I Corps (India)

Military unit

I Corps is a military field formation of the Indian Army. The Corps is headquartered at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. It was raised on 1 April 1965. It was still being raised when it was despatched to the front in 1965. Raised as the First Strike Corps of the Indian Army, it was launched into operations in the Sialkot sector. The Corps conducted a counteroffensive during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. In the 1971 war against Pakistan, it took part in the Battle of Basantar.^[2]

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

During 1971, the composition of the corps was:^[3]

• X Sector
• 36th Infantry Division (8, 115 Brigades initially)
• 39th Infantry Division
• 54th Infantry Division

Present Day

In 2021, the Strike One Corps was shifted to Northern Command from the South Western Command to focus on Sino-Indian border in Ladakh.^[4]

The I Corps created in 1965 and headquartered at Mathura, consists of the following formations:

• 4 RAPID Division (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh), also called Red Eagle Division.^[5]
  • 7 Infantry Brigade (Kanpur)^[6]
  • 41 Infantry Brigade (Lucknow)^[7][8]
  • 62 Infantry Brigade (Kanpur)^[9]
  • 4 Artillery Brigade (Allahabad)^[10]
• 6 Mountain Division (Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh) also called Garud Division
• 14 (Independent) Armoured Brigade, also called Black Chargers Brigade

The following were moved to direct command of South Western Command

• 33 Armoured Division (Hisar Military Station, Haryana), also called Dot On Target (DOT) Division,^[11] consisting of -
  • 33 Artillery Brigade
  • 39 Armoured Brigade (formerly 39th Mechanised Brigade)
  • 57 Armoured Brigade (formerly 57th Mechanised Brigade)
  • 88 Armoured Brigade (formerly 88th Mechanised Brigade).^[12]
• 42 Artillery Division (Bassi, Rajasthan), also called Strategic Striker Division.

List of General Officers Commanding

Lt Gen Manoj Kumar Katiyar taking over as the General Officer Commanding of ‘Strike 1’ from Lt Gen CP Cariappa, 5 April 2021.

Notes

1. "Indian Army Corps 2001". www.orbat.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
2. "Archive of One Strike Corps of Indian Army in Mathura opens tomorrow". The Economic Times. 11 July 2018.
3. National Defense University, Indian I Corps Archived 2008-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
4. Philip, Snehesh Alex (2021-04-12). "These are the key changes Army has made in Ladakh to counter China in summer". ThePrint. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
5. "Indian Army's oldest fighting formation 'Red Eagle' celebrates 75 years of valour". The Times of India. 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
6. "Ex-Servicemen Rally Organised". 2015-04-01. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
7. "Inter-Command Football Championship 2019". 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
8. "PPE kits prepared by SHGs in Kheri will be supplied to Army hospital in Lucknow: CDO". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 2020-04-03. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
9. "Know Your Army exhibition". 2006-01-11. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
10. "Army motivates youth at 'know your army'". The Times of India. 2019-01-12. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
11. "1971 war: Victory flame reaches Hisar military station". 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
12. "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Haryana".
13. "PIB press note" (PDF). 1965-11-09. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
14. "Lt Gen Khem Karan Singh: An outstanding military leader". 2018-10-20. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
15. "Lt Gen Anand Sarup retires" (PDF). 1987-03-29. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
16. "GENERAL V.N. SHARMA". Retrieved 2021-06-26.
17. "Lt Gen Mahajan appointed DCOAS" (PDF). 1988-12-11. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
18. "Lt Gen R Sharma is new DCOAS" (PDF). 1991-08-02. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
19. "Know Your Army". 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
20. "Gen J J Singh new GOC-in-C of Western Command". The Times of India. 2004-02-01. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
21. "Gen Vij takes over tomorrow". 2002-12-29. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
22. "GOC-in-C on two-day city visit". 2006-03-15. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
23. "Lt Gen Katoch visits Cantonment". 2006-05-10. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
24. "Lt Gen SR Ghosh to be GOC-in-C of Western Command". The Times of India. 2009-11-12. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
25. "Cover Story : Mutual Respect". 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
26. "Lt Gen Ashok Singh takes over as Southern Army commander". 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
27. "Army Aviation Corps Colonel Commandant". Retrieved 2021-06-27.
28. "LIEUTENANT GENERAL RAVI THODGE TAKES OVER REINS OF 1 CORPS". 2013-08-13. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
29. "Lt Gen A B Shivane, PVSM, AVSM, VSM". Retrieved 2021-06-27.
30. "Lt Gen Shokin Chauhan". 2019-10-05. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
31. "Lt General Ranbir Singh promoted to GOC Strike 1 Corps, AK Bhatt new DGMO". 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
32. "Lt General Taranjit Singh assumes Command Of Strike 1". 2017-12-29. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
33. "Amardeep Bhinder takes command of Strike One Corps Mathura". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 2019-01-31. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
34. "Lieutenant general C P Cariappa takes over Mathura based command of first strike corps". The Times of India. 2020-04-03. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
35. "Lt Gen Manoj Kumar Katiyar takes charge of Mathura-based Strike 1 Corps". Outlook (India). Retrieved 2021-04-05.
36. "Lieutenant General Gajendra Joshi assumed the command of the prestigious STRIKEONE today". 2022-05-09. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
37. "Lt Gen Sanjay Mitra takes over as Commander of Strike 1 Corps". The Print. 2023-06-09. Retrieved 2023-06-09.

References

• Richard A. Renaldi and Ravi Rikhe, 'Indian Army Order of Battle,' Orbat.com for Tiger Lily Books: A division of General Data LLC, ISBN 978-0-9820541-7-8, 2011.
• www.globalsecurity.org