# XXI Corps (India)

Indian Army Corps (1915 - Present) :
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The XXI Corps, or the Sudarshan Chakra Corps, is a strike corps of the Indian Army and is headquartered at Bhopal.

## World War I

The XXI Indian Corps was first raised on 12 August 1917 during the World War I, specifically for operations in the Middle East region against the German–Ottoman alliance. The corps was part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under Allenby and took active part in the capture of Gaza and Jerusalem from October to December 1917, and against the Turkish Seventh and Eight Armies in 1918. The Corps was disbanded in 1918, at the end of the war.

## World War II

The corps was re-raised in Persia on 6 June 1942 as a formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The corps was commanded throughout its existence by Lieutenant General Mosley Mayne and was part of the Tenth Army. The corps, composed of the 8th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General Dudley Russell) and the British 56th Infantry Division (Major-General Eric Miles), was created as part of the Allied buildup of forces in Persia and Iraq to create Persia and Iraq Command in order to prevent a German invasion of the Caucasus. The invasion never occurred and the corps was disbanded on 24 August 1943.

## Present

After India's intervention in Sri Lanka, the provisional headquarters (HQ) controlling India's expeditionary force, HQ Indian Peace Keeping Force, became HQ XXI Corps in April 1990 at Chandimandir. Permanent retention of the Corps at Bhopal was authorised on 29 October 1990. It is the only strike corps in the Indian Army’s Pune based Southern Command, the other three being - I Corps, II Corps and XVII Corps. XXI corps functions as both a strike corps and would also be used if India were to make another large intervention overseas.
It currently consists of:
* 31 Armored Division (White Tiger Division) headquartered at Jhansi-Babina in Uttar Pradesh, Central India.
** 94 Armoured Brigade
* 36 Infantry Division (RAPID) (Shahbaaz Division) at Sagar
** Division Artillery Brigade at Talbehat (2001)
** 18 Armoured Brigade at Gwalior (2001)
** 72 Infantry Brigade at Gwalior
** 115 Infantry Brigade was at Dhana.
* 54 Infantry Division (Bison Division) headquartered at Secunderabad. It includes -
** 91 Infantry Brigade at Thiruvananthapuram (Amphibious)
** 47 Infantry Brigade at Hyderabad
** 76 Infantry Brigade at Secunderabad
* 41 Artillery Division (Agnibaaz Division) headquartered at Pune.
* Corps Artillery Brigade
* Corps Air Defence Brigade (First To Strike Brigade)
* 475 Engineering Brigade

## List of Commanders

| Rank | Name | Appointment Date | Left Office | Unit of Commission |
| Lieutenant General | G L Bakshi | April 1990 | January 1992 | Kumaon Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | R K Gulati | January 1992 | October 1992 | 9th Deccan Horse |
| Lieutenant General | Krishna Mohan Seth | October 1992 | October 1994 | Regiment of Artillery |
| Lieutenant General | Chandra Shekhar | October 1994 | 1996 | 4th Gorkha Rifles |
| Lieutenant General | Nirmal Chander Vij | 1996 | 1997 | Dogra Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | B M Kapur | 1997 | | Armoured Corps |
| Lieutenant General | Satish Satpute | | 30 August 2002 | Maratha Light Infantry |
| Lieutenant General | P P S Bhandari | 31 August 2002 | 31 December 2004 | 4th Horse (Hodson's Horse) |
| Lieutenant General | Aditya Singh | 1 January 2004 | January 2005 | 9th Deccan Horse |
| Lieutenant General | Harcharanjit Singh Panag | January 2005 | December 2006 | Sikh Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Pradeep Khanna | January 2007 | May 2008 | 20 Lancers |
| Lieutenant General | Arvinder Singh Lamba | 26 May 2008 | May 2009 | Regiment of Artillery |
| Lieutenant General | Rajinder Singh | May 2009 | 2010 | Mechanised Infantry Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Syed Ata Hasnain | 2010 | December 2010 | Garhwal Rifles |
| Lieutenant General | Sanjiv Langer | December 2010 | January 2012 | Armoured Corps |
| Lieutenant General | S H Kulkarni | January 2012 | January 2013 | Armoured Corps |
| Lieutenant General | Amit Sharma | January 2013 | February 2014 | 45 Cavalry |
| Lieutenant General | Rajeev Vasant Kanitkar | February 2014 | 2015 | 17th Horse (Poona Horse) |
| Lieutenant General | Pradeep Singh Mehta | 2015 | 31 June 2016 | 1st Horse (Skinner's Horse) |
| Lieutenant General | Cherish Mathson | 1 July 2016 | 30 June 2017 | Garhwal Rifles |
| Lieutenant General | Iqroop Singh Ghuman | 1 July 2017 | 31 June 2018 | Brigade of the Guards |
| Lieutenant General | Ravendra Pal Singh | 1 July 2018 | July 2019 | Mechanised Infantry Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Yogendra Dimri | July 2019 | 25 July 2020 | Bombay Sappers |
| Lieutenant General | Atulya Solankey | 26 July 2020 | 30 July 2021 | 11th Gorkha Rifles |
| Lieutenant General | Dhiraj Seth | 31 July 2021 | 31 July 2022 | 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) |
| Lieutenant General | Vipul Shinghal | 3 August 2022 | 31 December 2023 | 51 Armoured Regiment |
| Lieutenant General | Prit Pal Singh | 1 January 2024 | Incumbent | 62 Cavalry |