Southern_Command_(India)

Southern Command (India)

Southern Command (India)

Indian Army command

Southern Command is a formation of the Indian Army, active since 1895. It has seen action during the integration of several Princely States into modern India, during the 1961 Indian liberation of Goa, and during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani Wars. Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh is the current Southern Army Commander.

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History

Early history

The Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies became the Indian Army.[1] The Indian Army was divided into four Commands (Bengal Command, Bombay Command, Madras Command and Punjab Command) each under a lieutenant general.[1]

In 1908, the four commands were merged into two Armies (Northern Army and Southern Army): this system persisted until 1920 when the arrangement reverted to four commands again (Eastern Command, Northern Command, Southern Command and Western Command).[1] In 1914, the Southern Army consisted of the 4th (Quetta) Division, the 5th (Mhow) Division, the 6th (Poona) Division, the 9th (Secunderabad) Division, and the Aden Brigade.[2]

Second World War

During the Second World War, Southern Command was reformed as Southern Army (equivalent to a corps) in April 1942. The formation reverted to the title Southern Command in November 1945.[3]

Component divisions included:[4]

Component brigades included:[4]

Post war

In August 1947, Southern Command had the Deccan, Madras and Bombay Areas (with HQs at Kamptee, Madras and Bombay). In 1947–48, Southern Command was largely responsible in getting Junagadh and Hyderabad to sign the instrument of accession to India.[1] 1st Armoured Division did the actual incursion into Hyderabad. In 1961, the Indian annexation of Goa was conducted by 17th Infantry Division and 50th Parachute Brigade, under the operational control of Southern Command.[5]

In 1965–66, two further divisions were raised within the command. After fighting broke out in the Rann of Kutch in April 1965, a hastily constituted force, named Kilo Force under Maj. Gen P. O. Dunn was formed to contain this attack.[1] Kilo Force was later re-designated as 11 Infantry Division. In September 1965, the operational responsibility for the Barmer sector was given to Southern Command and entrusted to 11 Infantry Division. Delhi and Rajasthan Area, with its Advance Headquarters at Jodhpur, fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 under Western Command. On 3 November 1966, this formation was re-designated 12th Infantry Division, under Major General J.F.R. Jacob, and also placed under Southern Command.[6]

Structure

The command headquarters is located in Pune, Maharashtra.[7] It consists of two corps and two military areas.[1] The two areas are:- Maharashtra Goa and Gujarat Area (MG&G Area) and the Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala Area (ATNK&K Area)[8] In 2005, the changes to its jurisdiction area were made when a new South Western Command was established.[9]

More information Structure of Southern Command, Corps ...

Precursors (1907-1948)

Following is the List of precursors to the Southern Command and their commanders:[11]

Southern Command (1907-1908)

More information General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command, Rank ...

Southern Army (1908-1920)

More information General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army, Rank ...

Southern Command (1920-1942)

More information General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command, Rank ...

Southern Army (1942-1945)

More information General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army, Rank ...

List of GOC-in-C of Southern Command (1945- present)

Flag of Indian Army Southern Commander
More information General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army, Rank ...

Notes

  1. [1]
    "Northern Command". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  2. [2]
    "THE INDIAN ARMY 1914". Orbat.com. 25 March 2001. Archived from the original on 9 September 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  3. [3]
    "Southern Army". OOB.com. Retrieved 11 October 2009.[permanent dead link]
  4. [4]
    "Southern Army Subordinates". OOB.com. Retrieved 11 October 2009.[permanent dead link]
  5. [5]
    Pillarisetti, Jagan. "The Liberation of Goa: 1961". Bharat Rakshak. Archived from the original on 5 October 2003. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  6. [6]
    Renaldi and Rikhye 2011, p. 43
  7. [7]
    "Operational Commands of The Indian Army". Archived from the original on 28 February 2010. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  8. [8]
    Renaldi and Rikhye, 2011, p. 18
  9. [9]
    "Southern Command". GlobalSecurity. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  10. [10]
    Dolare, Rahul (1 January 2024). "Lieutenant General Prit Pal Singh Assumes Command of Sudarshan Chakra Corps".
  11. [11]
    "Army Commands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2015.
  12. [12]
    Praval, Major K.C. (1987). Indian Army After Independence. Lancer Publishers LLC. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-935501-61-9.
  13. [13]
    "Gopal Gurunath Bewoor". Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. [14]
    "As Gen Arun Shridhar Vaidya retires, Indian Army reshuffles to appoint new army chief". Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  15. [15]
    Abidi, S. Sartaj Alam; Sharma, Satinder (2007). Services Chiefs of India. Northern Book Centre. p. 85. ISBN 978-81-7211-162-5.
  16. [16]
    "rediff.com: Lt Gen Sundararajan Padmanabhan to be next army chief". www.rediff.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  17. [17]
    "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Main News". www.tribuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  18. [18]
    "Lt Gen GS Sihota retires on Feb 29". The Times of India. 28 February 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  19. [19]
    "Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Army's Southern Command chief visits OTA in city". The Hindu. 4 November 2005. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  20. [20]
    "Tamil Nadu News : Army took six hours to get ready for relief". The Hindu. 30 December 2004. Retrieved 26 October 2017.[dead link]
  21. [21]
    India Who's who. INFA Publications. 2004.
  22. [22]
    "LT. GEN. ADITYA SINGH PVSM, AVSM** (RETD)". www.delhipolicygroup.org. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  23. [23]
    "Lt Gen HS Lidder new CIDS". oneindia.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  24. [24]
    "Lt Gen ML Naidu to be next Vcoas : other Senior Appointments also announced". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  25. [25]
    "Sainik Samchar 2007". Archived from the original on 27 October 2017.
  26. [26]
    "'Ekuverin-09' Indo-Maldivian troops joint exercise concludes". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  27. [27]
    "Lt Gen A K Singh is new GOC-in-C of Southern Command – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  28. [28]
    "Lt Gen A K Singh to head Southern Army Command". The Indian Express. 1 March 2011. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  29. [29]
    "Lt Gen Ashok Singh takes over as Southern Army commander – Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  30. [30]
    "Lt Gen Bipin Rawat takes over as new Army Commander". The Indian Express. 2 January 2016. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  31. [31]
    IANS (1 September 2016). "Lt Gen P.M. Hariz is new chief of Southern Command". Business Standard India. Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  32. [32]
    "Lt Gen Soni takes over as chief of Southern Command". The Indian Express. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  33. [33]
    "General SK Saini, new head of Southern Command". Devdiscourse. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  34. [34]
    "Lt Gen CP Mohanty assumes command of Pune-based Southern Command". Hindustan Times. 31 January 2020.
  35. [35]
    "JS Nain army commander southern command". Deccan Express. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  36. [36]
    "Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh assumed the command of Southern Command today". 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.

Sources

  • Rinaldi, Richard; Rikhye, Ravi (2011). Indian Army Order of Battle. General Data. ISBN 978-0982054178.
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