III Corps (India)

The III Corps is a formation of the Indian Army that was formed during World War I in Mesopotamia during its respective campaign. Prior to the reorganization of the British and Indian forces in Mesopotamia, it was designated as the Tigris Corps.

III Corps
Active1915–1919
1941–1942
1985–present
Country India
Branch Indian Army
TypeMountain troops
SizeCorps
Part ofEastern Command
Garrison/HQDimapur
Nickname(s)Spear Corps
Commanders
Current
commander		Lt General Harjeet Singh Sahi
Notable
commanders		General Dalbir Singh Suhag
General Bipin Rawat
Lieutenant General Sir Lewis MacClesfield Heath
Indian Army Corps (1915 - Present)
Previous Next
None XV Corps

A new III Corps was formed by the Indian Army during World War II for service in Southeast Asia. The corps fought in the Battle of Singapore where it surrendered in February 1942.[1]

It is located in the state of Nagaland of India in the city of Dimapur, at Rangapahar Military Station.

History

First World War

Initially formed in December 1915, it took part in the Mesopotamian campaign under the command of Frederick Stanley Maude. In November 1916, it was split in two to form the I Corps and III Corps (also known as III (Tigris) Corps).[2]

Among its component divisions during World War I were the Cavalry Division, 3rd (Lahore) Division, 6th (Poona) Division, 7th (Meerut) Division, 12th Indian Division, 13th (Western) Division, 14th Indian Division, 17th Indian Division, and 18th Indian Division.[3]

From 1 January until 3 March 1917 the corps also commanded III (Tigris) Corps Cavalry Regiment, a composite unit comprising squadrons drawn from 1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry, 10th Lancers and 32nd Lancers.[3][4][5]

Second World War

The Indian III Corps was the primary ground formation that took part in the Malayan Campaign in 1942. It was commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Lewis "Piggy" Heath.

Indian III Corps was formed in mid-1941 as part of the Malaya Command when the increase in tension in the Far East necessitated the dispatch of large reinforcements to the area to deter Japan. On 7 December 1941 the Corps consisted of the Indian 9th Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General Arthur Edward Barstow, the Indian 11th Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General David Murray-Lyon, a lines of communication Area, and the Penang Fortress.[6] Due to the rapid expansion of the British Indian Army, many of the formations in the Indian divisions were ill-trained and lacked large enough cadres of experienced troops.

The British had plans – Operation Matador and Operation Krohcol – to move forward into the south of Siam to forestall Japanese advances. However, lack of forewarning, combined with caution over upsetting Japan needlessly with precipitate actions, prevented the plans from being implemented. This put the garrison on the defensive, a position from which it never recovered.

III Corps was pushed down the Malayan peninsula by Japanese units, who employed novel tactics. When confronted with an Allied strong point on a road, the Japanese troops would leave a screen in front of the position, and then send infiltrators round through the jungle to outflank the position. Having been surrounded, positions were usually relatively easy to take. III Corps and the rest of the Allied land forces were pushed back to Singapore itself by February 1942. There they endured a short siege before the island surrendered at the direction of Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival. Some of the prisoners taken from Indian III Corps subsequently joined the Indian National Army.

Post independence

After the independence of India, a new III Corps was raised by the Indian Army on 4 February 1985 and is spread over the North Eastern States of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. At the time of its formation, it consisted of 8 and 57 Mountain Divisions, under its command, in addition to troops of Assam Rifles. The 8 Mountain Division was moved out to Kashmir in 1990.[7]

The corps is presently based at Dimapur in north east India, and consists of three divisions being responsible for eastern Arunachal Pradesh and the Myanmar border. It is tasked for use in any future Indian war against China.

Structure

Jane's estimates that it consists of:[8]

  • 57 Mountain Division (Red Shield Division) - headquartered at Leimakhong.[13] Raised in 1966 for counterinsurgency operations in Mizoram. Until 1990, headquartered at Aizawl with III Corps.[14] Globalsecurity.org reports the 57 Mountain Division headquarters are at Masimpur near Silchar.[15] The formation and units of 57 Mountain Division are deployed in some of the remotest corner of Manipur and Indo-Burmese border.[16] 57th Mountain Division took part in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as part of IV Corps. It also successfully conducted Operation Golden Bird in 1995 to eliminate rebels in Northeast India.[17]

Commanders
Rank Name Appointment Date Left Office Unit of Commission References
Lieutenant General Joginder Singh Bakshi 5 March 1985 30 March 1986 Jat Regiment [18]
Raj Mohan Vohra 31 March 1986 20 September 1987 4th Horse (Hodson's Horse) [18]
Vijay Madan 21 September 1987 6 May 1989 4th Gorkha Rifles [18]
Bipin Chandra Joshi 7 May 1989 17 May 1990 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) [18]
B S Nalwa 18 May 1990 13 May 1991 Regiment of Artillery [18]
H K Kapoor 14 May 1991 15 December 1992 Corps of Engineers [18]
N S Malik 16 December 1992 29 October 1994 4th Horse (Hodson's Horse) [18]
Krishna Mohan Seth 30 October 1994 22 October 1995 Regiment of Artillery [18]
S S Grewal 23 October 1995 9 September 1997 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles [19]
Rustom Kaikhusro Nanavatty 10 September 1997 19 June 2000 8th Gorkha Rifles [20]
T S Shergill 20 June 2000 4 October 2001 9th Deccan Horse [21]
V K Jetley 5 October 2001 2 January 2003 Dogra Regiment [18][22]
Rajinder Singh 3 January 2003 31 December 2003 Regiment of Artillery [18][23]
Daljeet Singh 1 January 2004 22 September 2005 8th Light Cavalry [24]
Zameer Uddin Shah September 2005 September 2006 Regiment of Artillery [25]
Manbir Singh Dadwal September 2006 30 July 2008 Dogra Regiment [25][26]
Rakesh Kumar Loomba 31 July 2008 August 2009 1st Horse (Skinner's Horse) [27]
Nand Kishore Singh August 2009 March 2011 3rd Gorkha Rifles [28]
Dalbir Singh Suhag March 2011 19 June 2012 4/5 Gorkha Rifles [29]
Arun Kumar Sahni 20 June 2012 August 2013 Regiment of Artillery [30]
Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan August 2013 31 August 2014 Madras Regiment [31]
Bipin Rawat 1 September 2014 22 November 2015 5/11 Gorkha Rifles [32]
Abhay Krishna 23 November 2015 31 December 2016 Rajputana Rifles [33]
Anil Chauhan 1 January 2017 8 January 2018 6/11 Gorkha Rifles [34]
Gopal R 9 January 2018 10 January 2019 8th Gorkha Rifles [35]
Rajeev Sirohi 10 January 2019 10 January 2020 The Grenadiers [35]
Rana Pratap Kalita 11 January 2020 10 February 2021 9 Kumaon Regiment [36]
Johnson P Mathew 10 February 2021 1 March 2022 Punjab Regiment [37]
Ram Chander Tiwari 1 March 2022 6 March 2023 Kumaon Regiment [38]
Harjeet Singh Sahi 6 March 2023 Incumbent Rajput Regiment [39]

Reference list
  1. Ramakrishna
  2. Listing of British Corps, accessed July 2010. Archived 16 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Brig-Gen F.J. Moberly, History of the Great War: The Campaign in Mesopotamia, Vol III, London: HM Stationery Office, 1925/Imperial War Museum and Battery Press, 1997, ISBN 978-089839289-0, Appendix XXXVI.
  4. Moberly, Vol III, p. 111.
  5. Lt-Col J.D. Sainsbury, The Hertfordshire Yeomanry: An Illustrated History' 1794–1920', Welwyn: Hertfordshire Yeomanry and Artillery Historical Trust/Hart Books, 1994, ISBN 0-948527-03-X, pp. 182–8.
  6. Orbat.com/Niehorster, III Indian Corps, 7 December 1941
  7. "3 Corps celebrates Raising Day". 2011-02-04. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  8. Jane's World Armies, Issue 19, 2006
  9. Pike, John. "2 Mountain Division". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  10. "Third battalion of Naga regiment be raised soon". 2009-10-16. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  11. "Army's first mountain division for China in northeast kicks off !!". Chindits. 11 November 2009. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  12. "Why mountain strike corps along the India-China border is important". 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  13. Pike, John. "57 Mountain Division / Red Shield Division". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  14. Conboy, Elite Forces of India and Pakistan, p.8
  15. Globalsecurity.org, 17 July 2010
  16. John Pike. "57 Mountain Division / Red Shield Division". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  17. Bhaumik, Subir (10 December 2009). Troubled Periphery: The Crisis of India's North East By Subir Bhaumik. ISBN 9788132104797.
  18. "New #DGMO Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (R) handing over charge of all imp 3 Corps in Dimapur to Lt Gen Gopal R." 2018-01-09. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  19. "LT GENERAL SS GREWAL RETIRES". 2002-04-30. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  20. "Reviewing Internal Armed Conflict in India-Forging a Joint Civil - Military Approach" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  21. "Army Top Brass Changed in N-E". 2000-06-11. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  22. "Lt Gen V K Jetley takes over as Master General Ordinance". 2003-01-31. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  23. "JS Verma visits Manipur". 2003-01-08. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  24. "Annual Report, 2005 – 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  25. "Lt Gen Manbir assumes charge as GOC 3 Corps". 2006-09-20. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  26. "Army Commander visits Manipur". 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  27. "Lt. Gen. Loomba new Military Intelligence chief". The Hindu. 2009-08-31. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
  28. "Defence Minister Visits North-East". 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  29. "Defence ministry seeks report on notice to Lt Gen Suhag". 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  30. "GOC 3 Corps extends Vijay Diwas greetings". 2010-09-15. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  31. "Lieutenant General Lt Gen Bipin Rawat takes over command of Spear Corps". 2014-08-31. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  32. "Nagaland governor asks security forces to be careful in view of Naga accord". 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  33. "Lt Gen Abhay Krishna takes over as GOC Spear Corps". 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  34. "GOC 3 Corps Anil Chauhan Meets Arunachal Governor SV Shanmuganathan". 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  35. "Lt. Gen Sirohi takes over as GOC 3 Corps". Nagaland Post. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  36. "lt-gen-rana-pratap-kalita-appointed-as-goc-3-corps-first-assamese-to-don-corps-commanders-mantle". 2020-02-10. Archived from the original on 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  37. Mathew, JP. "JP Mathew Spear Corps Commander". Archived from the original on 2021-06-12. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  38. "Lt Gen RC Tiwari takes over as General Officer Commanding of Spear Corps". 2022-03-03. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
  39. "Lt Gen Sahi next GOC of 3 Corps | Nagaland Post". Retrieved 6 March 2023.
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