II Corps (India)

Last updated
II Corps
Kharga Corps.png
Kharga Corps formation sign
Active1971-present
Country India
Branch Indian Army
RoleStrike Corps
Size Corps
Part of IA Western Command.jpg Western Command
Garrison/HQ Ambala
Nickname(s)Kharga Corps
Commanders
Current
commander		 Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar
VSM [1]
Notable
commanders		 General Tapishwar Narain Raina
Lieutenant General Zorawar Chand Bakhshi
Lieutenant General Srinivas Kumar Sinha
Lieutenant General B.C. Nanda
Lieutenant General Hanut Singh
General V. K. Singh
General Manoj Mukund Naravane

II Corps is a corps of the Indian Army, based in Ambala and known as Kharga Corps.

Contents

The Corps was raised on October 7, 1971 by Lt Gen T N Raina at Krishna Nagar in West Bengal and saw action two months later in December. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, it captured the important towns of Khulna, Jessore, Jhenida, Magura and Faridpur and also the area between the rivers Ganges and Padma. Subsequently, the Corps was shifted to the Western Theatre where it was initially located at Chandimandir Cantonment till 1984, and then moved to Ambala in January 1985.

48th Raising Day of Kharga Corps (2 Corps), October 2018 Kharga Corps Celebrated 48th Raising Day.jpg
48th Raising Day of Kharga Corps (2 Corps), October 2018

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

The II Corps consisted of 4th Mountain Division and 9th Infantry Division (the only infantry division in the east, it had more motor vehicles and heavier artillery than its mountain counterparts); the corps was later reinforced by 50 Parachute Brigade (minus one battalion). Under Lieutenant General Tapishwar Narain Raina ('Tappy'), the 20 infantry battalions of II Corps were to take Khulna, Jessore, Goalundo Ghat, Faridpur, and the Hardinge Bridge. Convinced that Khulna was one of the keys to East Pakistan, General Manekshaw placed especial stress on its capture. Dacca was not mentioned except in some contingency plans for crossing the Padma (Ganges) at Faridpur and Goalundo Ghat. Paying little attention to possible operations against the chief city of East Pakistan, therefore, Raina planned to advance on two axes with 4th Division in the north towards Jhenida and 9th Division aiming for Jessore on the southern approach.

Operations by Indian troops and Mukti Bahini during late November had secured a sizable enclave between Bayra and Jessore. An Indian success at Garibpur on 21/22 November was particularly significant, as it allowed the Indian 9th Division to gain considerable ground towards Jessore and resulted in the virtual destruction of the lone Pakistani armored squadron in the area. The action at Garibpur, however, also alerted the Pakistanis to the 9th Division’s proposed line of advance. As a result, the division quickly became embroiled in a tough and costly slogging match on 4 and 5 December once the full-scale conflict broke out. This fight took its toll on the Pakistanis too, however, and the exhausted 107 Brigade abandoned Jessore on the night of 6/7 December, withdrawing south to Khulna in considerable confusion.47

The Pakistani division headquarters and other remnants fled east toward the Madhumati River. A Pakistani officer recalled that “The front here had crumbled completely...Withdrawal quickly turned into a rout.” Riding into Jessore in the dawn hours of 7 December, he noted, “It looked like a ghost town, except for sleepy dogs and chickens, not a soul stirred. Doors were wide open; all kinds of personal belongings littered the roads. It looked like the end of East Pakistan.”48 The Indians occupied Jessore later that day, but Major General Dalbir Singh, the 9th Division commander, allowed himself to be distracted by Khulna and turned his entire division toward an objective that was supposed to be taken by a brigade. The town held out stoutly for the remainder of the war in the face of repeated attacks.

The 9 Division’s reserve force, 50 Para Brigade, engaged in a brief skirmish at Khajura north of Jessore on 8 December before being pulled out the next day for transfer to the western front. A planned two-company airborne attack by 8 Para near Jhenida was called off as unnecessary. The “Red Eagles,” Indian 4 Division, launched a well-conducted attack north and east from its positions around Jibannagar, skillfully bypassing or overwhelming resistance to enter Jhenida on 7 December. Like 9 Division, however, the leadership of the 4th was distracted by a flank objective. In this case, when a hasty attempt to capture Kushtia and the Hardinge Bridge miscarried, the senior commanders overreacted and diverted the entire division to the north. Although the Indian advance helped urge Pakistan’s 57 Brigade in its retreat across the Ganges, by the time 4 Division had returned to the Magura area (14 December), it was too late to participate in the drive for Dacca. The division made a fine crossing of the Madhumati (albeit against light resistance) and took the surrender of the broken remnants of Pakistani 9 Division at Faridpur on 16 December. Indian Army and BSF troops from Bengal Area under Major General P. Chowdry made limited gains on the Satkhira axis.

Shift to West

The corps moved to its present location in January 1985. The pullback of over four lakh troops along with heavy armored and artillery formations from forward positions along the International Border (IB) with Pakistan was an enormous logistical exercise, with costs running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Demobilisation began from Punjab, followed by Rajasthan, Gujarat and the Jammu sector. While it took 28 days for the initial mobilisation, the pullback is expected to take slightly longer. The troops had been hanging on the border in combat readiness for 10 months, and the harsh weather and terrain took a heavy toll on both the men and their equipment. [2]

Celebration of 20 years of Kargil Victory at Kharga Corps (2 Corps), July 2019 Kharga Corps 20 years of Kargil Victory.jpg
Celebration of 20 years of Kargil Victory at Kharga Corps (2 Corps), July 2019

As of around 2016, it consists of [3] -

List of General Officers Commanding (GOCs)

RankNameAppointment DateLeft OfficeUnit of CommissionReferences
Lieutenant General Tapishwar Narain Raina 7 October 197117 October 1973 Kumaon Regiment [9]
A. M. Vohra18 October 197327 May 1975 3rd Gorkha Rifles [9]
Zorawar Chand Bakhshi 28 May 197531 January 1979 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) [10]
Manohar Lal Chibber 1 February 197921 July 1980 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry
Srinivas Kumar Sinha 22 July 198028 May 1981 Jat Regiment
Hriday Kaul29 May 198119 January 1983 2nd Lancers [11]
Nirmal Puri20 January 198316 December 1984 Armoured Corps [12]
Biddanda Chengappa Nanda 17 December 198428 April 1986 Mahar Regiment [12]
Hanut Singh 29 April 198611 July 1988 17th Horse (Poona Horse) [13]
G. S. Grewal12 July 198830 June 1990 1st Horse (Skinner's Horse)
Prakash Mani Tripathi 1 July 199015 September 1992 63 Cavalry [14]
K. L. D'Souza16 September 199230 April 1994 Mechanised Infantry Regiment
S. K. Sharma1 May 199430 March 1995 Armoured Corps
S. K. Jetley31 March 199511 October 1996 Central India Horse
S. S. Mehta12 October 199619 March 1998 63 Cavalry [15]
Gurbaksh Singh Sihota20 March 199830 September 2000 Regiment of Artillery [16]
Kapil Vij1 October 200029 January 2002 70 Armoured Regiment
Bhupender Singh Thakur30 January 2002September 2003 Central India Horse
G.D. SinghOctober 2004March 2006 Armoured Corps [17]
Vijay Kumar Singh April 2006February 2008 Rajput Regiment
J. P. Singh1 March 200820 March 2009 Armoured Corps [18]
Chetinder Singh21 March 200925 December 2010 7th Light Cavalry [19]
Anil Chandra Chait 26 February 201029 May 2011 Armoured Corps [20]
Amarjeet Singh Chabbewal30 May 20114 August 2012 67 Armoured Regiment [20]
Sandeep Singh5 August 201211 August 2013 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles [21]
Ravindra Pratap Sahi12 August 20139 December 2014 Brigade of The Guards [21]
Amarjeet Singh10 December 201418 December 2015 Bihar Regiment [22]
Manoj Mukund Naravane 19 December 20154 January 2017 Sikh Light Infantry [23] [24]
Jaiveer Singh Negi 5 January 201712 January 2018 Dogra Regiment [23]
Alok Singh Kler 13 January 201827 January 2019 68 Armoured Regiment [25] [26]
Manmohan Jeet Singh Kahlon28 January 20192 February 2020 75 Armoured Regiment [25]
Surinder Singh Mahal 3 February 202011 February 2021 41 Armoured Regiment [27]
N. S. Raja Subramani 12 February 202121 March 2022 Garhwal Rifles [28]
Pratik Sharma21 March 202231 May 2023 Madras Regiment [29]
Rahul R Singh1 June 202330 June 2024 Regiment of Artillery [30]
Rajesh Pushkar1 July 2024Incumbent 74 Armoured Regiment [31]

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References

  1. ↑ "Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar assumed the command of Kharga Corps from Lt Gen Rahul R Singh". x (formerly twitter). 1 July 2024.
  2. ↑ "2 Corps / II Corps".
  3. ↑ "At Ambala Cantt, an elite force elite force ready to respond". The Times of India . 2016-10-01. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  4. ↑ "Indian Army [Archive] - WW2inColor Talk". www.ww2incolor.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-25.
  5. ↑ Mandeep Bajwa; Ravi Rikhye (February 11, 2001). "Indian Army RAPID Divisions". Archived from the original on 2010-11-28.
  6. ↑ "Kharga Corps receives victory flame". 2020-12-25. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  7. ↑ Khalid, Zaki (2022-05-14). "Examining High-Level Changes in the Indian Army Headquarters". Centre for Strategic and Contemporary Research. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
  8. ↑ "Exquisite Exhibition". 2007-03-01. Archived from the original on 2021-10-02. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  9. 1 2 Issar, Brigadier Satish K. (15 June 2021). Vision, Courage and Service: Life and Times of General T.N. Raina, MVC. Vision Books. ISBN   9789386268525.
  10. ↑ "Lt Gen Zorawar Chand Bakshi: The soldiers' General who fought all of India's wars". The Indian Express. 27 May 2018.
  11. ↑ "Former Western Command GOC-in-C passes away at 85". 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  12. 1 2 "As Gen Arun Shridhar Vaidya retires, Indian Army reshuffles to appoint new army chief". 1985-03-15. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  13. ↑ "1971 war hero Hanut Singh passes away". 2015-12-04. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  14. ↑ "Members Bioprofile" . Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  15. ↑ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News". www.tribuneindia.com.
  16. ↑ Thapar, V. N.; Dwivedi, Neha (15 May 2020). Vijyant at Kargil: The Biography of a War Hero. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN   9789353058272.
  17. ↑ "Gen GD Singh takes over as Army deputy chief". The Times of India . 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  18. ↑ "CV JP Singh" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  19. ↑ "Lt Gen Chetinder Singh is Kharga Corps commander". 2009-03-21. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  20. 1 2 Sura, Ajay (May 30, 2011). "Chabbewal is GOC of Kharga Corps". The Times of India.
  21. 1 2 Sura, Ajay (Aug 12, 2013). "Lt General Ravindra Pratap Sahi takes over as general officer commanding of Kharga Corps". The Times of India.
  22. ↑ "Army expedition flagged in". 2015-06-04. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  23. 1 2 "Lt-Gen Jaiveer Singh takes over as Kharga Corps GOC". 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  24. ↑ "Lt Jaiveer Negi takes over". 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  25. 1 2 "lt-gen-kahlon-is-kharga-corps-goc". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  26. ↑ "Lt Gen Alok Singh Kler assumes command of Kharga Corps". www.uniindia.com. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  27. ↑ "Lt General SS Mahal is Kharga Corps GOC". The Times of India . 2020-02-04. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  28. ↑ Subramani, NS Raja. "Lt Gen Subramani takes over kharga corps".
  29. ↑ Sharma, Pratik. "Lt gen Pratik Sharma goc 2 corps".
  30. ↑ "Lt Gen Rahul R Singh, VSM, Takes Over Command of Kharga Corps". 2023-06-01. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  31. ↑ "Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar assumed the command of Kharga Corps from Lt Gen Rahul R Singh". x (formerly twitter). 1 July 2024.
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