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)See also http://www.kv3gwalior.org/index.php?qs=cont_show&pageid=2 72 Infantry Brigade at Gwalior 115 Infantry Brigade was at Dhana.Mandeep Bajwa and Ravi Rikhye, Indian Army RAPID Divisions , 11 February 2001 54 Infantry Division (Bison Division) headquartered at Secunderabad. It includes - 91 Infantry Brigade at Thiruvananthapuram (Amphibious)Kerala to be headquarters for country's first amphibious brigade , 5 October 2008 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
RankNameAppointment DateLeft officeUnit of CommissionReferencesLieutenant GeneralG L BakshiApril 1990January 1992Kumaon RegimentR K GulatiJanuary 1992October 19929th Deccan HorseKrishna Mohan SethOctober 1992October 1994Regiment of ArtilleryChandra Shekhar October 199419964th Gorkha RiflesNirmal Chander Vij19961997Dogra RegimentB M Kapur1997Armoured CorpsSatish Satpute30 August 2002Maratha Light InfantryP P S Bhandari31 August 200231 December 20044th Horse (Hodson's Horse)Aditya Singh1 January 2004January 20059th Deccan HorseHarcharanjit Singh PanagJanuary 2005December 2006Sikh RegimentPradeep KhannaJanuary 2007May 200820 LancersArvinder Singh Lamba26 May 2008May 2009Regiment of ArtilleryRajinder SinghMay 20092010Mechanised Infantry RegimentSyed Ata Hasnain2010December 2010Garhwal RiflesSanjiv LangerDecember 2010January 2012Armoured CorpsS H KulkarniJanuary 2012January 2013Armoured CorpsAmit SharmaJanuary 2013February 201445 CavalryRajeev Vasant KanitkarFebruary 2014201517th Horse (Poona Horse)Pradeep Singh Mehta201531 June 20161st Horse (Skinner's Horse)Cherish Mathson1 July 201630 June 2017Garhwal RiflesIqroop Singh Ghuman 1 July 201731 June 2018Brigade of the GuardsRavendra Pal Singh 1 July 2018 July 2019Mechanised Infantry RegimentYogendra Dimri July 2019 25 July 2020Bombay SappersAtulya Solankey26 July 202030 July 202111th Gorkha Rifles Dhiraj Seth31 July 202131 July 20222nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)Vipul Shinghal3 August 202231 December 202351 Armoured RegimentPrit Pal Singh1 January 202431 July 202562 CavalryArvind Chauhan 01 August 2025Incumbent1 Gorkha Rifles
See also Indian Peace Keeping Force 72nd Indian Infantry Brigade
References