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Northern Command
Insignia of Northern Command
Active	1908–1947 1972 – present
Country	India
Branch	Indian Army
Type	Command
HQ	Udhampur
Motto(s)	Forever in operations
Commanders
GOC-in-C	Lt Gen M. V. Suchindra Kumar PVSM, AVSM, YSM**, VSM
Notable commanders	Lt Gen P. S. Bhagat Gen S. Padmanabhan Gen Deepak Kapoor Gen Upendra Dwivedi
Insignia
Flag

The Northern Command is a Command of the Indian Army. It was originally formed as the Northern Army of the British Indian Army in 1908. It was scrapped upon India's independence in 1947 and later re-raised in 1972. Currently, the XIV Corps (Leh), XV Corps (Srinagar), I Corps (Mathura) and XVI Corps (Nagrota) are under its control. Its present commander is Lieutenant General M. V. Suchindra Kumar.

History

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

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.

In 1937, Western Command was downgraded to become the Western Independent District. In April 1942, the Western Independent District was absorbed into the Northern Command which itself was re-designated as North Western Army to guard the borders at North West Frontier during World War II. It controlled the Kohat, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Baluchistan and Waziristan Districts.

The formation reverted to the title Northern Command in November 1945. In 1947, India moved towards partition, with Northern Command HQ at Rawalpindi becoming the Army HQ of the newly formed Pakistan Army (as GHQ Pakistan), with the rest of commands passing to the Indian Army.

In 1972, the Government of India decided to raise a separate command to oversee operations in the northern borders with Pakistan and China. Lt. Gen. P. S. Bhagat was appointed as its GOC-in-C in June 1972. Bhagat's main activities as Army Commander were the improvement of defence and the living and working condition of his troops. Headquarters for the command was established at Udhampur, J&K.

The XIV Corps (Leh), XV Corps (Srinagar) and XVI Corps (Nagrota) control the operational units in Northern Command. 71 Independent Sub Area is part of the Command. In 2001–02, during Operation Parakram the III Corps and its 57th Mountain Division were temporarily shifted into the command as a reserve.

Structure

Currently, the Northern Commands has been assigned operational units under four corps: XIV Corps, I Corps, XV Corps and XVI Corps.

In 2021, the Strike One Corps was re-organised to join the Northern Command to assist at the Ladakh border with China.

Structure of Northern Command
Corps		Corps HQ	GOC of Corps (Corps Commander)	Assigned Units	Unit HQ
	XIV Corps (Fire and Fury Corps)	Leh, Ladakh	Lt Gen Hitesh Bhalla	3 Infantry Division	Karu, Ladakh
				8 Mountain Division	Dras, Ladakh
				254 (Independent) Armoured Brigade	Leh, Ladakh
				102 (Independent) Infantry Brigade	Partapur, Ladakh
				118 (Independent) Infantry Brigade	Nyoma, Ladakh
	XV Corps (Chinar Corps)	Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir	Lt Gen Prashant Srivastava	19 Mountain Division	Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir
				28 Infantry Division	Gurez, Jammu & Kashmir
				Rashtriya Rifles "Kilo Force"	N/A
				Rashtriya Rifles "Victor Force"	N/A
	XVI Corps (White Knight Corps)	Nagarota, Jammu & Kashmir	Lt Gen Navin Sachdeva	10 RAPID Division	Akhnoor, Jammu & Kashmir
				25 Armoured Division	Rajauri, Jammu & Kashmir
				39 Mountain Division	Yol, Himachal Pradesh
				Rashtriya Rifles "Delta Force"	N/A
				Rashtriya Rifles "Romeo Force"	N/A
				Rashtriya Rifles "Uniform Force"	N/A
				10 Artillery Brigade	N/A
	I Corps (Strike One Corps)	Mathura, Uttar Pradesh	Lt Gen Sanjay Mitra	4 RAPID Division	Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
				6 Mountain Division	Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
				42 Artillery Division	Bassi, Rajasthan
				14 (Independent) Armoured Brigade	Bhatinda, Punjab

Precursors (1895–1947)

Following is the List of precursors to the Northern Command and their commanders:

Punjab Command (1895–1907)

Northern Command (1904–1908)

Northern Army (1908–1920)

Northern Command (1920–1942)

North-Western Army (1942–1945)

Northern Command (1945–1947)

List of GOC-in-C of Northern Command (1972–present)

Following is the list of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Northern Command after its re-raising in 1972:

References

1. ^ "Northern Army". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
2. "North Western Army". Order of Battle. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
3. "British Military History". British Military History. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
4. Major General Cecil Watton Toovey CB, CBE, MC Archived 11 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Northern Command, India". British Military History. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
6. ^ Singh, V.K. (23 March 2005). Leadership in the Indian army: biographies of twelve soldiers (Illustrated ed.). New Delhi: Sage. p. 417. ISBN 978-0-7619-3322-9.
7. ^ Renaldi and Rikhye 2011, p. 21
8. Service, Tribune News. "Focus on China, Army moves key 'strike' elements to eastern Ladakh". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
9. ConflictX (1 June 2022). "Strike One Corps got re-organised. It saw addition of 6 Mountain Division which came from Central Command. 33 Armored Division which was part of 1 corps is retained by South Western Command. While 23 Division moved to 17 Strike Corps. https://t.co/fPiMUnbb0O" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022 – via Twitter.
10. Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
11. "Page 5852 | Issue 37801, 29 November 1946 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk.
12. "Lt. Gen. Rai Takes Over Northern Command" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 28 July 1974. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
13. "New Appointments in Army" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 19 May 1978. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
14. "Lt. Gen. S. P. Malhotra – New GOC-in-C" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 26 December 1979. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
15. "Gen. Chhibber New GOC-in-C Northern Command" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 1 October 1982. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
16. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 8 February 1986. p. 129.
17. ^ "Lt. Gen. BC Nanda Appointed GOC-in-C Northern Command" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 20 May 1987. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
18. "Lt. Gen. Gurinder Singh Appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 31 May 1989. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
19. "New Army Commanders Appointed" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 15 June 1991. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
20. "New Vice-Chief and Army Commanders Appointed" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 23 June 1993. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
21. "Lt. Gen. Surinder Singh Takes Over as Northern Army Commander" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 1 September 1993. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
22. "Army Appointments" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 22 August 1996. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
23. "rediff.com: Lt Gen Sundararajan Padmanabhan to be next army chief". www.rediff.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
24. "The Commanders Who Failed". Outlook India. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
25. "Lt Gen Nanavatty takes over as GOCC, northern command". Zee News. 1 February 2001. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
26. "Lt Gen Hari Prasad new GoC-in-C, Northern Command". www.rediff.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
27. "Lt Gen Kapoor to be new VCOAS; Panag, Jamwal to head N, E Cmds". oneindia.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
28. "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Main News". www.tribuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 8 November 2005. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
29. "Senior Appointments : Army". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
30. "Lt Gen PC Bhardwaj, takes over as Vice Army Chief". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
31. "Northern Command bid Farewell to Lt Gen BS Jaswal, general officer commanding- in chief – Ground Report". www.groundreport.com. 31 December 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
32. "Lt Gen B S Jaswal takes charge of Northern Command today – Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
33. "Lieutenant General KT Parnaik,takes over as the GOC-in -C, Northern Command – Ground Report". www.groundreport.com. January 2011. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
34. "Lt Gen Chachra takes over as Army's Northern Command chief". The Economic Times. 1 July 2013. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
35. "Lt Gen Hooda takes over as Northern Command Chief". Firstpost. 2 June 2014. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
36. "Lt Gen Devraj Anbu takes over as chief of Army's Northern command". The Indian Express. 1 December 2016. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
37. "'Face of Indian Army' Lt Gen Ranbir Singh appointed Northern Army Commander". The Week. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
38. Negi, Manjeet Singh (24 January 2020). "Kargil fame Lt Gen YK Joshi appointed Northern Army Commander". India Today. London. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
39. "Govt appoints new commanders for Indian Army's Northern, Eastern commands". India Today. 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
40. "Kumar to head Northern Command, Dwivedi is vice chief". Daily Excelsior. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.

• Chris KEMPTON, ‘Loyalty and Honour’ – The Indian Army September 1939 – August 1947 Part I Divisions; Part II Brigades; Part III (Milton Keynes: Military Press, 2003) .

Sources

• Rinaldi, Richard; Rikhye, Ravi (2011). Indian Army Order of Battle. General Data. ISBN 978-0982054178.
• http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/where-did-brigades-go-vanished-why-and-who-disbanded.70950/ - list of brigades on the frontier in 1939

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