Southern Command is a formation 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 ...

, active since 1895. It has seen action during the integration of several Princely States into modern India, during the 1961 Indian liberation of Goa, and during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani Wars.

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 ...

Dhiraj Seth is the present Southern Army Commander.

History

Early history

The

Presidency armies The presidency armies were the armies of the three Presidencies of British India, presidencies of the East India Company's Company rule in India, rule in India, later the forces of the the Crown, British Crown in British Raj, India, composed pr ...

were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies became the Indian Army. The Indian Army was divided into four Commands (Bengal Command, Bombay Command, Madras Command and Punjab Command) each under a lieutenant general. 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). In 1914, the Southern Army consisted of the

4th (Quetta) Division The 4th (Quetta) Division was an infantry division of the British Indian Army. It was formed by Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, General Kitchener while he was Commander-in-chief of British Raj, India. During World War I the division rema ...

, the

5th (Mhow) Division The 5th (Mhow) Division was a regular division of the British Indian Army and part of the Southern Army which was formed in 1903 after Lord Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India between 1902 and 1909. He instituted large-scale re ...

, the

6th (Poona) Division The 6th (Poona) Division was a division of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1903, following the Kitchener reforms of the Indian Army. World War I The 6th (Poona) Division served in the Mesopotamian campaign. Led by Major General Ba ...

, the

9th (Secunderabad) Division The 9th (Secunderabad) Division was an infantry division formation of the British Indian Army. It was part of the Southern Army and was formed in 1904 after Lord Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India between 1902 and 1909. He ...

, and the

Aden Brigade The Aden Brigade was a formation of the British Indian Army formed after 1903 and the Kitchener Reforms. It was commanded by Major General James Alexander Bell. In August 1914, Connelly writes that the British force in Aden Settlement consisted o ...

Second World War

During the Second World War, Southern Command was reformed as Southern Army (equivalent to a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

) in April 1942. The formation reverted to the title Southern Command in November 1945. Component divisions included: *

19th Indian Infantry Division The 19th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the Indian Army. History The 19th Indian Infantry Division was raised in Secunderabad, India in October 1941 during the Second World War and became part of Southern Army, which was mainly ...

, April 1942 to July 1944 *

2nd British Infantry Division The 2nd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was formed and disestablished numerous times between 1809 and 2012. It was raised by Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley for service in the Peninsular War (part of ...

, June 1942 to April 1943, and then June 1945 to August 1945 * 70th British Infantry Division, July 1943 to October 1943 * 81st (West Africa) Division, March 1945 to August 1945 * 36th Infantry Division (

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

), June 1945 to August 1945 Component brigades included: *

7th Armoured Brigade Seventh is the ordinal number (linguistics), ordinal form of the number 7, seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"T ...

, June 1942 to September 1942 *British 6th Infantry Brigade, November 1942 to December 1942 * 150th Indian Infantry Brigade March 1944 to August 1945 * 26th Indian Infantry Brigade July 1944 to December 1944

Post war

In August 1947, Southern Command had the Deccan, Madras and Bombay Areas (with HQs at Kamptee, Madras and Bombay). In 1947–48, Southern Command was largely responsible in getting

Junagadh Junagadh () is the city and headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar (the state capital), it is the seventh largest city in the state. It i ...

and

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

to sign the instrument of accession to India. 1st Armoured Division did the actual incursion into Hyderabad. In 1961, the Indian annexation of Goa was conducted by 17th Infantry Division and 50th Parachute Brigade, under the operational control of Southern Command. In 1965–66, two further divisions were raised within the command. After fighting broke out in the

Rann of Kutch The Rann of Kutch is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. It is located mostly in the Kutch district of the Indian state of Gujarat, with a minor portion extending into the Sindh province of Pakistan. ...

in April 1965, a hastily constituted force, named Kilo Force under Maj. Gen P. O. Dunn was formed to contain this attack. Kilo Force was later re-designated as 11 Infantry Division. In September 1965, the operational responsibility for the Barmer sector was given to Southern Command and entrusted to 11 Infantry Division. Delhi and Rajasthan Area, with its Advance Headquarters at Jodhpur, fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 under Western Command. On 3 November 1966, this formation was re-designated 12th Infantry Division, under Major General J.F.R. Jacob, and also placed under Southern Command.

Structure

The command headquarters is located in

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 ...

, Maharashtra. It consists of two corps and two military areas. The two areas are:- Maharashtra Goa and Gujarat Area (MG&G Area) and the Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala Area (ATNK&K Area) In 2005, the changes to its jurisdiction area were made when a new South Western Command was established.

Precursors (1907–1948)

Following is the List of precursors to the Southern Command and their commanders:

Southern Command (1907–1908)

Southern Army (1908–1920)

Southern Command (1920–1942)

Southern Army (1942–1945)

List of GOC-in-C of Southern Command (1945- present)

Notes

Sources

* {{Military of India Commands of the Indian Army Military units and formations established in 1895 Military units and formations of India in World War II 1895 establishments in India