Early history The
Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies of
Bengal,
Bombay, and
Madras became the
Indian Army. The Indian Army was divided into four Commands: Bengal Command, Bombay Command, Madras Command and Punjab Command, each under a
lieutenant general.
Second World War In 1942, the command had the following formations under it: •
IV Corps (Headquarters at
Imphal) •
17th Indian Infantry Division and
23rd Indian Infantry Division •
XXXIII Corps (Headquarters at
Arakan) •
14th Indian Infantry Division and
26th Indian Infantry Division •
70th British Division and
50th Indian Tank Brigade in reserve. On 21 April 1942, the command was re-designated as Eastern Army. 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 for the area east of the
Meghna River. With this, the Eastern Army retained responsibility for the area west of the river. After the war, on 23 March 1947, the Command HQ moved to
Ranchi. The HQ was later moved to
Lucknow in 1955. However, on 1 May 1963, post the
Sino-Indian War; the
Central Command was re-raised and
Lucknow was made its HQ, while
Kolkata was made HQ Eastern Command.
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 signing the
Instrument of Surrender under the gaze of
Lt. Gen. J. S. Aurora, the head of the Indian Army's Eastern Command, on 16 December 1971, in
Dhaka. 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 reorganised 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 (HQ - Krishnanagar) (GOC -
Lieutenant General T N Raina) • 50th Independent Parachute Brigade (less 2 Para Bn Gp) – Brigadier M Thomas • 8th Mountain Artillery Brigade • 58th, 68th and 263rd Engineering Regiments • 9th Infantry Division (GOC -
Major General Dalbir Singh) • 32 Infantry Brigade – Brigadier M Tewari • 42 Infantry Brigade – Brigadier J. M. Jhoria • 350 Infantry Brigade – Brigadier H. S. Sandhu • 9th Artillery Brigade • 4th Mountain Division (HQ - Krishnanagar) (GOC - Major General M S Barar) • 7th Mountain Brigade – Brigadier Zail Singh • 41st Mountain Brigade – Brigadier Tony Michigan • 62nd Mountain Brigade - Brigadier Rajinder Nath • 4th Mountain Artillery Brigade
IV Corps (HQ - Agartala) GOC -
Lieutenant General Sagat Singh • Corps Artillery Brigade • Three Independent Tank Squadrons • 8th Mountain Division (GOC -
Major General K. V. Krishna Rao) • Echo Force Brigade – Brigadier Wadeker • 59th Mountain Brigade – Brigadier C. A. Quinn • 81st Mountain Brigade – Brigadier R. C. V. Apte • 2nd Mountain Artillery Brigade • 57th Mountain Division (GOC - Major General B.F. Gonsalves) • 311th Mountain Brigade – Brigadier Mishra • 73rd Mountain Brigade – Brigadier Tuli • 61st Mountain Brigade – Brigadier Tom Pande • 57th Mountain Artillery Brigade • 23rd Mountain Division (GOC - Major General R.D. Hira) • 301st Mountain Brigade – Brigadier H. S. Sodhi • 181st Mountain Brigade – Brigadier Y. C. Bakshi • 83rd Mountain Brigade – Brigadier B. S. Sandhu • 23rd Mountain Artillery Brigade • Kilo Force Brigade – Brigadier Ananda Swaroop containing: • Mizo Range Hills Brigade
XXXIII Corps (HQ -
Siliguri) (GOC - Lieutenant General M L Thapan) • Corps Artillery Brigade • 471st Engineering Brigade – Colonel Suri • 235th Army Engineering Regiment • 2 Para Bn Gp • MF Brigade – Brigadier Prem Singh • 71st Mountain Brigade – Brigadier P. N. Kathpalia • 20th Mountain Division (HQ -
Balurghat) (GOC - Major General Lachhman Singh) • 66th Mountain Brigade – Brigadier G. S. Sharma • 165th Mountain Brigade – Brigadier R. S. Pannu • 202nd Mountain Brigade – Brigadier F. P. Bhatty • 3rd Armoured Brigade – Brigadier G. Singh Sidhu • 20th Mountain Artillery Brigade • 340th Mountain Brigade Group – Brigadier Joginder Singh • 6th Mountain Division ( HQ -
Cooch Behar) (Eastern Command HQ Reserve) (GOC - Major General P C Reddy) • 9th Mountain Brigade – Brigadier Tirit Varma • 99th Mountain Brigade • 6th Mountain Artillery Brigade
101st Communication Zone (HQ:
Guwahati) (GOC - Major General Gurbax Singh Gill) • 312 Air Defence Brigade • 342 Ind. Air Defence Brigade • 95th Mountain Brigade – Brigadier Hardev Singh Kler • FJ Sector Brigade – Brigadier Sant Singh • 167th Infantry Brigade – Brigadier Irani (allotted after 8 December 1971) • 5th Mountain Brigade (allotted after 8 December 1971) 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 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. ==Structure==