III Corps (India)

The III Corps is a formation of the Indian Army formed during World War I in Mesopotamia. Prior to the reorganization of the British and Indian forces in Mesopotamia, it was designated as the Tigris Corps. It is located in the state of Nagaland of India in the city of Dimapur. The military station is known as Rangapahar Military Station.

III Corps
Active1915–1919?
1941–1942
1980s–present
Country British India
 India
Branch British Indian Army
 Indian Army
TypeArmy Corps
RoleCounter-insurgency
SizeCorps
Part ofEastern Command
Garrison/HQDimapur
Nickname(s)Spear Corps
Commanders
Current
commander		Lt General Rana Pratap Kalita
Notable
commanders		General Dalbir Singh Suhag
General Bipin Rawat
Lieutenant General Sir Lewis MacClesfield Heath

A new III Corps was formed by the Indian Army during World War II for service in Southeast Asia. The corps fought in the Battle of Singapore where it surrendered in February 1942.[1]

Indian Army Corps (1947 - Present)
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First World War

Initially formed in December 1915, it was split into two in November 1916 to form the I Corps.[2] Under Frederick Stanley Maude it took part in the Mesopotamian campaign.

Among its component divisions during World War I were the Cavalry Division, 3rd (Lahore) Division, 6th (Poona) Division, 7th (Meerut) Division, 12th Indian Division, 14th Indian Division, 17th Indian Division, and 18th Indian Division.

Second World War

The Indian III Corps was the primary ground formation that took part in the Malayan Campaign in 1942. It was commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Lewis "Piggy" Heath.

Indian III Corps was formed in mid-1941 as part of the Malaya Command when the increase in tension in the Far East necessitated the dispatch of large reinforcements to the area to deter Japan. On 7 December 1941 the Corps consisted of the Indian 9th Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General Arthur Edward Barstow, the Indian 11th Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General David Murray-Lyon, a lines of communication Area, and the Penang Fortress.[3] Due to the rapid expansion of the British Indian Army, many of the formations in the Indian divisions were ill-trained and lacked large enough cadres of experienced troops.

The British had plans – Operation Matador and Operation Krohcol – to move forward into the south of Siam to forestall Japanese advances. However, lack of forewarning, combined with caution over upsetting Japan needlessly with precipitate actions, prevented the plans from being implemented. This put the garrison on the defensive, a position from which it never recovered.

III Corps was pushed down the Malayan peninsula by Japanese units, who employed novel tactics. When confronted with an Allied strong point on a road, the Japanese troops would leave a screen in front of the position, and then send infiltrators round through the jungle to outflank the position. Having been surrounded, positions were usually relatively easy to take. III Corps and the rest of the Allied land forces were pushed back to Singapore itself by February 1942. There they endured a short siege before the island surrendered at the direction of Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival. Some of the prisoners taken from Indian III Corps subsequently joined the Indian National Army.

Post independence

After the independence of India, a new III Corps was raised by the Indian Army in the 1980s. It is based at Dimapur in north east India, and contains mountain formations and is tasked for use in any future Indian war against China. Jane's estimates that it consists of:[4]

List of commanders
Name Rank Appointment Date Left Office Unit of Commission References
N.K. Singh Lieutenant general August 2009
Dalbir Singh Suhag Lieutenant general 2012 4/5 Gorkha Rifles
Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan Lieutenant general Madras Regiment
Bipin Rawat Lieutenant general 1 September 2014 23 November 2015 5/11 Gorkha Rifles
Abhay Krishna Lieutenant general 23 November 2015 31 December 2016 Rajputana Rifles
Anil Chauhan Lieutenant general 1 January 2017 8 January 2018 11th Gorkha Rifles
Gopal R Lieutenant general 9 January 2018 10 January 2019 8th Gorkha Rifles [12]
Rajeev Sirohi Lieutenant general 10 January 2019 The Grenadiers [12]
Rana Pratap Kalita Lieutenant general 9 Kumaon Regiment [13]

Reference list
  1. Ramakrishna
  2. Listing of British Corps, accessed July 2010
  3. Orbat.com/Niehorster, III Indian Corps, 7 December 1941
  4. Jane's World Armies, Issue 19, 2006
  5. Pike, John. "2 Mountain Division". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  6. "Army's first mountain division for China in northeast kicks off !!". Chindits. 11 November 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  7. Pike, John. "57 Mountain Division / Red Shield Division". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  8. Conboy, Elite Forces of India and Pakistan, p.8
  9. Globalsecurity.org, 17 July 2010
  10. John Pike. "57 Mountain Division / Red Shield Division". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  11. "Troubled Periphery: The Crisis of India's North East By Subir Bhaumik".
  12. "Lt. Gen Sirohi takes over as GOC 3 Corps". Nagaland Post. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  13. "lt-gen-rana-pratap-kalita-appointed-as-goc-3-corps-first-assamese-to-don-corps-commanders-mantle". 2020-02-10. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
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