# II Corps (India)

Indian Army Corps (1915 - Present) :
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II Corps is a corps of the Indian Army, based in Ambala and known as Kharga Corps.
The Corps was raised on October 7, 1971 by Lt Gen T N Raina at Krishna Nagar in West Bengal and saw action two months later in December. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, it captured the important towns of Khulna, Jessore, Jhenida, Magura and Faridpur and also the area between the rivers Ganges and Padma. Subsequently, the Corps was shifted to the Western Theatre where it was initially located at Chandimandir Cantonment till 1984, and then moved to Ambala in January 1985.

## Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

The II Corps consisted of 4th Mountain Division and 9th Infantry Division (the only infantry division in the east, it had more motor vehicles and heavier artillery than its mountain counterparts); the corps was later reinforced by 50 Parachute Brigade (minus one battalion). Under Lieutenant General Tapishwar Narain Raina ('Tappy'), the 20 infantry battalions of II Corps were to take Khulna, Jessore, Goalundo Ghat, Faridpur, and the Hardinge Bridge. Convinced that Khulna was one of the keys to East Pakistan, General Manekshaw placed especial stress on its capture. Dacca was not mentioned except in some contingency plans for crossing the Padma (Ganges) at Faridpur and Goalundo Ghat. Paying little attention to possible operations against the chief city of East Pakistan, therefore, Raina planned to advance on two axes with 4th Division in the north towards Jhenida and 9th Division aiming for Jessore on the southern approach.
Operations by Indian troops and Mukti Bahini during late November had secured a sizable enclave between Bayra and Jessore. An Indian success at Garibpur on 21/22 November was particularly significant, as it allowed the Indian 9th Division to gain considerable ground towards Jessore and resulted in the virtual destruction of the lone Pakistani armored squadron in the area. The action at Garibpur, however, also alerted the Pakistanis to the 9th Division’s proposed line of advance. As a result, the division quickly became embroiled in a tough and costly slogging match on 4 and 5 December once the full-scale conflict broke out. This fight took its toll on the Pakistanis too, however, and the exhausted 107 Brigade abandoned Jessore on the night of 6/7 December, withdrawing south to Khulna in considerable confusion.47
The Pakistani division headquarters and other remnants fled east toward the Madhumati River. A Pakistani officer recalled that “The front here had crumbled completely...Withdrawal quickly turned into a rout.” Riding into Jessore in the dawn hours of 7 December, he noted, “It looked like a ghost town, except for sleepy dogs and chickens, not a soul stirred. Doors were wide open; all kinds of personal belongings littered the roads. It looked like the end of East Pakistan.”48 The Indians occupied Jessore later that day, but Major General Dalbir Singh, the 9th Division commander, allowed himself to be distracted by Khulna and turned his entire division toward an objective that was supposed to be taken by a brigade. The town held out stoutly for the remainder of the war in the face of repeated attacks.
The 9 Division’s reserve force, 50 Para Brigade, engaged in a brief skirmish at Khajura north of Jessore on 8 December before being pulled out the next day for transfer to the western front. A planned two-company airborne attack by 8 Para near Jhenida was called off as unnecessary. The “Red Eagles,” Indian 4 Division, launched a well-conducted attack north and east from its positions around Jibannagar, skillfully bypassing or overwhelming resistance to enter Jhenida on 7 December. Like 9 Division, however, the leadership of the 4th was distracted by a flank objective. In this case, when a hasty attempt to capture Kushtia and the Hardinge Bridge miscarried, the senior commanders overreacted and diverted the entire division to the north. Although the Indian advance helped urge Pakistan’s 57 Brigade in its retreat across the Ganges, by the time 4 Division had returned to the Magura area (14 December), it was too late to participate in the drive for Dacca. The division made a fine crossing of the Madhumati (albeit against light resistance) and took the surrender of the broken remnants of Pakistani 9 Division at Faridpur on 16 December. Indian Army and BSF troops from Bengal Area under Major General P. Chowdry made limited gains on the Satkhira axis.

## Shift to West

The corps moved to its present location in January 1985. The pullback of over four lakh troops along with heavy armored and artillery formations from forward positions along the International Border (IB) with Pakistan was an enormous logistical exercise, with costs running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Demobilisation began from Punjab, followed by Rajasthan, Gujarat and the Jammu sector. While it took 28 days for the initial mobilisation, the pullback is expected to take slightly longer. The troops had been hanging on the border in combat readiness for 10 months, and the harsh weather and terrain took a heavy toll on both the men and their equipment.
As of around 2016, it consists of -
* Divisions
** 1 Armoured Division (Airawat Division) headquartered at Patiala. 1 Division had 1 Armoured and 43 Lorry Brigade, a scheme it retained till after the 1971 War, when armoured divisions were changed to a three-brigade layout, and 43 Lorry Brigade became 43 Armoured Brigade.
** 14 Infantry Division (RAPID) (Golden Key Division)] at Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand. Division Artillery Brigade is at Dehra Dun, 35 Infantry Brigade at Dehra Dun, 58 Armoured Brigade at Roorkee, and 116 Infantry Brigade at Dehra Dun.
** 22 Infantry Division (Charging Ram Division) headquartered at Meerut
** 40 Artillery Division (Deep Strikers Division) at Ambala
* Corps Brigades
** 2 Corps Artillery Brigade
** 474 Engineering Brigade (Kharga Engineers) headquartered at Zirakpur
* Independent Brigades
** 612 Mechanised Independent Air Defence Brigade at Ambala
** 16 Independent Armoured Brigade (Black Arrow Brigade) at Mamun

## List of General Officers Commanding (GOCs)

| Rank | Name | Appointment Date | Left Office | Unit of Commission |
| Lieutenant General | Tapishwar Narain Raina | 7 October 1971 | 17 October 1973 | Kumaon Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | A. M. Vohra | 18 October 1973 | 27 May 1975 | 3rd Gorkha Rifles |
| Lieutenant General | Zorawar Chand Bakhshi | 28 May 1975 | 31 January 1979 | 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) |
| Lieutenant General | Manohar Lal Chibber | 1 February 1979 | 21 July 1980 | Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry |
| Lieutenant General | Srinivas Kumar Sinha | 22 July 1980 | 28 May 1981 | Jat Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Hriday Kaul | 29 May 1981 | 19 January 1983 | 2nd Lancers |
| Lieutenant General | Nirmal Puri | 20 January 1983 | 16 December 1984 | Armoured Corps |
| Lieutenant General | Biddanda Chengappa Nanda | 17 December 1984 | 28 April 1986 | Mahar Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Hanut Singh | 29 April 1986 | 11 July 1988 | 17th Horse (Poona Horse) |
| Lieutenant General | G. S. Grewal | 12 July 1988 | 30 June 1990 | 1st Horse (Skinner's Horse) |
| Lieutenant General | Prakash Mani Tripathi | 1 July 1990 | 15 September 1992 | 63 Cavalry |
| Lieutenant General | K. L. D'Souza | 16 September 1992 | 30 April 1994 | Mechanised Infantry Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | S. K. Sharma | 1 May 1994 | 30 March 1995 | Armoured Corps |
| Lieutenant General | S. K. Jetley | 31 March 1995 | 11 October 1996 | Central India Horse |
| Lieutenant General | S. S. Mehta | 12 October 1996 | 19 March 1998 | 63 Cavalry |
| Lieutenant General | Gurbaksh Singh Sihota | 20 March 1998 | 30 September 2000 | Regiment of Artillery |
| Lieutenant General | Kapil Vij | 1 October 2000 | 29 January 2002 | 70 Armoured Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Bhupender Singh Thakur | 30 January 2002 | September 2003 | Central India Horse |
| Lieutenant General | G.D. Singh | October 2004 | March 2006 | Armoured Corps |
| Lieutenant General | Vijay Kumar Singh | April 2006 | February 2008 | Rajput Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | J. P. Singh | 1 March 2008 | 20 March 2009 | Armoured Corps |
| Lieutenant General | Chetinder Singh | 21 March 2009 | 25 December 2010 | 7th Light Cavalry |
| Lieutenant General | Anil Chandra Chait | 26 February 2010 | 29 May 2011 | Armoured Corps |
| Lieutenant General | Amarjeet Singh Chabbewal | 30 May 2011 | 4 August 2012 | 67 Armoured Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Sandeep Singh | 5 August 2012 | 11 August 2013 | Jammu and Kashmir Rifles |
| Lieutenant General | Ravindra Pratap Sahi | 12 August 2013 | 9 December 2014 | Brigade of The Guards |
| Lieutenant General | Amarjeet Singh | 10 December 2014 | 18 December 2015 | Bihar Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Manoj Mukund Naravane | 19 December 2015 | 4 January 2017 | Sikh Light Infantry |
| Lieutenant General | Jaiveer Singh Negi | 5 January 2017 | 12 January 2018 | Dogra Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Alok Singh Kler | 13 January 2018 | 27 January 2019 | 68 Armoured Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Manmohan Jeet Singh Kahlon | 28 January 2019 | 2 February 2020 | 75 Armoured Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Surinder Singh Mahal | 3 February 2020 | 11 February 2021 | 41 Armoured Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | N. S. Raja Subramani | 12 February 2021 | 21 March 2022 | Garhwal Rifles |
| Lieutenant General | Pratik Sharma | 21 March 2022 | 31 May 2023 | Madras Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Rahul R Singh | 1 June 2023 | 30 June 2024 | Regiment of Artillery |
| Lieutenant General | Rajesh Pushkar | 1 July 2024 | Incumbent | 74 Armoured Regiment |