Southern Command (India)
Command
Unit nameSouthern Command
CountryIndia
Dates1908–present
Current commanderLieutenant General Sandeep Jain,
GarrisonPune
Anniversaries1 April (Raising Day)
Notable commandersGeneral Rajendrasinhji Jadeja
General S M Shrinagesh
General K S Thimayya
General Pran Nath Thapar
General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri
General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor
General Om Prakash Malhotra
General Bipin Chandra Joshi
General Ved Prakash Malik
General Sundararajan Padmanabhan
General Nirmal Chander Vij
General Bipin Rawat
Identification symbol labelFlag

Southern Command is a formation of the Indian Army, active since 1895. It has seen action during the integration of several Princely States into modern India, during the 1961 Indian liberation of Goa, and during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani Wars.

Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain is the present Southern Army Commander.[1]

History

Early history

The Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies became the Indian Army.[2] The Indian Army was divided into four Commands (Bengal Command, Bombay Command, Madras Command and Punjab Command) each under a lieutenant general.[2]

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).[2] In 1914, the Southern Army consisted of the 4th (Quetta) Division, the 5th (Mhow) Division, the 6th (Poona) Division, the 9th (Secunderabad) Division, and the Aden Brigade.[3]

Second World War

During the Second World War, Southern Command was reformed as Southern Army (equivalent to a corps) in April 1942. The formation reverted to the title Southern Command in November 1945.[4]

Component divisions included:[5]

Component brigades included:[5]

Post war

In August 1947, Southern Command had the Deccan, Madras and Bombay Areas (with HQs at Kamptee, Madras and Bombay). In 1947–48, Southern Command was largely responsible in getting Junagadh and Hyderabad to sign the instrument of accession to India.[2] 1st Armoured Division did the actual incursion into Hyderabad. In 1961, the Indian annexation of Goa was conducted by 17th Infantry Division and 50th Parachute Brigade, under the operational control of Southern Command.[6]

In 1965–66, two further divisions were raised within the command. After fighting broke out in the Rann of Kutch in April 1965, a hastily constituted force, named Kilo Force under Maj. Gen P. O. Dunn was formed to contain this attack.[2] Kilo Force was later re-designated as 11 Infantry Division. In September 1965, the operational responsibility for the Barmer sector was given to Southern Command and entrusted to 11 Infantry Division. Delhi and Rajasthan Area, with its Advance Headquarters at Jodhpur, fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 under Western Command. On 3 November 1966, this formation was re-designated 12th Infantry Division, under Major General J.F.R. Jacob, and also placed under Southern Command.[7]

Structure

The command headquarters is located in Pune, Maharashtra.[8] It consists of two corps and two military areas.[2] The two areas are the Maharashtra Goa and Gujarat Area (MG&G Area)[9] and the Dakshin Bharat Area (renamed). In 2005, changes were made to its area of responsibility when a new South Western Command was established.[10]

Dakshin Bharat Area is a static formation which now provides administrative, logistical, and infrastructural support to military units and establishments in Southern India. It was previously known as the Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala Area (ATNK&K Area). The current General Officer Commanding is Lieutenant General Karanbir Singh Brar. Its responsibilities include administrative; logistical; and infrastructure support. The area encompasses the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala, as well as the union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadwee.[11]

Structure of Southern Command
InsigniaCorps/AreaCorps/Area HQGeneral Officer CommandingAssigned UnitsUnit HQ
XII Corps (Konark Corps)Jodhpur, RajasthanLt Gen Aditya Vikram Singh Rathee[12]11 Infantry DivisionAhmedabad, Gujarat
12 RAPID DivisionJaisalmer, Rajasthan
75 (Independent) Infantry BrigadeBhuj, Gujarat
4 (Independent) Armoured BrigadeJaisalmer, Rajasthan
340 (Independent) Mechanized BrigadeAjmer, Rajasthan
XXI Corps (Sudarshan Chakra Corps)Bhopal, Madhya PradeshLt Gen Arvind Chauhan[13]54 Infantry DivisionSecunderabad, Telangana
36 RAPID DivisionSagar, Madhya Pradesh
31 Armoured DivisionJhansi, Uttar Pradesh
41 Artillery DivisionPune, Maharashtra
475 Engineering BrigadeNasirabad, Rajasthan
Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa AreaMumbai, MaharashtraLt Gen Dheerendra Singh Kushwah[14]
Dakshin Bharat AreaChennai, Tamil NaduLt Gen V Sreehari[15]

Precursors (1907–1948)

Following is the List of precursors to the Southern Command and their commanders:[16]

Southern Command (1907–1908)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command
S.NoNameAssumed officeLeft officeUnit of CommissionReferences
1General Sir Archibald HunterJune 1907October 19084th (King's Own Royal) Regiment of Foot

Southern Army (1908–1920)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army
S.NoNameAssumed officeLeft officeUnit of CommissionReferences
1General Sir Edmund G. BarrowOctober 1908October 1912102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers)
2General Sir John E. NixonOctober 1912February 191575th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot
3Lieutenant General Sir Robert I. ScallonFebruary 1915191672nd (Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders) Regiment of Foot
4Lieutenant General Sir Charles A. AndersonApril 1917November 1919Royal Horse Artillery
5Lieutenant General Sir William R. MarshallNovember 19191920Sherwood Foresters

Southern Command (1920–1942)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command
S.NoNameAssumed officeLeft officeUnit of CommissionReferences
1Lieutenant General Sir William R. Marshall1920December 1923Sherwood Foresters
2Lieutenant General Sir Andrew SkeenDecember 1923March 1924King's Own Scottish Borderers
3Lieutenant General Sir Harold B. WalkerMarch 1924March 1928Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
4General Sir William C. G. HenekerMarch 1928March 1932Connaught Rangers
5General Sir George D. JeffreysMarch 1932March 1936Grenadier Guards
6Lieutenant General Sir Ivo L. B. VeseyMarch 1936October 1937Queen's Royal Regiment
7General Sir John E. S. BrindOctober 1937March 1941Royal Artillery
8Lieutenant General Thomas S. Riddell-WebsterMarch 1941October 1941Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
9General Sir Brodie HaigOctober 1941June 194224th Punjabis

Southern Army (1942–1945)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army
S.NoNameAssumed officeLeft officeUnit of CommissionReferences
1Lieutenant General Sir Noel M. de la P. Beresford-PeirseJune 1942March 1945Royal Artillery

List of GOC-in-C of Southern Command (1945- present)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command
S.NoNameAssumed officeLeft officeUnit of CommissionReferences
1Lieutenant General Rob LockhartApril 194515 August 194751st Sikhs
2Lieutenant General Eric Goddard15 August 19471 May 1948107th Pioneers
3Lieutenant General Rajendrasinhji Jadeja1 May 194814 January 19532nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)
4Lieutenant General Satyawant M. Shrinagesh17 January 195314 May 195519th Hyderabad Regiment
5Lieutenant General K. S. Thimayya15 May 195514 September 195619th Hyderabad Regiment
6Lieutenant General Pran Nath Thapar21 January 195724 May 19591st Punjab Regiment
7Lieutenant General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri25 May 195919 November 19627th Light Cavalry[17]
8Lieutenant General Lionel Protip Sen10 May 19637 May 196510th Baluch Regiment
9Lieutenant General Moti Sagar8 May 19653 July 19694th Gorkha Rifles
10Lieutenant General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor4 July 196914 January 1973Dogra Regiment[18]
11Lieutenant General Sartaj Singh27 January 197331 July 1974Regiment of Artillery
12Lieutenant General Om Prakash Malhotra1 August 197419 January 1977Regiment of Artillery
13Lieutenant General A. M. Vohra20 January 197730 May 19793rd Gorkha Rifles
14Lieutenant General A. N. Mathur31 May 197929 June 1980Corps of Signals
15Lieutenant General Ram Dharam Dass Hira30 June 198031 August 198111th Gorkha Rifles
16Lieutenant General Tirath Singh Oberoi1 September 198130 November 1984Parachute Regiment[19]
17Lieutenant General Ranjit Singh Dyal14 February 198530 November 1986Parachute Regiment[19]
18Lieutenant General Depinder Singh1 December 198629 November 19888th Gorkha Rifles
19Lieutenant General A. K. Chatterjee1 March 198831 May 1990Sikh Light Infantry
20Lieutenant General Bipin Chandra Joshi1 June 199014 August 199264 Cavalry[20]
21Lieutenant General A. S. Kalkat15 August 199231 December 19938th Gorkha Rifles
22Lieutenant General Moti Dar1 January 199416 July 199517th Horse (Poona Horse)
23Lieutenant General Ved Prakash Malik17 July 199531 August 1996Sikh Light Infantry[20]
24Lieutenant General H. M. Khanna1 September 19963 January 19994th Gorkha Rifles
25Lieutenant General Sundararajan Padmanabhan4 January 199930 September 2000Regiment of Artillery[21]
26Lieutenant General Nirmal Chander Vij1 October 200031 September 2001Dogra Regiment[22]
27Lieutenant General Gurbaksh Singh Sihota9 October 200129 February 20047 Field Regiment[23]
28Lieutenant General Balraj Singh Takhar1 March 200431 January 200617th Horse (Poona Horse)[24][25][26]
29Lieutenant General Aditya Singh PVSM, AVSM*1 March 200630 September 20079th Deccan Horse[27][28]
30Lieutenant General Noble Thamburaj1 October 200731 December 2008Bombay Sappers[29][30]
31Lieutenant General Pradeep Khanna1 January 200928 February 201120 Lancers[31]
32Lieutenant General Ajay Kumar Singh1 March 201131 January 20137th Light Cavalry[32][33]
33Lieutenant General Ashok Singh1 February 201331 December 2015Brigade of the Guards[34]
34Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat1 January 201631 July 201611th Gorkha Rifles[35]
35Lieutenant General P. M. Hariz1 September 201630 November 2017Mechanised Infantry[36]
36Lieutenant General Dewan Rabindranath Soni1 December 20171 October 2018Central India Horse[37]
37Lieutenant General Satinder Kumar Saini1 October 201824 January 2020Jat Regiment[38]
38Lieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty30 January 202031 January 2021Rajput Regiment[39]
39Lieutenant General Jai Singh Nain1 February 202131 October 2022Dogra Regiment[40]
40Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh1 November 202230 June 202411th Gorkha Rifles[41]
41Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth1 July 202431 March 20262nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)[42]
42Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain1 April 2026IncumbentMahar Regiment[43]

Notes

  1. ^ "LT GEN SANDEEP JAIN ASSUMES COMMAND OF SOUTHERN COMMAND". pib.gov.in. 1 April 2026.
  2. ^ "Northern Command". Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  3. ^ "THE INDIAN ARMY 1914". Orbat.com. 2001-03-25. Archived from the original on 9 September 2009. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
  4. ^ "Southern Army". OOB.com. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  5. ^ "Southern Army Subordinates". OOB.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  6. ^ Pillarisetti, Jagan. "The Liberation of Goa: 1961". Bharat Rakshak. Archived from the original on 5 October 2003. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  7. ^ Renaldi and Rikhye 2011, p. 43
  8. ^ "Operational Commands of The Indian Army". Archived 28 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  9. ^ Renaldi and Rikhye, 2011, p. 18
  10. ^ "Southern Command". GlobalSecurity. Archived 24 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
  11. ^ "Lt Gen KS Brar, GOC Dakshin Bharat Area visits industries in Hyderabad". The News Mill. 9 July 2025. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  12. ^ "Lieutenant General A V S Rathee Takes Command of Konark Corps - SSBCrack News". 2025-06-17. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
  13. ^ "Lt Gen Chauhan takes charge of Sudarshan Chakra Corps". The Times of India. 2025-08-03. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
  14. ^ "Lt Gen DS Kushwah Takes Command of HQ MG & G Area". 2025-08-21. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
  15. ^ "Lieutenant General V. Sreehari to take charge as GOC, Dakshin Bharat Area from August 1". The Hindu. Archived 2025-08-01 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
  16. ^ "Army Commands". Archived from the original on 5 July 2015.
  17. ^ Praval, Major K.C. (1987). Indian Army After Independence. Lancer Publishers LLC. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-935501-61-9.
  18. ^ "Gopal Gurunath Bewoor". Archived 4 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  19. ^ "As Gen Arun Shridhar Vaidya retires, Indian Army reshuffles to appoint new army chief". Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  20. ^ Abidi, S. Sartaj Alam & Sharma, Satinder (2007). Services Chiefs of India. Northern Book Centre. p. 85. ISBN 978-81-7211-162-5.
  21. ^ "rediff.com: Lt Gen Sundararajan Padmanabhan to be next army chief". www.rediff.com. Archived 24 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  22. ^ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Main News". www.tribuneindia.com. Archived 15 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  23. ^ "Lt Gen GS Sihota retires on Feb 29". The Times of India. 2004-02-28. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  24. ^ "Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Army's Southern Command chief visits OTA in city". The Hindu. 2005-11-04. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  25. ^ "Tamil Nadu News : Army took six hours to get ready for relief". The Hindu. 2004-12-30. Retrieved 2017-10-26.[dead link]
  26. ^ India Who's who. INFA Publications. 2004.
  27. ^ "LT. GEN. ADITYA SINGH PVSM, AVSM** (RETD)". www.delhipolicygroup.org. Archived 27 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  28. ^ "Lt Gen HS Lidder new CIDS". oneindia.com. Archived 27 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  29. ^ "Lt Gen ML Naidu to be next Vcoas : other Senior Appointments also announced". pib.nic.in. Archived 29 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  30. ^ "Sainik Samchar 2007". Archived 27 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  31. ^ "'Ekuverin-09' Indo-Maldivian troops joint exercise concludes". pib.nic.in. Archived 28 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
  32. ^ "Lt Gen A K Singh is new GOC-in-C of Southern Command – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  33. ^ "Lt Gen A K Singh to head Southern Army Command". The Indian Express. 2011-03-01. Archived 27 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  34. ^ "Lt Gen Ashok Singh takes over as Southern Army commander – Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Archived 27 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  35. ^ "Lt Gen Bipin Rawat takes over as new Army Commander". The Indian Express. 2016-01-02. Archived 25 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  36. ^ IANS (2016-09-01). "Lt Gen P.M. Hariz is new chief of Southern Command". Business Standard India. Archived 19 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  37. ^ "Lt Gen Soni takes over as chief of Southern Command". The Indian Express. 2017-12-02. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
  38. ^ "General SK Saini, new head of Southern Command". Devdiscourse. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  39. ^ "Lt Gen CP Mohanty assumes command of Pune-based Southern Command". Hindustan Times. 31 January 2020.
  40. ^ "JS Nain army commander southern command". Deccan Express. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  41. ^ "Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh assumed the command of Southern Command today.". 2022-11-01. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  42. ^ "Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth assumes command of Pune-based Southern Army". The Indian Express. 2024-07-01. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  43. ^ "LT GEN SANDEEP JAIN ASSUMES COMMAND OF SOUTHERN COMMAND". pib.gov.in. 1 April 2026.

Sources

  • Rinaldi, Richard & Rikhye, Ravi (2011). Indian Army Order of Battle. General Data. ISBN 978-0982054178.