Western Command (India)

Western Command is a formation of the Indian Army, active since 1947. It has seen action during the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971. Lt Gen Philip Campose is the present commander.

History
The Presidency armies 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 1938 Western Command was downgraded to Western Independent District commanded by a major-general. Northern Command was re-formed again as North Western Army in April 1942 to guard the North West Frontier and the independent district was absorbed by the new North Western Army at that time.

Commanders prior to Independence
Commanders included: General Officer Commanding Western Command General Officer Commanding Western Independent District
 * Dec 1920 - Jun 1923 Lieutenant-General Sir Walter Braithwaite
 * Jun 1923 - Jun 1927 General Sir George Kirkpatrick
 * Jun 1927 - Jun 1931 General Sir Charles Harington
 * Jun 1931 - Jun 1935 General Sir Torquhil Matheson
 * Jun 1935 - Mar 1936 Lieutenant-General Sir Ivo Vesey
 * Mar 1936 - Aug 1938 General Sir Walter Pitt-Taylor
 * 1938 - 1941 Major-General Edward Quinan

Re-raising
After the partition of India, the erstwhile command headquarters of which north India formed a part, Northern Command, went to Pakistan. The communal violence of partition necessitated the raising of a new command headquarters to relieve Army Headquarters of the day to day overseeing of operations of the two independent areas in north India.

This command, initially named Delhi and East Punjab Command was raised in Delhi on 14 September 1947 with Lt Gen Sir Dudley Russell, KBE, CB, DSO, MC as the first commander. It had under it :
 * Delhi Independent Area.
 * East Punjab Independent Area.

On 26 October 1947, following the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India, Western Command was put in charge of all Indian Army operations to seize the area for India.

Initially a division sized force Jammu and Kasmir Division was raised on 5 November 1947 under Maj Gen Kalwant Singh for overseeing operations in Jammu and Kashmir. This was later split into two parts - Ja (Jammu) Division (under Maj Gen Atma Singh) and Sri (Srinagar) Division (under Maj Gen K.S. Thimayya) to oversee operations in Jammu and Kashmir respectively.

Today the command reportedly consists of:
 * Headquarters Western Command at Chandimandir
 * II Corps, headquartered at Ambala, Haryana
 * 1st Armoured Division headquartered at Patiala
 * 14th RAPID at Dehradun
 * 22nd Infantry Division headquartered at Meerut
 * 474th Engineering Brigade
 * 612th Mechanised Independent Air Defence Brigade
 * IX Corps, headquartered at Yol, Himachal Pradesh
 * 26th Infantry Division headquartered at Jammu
 * 29th Infantry Division headquartered at Pathankot
 * 2nd Independent Armoured Brigade
 * 3rd Independent Armoured Brigade
 * 16th Independent Armoured Brigade
 * XI Corps, headquartered at Jalandhar, Punjab
 * 7th Infantry Division headquartered at Firozpur
 * 9th Infantry Division headquartered at Meerut
 * 15th Infantry Division headquartered at Amritsar
 * 23rd Armoured Brigade
 * 55th Mechanised Brigade