III Corps (India)

III Corps
Active	1915–1919 1941–1942 1985–present
Country	India
Branch	Indian Army
Type	Mountain troops
Size	Corps
Part of	Eastern Command
Garrison/HQ	Dimapur
Nickname(s)	Spear Corps
Commanders
Current commander	Lt Gen Harjeet Singh Sahi AVSM , YSM , SM
Notable commanders	Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita General Anil Chauhan Lt Gen Abhay Krishna General Bipin Rawat General Dalbir Singh Suhag Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah General Bipin Chandra Joshi Lt Gen Raj Mohan Vohra Lt Gen Joginder Singh Bakshi

The III Corps is a formation of the Indian Army that was formed during World War I in Mesopotamia during its respective campaign. Prior to the reorganization of the British and Indian forces in Mesopotamia, it was designated as the Tigris Corps.

A new III Corps was formed by the Indian Army during World War II for service in Southeast Asia. The corps fought in the Battle of Singapore where it surrendered in February 1942. ^[1]

It is headquartered in the state of Nagaland of India in the city of Dimapur, at Rangapahar Military Station.

History

First World War

Initially formed in December 1915, it took part in the Mesopotamian campaign under the command of Frederick Stanley Maude. In November 1916, it was split in two to form the I Corps and III Corps (also known as III (Tigris) Corps). ^[2]

Among its component divisions during World War I were the Cavalry Division, 3rd (Lahore) Division, 6th (Poona) Division, 7th (Meerut) Division, 12th Indian Division, 13th (Western) Division, 14th Indian Division, 17th Indian Division, and 18th Indian Division. ^[3]

From 1 January until 3 March 1917 the corps also commanded III (Tigris) Corps Cavalry Regiment, a composite unit comprising squadrons drawn from 1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry, 10th Lancers and 32nd Lancers. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Second World War

The Indian III Corps was the primary ground formation that took part in the Malayan Campaign in 1942. It was commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Lewis "Piggy" Heath.

Indian III Corps was formed in mid-1941 as part of the Malaya Command when the increase in tension in the Far East necessitated the dispatch of large reinforcements to the area to deter Japan. On 7 December 1941 the Corps consisted of the Indian 9th Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General Arthur Edward Barstow, the Indian 11th Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General David Murray-Lyon, a lines of communication Area, and the Penang Fortress. ^[6] Due to the rapid expansion of the British Indian Army, many of the formations in the Indian divisions were ill-trained and lacked large enough cadres of experienced troops.

The British had plans – Operation Matador and Operation Krohcol – to move forward into the south of Siam to forestall Japanese advances. However, lack of forewarning, combined with caution over upsetting Japan needlessly with precipitate actions, prevented the plans from being implemented. This put the garrison on the defensive, a position from which it never recovered.

III Corps was pushed down the Malayan peninsula by Japanese units, who employed novel tactics. When confronted with an Allied strong point on a road, the Japanese troops would leave a screen in front of the position, and then send infiltrators round through the jungle to outflank the position. Having been surrounded, positions were usually relatively easy to take. III Corps and the rest of the Allied land forces were pushed back to Singapore itself by February 1942. There they endured a short siege before the island surrendered at the direction of Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival. Some of the prisoners taken from Indian III Corps subsequently joined the Indian National Army.

Post independence

After the independence of India, a new III Corps was raised by the Indian Army on 4 February 1985 and is spread over the North Eastern States of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. At the time of its formation, it consisted of 8 and 57 Mountain Divisions, under its command, in addition to troops of Assam Rifles. The 8 Mountain Division was moved out to Kashmir in 1990. ^[7]

The corps is presently based at Dimapur in north east India, and consists of three divisions being responsible for eastern Arunachal Pradesh and the Myanmar border. It is tasked for use in any future Indian war against China.

Structure

Jane's estimates that it consists of: ^[8]

• 2 Mountain Division (Dao Division) - The division joined III Corps in late 2000s and is headquartered at Dinjan, Dibrugarh district, Assam. ^{[9] [10]}

• 56 Mountain Division - raised at Zakhama, Nagaland and presently at Likabali, north of the Brahmaputra. ^{[11] [12]} It includes 46 Brigade (Dibang) and the 22 Brigade (Lekhapani), though 22 Brigade may shift to 2nd Mountain Division.

• 57 Mountain Division (Red Shield Division) - headquartered at Leimakhong. ^[13] Raised in 1966 for counterinsurgency operations in Mizoram. Until 1990, headquartered at Aizawl with III Corps. ^[14] Globalsecurity.org reports the 57 Mountain Division headquarters are at Masimpur near Silchar. ^[15] The formation and units of 57 Mountain Division are deployed in some of the remotest corner of Manipur and Indo-Burmese border. ^[16] 57th Mountain Division took part in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as part of IV Corps. It also successfully conducted Operation Golden Bird in 1995 to eliminate rebels in Northeast India. ^[17]

Commanders

Rank	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	Unit of Commission	References
Lieutenant General	Joginder Singh Bakshi	5 March 1985	30 March 1986	Jat Regiment	[18]
	Raj Mohan Vohra	31 March 1986	20 September 1987	4th Horse (Hodson's Horse)	[18]
	Vijay Madan	21 September 1987	6 May 1989	4th Gorkha Rifles	[18]
	Bipin Chandra Joshi	7 May 1989	17 May 1990	2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)	[18]
	B S Nalwa	18 May 1990	13 May 1991	Regiment of Artillery	[18]
	H K Kapoor	14 May 1991	15 December 1992	Corps of Engineers	[18]
	N S Malik	16 December 1992	29 October 1994	4th Horse (Hodson's Horse)	[18]
	Krishna Mohan Seth	30 October 1994	22 October 1995	Regiment of Artillery	[18]
	S S Grewal	23 October 1995	9 September 1997	Jammu and Kashmir Rifles	[19]
	Rustom Kaikhusro Nanavatty	10 September 1997	19 June 2000	8th Gorkha Rifles	[20]
	T S Shergill	20 June 2000	4 October 2001	9th Deccan Horse	[21]
	V K Jetley	5 October 2001	2 January 2003	Dogra Regiment	[18] [22]
	Rajinder Singh	3 January 2003	31 December 2003	Regiment of Artillery	[18] [23]
	Daljeet Singh	1 January 2004	22 September 2005	8th Light Cavalry	[24]
	Zameer Uddin Shah	September 2005	September 2006	Regiment of Artillery	[25]
	Manbir Singh Dadwal	September 2006	30 July 2008	Dogra Regiment	[25] [26]
	Rakesh Kumar Loomba	31 July 2008	August 2009	1st Horse (Skinner's Horse)	[27]
	Nand Kishore Singh	August 2009	March 2011	3rd Gorkha Rifles	[28]
	Dalbir Singh Suhag	March 2011	19 June 2012	5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force)	[29]
	Arun Kumar Sahni	20 June 2012	August 2013	Regiment of Artillery	[30]
	Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan	August 2013	31 August 2014	Madras Regiment	[31]
	Bipin Rawat	1 September 2014	22 November 2015	11th Gorkha Rifles	[32]
	Abhay Krishna	23 November 2015	31 December 2016	Rajputana Rifles	[33]
	Anil Chauhan	1 January 2017	8 January 2018	11th Gorkha Rifles	[34]
	Gopal R	9 January 2018	10 January 2019	8th Gorkha Rifles	[35]
	Rajeev Sirohi	10 January 2019	10 January 2020	The Grenadiers	[35]
	Rana Pratap Kalita	11 January 2020	10 February 2021	Kumaon Regiment	[36]
	Johnson P Mathew	10 February 2021	1 March 2022	Punjab Regiment	[37]
	Ram Chandra Tewari	1 March 2022	6 March 2023	Kumaon Regiment	[38]
	Harjeet Singh Sahi	6 March 2023	Incumbent	Rajput Regiment	[39]

Reference list

1. Ramakrishna
2. Listing of British Corps, accessed July 2010. Archived 16 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine
3. Brig-Gen F.J. Moberly, History of the Great War: The Campaign in Mesopotamia, Vol III, London: HM Stationery Office, 1925/Imperial War Museum and Battery Press, 1997, ISBN 978-089839289-0, Appendix XXXVI.
4. Moberly, Vol III, p. 111.
5. Lt-Col J.D. Sainsbury, The Hertfordshire Yeomanry: An Illustrated History' 1794–1920', Welwyn: Hertfordshire Yeomanry and Artillery Historical Trust/Hart Books, 1994, ISBN 0-948527-03-X, pp. 182–8.
6. Orbat.com/Niehorster, III Indian Corps, 7 December 1941
7. "3 Corps celebrates Raising Day". 2011-02-04. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
8. Jane's World Armies, Issue 19, 2006
9. Pike, John. "2 Mountain Division". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
10. "Third battalion of Naga regiment be raised soon". 2009-10-16. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
11. "Army's first mountain division for China in northeast kicks off !!". Chindits. 11 November 2009. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
12. "Why mountain strike corps along the India-China border is important". 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
13. Pike, John. "57 Mountain Division / Red Shield Division". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
14. Conboy, Elite Forces of India and Pakistan, p.8
15. Globalsecurity.org, 17 July 2010
16. John Pike. "57 Mountain Division / Red Shield Division". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
17. Bhaumik, Subir (10 December 2009). Troubled Periphery: The Crisis of India's North East By Subir Bhaumik. ISBN   9788132104797.
18. "New #DGMO Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (R) handing over charge of all imp 3 Corps in Dimapur to Lt Gen Gopal R." 2018-01-09. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
19. "LT GENERAL SS GREWAL RETIRES". 2002-04-30. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
20. "Reviewing Internal Armed Conflict in India-Forging a Joint Civil - Military Approach" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-07-11.
21. "Army Top Brass Changed in N-E". 2000-06-11. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
22. "Lt Gen V K Jetley takes over as Master General Ordinance". 2003-01-31. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
23. "JS Verma visits Manipur". 2003-01-08. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
24. "Annual Report, 2005 – 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-07-11.
25. "Lt Gen Manbir assumes charge as GOC 3 Corps". 2006-09-20. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
26. "Army Commander visits Manipur". 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
27. "Lt. Gen. Loomba new Military Intelligence chief". The Hindu. 2009-08-31. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2020-11-06.
28. "Defence Minister Visits North-East". 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
29. "Defence ministry seeks report on notice to Lt Gen Suhag". 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
30. "GOC 3 Corps extends Vijay Diwas greetings". 2010-09-15. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
31. "Lieutenant General Lt Gen Bipin Rawat takes over command of Spear Corps". 2014-08-31. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
32. "Nagaland governor asks security forces to be careful in view of Naga accord". 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
33. "Lt Gen Abhay Krishna takes over as GOC Spear Corps". 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
34. "GOC 3 Corps Anil Chauhan Meets Arunachal Governor SV Shanmuganathan". 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
35. "Lt. Gen Sirohi takes over as GOC 3 Corps". Nagaland Post. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
36. "lt-gen-rana-pratap-kalita-appointed-as-goc-3-corps-first-assamese-to-don-corps-commanders-mantle". 2020-02-10. Archived from the original on 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
37. Mathew, JP. "JP Mathew Spear Corps Commander". Archived from the original on 2021-06-12. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
38. "Lt Gen RC Tiwari takes over as General Officer Commanding of Spear Corps". 2022-03-03. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
39. "Lt Gen Sahi next GOC of 3 Corps | Nagaland Post" . Retrieved 6 March 2023.

External links

• Australian War Memorial: Remembering 1942 The fall of Singapore, 15 February 1942 Archived 20 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
• III Indian Corps History & Personnel Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
• http://www.orbat.com Archived 2018-11-16 at the Wayback Machine (History; Niehorster)