Misplaced Pages

Southern Command
Insignia of the Southern Command
Active	1908–present
Country	India
Branch	Indian Army
Type	Command
Garrison/HQ	Pune
Anniversaries	1 April (Raising Day)
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth, AVSM
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
Insignia
Flag

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 Dhiraj Seth is the present 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. 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 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.

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.

Component divisions included:

• 19th Indian Infantry Division, April 1942 to July 1944
• 2nd British Infantry Division, June 1942 to April 1943, and then June 1945 to August 1945
• 70th British Infantry Division, July 1943 to October 1943
• 81st (West Africa) Division, March 1945 to August 1945
• 36th Infantry Division (British Army), June 1945 to August 1945

Component brigades included:

• 7th Armoured Brigade, June 1942 to September 1942
• British 6th Infantry Brigade, November 1942 to December 1942
• 150th Indian Infantry Brigade March 1944 to August 1945
• 26th Indian Infantry Brigade July 1944 to December 1944

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. 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.

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. 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.

Structure

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

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	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:

Southern Command (1907–1908)

Southern Army (1908–1920)

Southern Command (1920–1942)

Southern Army (1942–1945)

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

Notes

1. ^ "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. ^ "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. ^ "As Gen Arun Shridhar Vaidya retires, Indian Army reshuffles to appoint new army chief". Retrieved 26 October 2017.
15. ^ 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.
37. "Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth assumes command of Pune-based Southern Army". The Indian Express. 1 July 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.

Sources

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

v t e Indian Armed Forces
Indian Army  Indian Navy  Indian Air Force
Leadership	President Prime Minister Minister of Defence Defence Secretary National Security Advisor Chief of Defence Staff (Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee) Chief of the Army Staff Chief of the Naval Staff Chief of the Air Staff Vice Chief of Defence Staff Director General Armed Forces Medical Services Serving generals Serving admirals Serving marshals
Organisation	Ministry and committees/councils Ministry of Defence Department of Military Affairs Department of Defence Research and Development Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare National Security Council Cabinet Committee on Security Standing Committee on Defence Defence Planning Committee Nuclear Command Authority Integrated Defence Staff Defence Intelligence Agency Commands Joint Integrated Theatre Commands Andaman and Nicobar Command Commander-in-Chief Strategic Forces Command Commander-in-Chief Northern Theatre Command (India) Western Theatre Command (India) Maritime Theatre Command Defence Cyber Agency Defence Space Agency Armed Forces Special Operations Division Army Central Command Eastern Command Northern Command Southern Command South Western Command Western Command Army Training Command Navy Western Naval Command Eastern Naval Command Southern Naval Command Air Force Central Air Command Eastern Air Command Southern Air Command South Western Air Command Western Air Command Training Command Maintenance Command Other components Indian Coast Guard National Cadet Corps Paramilitary forces Special forces Territorial Army Border Roads Organisation
Personnel	Military Academies Ranks and insignia Army Navy Air Force Coast Guard Border Roads Organisation Paramilitary forces Awards and Decorations
Operations	Wars Indo-Pakistani wars 1947–1948 1965 Battle of Asal Uttar Battle of Chawinda 1971 Naval War Air War Battle of Chamb Operation Trident Operation Cactus-Lilly Battle of Longewala Kargil War Sino-Indian War External conflicts Kashmir conflict Korean War Siachen conflict Indo-Pakistani border skirmishes Operation Parakram 2011 2013 2014–2015 2016–2018 2019 Balakot airstrike Congo Crisis Sino-Indian border skirmish 1987 Nathu La and Cho La clashes Doklam standoff 2020 Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War Operation Cactus Evacuation of Indian civilians from Kuwait Piracy off the coast of Somalia Operation Raahat Operation Devi Shakti Indo-Myanmar border strike Annexations Operation Polo (Hyderabad) Operation Vijay (Portuguese India - Goa, Damaon, Silvassa & Diu) Junagadh Dadra and Nagar Haveli Insurgencies Northeast India Punjab Operation Blue Star Operation Woodrose Kashmir Counter-insurgency operations LOC surgical strike
Equipment	Defence Research and Development Organisation Ordnance Factory Board Ballistic missiles Weapons of mass destruction Army List of equipment of the Indian Army Navy Active Ships Historical Ships Weapon Systems Future Air Force Active Aircraft Historical Aircraft Aircraft Squadrons Future
Documents	Indian Maritime Security Strategy
Other topics	President's fleet review History President's Colour Award Women in the Indian Armed Forces Armed Forces Flag Day Armed Forces Tribunal Indian Armed Forces rank flags Indian military bands National War Memorial Amar Jawan Jyoti
Category Army Navy Air Force

• Commands of the Indian Army
• Military units and formations established in 1895
• Military units and formations of India in World War II
• 1895 establishments in India