South Western Command (India)

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South Western Command
South Western Command's insignia today
Active2005 - Present
Country India
Branch Indian Army
TypeCommand
Garrison/HQJaipur, Rajasthan
Commanders
GOC-in-CLt Gen Dhiraj Seth

The South Western Command of the Indian Army was established on 15 April 2005 and became fully operational on 15 August 2005.[1] It was in response to the emerging threats and opportunities on the Western Indo-Pak border. It is headquartered at Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The command's operational unit, X Corps, transferred from Western Command and from an Artillery Division.[1]

Structure[edit]

Currently, the Western Command has been assigned operational units under:- X Corps and 42nd Artillery Division. The command in total has following units under its belt :- 3 infantry divisions (1 for Mountain warfare), 1 armoured division, 1 artillery division, 2 Reorganised Army Plains Infantry Division (RAPID), 1 armoured brigade, 1 Air-defence brigade, and 1 engineering brigade.

In 2021, the except the 33 Armoured Division all the units of I Corps was transferred to Northern Command to focus on the Sino-Indian border at Ladakh.

Structure of South-Western Command
Corp Corp HQ GOC of Corps

(Corps Commander)

Assigned Units Unit HQ
X Corps

(Chetak Corps)

Bathinda, Punjab Lt Gen Nagendra Singh[2] 16 Infantry Division Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan
18 RAPID Division Kota, Rajasthan
24 RAPID Division Bikaner, Rajasthan
6 (Independent) Armoured Brigade Bhatinda, Punjab
615 Air-defence Brigade Agra, Uttar Pradesh
471 Engineering Brigade N/A
N/A N/A N/A 42 Artillery Division Jaipur, Rajasthan
N/A N/A N/A 33 Armoured Division Hisar, Haryana

List of Commanders[edit]

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South-Western Command
Rank Name Appointment Date Left Office Unit of Commission References
Lieutenant General Krishnamurthy Nagaraj 15 April 2005 31 July 2006 Maratha Light Infantry [3]
Lieutenant General Parmendra Kumar Singh 1 August 2006 31 July 2008 Regiment of Artillery [4][5]
Lieutenant General Chanroth Kunnumal Suchindra Sabu 1 September 2008 30 November 2010 Regiment of Artillery [6][4]
Lieutenant General Shri Krishna Singh 1 December 2010 31 October 2011 8th Gorkha Rifles [7]
Lieutenant General Gyan Bhushan 1 November 2011 31 December 2013 Mahar Regiment [8]
Lieutenant General Arun K Sahni 1 January 2014 31 January 2016 Regiment of Artillery [9][10][11]
Lieutenant General Sarath Chand 1 February 2016 12 January 2017 Garhwal Rifles [12]
Lieutenant General Abhay Krishna 25 January 2017 31 July 2017 Rajputana Rifles [13]
Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson 1 August 2017 31 August 2019 Garhwal Rifles [14][15][16][17]
Lieutenant General Alok Singh Kler 1 September 2019 31 March 2021 68 Armoured Regiment [18]
Lieutenant General Amardeep Singh Bhinder 1 April 2021 28 February 2023 The Deccan Horse [19]
Lieutenant General B. S. Raju 1 March 2023 31 October 2023 Jat Regiment [20]
Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth 01 November 2023 Incumbent 2nd Lancers [21]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Renaldi and Rikhye 2011, 21
  2. ^ Dolare, Rahul (1 January 2024). "Lieutenant General Prit Pal Singh Assumes Command of Sudarshan Chakra Corps".
  3. ^ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab". tribuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b "PressReader - the Times of India (New Delhi edition): 2008-09-01 - New GOC-in-chief of South Western Command". Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017 – via PressReader.
  5. ^ "Sainik Samachar". Archived from the original on 24 October 2017.
  6. ^ "The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Jharkhand | School gets new campus". telegraphindia.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Lt Gen S K Singh takes over as Army SW Command chief". Deccan Herald. 3 December 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Lt Gen Gyan Bhushan takes over as SW command's new GOC-in-C". Moneycontrol. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  9. ^ "SW Army Commander Arun Kumar Sahni retires". Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  10. ^ Singh, Mahim Pratap (1 January 2014). "Change of guard at South-Western command of Army". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  11. ^ "Lt Gen Arun Kumar Sahni designated as GOC-in-C, South Western Command | NetIndian". netindian.in. 13 December 2013. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Lt Gen Sarath Chand new GOC-in C of South Western Command". Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  13. ^ "Lt Gen Abhay Krishna takes over Army's South Western Command". The Economic Times. 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson to head army command". Deccan Chronicle. 21 July 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  15. ^ "Lt Gen Cherish Mathson takes over Army's South Western Command". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  16. ^ "Lt Gen Mathson relinquishes command of Sapta Shakti Command in Jaipur". 31 August 2019.
  17. ^ "Sapta Shakti Command chief Cherish Mathson retires". The Times of India. 1 September 2019.
  18. ^ "Kler is new chief of Sapta Shakti Command". The Times of India. 1 September 2019.
  19. ^ "Lt Gen Yogendra Dimri appointed as next Commander-in-chief of Lucknow-based Central Army Command". ANI News. 27 February 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Lt. Gen. Raju shifted, new Vice-Chief named". The Hindu. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  21. ^ "Lt Gen B S Raju retires as South-Western Command GOC in chief". 1 November 2023.

References[edit]

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