Southern Command (India)

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 Annexation of Goa, and during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani Wars. Lieutenant General C P Mohanty is the current Southern Army Commander.[1]

Southern Command
Southern Command's insignia today.
Active	1908–present
Country	India
Branch	Indian Army
Type	Command
Garrison/HQ	Pune
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant General C.P Mohanty
Notable commanders	General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor General Bipin Chandra Joshi General Ved Prakash Malik General Sundararajan Padmanabhan General Nirmal Chander Vij General Bipin Rawat

History

The Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies became the Indian Army.[2] The Indian Army was divided into four Commands (Bengal Command, Bombay Command, Madras Command and Punjab Command) each under a lieutenant general.[2]

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).[2] 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.[3]

During World War II, Southern Command was reformed as Southern Army in April 1942. The formation reverted to the title Southern Command in November 1945.[4]

World War II

Component divisions included:[5]

• 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:[5]

• 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

Commanders prior to Independence

Commanders included:[6]
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army

• 1907 – Oct 1908 General Sir Archibald Hunter
• Oct 1908 – Oct 1912 General Sir Edmund Barrow
• Oct 1912 – Feb 1915 General Sir John Nixon
• Feb 1915 – 1916 Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Scallon
• Apr 1917 – Nov 1919 Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Anderson
• Nov 1919 – 1923 Lieutenant-General Sir William Marshall

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command

• 1923 – Mar 1924 Lieutenant-General Sir Andrew Skeen
• Mar 1924 – Mar 1928 Lieutenant-General Sir Harold Walker
• Mar 1928 – Mar 1932 General Sir William Heneker
• Mar 1932 – Mar 1936 General Sir George Jeffreys
• Mar 1936 – Oct 1937 Lieutenant-General Sir Ivo Vesey
• Oct 1937 – Mar 1941 General Sir John Brind
• Mar 1941 – Oct 1941 Lieutenant-General Thomas Riddell-Webster
• Oct 1941 – Jun 1942 General Sir Brodie Haig

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army

• Jun 1942 – Mar 1945 Lieutenant-General Sir Noel Beresford-Peirse

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command

• Apr 1945 – 1947 Lieutenant-General Sir Rob Lockhart
• 1947–1948 Lieutenant-General Eric Goddard (post-independence)

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.[2] 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.[2] 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 redesignated 12th Infantry Division, under Major General J.F.R. Jacob, and also placed under Southern Command.

Today the command headquarters is located at Pune Cantonment in Pune, Maharashtra.[7] It consists of two corps and two military areas.[2] The two areas appear to be : one at Mumbai, the Maharashtra Goa and Gujarat Area (MG&G Area), responsible for those states; and one at Chennai, the Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala Area (ATNK&K Area) responsible for Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.[8]

The Southern Command encompasses nine states and four union territories which covers about 40% of India.[2] In 2005, some changes to the command's boundaries were made when a new South Western Command was established.

Its components include:[9]

• XII Corps, headquartered at Jodhpur, Rajasthan[10]
  • 4th Armoured Brigade
  • 340th Mechanized Brigade
  • 11th Infantry Division headquartered at Ahmedabad, Gujarat
  • 12th RAPID headquartered at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
• XXI Corps, headquartered at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
  • 41 Artillery Division, headquarters Pune, Maharashtra. The division includes 97 Artillery Brigade,[11] may include 98 Artillery Brigade.[12]
  • 31st Armoured Division headquartered at Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh
  • 36th RAPID headquartered at Saugor, Madhya Pradesh
  • 54th Infantry Division headquartered at Secunderabad, Telangana
  • Artillery brigade
  • Air Defence brigade
  • 475th Engineering Brigade
• Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa Area headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra[13]
• Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala Area headquartered at Chennai, Tamil Nadu
• 617 Independent Air Defence Brigade at Pune, Maharashtra

List of Commanders

Rank	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	Unit of Commission	References
Lieutenant General	Rajendrasinhji Jadeja	1 May 1948	14 January 1953	2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)
Lieutenant General	S M Shrinagesh	17 January 1953	14 May 1955	19th Hyderabad Regiment (presently Kumaon Regiment)
Lieutenant General	K S Thimayya	15 May 1955	14 September 1956	19th Hyderabad Regiment (presently Kumaon 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	[14]
Lieutenant General	Lionel Protip Sen	10 May 1963	7 May 1965	10th Baluch Regiment
Lieutenant General	Moti Sagar	8 May 1965	3 July 1969	4 Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General	Gopal Gurunath Bewoor	4 July 1969	14 January 1973	Dogra Regiment	[15]
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	3 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	9 Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General	Tirath Singh Oberoi	1 September 1981	30 November 1984	Parachute Regiment	[16]
Lieutenant General	Ranjit Singh Dyal	14 February 1985	30 November 1986	Parachute Regiment	[16]
Lieutenant General	Depinder Singh	1 December 1986	29 November 1988	8 Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General	A K Chatterjee	1 March 1988	31 May 1990
Lieutenant General	Bipin Chandra Joshi	1 June 1990	14 August 1992	64 Cavalry	[17]
Lieutenant General	A S Kalkat	15 August 1992	31 December 1993	8 Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General	Moti Dar	1 January 1994	16 July 1995	Poona Horse
Lieutenant General	Ved Prakash Malik	17 July 1995	31 August 1996	Sikh Light Infantry	[17]
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	[18]
Lieutenant General	Nirmal Chander Vij	1 October 2000	31 September 2001	Dogra Regiment	[19]
Lieutenant General	Gurbaksh Singh	9 October 2001	29 February 2004	7 Field Regiment
Lieutenant General	Balraj Singh Takhar	1 March 2004	31 January 2006	Poona Horse	[20][21][22]
Lieutenant General	Aditya Singh	1 March 2006	30 September 2007	9th Deccan Horse	[23][24]
Lieutenant General	Noble Thamburaj	1 October 2007	31 December 2008	Bombay Sappers	[25][26]
Lieutenant General	Pradeep Khanna	1 January 2009	28 February 2011	20 Lancers	[27]
Lieutenant General	A. K. Singh	1 March 2011	31 January 2013	7th Light Cavalry	[28][29]
Lieutenant General	Ashok Singh	1 February 2013	31 December 2015	7 Guards	[30]
Lieutenant General	Bipin Rawat	1 January 2016	31 July 2016	5/11 Gorkha Rifles	[31]
Lieutenant General	P M Hariz	1 September 2016	30 November 2017	Mechanised Infantry	[32]
Lieutenant General	D R Soni	1 December 2017	1 October 2018	Central India Horse	[33]
Lieutenant General	S K Saini	1 October 2018	24 January 2020	Jat Regiment	[34]
Lieutenant General	C P Mohanty	31 January 2020	Incumbent	Rajput Regiment	[35]

Notes

1. "Lt Gen CP Mohanty assumes command of Pune-based Southern Command". hindustantimes.com. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
2. "Northern Command". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
3. "THE INDIAN ARMY 1914". Orbat.com. 25 March 2001. Archived from the original on 9 September 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
4. "Southern Army". OOB.com. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
5. "Southern Army Subordinates". OOB.com. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
6. Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
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. Renaldi and Rikhye, 2011, p.28
11. Armed Forces Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
12. Army cycle mission to cover 20 forts, Times of India, 4 January 2008
13. Source for areas' names and headquarters is the Indian Army Southern Command website, accessed August 2010
14. Praval, Major K.C. Indian Army After Independence. Lancer Publishers LLC. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-935501-61-9.
15. "Gopal Gurunath Bewoor". Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2018.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
16. "As Gen Arun Shridhar Vaidya retires, Indian Army reshuffles to appoint new army chief". Retrieved 26 October 2017.
17. Abidi, S. Sartaj Alam; Sharma, Satinder (2007). Services Chiefs of India. Northern Book Centre. p. 85. ISBN 978-81-7211-162-5.
18. "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.
19. "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Main News". www.tribuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
20. "The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Army's Southern Command chief visits OTA in city". www.thehindu.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
21. "The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Army took six hours to get ready for relief". www.thehindu.com. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
22. India Who's who. INFA Publications. 2004.
23. "LT. GEN. ADITYA SINGH PVSM, AVSM** (RETD)". www.delhipolicygroup.org. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
24. "Lt Gen HS Lidder new CIDS". oneindia.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
25. "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.
26. "Sainik Samchar 2007". Archived from the original on 27 October 2017.
27. "'Ekuverin-09' Indo-Maldivian troops joint exercise concludes". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
28. "Lt Gen A K Singh is new GOC-in-C of Southern Command – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
29. "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.
30. "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.
31. "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.
32. 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.
33. "Lt Gen Soni takes over as chief of Southern Command". The Indian Express. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
34. "General SK Saini, new head of Southern Command". Devdiscourse. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
35. https://m-hindustantimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/m.hindustantimes.com/pune-news/lt-gen-cp-mohanty-assumes-command-of-pune-based-southern-command/story-DDUDrdPqYoSF1hGqGauECO_amp.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE%3D#aoh=15805270697948&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fm.hindustantimes.com%2Fpune-news%2Flt-gen-cp-mohanty-assumes-command-of-pune-based-southern-command%2Fstory-DDUDrdPqYoSF1hGqGauECO_amp.html%23aoh%3D15805270697948%26referrer%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%26amp_tf%3DFrom%2520%25251%2524s

Sources

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