20 SATA Regiment, nicknamed the ‘Alma Mater of Locators’ is a Surveillance and Target Acquisition (SATA) artillery regiment which is part of the Regiment of Artillery of the Indian Army.

Formation

The Regiment was raised on August 4, 1924 at the School of Artillery in Kakul (now in Pakistan) as 1 Survey Section Royal Indian Artillery under Captain E. R. Culverwell. Upon establishment, it consisted of only nine personnel, which included two British officers, as well as several V.C.Os, Indian Officers and Other Ranks. These nine persons, later to be known as the ‘Nine Originals’, had passed a

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

survey course at

Roorkee Roorkee (Rūṛkī) is a city and a municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is from Haridwar city, the district headquarter. It is spread over a flat terrain under Sivalik Hills of Himalayas. The c ...

. They were selected from Mountain Artillery, Cavalry and Infantry Units to form the nucleus of Survey Section Royal Indian Artillery.

History

Captain Culverwell commanded the section for several years and was followed by Captains H. D. W. Sitwell, C. L. Ferard, K. F. Mackay Lewis, W. J. Gyde and R. MacCaig. 1 Survey Section was reorganised in 1941 as the ‘Survey Troop’ and carried out the survey of the

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing pa ...

. In January 1942, it was re-designated as 1 Survey Battery under Major J. H. C. Hunter, and shortly afterwards re-joined the School of Artillery at Deolali. In August, 1942, the 1st Battery and a new Regimental Headquarters (R.H.Q.) were combined to form the 1st Indian Survey Regiment. The first Commanding Officer was Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. S. Rendall, with Major J. H. C. Hunter as Second-in -Command and Captain Matthews as Adjutant. Major S. A. Brighty commanded No. 1 Battery. In June, 1943, No. 2 Battery was formed under Major F. A. von Goldstein. A radar troop was raised in 1943 as part of the Regiment. In July 1944, the Regiment moved by road to

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

and in August to the Imphal area to join the Burma campaign of World War II. It came under command of 33 Corps, which had begun the pursuit to the

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line in Burma. No. 2 Survey Battery under Major von Goldstein joined the

11th (East Africa) Division The 11th (East Africa) Infantry Division was a British Empire colonial unit formed in February 1943 during the Second World War. Formation In 1943, the 11th (East Africa) Division was formed primarily of troops from British East Africa. The divi ...

, which was pressing down the Kabaw Valley. The No. 1 Survey Battery under Major B. C. Slater joined the 2 British Division and moved south to take part in the corps artillery concentration covering the crossing of the

Irrawaddy River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Origi ...

. After the crossings the survey battery joined 20 Division. No. 2 Survey Battery joined 19 Indian Division for the northern crossings of the Irrawaddy. One Military Cross and three Military Medals were awarded to personnel from the regiment. Orders had been issued that units not urgently required were to return to India and on 13 May 1945, the 1st Indian Survey Regiment was flown to Comilla. Lieutenant-Colonel H. G. Croly was now in command and repatriation had begun, and many changes of all ranks were taking place. The regiment eventually moved to Hyderabad (Sind) under Lieutenant-Colonel von Goldstein as commanding officer. On 25 January 1947, as a result of the Partition, the 1st Indian Survey Regiment became 20th Survey Regiment, R.I. A., under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Rajbahadur, having shed 2nd Survey Battery. This became the 2nd Survey Battery, R.P.A. (later 13th Survey Battery, R.P.A.). In 1948, the Regiment took part in the Hyderabad Police Action and Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948. In July 1952, the Regiment was reorganised as the 20 Locating Regiment. In 1962, it took part in the Indo-China war and saw action in Sikkim and NEFA. The Regiment fought in the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

in the Western Sector. It was part of the 15th Infantry Division in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, again in the Western Sector. It was part of the force tasked to defend the

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

and Dera Baba Nanak sectors. Commenting on the artillery support, Maj Gen Sukhwant Singh (Deputy Director Military Operations, Army Headquarters), writes in his book ‘India's Wars Since Independence: Defence of the western border’, ''“The Independent Artillery Brigade supported the operation with intimate, timely and abundant artillery fire. So effective was the brigade’s counter-battery programme that there was no interference by the enemy artillery, “The performance of the Flash Spotting Troop of 20 Locating Regiment in particular, had been commendable. It had started “fixing’ the Pakistani gun areas from Day One, when Pakistan attacked Kasowal. Thereafter, whenever and from wherever the enemy artillery opened up, the eyes and instruments of the flash spotters kept updating its latest locations, enabling effective counter bombardment''. The four personnel from the regiment were

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. In June 1987, the Regiment was redesignated as the 20 Surveillance and Target Acquisition (SATA) Regiment with the role of carrying out all weather surveillance of targets including enemy guns and mortars. The Regiment has also participated in operations

Blue Star Blue star or bluestar may refer to: * O-type star (a.k.a. blue star), a stellar classification Animals * ''Linckia laevigata'', a sea star from the Indian and West Pacific Oceans * ''Phataria unifascialis'', a sea star from the East Pacific Bus ...

in Punjab in 1984, Rakshak, Vijay and Operation Parakram (all in J&K). The regiment had the honour to participate in the

Republic Day Parade The Delhi Republic Day parade is the largest and most important of the parades marking the Republic Day celebrations in India. The parade takes place every year on 26 January at Rajpath, New Delhi. It is the main attraction of India's Republic ...

in 1993. It was awarded the Chief of Amry Staff (COAS) Unit Citation during the Army Day Parade in 2021.

References

External links

''Obituary – Col E. R. Culverwell, pages 103-5 – The Alpine Journal, Vol 63, 1958''

Military units and formations established in 1942 Artillery regiments of the Indian Army after 1947

Formation

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links