50 Armoured Regiment is an armoured regiment which is part of the Armoured Corps of the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

Formation

The regiment was raised on 7 September 1987 by Lt Col A.K. Bhatia at

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1494 ...

with the designation of ad hoc Maintenance Group 'A' which was changed in 7 July 1989 to 50 Armoured Regiment The regiment was one of the few armoured regiments to be raised with

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks ha ...

tanks. The first Colonel of the Regiment was Lt Gen A.S. Sandhu.

History

The Regiment has participated in internal security duties during Operation Rakshak. It has also taken part in Operation Vijay and

Operation Parakram Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. The Regiment with its

tanks took part 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 ...

and Army Day parade in 1996. The Regiment was presented the ‘ President’s Standards’ at Mamun Military Station in

Pathankot Pathankot is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the 6th most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal cor ...

on 5 November 2014 by General

Dalbir Singh General Dalbir Singh Suhag, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC (born 28 December 1954) is the former Indian High Commissioner to Seychelles and a former Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army. He was the 25th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of the In ...

, Chief of the Army Staff, on behalf of the President of India, Mr

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...

Colors

The colours of the regiment are Red and Green. In the strict martial sense, these colours when seen in unison depict the traditional Verey Light success signal of “Red over Green” which signifies victory in battle. In a generic sense, Red is the traditional cavalry colour signifying supreme sacrifice while Green stands for the basic desire for peace, harmony, and well being of all ranks of the regiment. Seen together, the colours signify the regiment's preparation for the supreme sacrifice when called upon to do so, from a basic stance of peace, harmony and well-being. These colours adorn the flag of the regiment.

Cap badge

The regiment badge was designed by Lt Gen (then Maj) AB Shivane, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC. It symbolises an amalgamation of tradition and modernity. The cavalry heritage is represented by two pennants interposed at the centre with a horseshoe; and modernity is depicted by the hull of a T-72 M1 below the horseshoe. A scroll below this carries the word दिग्विजय (Digvijay), which means triumph in Devanagri script. The shoulder title consists of the numeral "50" in brass.

Colonels of the regiment

* Lt Gen (Retd) AS Sandhu, PVSM * Brig (Retd) AK Bhatia * Maj Gen (Retd) RS Mehta, AVSM, VSM * Maj Gen (Retd) JS Sidhu, VSM * Maj Gen (Retd) Deepinder Singh, SM, VSM * Lt Gen (Retd) SH Kulkarni, AVSM, VSM** * Lt Gen AB Shivane, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC * Maj Gen Sandeep Singh- Current Colonel of the Regiment

Commandants

Maintenance Group "A" * Lt Col (Later Brig (Retd) AK Bhatia) 50 Armoured Regiment * Col (Later Brig (Retd)) AK Bhatia * Col (Later Maj Gen (Retd)) RS Mehta, AVSM, VSM * Col (Later Maj Gen (Retd) JS Sidhu * Col (Retd) MS Hundal * Col (Retd) RC Rana * Col (Now Lt Gen) AB Shivane, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC * Col (Now Maj Gen) R Edwards * Col (Retd) RS Bhatia * Col (Retd) Anil Bhatt * Col Gaurav Bhatia * Col Manvendra Singh * Col Priyank Tripathi * Col Jitendra Singh * Col Rajat Sharma * Col PJ Mane * Col Ashish Swaroop, SM - Current Commandant

References

*Official Regimental History {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Armoured and cavalry regiments of the Indian Army from 1947 Military units and formations established in 1989