Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Devraj Anbu,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, ADC is a retired

general officer A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

who served as 39th Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS). He assumed office on 1 June 2018 following the retirement of Lieutenant General Sarath Chand, and retired on 31 August 2019. He also served as General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command from 1 December 2016 to 31 May 2018, prior to that commanding Northern Command, he had commanded IV Corps in the North East.

Early life and education

Gen Anbu is an alumnus of Sainik School, Amaravathinagar, the National Defence Academy,

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

and

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air ...

, Wellington. He also attended the higher command course at Army War College, Mhow and a National Defence College equivalent university at

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Military career

He was commissioned into 14th

Sikh Light Infantry The Sikh Light Infantry is a light infantry regiment of the Indian Army.Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range of the Himalayas, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends in northeastern Kashmir. At long, it is the longest glaci ...

; Counter-Insurgency Operations in Kashmir and

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

; Operation Pawan in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He has commanded a unit during

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-Man ...

; a 53 Infantry brigade on the Line Of Control; 17 Mountain Division in Sikkim; Indian Military Training Team in Bhutan; IV Corps ( Tezpur). He has held staff appointments which include General Staff Operation at the Division level in North-East India, General Staff Operation at Corps Level in Kashmir, and Military observer with UN peacekeeping mission in Namibia (UNTAG). During 37 years of his career he has been awarded the Sena Medal for Operation Meghdoot,

Yudh Seva Medal The Yudh Seva Medal () is one of India's military decorations for distinguished service during wartime. It is awarded for a high degree of distinguished service in an operational context, which includes times of war, conflict, or hostilities and ma ...

(2010) for command of 53 Infantry brigade, the

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime D ...

for the command of 17 Mountain division, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal (2016) and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (2017) for his service as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command. He is also the Colonel Of The Regiment of the

Sikh Light Infantry The Sikh Light Infantry is a light infantry regiment of the Indian Army.

Honours and decorations

The general officer has been awarded with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2017, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal in 2016,

in 2010 and the Sena Medal.

Dates of rank

Personal life

Lt Gen Anbu's father late Shri. Devaraj also rendered his services in Army. They hail from an agricultural family from Madurai, Usilampatti, Vagaikulam village. He is married to Mrs Gowri Anbu and they have a son who is serving in the

. He likes yoga, painting and gardening.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anbu, Devraj Living people Indian generals Vice chiefs of Army Staff (India) Recipients of the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Year of birth missing (living people) National Defence Academy (India) alumni Recipients of the Yudh Seva Medal Recipients of the Sena Medal Army War College, Mhow alumni Defence Services Staff College alumni