XXI Corps (India)

The XXI Corps, or the Sudarshan Chakra Corps, is a strike corps of the Indian Army and is headquartered at Bhopal.

XXI Corps
Indian Army XXI Corps Formation Sign
Active	1917-18 1942–1943 1990–present
Country	British India  India
Allegiance	British Empire  India
Branch	British Indian Army  Indian Army
Role	Strike Corps
Size	Corps
Part of	Southern Command
Garrison/HQ	Bhopal
Nickname(s)	Sudarshan Chakra Corps
Engagements	World War II
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant General Prit Pal Singh AVSM[1]
Notable commanders	General Nirmal Chander Vij Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain Lt Gen Pradeep Singh Mehta Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth

World War I

The XXI Indian Corps was first raised on 12 August 1917 during the World War I, specifically for operations in the Middle East region against the German–Ottoman alliance. The corps was part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under Allenby and took active part in the capture of Gaza and Jerusalem from October to December 1917, and against the Turkish Seventh and Eight Armies in 1918. The Corps was disbanded in 1918, at the end of the war.^[2]

World War II

The corps was re-raised in Persia on 6 June 1942 as a formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The corps was commanded throughout its existence by Lieutenant General Mosley Mayne and was part of the Tenth Army. The corps, composed of the 8th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General Dudley Russell) and the British 56th Infantry Division (Major-General Eric Miles), was created as part of the Allied buildup of forces in Persia and Iraq to create Persia and Iraq Command in order to prevent a German invasion of the Caucasus. The invasion never occurred and the corps was disbanded on 24 August 1943.^[3]

Present

Exercise Sudarshan Shakti, 21 Corps, December 2011^[4]

After India's intervention in Sri Lanka, the provisional headquarters (HQ) controlling India's expeditionary force, HQ Indian Peace Keeping Force, became HQ XXI Corps in April 1990 at Chandimandir. Permanent retention of the Corps at Bhopal was authorised on 29 October 1990.^[2] It is the only strike corps in the Indian Army’s Pune based Southern Command, the other three being - I Corps, II Corps and XVII Corps.^[5] XXI corps functions as both a strike corps and would also be used if India were to make another large intervention overseas.

It currently consists of:^[6]

• 31 Armored Division (White Tiger Division) headquartered at Jhansi-Babina in Uttar Pradesh, Central India.^[7]
  • 94 Armoured Brigade^[8]
• 36 Infantry Division (RAPID) (Shahbaaz Division) at Sagar^[9]
  • Division Artillery Brigade at Talbehat (2001)
  • 18 Armoured Brigade at Gwalior (2001)^[10]
  • 72 Infantry Brigade at Gwalior
  • 115 Infantry Brigade was at Dhana.^[11]
• 54 Infantry Division (Bison Division) headquartered at Hyderabad/Secunderabad.^[12] It includes -
  • 91 Infantry Brigade at Thiruvananthapuram (Amphibious)^[13][14]
  • 47 Infantry Brigade
  • 76 Infantry Brigade
• 41 Artillery Division (Agnibaaz Division) headquartered at Pune.^[15]
• Corps Artillery Brigade
• Corps Air Defence Brigade (First To Strike Brigade)^[16]
• 475 Engineering Brigade

List of Commanders

Lt Gen Vipul Shinghal taking over the command of the Corps from Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth, August 2022.

Rank	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	Unit of Commission	References
Lieutenant General	G L Bakshi	April 1990	January 1992	Kumaon Regiment	[17]
	R K Gulati	January 1992	October 1992	9th Deccan Horse	[17]
	Krishna Mohan Seth	October 1992	October 1994	Regiment of Artillery	[18][17]
	Chandra Shekhar	October 1994	1996	4th Gorkha Rifles	[19][17]
	Nirmal Chander Vij	1996	1997	Dogra Regiment	[18][17]
	B M Kapur	1997		Armoured Corps	[17]
	Satish Satpute		30 August 2002	Maratha Light Infantry	[17]
	P P S Bhandari	31 August 2002	31 December 2004	4th Horse (Hodson's Horse)	[20][17]
	Aditya Singh	01 January 2004	January 2005	9th Deccan Horse	[17][21]
	Harcharanjit Singh Panag	January 2005	December 2006	Sikh Regiment	[22][17]
	Pradeep Khanna	January 2007	May 2008	20 Lancers	[23]
	Arvinder Singh Lamba	26 May 2008	May 2009	Regiment of Artillery	[24]
	Rajinder Singh	May 2009	2010	Mechanised Infantry Regiment	[25][26]
	Syed Ata Hasnain	2010	December 2010	Garhwal Rifles	[27]
	Sanjiv Langer	December 2010	January 2012	Armoured Corps	[28]
	S H Kulkarni	January 2012	January 2013	Armoured Corps	[29]
	Amit Sharma	January 2013	February 2014	45 Cavalry	[30]
	Rajeev Vasant Kanitkar	February 2014	2015	17th Horse (Poona Horse)	[6]
	Pradeep Singh Mehta	2015	31 June 2016	1st Horse (Skinner's Horse)	[31]
	Cherish Mathson	1 July 2016	30 June 2017	Garhwal Rifles	[32]
	Iqroop Singh Ghuman	1 July 2017	31 June 2018	Brigade of the Guards	[33]
	Ravendra Pal Singh	01 July 2018	July 2019	Mechanised Infantry Regiment	[34]
	Yogendra Dimri	July 2019	25 July 2020	Bombay Sappers	[35]
	Atulya Solankey	26 July 2020	30 July 2021	11th Gorkha Rifles	[36]
	Dhiraj Seth	31 July 2021	31 July 2022	2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)	[37]
	Vipul Shinghal	3 August 2022	31 December 2023	51 Armoured Regiment	[38]
	Prit Pal Singh	01 January 2024	Incumbent	62 Cavalry	[1]

See also

• Indian Peace Keeping Force
• 72nd Indian Infantry Brigade

References

1. "Lieutenant-General Prit Pal Singh assumes command of Sudarshan-chakra Corps". 1 January 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
2. "SUDARSHAN CHAKRA CORPS". Retrieved 27 July 2021.
3. "British Military History". www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016.
4. "Exercise 'Sudarshan Shakti', Mighty Manoeuvres". 11 December 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
5. Chauhan, R S (3 January 2014). "Finally, an army strike corps aimed at China". Rediff.com. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
6. "General Officer Commanding 21 Corps meets MP CM". 11 August 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
7. "Lt Gen JS Nain, Army Cdr Southern Command accompanied by Lt Gen Atulya Solankey, GOC Sudarshan Chakra Corps visited White Tiger Division, Babina to witness integrated field firing conducted on a near realistic technology enabled battle field situation". 13 March 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
8. Editor. "Armoured Formations". Retrieved 14 August 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
9. "Army strike formation validates new assault concepts". SP's MAI.
10. See also http://www.kv3gwalior.org/index.php?qs=cont_show&pageid=2
11. Mandeep Bajwa and Ravi Rikhye, Indian Army RAPID Divisions Archived 28 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine, 11 February 2001
12. "GOC Sudarshan Chakra Corps visits Secunderabad Military Station". 8 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
13. Kerala to be headquarters for country's first amphibious brigade Archived 6 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, 5 October 2008
14. "Major General Sanjeev Narain". 19 August 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
15. "Lt General Dhiraj Seth, GOC, Sudarshan Chakra Corps visited Agnibaaz Division". 1 October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
16. "AD unit of First to Strike Brigade of Sudarshan Chakra Corps organised a blood donation camp". 30 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
17. "Of commanders and their command". 9 December 2006. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
18. "Sudarshan Chakra corps celebrate 3rd reunion". 3 December 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
19. Shekhar, Chandra (2016). Gorkha Hat and Maroon Beret. Ambi Knowledge Resources Pvt.Ltd. ISBN 978-8190359160.
20. "PIB press release". 31 August 2002. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
21. "Lt Gen Aditya Singh takes over charge of Southern Command". 1 March 2006. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
22. "New Northern Command chief takes over". 1 January 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
23. "Lt Gen Pradeep Khanna takes over". 6 January 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
24. "Lt Gen Lamba is new GOC of Bhopal-based 21 Corps". Retrieved 27 July 2021.
25. "Army Chief visits Pangode". 1 December 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
26. "Musical fight". 13 March 2010. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
27. "General Ata Hasnain". 21 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
28. "Pratibha Patil to review Sudarshan Shakti in desert". 1 December 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
29. "Lt Gen Kulkarni takes over reins of Sudarshan Chakra Corps". 9 January 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
30. "LT GEN AMIT SHARMA, VSM APPOINTED C-IN-C STRATEGIC FORCE COMMAND". 20 June 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
31. "Centre sits on postings of Lt Generals, Western Command awaits GOC-in-C". 23 August 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
32. "lt Gen Cherish Mathson takes over Sudarshan Chakra's command".
33. "Lt General Ghuman takes command of Sudarshan Chakra Corps". thehitavada.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
34. "Lt Gen Ravendra Pal Singh assumes command of Sudharshan Chakra Corps". thehitavada.com. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
35. "Lieutenant General Yogendra Dimri, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal Assumes Command of Sudarshan Chakra Corps". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
36. atulya, solankey. "atulya solankey took over reins of sudarshan chakra corps".
37. "Bhopal: Lt General Dhiraj Seth assumes command of Sudarshan Chakra Corps". 31 July 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
38. "Lt Gen Vipul Shinghal took over the command of the Sudarshan Chakra Corps from Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth". 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.