle,' Orbat.com for Tiger Lily Books: A division of General Data LLC, ISBN 978-0-9820541-7-8, 2011.
