Western Command (India)

Western Command is a Command-level formation of the Indian Army, active since 1947. It has seen action during the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971. The Command's Area Of Responsibility (AOR) covers the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Jammu.[1]

Western Command
Western Command's insignia today
Active	1920 - 1938 1947 - Present
Country	India
Branch	Indian Army
Type	Command
Garrison/HQ	Chandimandir
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant General RP Singh
Notable commanders	Field Marshal K M Cariappa Lieutenant General Harbaksh Singh Lieutenant General K P Candeth

The Command is commanded by a Three Star General Officer of the rank of Lieutenant General with the title General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command (GOC-in-C). Lieutenant General Ravendra Pal Singh is the current GOC-in-C, who took over on 1 October 2019.[2]

History

The Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies became the Indian Army.[3] The Indian Army was divided into four Commands (Bengal Command, Bombay Command, Madras Command and Punjab Command) each under a lieutenant general.[3]

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).[3] In 1938 Western Command was downgraded to Western Independent District commanded by a major-general. Northern Command was re-formed again as North Western Army in April 1942 to guard the North West Frontier and the independent district was absorbed by the new North Western Army at that time.[4]

Re-raising

After the partition of India, the erstwhile command headquarters of which north India formed a part, Northern Command, went to Pakistan. The communal violence of partition necessitated the raising of a new command headquarters to relieve Army Headquarters of the day to day overseeing of operations of the two independent areas in north India.[5]

This command, initially named Delhi and East Punjab Command was raised in Delhi on 14 September 1947 with Lt Gen Sir Dudley Russell, KBE, CB, DSO, MC as the first commander. It had under it :[5]

• Delhi Independent Area.
• East Punjab Independent Area.

On 26 October 1947, following the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India, Western Command was put in charge of all Indian Army operations to seize the area for India.[5]

List of Commanders

Rank	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	Unit of Commission	References
General Officer Commanding Western Command
Lieutenant General	Sir Walter Braithwaite	Dec 1920	Jun 1923	Somerset Light Infantry
Lieutenant General	Sir George Kirkpatrick	Jun 1923	Jun 1927	Royal Engineers	[6]
Lieutenant General	Sir Charles Harington	Jun 1927	Jun 1931	King's Regiment (Liverpool)
Lieutenant General	Sir Torquhil Matheson	Jun 1931	Jun 1935	Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
Lieutenant General	Sir Ivo Vesey	Jun 1935	Mar 1936	Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)
Lieutenant General	Sir Walter Pitt-Taylor	Mar 1936	Aug 1938	Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)
General Officer Commanding Western Independent District
Major General	Edward Quinan	Aug 1938	1941	27th Punjabis
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Delhi and East Punjab Command
Lieutenant General	Dudley Russell	15 August 1947	19 January 1948	97th Deccan Infantry
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command
Lieutenant General	K M Cariappa	20 Jan 1948	14 Jan 1949	Rajput Regiment
Lieutenant General	S M Shrinagesh	15 Jan 1949	14 Jan 1953	19th Hyderabad Regiment (presently Kumaon Regiment)
Lieutenant General	K S Thimayya	15 Jan 1953	31 Aug 1953	19th Hyderabad Regiment (presently Kumaon Regiment)
Lieutenant General	Kalwant Singh	01 Sep 1953	24 Mar 1954	1st Punjab Regiment
Lieutenant General	K S Thimayya	25 Mar 1954	14 May 1955	19th Hyderabad Regiment (presently Kumaon Regiment)
Lieutenant General	Kalwant Singh	15 May 1955	14 May 1959	1st Punjab Regiment
Lieutenant General	Pran Nath Thapar	25 May 1959	07 May 1961	1st Punjab Regiment
Lieutenant General	Daulet Singh	08 May 1961	22 Nov 1963
Lieutenant General	Sam Manekshaw	04 Dec 1963	15 Nov 1964	12th Frontier Force Regiment
Lieutenant General	Harbaksh Singh	16 Nov 1964	26 Sep 1969	5 Sikh Regiment	[7]
Lieutenant General	K P Candeth	27 Sep 1969	21 Oct 1972	Royal Indian Artillery
Lieutenant General	M L Thapan	23 Oct 1972	26 Oct 1973	Jat Regiment
Lieutenant General	Tapishwar Narain Raina	27 Oct 1973	31 May 1975	Kumaon Regiment
Lieutenant General	Inderjit Singh Gill	10 Jun 1975	30 May 1979	Royal Engineers
Lieutenant General	K V Krishna Rao	31 May 1979	31 May 1981	Mahar Regiment
Lieutenant General	S K Sinha	01 Jun 1981	31 Dec 1982	5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force)
Lieutenant General	Krishnaswamy Sundarji	01 Jun 1983	13 Feb 1985	Mahar Regiment	[8]
Lieutenant General	Hriday Kaul	14 Feb 1985	30 Sep 1986	2nd Lancers	[8][9]
Lieutenant General	P N Hoon	01 Oct 1986	31 Oct 1987	Dogra Regiment
Lieutenant General	V K Nayar	01 Nov 1987	31 Oct 1989	Parachute Regiment
Lieutenant General	Sunith Francis Rodrigues	1 November 1989	30 June 1990	Regiment of Artillery
Lieutenant General	G S Grewal	01 Jul 1990	31 Jul 1992	Armoured Corps
Lieutenant General	B C Joshi	14 Aug 1992	30 Jun 1993	64 Cavalry
Lieutenant General	R K Gulati	01 Jul 1993	15 Apr 1995	9th Deccan Horse
Lieutenant General	Arun Gautam	16 Apr 1995	31 Oct 1996	Armoured Corps
Lieutenant General	H B Kala	01 Nov 1996	14 Oct 1999	Jat Regiment
Lieutenant General	Vijay Oberoi	15 Oct 1999	29 Sep 2000	1 Maratha Light Infantry
Lieutenant General	Surjit Singh Sangra	1 Oct 2000	31 Mar 2002	Dogra Regiment	[10]
Lieutenant General	Shamsher Singh Mehta	5 Apr 2002	31 Jan 2004	63 Cavalry	[11][12]
Lieutenant General	JJ Singh	1 Feb 2004	31 Jan 2005	9 Maratha Light Infantry
Lieutenant General	S Patabhiraman	1 Feb 2005	30 Sep 2005	Bombay Sappers	[13]
Lieutenant General	Daljeet Singh	1 Oct 2005	31 Oct 2007	8th Light Cavalary	[14]
Lieutenant General	T K Sapru	1 Nov 2007	30 Nov 2009	1/4 Gorkha Rifles	[15][16]
Lieutenant General	S R Ghosh	3 Dec 2009	31 May 2012	Brigade of The Guards	[17][18][19][20]
Lieutenant General	Sanjiv Chachra	1 Jun 2012	30 Jun 2013	17 Rajput Regiment	[21][22]
Lieutenant General	Philip Campose	1 Jul 2013	31 Jul 2014	Mechanised Infantry Regiment	[23]
Lieutenant General	K J Singh	1 Aug 2014	31 Jul 2016	63 Cavalry	[24]
Lieutenant General	Surinder Singh	17 Sep 2016	31 Jul 2019	Brigade of the Guards	[25]
Lieutenant General	R P Singh	1 Aug 2019	Present	Mechanised Infantry Regiment	[26]

Notes

1. "Principal Controller of Defence Accounts | Government of India - Principal Controller of Defence Accounts | Government of India". pcdawc.gov.in.
2. "Lt Gen Ravindra Pal Singh is next GOC-in-C Western Command, to take over on Oct 1". The Indian Express. 23 July 2019.
3. "Northern Army". Retrieved 4 January 2010.
4. "British Military History". British Military History. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
5. Sinha, Lt. Gen. S.K. (1977). Operation Rescue:Military Operations in Jammu & Kashmir 1947-49. New Delhi: Vision Books. pp. 103–127 and 174. ISBN 81-7094-012-5. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
6. Army Commands
7. "Rediff On The NeT:Lt General Harbaksh Singh: An officer and a gentleman". www.rediff.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
8. "As Gen Arun Shridhar Vaidya retires, Indian Army reshuffles to appoint new army chief". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
9. "Former Western Command GOC-in-C passes away at 85". Hindustan Times. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
10. "The Tribune - Windows - Feature". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
11. "Gen J J Singh new GOC-in-C of Western Command - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
12. "The Hindu : Commander-level reshuffle on the cards". www.thehindu.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
13. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
14. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
15. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
16. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
17. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
18. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
19. "Lt Gen Ghosh to take charge of Western Command today - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
20. "Lt Gen Ghosh, last of the 1971 war veterans, retires". Hindustan Times. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
21. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
22. "Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra assumes charge of Western Command - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
23. "Keralite is chief of Western Army Command". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 2 July 2013. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 October 2017.CS1 maint: others (link)
24. "Lt Gen Kamal Jit Singh Promoted Western Army Commander". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
25. "Lt Gen Surinder Singh takes over as GOC-in-C". The Indian Express. 18 September 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
26. "Lt Gen Ravindra Pal Singh is next GOC-in-C Western Command, to take over on Oct 1". The Indian Express. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.

Further reading

• Richard A. Renaldi and Ravi Rikhye, 'Indian Army Order of Battle,' Orbat.com for Tiger Lily Books: A division of General Data LLC, ISBN 978-0-9820541-7-8, 2011.