Vijay Diwas 2022: What is the Structure and Commands of Indian Army?

Vijay Diwas 2022: It is observed on December 16 to commemorate the victory of the Indian Forces over Pakistan during the 1971 war. On this day, let us have a look at the basic structure and various commands of the Indian Army.

At present, Manoj Mukund Naravane is an Indian Army Chief since 31 December 2019. Indian army is considered the deadliest army on the plater earth.  Indian Army was established in 1895 but it got its current structure after independence. In this article, we are giving you information about the structure and various commands of the Indian Army, which is very useful for students preparing for various examinations.

Structure of the Indian Army

In India, the supreme commander of all three armies is the President of India. The top army officer is called the Army Chief. The Indian Army is divided into 7 commands, whose details are given below:

1. Eastern Command (Headquarters – Kolkata)

Logo of Eastern Command

Image source: Wikipedia

Currently, in this command 12 divisions and 4 cores are working.

•    23rd Infantry Division – Ranchi

•    2nd Mountain Division – Dibrugarh

•    5th Mountain Division – Bomdila

•    17th Mountain Division – Gangtok

•    56th Mountain Division – Zakhama

•    21st Mountain Division – Rangia

•    20th Mountain Division – Binnaguri

•    57th Mountain Division – Leimakhong

•    71st Mountain Division – Missamari

•    27th Mountain Division – Kalimpong

•    59th Infantry Division –Panagarh

•    72 Infantry Division – Pathankot (Currently being raised)

•    III Corps – Dimapur, Nagaland

•    IV Corps – Tezpur, Assam

•    XXXIII Corps – Siliguri, West Bengal

•    XVII Corps – Panagarh, West Bengal

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2. Central Command (Headquarters - Lucknow)

Logo of Central Command

Image source: Wikipedia
Currently no unit of this command is working and it is assigned to South Western Command.

3. Northern Command (Headquarters - Udhampur)

Logo of Northern Command

Image source: Wikipedia

At present, 7 divisions, 3 cores and 1 brigade of this command are working.

•    3rd Infantry Division – Leh

•    19th Infantry Division – Baramulla

•    10th Infantry Division – Akhnoor

•    8th Mountain Division – Dras

•    28th Mountain Division – Gurez

•    25th Infantry Division – Rajauri

•    39th Infantry Division – Yol

•    XIV Corps – Leh

•    XV Corps – Srinagar

•    XVI Corps – Nagrota

•    10 Artillery brigade

4. Southern Command (Headquarters - Pune)

Logo of Southern Command

Image source: Wikipedia
Currently, in this command 6 divisions, 2 cores and 3 brigades are working.

•    41st Artillery Division – Pune

•    11th Infantry Division – Ahmedabad

•    31st Armoured Division – Jhansi

•    12th RAPID– Jodhpur

•    36th RAPID – Sagar

•    54th Infantry Division – Hyderabad/Secunderabad

•    4th Armoured Brigade

•    340th Mechanised Brigade

•    475th Engineering Brigade

•    XII Corps – Jodhpur

•    XXI Corps – Bhopal

5. South-Western Command (Headquarters - Jaipur)

Logo of South-Western Command

Image source: Wikipedia

At present, 7 divisions, 2 cores and 3 brigades of this command are working.

•    42nd Artillery Division – Jaipur

•    4th Infantry Division – Allahabad

•    16th Infantry Division – Sri Ganganagar

•    6th Mountain Division – Bareilly

•    18th RAPID – Kota

•    33rd Armoured Division – Hisar

•    24th RAPID – Bikaner

•    6th Independent Armoured Brigade

•    615th Independent Air Defence Brigade

•    471st Engineering Brigade

•    I Corps – Mathura

•    X Corps – Bhatinda

6. Western Command (Headquarters - Chandigarh)

Logo of Western Command

Image source: Wikipedia

Currently, 9 divisions, 3 cores and 6 brigades of this command are working.

•    40th Artillery Division – Ambala

•    1st Armoured Division – Patiala

•    26th Infantry Division – Jammu

•    7th Infantry Division – Firozpur

•    14th RAPID – Dehradun

•    29th Infantry Division – Pathankot

•    9th Infantry Division – Meerut

•    22nd Infantry Division – Meerut

•    15th Infantry Division – Amritsar

•    2nd Independent Armoured Brigade

•    3rd Independent Armoured Brigade

•    23rd Armoured Brigade

•    612th Mechanised Independent Air Defence Brigade

•    474th Engineering Brigade

•    55th Mechanised Brigade

•    II Corps – Ambala

•    IX Corps – Yol

•    XI Corps – Jalandhar

7. Training Command (Headquarters - Shimla)

Logo of Training Command

Image source: Wikipedia

This Command is the nodal agency for all institutional training in the army.

Note: Apart from these commands, there is an independent parachute brigade of the Indian Army, which is located in Agra and it comes directly under the jurisdiction of the Chief of the Army Staff.

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Let's know how the army is organized in the command.

Any command army is organized into 7 parts whose details are given below:

1. Section: The smallest unit of the army is called "section", it contains 10-12 soldiers.

2.  Platoon: It consists of 4 sections.

3. Company: It consists of 4 platoons. Its Chief is called the company commander.

4. Battalion: Its Chief is called Colonel.

5. Brigade: Its Chief is called Brigadier.

6. Division: Its Chief is called Major General.

7. Corps: Its Chief is called Lieutenant General.

Organization of the Indian Army:

Indian Army is organized in two parts - Combat Arms and Services.

Combat Arms: In the Combat Arms, those soldiers are involved who participated in the search operation.

Image source: MensXP.com

Services: Apart from the Combat Arms, the remaining whole army is kept under the services. Their main task is to provide logistical (food) material to the army and administrated the army.

Image source: Official Website of Indian Army

The Combat Arms include the following departments:

1.  Armoured Corps

2.  Mechanized Infantry

3.  Infantry

The Combat Support Arms include the following departments:

1.  Artillery

2.  Corps of Engineers

3.  Corps of Army Air Defence

4.  Army Aviation Corps

5.  Corps of Signals

The Services include the following departments:

1.   Army Service Corps

2.  Army Medical Corps

3.  Army Dental Corps

4.  Army Ordnance Corps

5.  Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers

6.  Remount and Veterinary Corps

7.  Military Farms Service

8.  Army Education Corps

9.  Corps of Military Police

10. Pioneer Corps

11. Army Postal Service Corps

12. Territorial Army        

13. Defence Security Corps        

14. Intelligence Corps    

15. Judge Advocate General's Department

16. Military Nursing Service