Southern Command
Southern Command's insignia today.
Active1908–present
Country India
Branch Indian Army
TypeCommand
Garrison/HQPune
Commanders
Current
commander		Lt Gen Ajai Kumar Singh
Notable
commanders		General Rajendrasinhji Jadeja
General S M Shrinagesh
General K S Thimayya
General Pran Nath Thapar
General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri
General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor
General Om Prakash Malhotra
General Bipin Chandra Joshi
General Ved Prakash Malik
General Sundararajan Padmanabhan
General Nirmal Chander Vij
General Bipin Rawat

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.

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]

Structure of Southern Command
Corps Corps HQ GOC of Corps

(Corps Commander)

 Assigned Units Unit HQ
XII Corps

(Konark Corps)

 Jodhpur, Rajasthan Lt Gen Mohit Malhotra 11 Infantry Division Ahmedabad, Gujarat
12 RAPID Division Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
75 (Independent) Infantry Brigade Bhuj, Gujarat
4 (Independent) Armoured Brigade Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
340 (Independent) Mechanized Brigade Ajmer, Rajasthan
XXI Corps

(Sudarshan Chakra Corps)

 Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Lt Gen Prit Pal Singh[10] 54 Infantry Division Secunderabad, Telangana
36 RAPID Division Sagar, Madhya Pradesh
31 Armoured Division Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh
41 Artillery Division Pune, Maharashtra
475 Engineering Brigade Nasirabad, Rajasthan
Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa Area Mumbai, Maharashtra
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,

Karnataka, and Kerala Area

 Chennai, Tamil Nadu
617 (Independent) Air Defence Brigade Pune, Maharashtra

Precursors (1907-1948)

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

Southern Command (1907-1908)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command
Rank Name Assumed office Left office Unit of commission
General Sir Archibald Hunter June 1907 October 1908 4th (King's Own Royal) Regiment of Foot

Southern Army (1908-1920)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army
Rank Name Assumed office Left office Unit of commission
General Sir Edmund G. Barrow October 1908 October 1912 102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers)
General Sir John E. Nixon October 1912 February 1915 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot
Lieutenant General Sir Robert I. Scallon February 1915 1916 72nd (Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders) Regiment of Foot
Lieutenant General Sir Charles A. Anderson April 1917 November 1919 Royal Horse Artillery
Lieutenant General Sir William R. Marshall November 1919 1920 Sherwood Foresters

Southern Command (1920-1942)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command
Rank Name Assumed office Left office Unit of commission
Lieutenant General Sir William R. Marshall 1920 December 1923 Sherwood Foresters
Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Skeen December 1923 March 1924 King's Own Scottish Borderers
Lieutenant General Sir Harold B. Walker March 1924 March 1928 Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
General Sir William C. G. Heneker March 1928 March 1932 Connaught Rangers
General Sir George D. Jeffreys March 1932 March 1936 Grenadier Guards
Lieutenant General Sir Ivo L. B. Vesey March 1936 October 1937 Queen's Royal Regiment
General Sir John E. S. Brind October 1937 March 1941 Royal Artillery
Lieutenant General Thomas S. Riddell-Webster March 1941 October 1941 Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
General Sir Brodie Haig October 1941 June 1942 24th Punjabis

Southern Army (1942-1945)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army
Rank Name Assumed office Left office Unit of commission
Lieutenant General Sir Noel M. de la P. Beresford-Peirse June 1942 March 1945 Royal Artillery

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

Flag of Indian Army Southern Commander
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army
Rank Name Assumed office Left office Unit of commission Ref
Lieutenant General Sir Rob McG. M Lockhart April 1945 15 August 1947 51st Sikhs
Lieutenant General Eric N. Goddard 15 August 1947 1 May 1948 107th Pioneers
Lieutenant General Rajendrasinhji Jadeja 1 May 1948 14 January 1953 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)
Lieutenant General Satyawant M. Shrinagesh 17 January 1953 14 May 1955 19th Hyderabad Regiment
Lieutenant General K. S. Thimayya 15 May 1955 14 September 1956 19th Hyderabad Regiment
Lieutenant General Pran Nath Thapar 21 January 1957 24 May 1959 1st Punjab Regiment
Lieutenant General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri 25 May 1959 19 November 1962 7th Light Cavalry [12]
Lieutenant General Lionel Protip Sen 10 May 1963 7 May 1965 10th Baluch Regiment
Lieutenant General Moti Sagar 8 May 1965 3 July 1969 4th Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor 4 July 1969 14 January 1973 Dogra Regiment [13]
Lieutenant General Sartaj Singh 27 January 1973 31 July 1974 Regiment of Artillery
Lieutenant General Om Prakash Malhotra 1 August 1974 19 January 1977 Regiment of Artillery
Lieutenant General A. M. Vohra 20 January 1977 30 May 1979 3rd Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General A. N. Mathur 31 May 1979 29 June 1980 Corps of Signals
Lieutenant General R. D. Hira 30 June 1980 31 August 1981 9th Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General Tirath Singh Oberoi 1 September 1981 30 November 1984 Parachute Regiment [14]
Lieutenant General Ranjit Singh Dyal 14 February 1985 30 November 1986 Parachute Regiment [14]
Lieutenant General Depinder Singh 1 December 1986 29 November 1988 8th Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General A. K. Chatterjee 1 March 1988 31 May 1990 Sikh Light Infantry
Lieutenant General Bipin Chandra Joshi 1 June 1990 14 August 1992 64 Cavalry [15]
Lieutenant General A. S. Kalkat 15 August 1992 31 December 1993 8th Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General Moti Dar 1 January 1994 16 July 1995 17th Horse (Poona Horse)
Lieutenant General Ved Prakash Malik 17 July 1995 31 August 1996 Sikh Light Infantry [15]
Lieutenant General H. M. Khanna 1 September 1996 3 January 1999 Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General Sundararajan Padmanabhan 4 January 1999 30 September 2000 Regiment of Artillery [16]
Lieutenant General Nirmal Chander Vij 1 October 2000 31 September 2001 Dogra Regiment [17]
Lieutenant General Gurbaksh Singh Sihota 9 October 2001 29 February 2004 7 Field Regiment [18]
Lieutenant General Balraj Singh Takhar 1 March 2004 31 January 2006 17th Horse (Poona Horse) [19][20][21]
Lieutenant General Aditya Singh 1 March 2006 30 September 2007 9th Deccan Horse [22][23]
Lieutenant General Noble Thamburaj 1 October 2007 31 December 2008 Bombay Sappers [24][25]
Lieutenant General Pradeep Khanna 1 January 2009 28 February 2011 20 Lancers [26]
Lieutenant General Ajay Kumar Singh 1 March 2011 31 January 2013 7th Light Cavalry [27][28]
Lieutenant General Ashok Singh 1 February 2013 31 December 2015 Brigade of the Guards [29]
Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat 1 January 2016 31 July 2016 11th Gorkha Rifles [30]
Lieutenant General P. M. Hariz 1 September 2016 30 November 2017 Mechanised Infantry [31]
Lieutenant General Dewan Rabindranath Soni 1 December 2017 1 October 2018 Central India Horse [32]
Lieutenant General Satinder Kumar Saini 1 October 2018 24 January 2020 Jat Regiment [33]
Lieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty 30 January 2020 31 January 2021 Rajput Regiment [34]
Lieutenant General Jai Singh Nain 1 February 2021 31 October 2022 Dogra Regiment [35]
Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh 1 November 2022 Incumbent 11th Gorkha Rifles [36]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Northern Command". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  2. ↑ "THE INDIAN ARMY 1914". Orbat.com. 25 March 2001. Archived from the original on 9 September 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "Southern Army". OOB.com. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Southern Army Subordinates". OOB.com. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  5. ↑ Pillarisetti, Jagan. "The Liberation of Goa: 1961". Bharat Rakshak. Archived from the original on 5 October 2003. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  6. ↑ Renaldi and Rikhye 2011, p. 43
  7. ↑ "Operational Commands of The Indian Army". Archived from the original on 28 February 2010. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  8. ↑ Renaldi and Rikhye, 2011, p. 18
  9. ↑ "Southern Command". GlobalSecurity. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  10. ↑ Dolare, Rahul (1 January 2024). "Lieutenant General Prit Pal Singh Assumes Command of Sudarshan Chakra Corps".
  11. ↑ "Army Commands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2015.
  12. ↑ Praval, Major K.C. (1987). Indian Army After Independence. Lancer Publishers LLC. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-935501-61-9.
  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. 1 2 "As Gen Arun Shridhar Vaidya retires, Indian Army reshuffles to appoint new army chief". Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  15. 1 2 Abidi, S. Sartaj Alam; Sharma, Satinder (2007). Services Chiefs of India. Northern Book Centre. p. 85. ISBN 978-81-7211-162-5.
  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. ↑ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Main News". www.tribuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  18. ↑ "Lt Gen GS Sihota retires on Feb 29". The Times of India. 28 February 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  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. ↑ "Tamil Nadu News : Army took six hours to get ready for relief". The Hindu. 30 December 2004. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  21. ↑ India Who's who. INFA Publications. 2004.
  22. ↑ "LT. GEN. ADITYA SINGH PVSM, AVSM** (RETD)". www.delhipolicygroup.org. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  23. ↑ "Lt Gen HS Lidder new CIDS". oneindia.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  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. ↑ "Sainik Samchar 2007". Archived from the original on 27 October 2017.
  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. ↑ "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. ↑ "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. ↑ "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. ↑ "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. ↑ 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. ↑ "Lt Gen Soni takes over as chief of Southern Command". The Indian Express. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  33. ↑ "General SK Saini, new head of Southern Command". Devdiscourse. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  34. ↑ "Lt Gen CP Mohanty assumes command of Pune-based Southern Command". Hindustan Times. 31 January 2020.
  35. ↑ "JS Nain army commander southern command". Deccan Express. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  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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