Northern Command (India)

"North Western Army" redirects here. For the Chinese revolutionary army, see Guominjun.

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.

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

History

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

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.^[1]

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.^[2][3]

The formation reverted to the title Northern Command in November 1945.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6] Headquarters for the command was established at Udhampur, J&K.^[7]

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.^[7]

Dhruva War Memorial, Udhampur

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.^[8][9]

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:^[10]

Punjab Command (1895–1907)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Punjab Command
S.No	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Unit of Commission
1	General Sir William S. A. Lockhart GCB, KCSI	April 1895	Nov 1898	44th Bengal Native Infantry
2	General Sir Arthur Power Palmer KCB	Nov 1898	March 1900	5th Bengal Light Infantry
Acting	Lieutenant General Charles C. Egerton CB, DSO	March 1899	Oct 1901	31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot
3	General Sir Bindon Blood KCB	Oct 1901	Oct 1904	Royal Engineers

Northern Command (1904–1908)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command
S.No	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Unit of Commission
1	General Sir Bindon Blood KCB	Oct 1904	June 1907	Royal Engineers

Northern Army (1908–1920)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Army
S.No	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Unit of Commission
1	General Sir Alfred Gaselee GCIE, KCB	June 1907	Nov 1908	Sutherland Highlanders
2	Lieutenant General Sir Josceline H. Wodehouse KCB, CMG	Nov 1908	Oct 1910	Royal Artillery
3	Lieutenant General Sir James Willcocks KCB, KCSI, DSO	Oct 1910	Aug 1914	100th Regiment of Foot
4	Lieutenant General Sir Robert I. Scallon KCB, KCIE, DSO	Aug 1914	Feb 1915	72nd Highlanders
5	General Sir John E. Nixon KCB	Feb 1915	Apr 1915	75th Regiment of Foot
Vacant		Apr 1915	May 1916	-
6	General Sir Arthur A. Barrett GCB, GCSI, KCVO	May 1916	May 1920	44th Regiment of Foot

Northern Command (1920–1942)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command
S.No	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Unit of Commission
1	General Sir William R. Birdwood, Bt GCB, GCMG, KCSI, CIE, DSO	Nov 1920	Nov 1924	Royal Scots Fusiliers
2	General Sir Claud W. Jacob KCB, KCSI, KCMG	Nov 1924	May 1926	Worcestershire Regiment
3	General Sir Alexander S. Cobbe VC, GCB, KCSI, DSO	May 1926	May 1930	Indian Staff Corps
4	General Sir Robert A. Cassels GCB, CSI, DSO	May 1930	May 1934	Indian Staff Corps
5	General Sir Kenneth Wigram GCB, CSI, CBE, DSO	May 1934	May 1936	2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles)
6	General Sir John F. S. D. Coleridge KCB, CMG, DSO	May 1936	Jun 1940	Indian Staff Corps
7	General Sir Alan F. Hartley KCSI, CB, DSO	Jun 1940	Jan 1942	Durham Light Infantry
8	General Sir Cyril D. Noyes KCSI, CB, CIE, MC	Jan 1942	Apr 1942	2nd Queen Victoria's Own Rajput Light Infantry

North-Western Army (1942–1945)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief North-Western Army
S.No	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Unit of Commission
1	General Sir Cyril D. Noyes KCSI, CB, CIE, MC	Apr 1942	May 1943	Royal Scots Fusiliers
2	General Sir Edward P. Quinan KCIE, CB, DSO, OBE	May 1943	Aug 1943	Worcestershire Regiment
3	General Sir Henry Finnis KCB, CSI, MC	Aug 1943	May 1945	Indian Staff Corps
Acting	Major-general Cecil Toovey CB, CBE, MC*	Jun 1945	Oct 1945	Indian Staff Corps
4	General Sir Richard N. O'Connor KCB, DSO*, MC	Oct 1945	Nov 1945	Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)

Northern Command (1945–1947)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command
S.No	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Unit of Commission	Ref
1	General Sir Richard N. O'Connor KCB, DSO*, MC	Nov 1945	May 1946	Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
Acting	Lieutenant General Douglas D. Gracey CB, CBE, MC*	May 1946	Oct 1946	Royal Munster Fusiliers
2	Lieutenant General Frank W. Messervy KCSI, KBE, CB, DSO*	Oct 1946	Aug 1947	9th Hodson's Horse	[11]

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:

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command
S.No	Rank	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Unit of Commission	Ref
1	Lieutenant General	Premindra Singh Bhagat PVSM VC	June 1972	28 July 1974	Bombay Sappers	[6]
2		H. C. Rai PVSM	28 July 1974	31 July 1978	Rajputana Rifles	[12]
3		Gurbachan Singh PVSM	1 August 1978	31 December 1979	20 Lancers	[13]
4		Suraj Prakash Malhotra PVSM	1 January 1980	30 September 1982	Brigade of The Guards	[14]
5		Manohar Lal Chibber PVSM, AVSM	1 October 1982	31 August 1985	5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force)	[15][16]
6		A. K. Handoo PVSM	1 September 1985	31 May 1987	Brigade of Guards	[17]
7		Biddanda Chengappa Nanda PVSM, AVSM	1 June 1987	31 May 1989	Mahar Regiment	[17]
8		Gurinder Singh PVSM, AVSM	1 June 1989	30 September 1991	4th Horse (Hodson's Horse)	[18]
9		D. S. R. Sahni PVSM, SM	1 October 1991	31 August 1993	Madras Sappers	[19][20]
10		Surrinder Singh PVSM, AVSM	1 September 1993	31 August 1996	17th Horse (Poona Horse)	[21][22]
11		Sundararajan Padmanabhan PVSM, AVSM, VSM	1 September 1996	31 December 1998	Regiment of Artillery	[23]
12		H. M. Khanna SYSM, PVSM, AVSM	1 January 1998	31 January 2001	Gorkha Rifles	[24]
13		R. K. Nanavatty PVSM, UYSM, AVSM	1 February 2001	31 May 2003	8th Gorkha Rifles	[25]
14		Hari Prasad PVSM, AVSM, VSM	1 June 2003	31 July 2005	Maratha Light Infantry	[26]
15		Deepak Kapoor PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM	1 September 2005	30 December 2006	Regiment of Artillery	[27][28]
16		Harcharanjit Singh Panag PVSM, AVSM	1 January 2006	29 February 2008	Sikh Regiment	[29]
17		Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj PVSM, AVSM, VrC, SC, VSM	1 March 2008	30 September 2009	Parachute Regiment	[30]
18		B. S. Jaswal PVSM, AVSM*, VSM	1 October 2009	31 December 2010	Jammu and Kashmir Rifles	[31][32]
19		K. T. Parnaik PVSM, UYSM, YSM	1 January 2011	30 June 2013	Rajputana Rifles	[33]
20		Sanjiv Chachra PVSM, AVSM, VSM	1 July 2013	31 May 2014	Rajput Regiment	[34]
21		Deependra Singh Hooda PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM*	1 June 2014	30 November 2016	4th Gorkha Rifles	[35]
22		Devraj Anbu PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM	1 December 2016	31 May 2018	Sikh Light Infantry	[36]
23		Ranbir Singh PVSM, UYSM, AVSM*, YSM, SM	1 June 2018	31 January 2020	Dogra Regiment	[37]
24		Yogesh Kumar Joshi PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VrC, SM	1 February 2020	31 January 2022	Jammu and Kashmir Rifles	[38]
25		Upendra Dwivedi PVSM, AVSM	1 February 2022	18 February 2024	Jammu and Kashmir Rifles	[39]
26		M. V. Suchindra Kumar PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM*, VSM	19 February 2024	Incumbent	Assam Regiment	[40]

References

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• 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) [ISBN 0-85420-228-5].

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