Indian Army regional command
"North Western Army" redirects here. For the Chinese revolutionary army, see
Guominjun .
Military unit
TheNorthern Command is aCommand of theIndian Army . It was originally formed as the Northern Army of theBritish Indian Army in 1908. It was scrapped uponIndia 's independence in 1947 and later re-raised in 1972. Currently, theXIV Corps (Leh ),XV Corps (Srinagar ),I Corps (Mathura ) andXVI Corps (Nagrota ) are under its control. Its present commander isLieutenant General Pratik Sharma .
ThePresidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies became the Indian Army.[ 1] 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 atNorth West Frontier duringWorld War II . It controlled theKohat ,Peshawar ,Rawalpindi ,Baluchistan andWaziristan Districts.[ 2] [ 3]
The formation reverted to the title Northern Command in November 1945.[ 4] Pakistan Army (asGHQ Pakistan ), with the rest of commands passing to theIndian Army .[ 5]
In 1972, theGovernment of India decided to raise a separate command to oversee operations in the northern borders withPakistan andChina .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 atUdhampur ,J&K .[ 7]
TheXIV Corps (Leh ),XV Corps (Srinagar ) andXVI Corps (Nagrota ) control the operational units in Northern Command. 71 Independent Sub Area is part of the Command. In 2001–02, duringOperation Parakram theIII Corps and its 57th Mountain Division were temporarily shifted into the command as a reserve.[ 7]
Dhruva War Memorial,Udhampur On 1 June 2025, the Northern Command became the first Command of the Indian Army to establish the position of Command Subedar Major by appointingSubedar Major Ojit Singh from3 Assam Regiment in-charge of the office. The appointee is meant for an advisory role and as a communication channel between the Army's senior leadership and thejunior commissioned officers andother ranks . The position, equivalent to Senior Sergeant Major in Western armies andMaster Warrant Officer in theIndian Air Force , will be established at all commands as well as at theCOAS -level. The tenure is set for two years and extendable to three years.[ 8]
Currently, the Northern Commands has been assigned operational units under fourcorps :XIV Corps ,I Corps ,XV Corps andXVI Corps .
In 2021, the Strike One Corps was re-organised to join the Northern Command to assist at the Ladakh border with China.[ 9] [ 10]
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 Bhalla3 Infantry Division Karu, Ladakh 8 Mountain Division Dras ,Ladakh 72 Infantry Division Pathankot ,Punjab 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 Srivastava19 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 Prasanna Kishore Mishra10 RAPID Division Akhnoor ,Jammu & Kashmir 25 Infantry 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 V Hariharan4 RAPID Division Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh 6 Mountain Division Bareilly ,Uttar Pradesh 42 Artillery Division Bassi ,Rajasthan 14 (Independent) Armoured Brigade Bhatinda ,Punjab
[ edit ] Following is the List of precursors to the Northern Command and their commanders:[ 11]
[ edit ] [ edit ] [ edit ] [ edit ] General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command S.No Name Assumed office Left office Unit of Commission 1 GeneralSir William R. Birdwood ,Bt GCB GCMG KCSI CIE DSO
Nov 1920 Nov 1924 Royal Scots Fusiliers 2 GeneralSir Claud W. Jacob KCB KCSI KCMG
Nov 1924 May 1926 Worcestershire Regiment 3 GeneralSir Alexander S. Cobbe VC GCB KCSI DSO
May 1926 May 1930 Indian Staff Corps 4 GeneralSir Robert A. Cassels GCB CSI DSO
May 1930 May 1934 Indian Staff Corps 5 GeneralSir Kenneth Wigram GCB CSI CBE DSO
May 1934 May 1936 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles)
6 GeneralSir John F. S. D. Coleridge KCB CMG DSO
May 1936 Jun 1940 Indian Staff Corps 7 GeneralSir Alan F. Hartley KCSI CB DSO
Jun 1940 Jan 1942 Durham Light Infantry 8 GeneralSir Cyril D. Noyes KCSI CB CIE MC
Jan 1942 Apr 1942 2nd Queen Victoria's Own Rajput Light Infantry
[ edit ] General Officer Commanding-in-Chief North-Western Army S.No Name Assumed office Left office Unit of Commission 1 GeneralSir Cyril D. Noyes KCSI CB CIE MC
Apr 1942 May 1943 Royal Scots Fusiliers 2 GeneralSir Edward P. Quinan KCIE CB DSO OBE
May 1943 Aug 1943 Worcestershire Regiment 3 GeneralSir Henry Finnis KCB CSI MC
Aug 1943 May 1945 Indian Staff Corps Acting Major-generalCecil Toovey CB CBE MC*
Jun 1945 Oct 1945 Indian Staff Corps 4 GeneralSir Richard N. O'Connor KCB DSO* MC
Oct 1945 Nov 1945 Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
[ edit ] [ edit ] 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. RaiPVSM 28 July 1974 31 July 1978 Rajputana Rifles [ 13] 3 Gurbachan SinghPVSM 1 August 1978 31 December 1979 20 Lancers [ 14] 4 Suraj Prakash MalhotraPVSM 1 January 1980 30 September 1982 Brigade of The Guards [ 15] 5 Manohar Lal Chibber PVSM AVSM 1 October 1982 31 August 1985 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) [ 16] [ 17] 6 A. K. HandooPVSM 1 September 1985 31 May 1987 Brigade of Guards [ 18] 7 Biddanda Chengappa Nanda PVSM AVSM 1 June 1987 31 May 1989 Mahar Regiment [ 18] 8 Gurinder SinghPVSM AVSM 1 June 1989 30 September 1991 4th Horse (Hodson's Horse) [ 19] 9 D. S. R. SahniPVSM SM 1 October 1991 31 August 1993 Madras Sappers [ 20] [ 21] 10 Surrinder SinghPVSM AVSM 1 September 1993 31 August 1996 17th Horse (Poona Horse) [ 22] [ 23] 11 Sundararajan Padmanabhan PVSM AVSM VSM 1 September 1996 31 December 1998 Regiment of Artillery [ 24] 12 H. M. KhannaSYSM PVSM AVSM 1 January 1998 31 January 2001 4th Gorkha Rifles [ 25] 13 R. K. NanavattyPVSM UYSM AVSM 1 February 2001 31 May 2003 8th Gorkha Rifles [ 26] 14 Hari PrasadPVSM AVSM VSM 1 June 2003 31 July 2005 Maratha Light Infantry [ 27] 15 Deepak Kapoor PVSM AVSM SM VSM 1 September 2005 30 December 2006 Regiment of Artillery [ 28] [ 29] 16 Harcharanjit Singh Panag PVSM AVSM 1 January 2006 29 February 2008 Sikh Regiment [ 30] 17 Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj PVSM AVSM VrC SC VSM 1 March 2008 30 September 2009 Parachute Regiment [ 31] 18 B. S. JaswalPVSM ,AVSM * ,VSM 1 October 2009 31 December 2010 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles [ 32] [ 33] 19 K. T. Parnaik PVSM UYSM YSM 1 January 2011 30 June 2013 Rajputana Rifles [ 34] 20 Sanjiv ChachraPVSM AVSM VSM 1 July 2013 31 May 2014 Rajput Regiment [ 35] 21 Deependra Singh Hooda PVSM ,UYSM ,AVSM ,VSM * 1 June 2014 30 November 2016 4th Gorkha Rifles [ 36] 22 Devraj Anbu PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM 1 December 2016 31 May 2018 Sikh Light Infantry [ 37] 23 Ranbir Singh PVSM ,UYSM ,AVSM * ,YSM ,SM 1 June 2018 31 January 2020 Dogra Regiment [ 38] 24 Yogesh Kumar Joshi PVSM UYSM AVSM VrC SM 1 February 2020 31 January 2022 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles [ 39] 25 Upendra Dwivedi PVSM AVSM 1 February 2022 18 February 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles [ 40] 26 M. V. Suchindra Kumar PVSM ,UYSM ,AVSM ,YSM * ,VSM 19 February 2024 30 April 2025 Assam Regiment [ 41] 27 Pratik Sharma SYSM ,PVSM ,AVSM ,SM 1 May 2025 Incumbent Madras Regiment [ 42]
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