63rd Cavalry (India)

63rd Cavalry is an armoured regiment of the Indian Army.

Raising
It was raised on 2 January 1957 at Alwar, Rajasthan. Lt Col Harmandar Singh (now Brigadier retired) was the first commanding officer. The third armoured regiment to be raised under the government sanctions of 1956, the regiment was initially equipped with two squadrons of Stuart Mk VI tanks and a squadron of Humber Mk 4 armoured cars. In April 1958 the Humber squadron proceeded to Khanabal in Kashmir for a tour of duty till July 1959.

Independent squadron
The Humber squadron was later hived off as an independent reconnaissance squadron and the integral squadron re-raised with Daimler armoured cars. The independent squadron of 63rd Cavalry served in 1960-61 in the Congo Crisis as part of 99th Indian Infantry Brigade under the ONUC peacekeeping mission of the United Nations.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
In 1971 the regiment was re-equipped with T-55 tanks and PT-76 amphibious tanks, participating in combat operations in the Bangladesh front of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, entering Dacca in the final stages of the campaign. The tendency of 63rd Cavalry's tanks to appear from any of the four cardinal directions led to the enemy giving it the epithet of the "ghost" regiment.

Bogra was an important road and rail hub in the northwest of erstwhile East Pakistan defended by troops of Pakistani 16 Infantry Division. Bogra was assaulted by formations of 20 Infantry Division of the Indian Army. A squadron of 63rd Cavalry supported the successful assault of the 2nd battalion, 5th Gorkha Rifles in the cantonment area on 14 and 15 December 1971, for which the regiment was awarded the battle honour "Bogra" and the theatre honour "East Pakistan 1971". It won 8 gallantry awards for the 1971 operations. To date, troops of 63rd Cavalry have earned more than 50 awards including the Vir Chakra and Sena medal for gallantry under fire and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished service.

Presentation of Guidon
The regiment celebrated its silver jubilee in 1982 on which occasion it was presented with a guidon by the then President of India, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. A first day cover was released during the golden jubilee celebrations in Roorkee.