Eastern Command (India)


The Eastern Command is one of the six operational commands of the Indian Army. It is headquartered in Fort William in the city of Kolkata in the state of West Bengal. The Command's Area Of Responsibility extends from Bengal to Sikkim and then across the entire Northeast India. The Command shares international boundaries with the countries of Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The Eastern Command was formed on 01 November 1920. The Command is commanded by a Three Star General Officer of the rank of Lieutenant General with the title General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command. Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan is the current GOC-in-C, who took over on 1 September 2019.

History

The Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895, when the three Presidency armies became the Indian Army. The Indian Army was divided into four Commands each under a Lieutenant General.
In 1908, the four commands were merged into two Armies : this system persisted until 1920 when the arrangement reverted to four commands again.
On 1 November 1920, the Eastern Command was formed, with its summer Headquarters in Nainital and winter Headquarters in Lucknow. General Sir Havelock Hudson, was the first Army Commander.

World War II

In 1942, the command had the following formations under it:
In Apr 1942, the command was re-designated as Eastern Army and its Headquarters moved to Barrackpore to fight the World War II.
The Chindits were raised and launched into operations in 1943, by the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, a unit of the Eastern Command.
In October 1943, the Fourteenth Army was formed and was given responsibility of the area east of the Meghna River. With this, the Eastern Army retained responsibility of the area west of the river.
After the war, on 23 Mar 1947, the Command HQ moved to Ranchi with Lieutenant General Thakur Nathu Singh as its first Indian Army Commander. The HQ later moved to Lucknow in 1955.
Prior to 1 May 1963, Lucknow was the headquarters of the Eastern Command; when Central Command was re-established on that date, due to the Chinese aggression of 1962, Lucknow became HQ of Central Command instead.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

The Command had the overall responsibility of the eastern theatre of the 13-day war. The command had the two existing infantry corps - IV Corps and XXXIII Corps and raised another - II Corps. Apart from this, the 101 Communication Zone was re-organised as a Division-sized combat formation.
Lieutenant General J S Arora, as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command, commanded all Indian and Bangladesh Forces in the eastern theatre.
The Order of Battle of the Eastern Command during the war was:
II Corps
IV Corps GOC - Lieutenant General Sagat Singh
XXXIII Corps
101st Communication Zone
On 16 December 1971, the Eastern Command of the Pakistan Armed Forces surrendered at Dhaka. East Pakistan ceased to exist and Bangladesh was born. Lt Gen J S Arora accepted the Pakistani Instrument of Surrender, signed by Lt Gen A. A. K. Niazi at Dacca Racecourse. Approximately 90,000 to 93,000 Pakistani servicemen were taken prisoner by the Indian Army, which included 79,676 to 81,000 uniformed personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces, including some Bengali soldiers who had remained loyal to Pakistan.

Current Composition