| Unit Name: | Eastern Command |
| Dates: | 1920–present |
| Country: |  India |
| Type: | Command |
| Garrison: | Fort William, Kolkata, West Bengal |
| Garrison Label: | Headquarters |
| Battles: | World War II Sino-Indian War Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 2020 China–India skirmishes |
| Notable Commanders: | Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa Gen Rajendrasinhji Jadeja Gen K S Thimayya Gen P. P. Kumaramangalan Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw Lt Gen S. P. P. Thorat Gen A. S. Vaidya Gen V. N. Sharma Gen V. K. Singh Gen Bikram Singh Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag Gen M. M. Naravane Gen Anil Chauhan Gen Manoj Pande |
| Identification Symbol Label: | Flag |
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 Eastern Command was formed on 1 November 1920.[1] The Command is commanded by a three-star rank officer with the title General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C).
Lieutenant General Ram Chander Tiwari is the current GOC-in-C of Eastern Command.
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.[2] The Indian Army was divided into four Commands: Bengal Command, Bombay Command, Madras Command and Punjab Command, each under a lieutenant general.
Between 1904 and 1908, the Bengal Command became the Eastern Command. In 1908, the four commands were merged into two Armies – Northern Army and Southern Army – as recommended by the then Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army, Lord Kitchener. This system persisted until 1920 when the arrangement reverted to four commands again: Eastern Command, Northern Command, Southern Command and Western Command.[2]
On 1 November 1920, the Eastern Command was formed, with its summer headquarters in Nainital and winter headquarters in Lucknow. General Sir Havelock Hudson, became its first Commander.[3]
In 1942, the command had the following formations under it:
On 21 April 1942, the command was re-designated as Eastern Army.[4] 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.[5]
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.[6]
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.[7]
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 (HQ - Krishnanagar) (GOC - Lieutenant General T N Raina)
XXXIII Corps (HQ - Siliguri) (GOC - Lieutenant General M L Thapan)
101st Communication Zone (HQ: Guwahati) (GOC - Major General Gurbax Singh Gill)
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.[11] [12]
The Command's Area Of Responsibility (AOR)[13] covers the following states of India:
The Eastern Command has been assigned operational units under: III Corps, IV Corps, XVII Corps, XXXIII Corps and the 23rd Infantry Division.[14] [15]
| Structure of Eastern Command | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corps | Corps HQ | GOC of Corps(Corps Commander) | Assigned Units | Unit HQ | |
| III Corps(Spear Corps) | Rangapahar, Nagaland | Lt Gen Abhijit S Pendharkar[16] | 2 Mountain Division | Dinjan, Assam | |
| 56 Mountain Division | Likabali, Arunachal Pradesh | ||||
| 57 Mountain Division | Leimakhong, Manipur | ||||
| IV Corps (Gajraj Corps) | Tezpur, Assam | Lt Gen Gambhir Singh[17] | 5 Mountain Division | Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh | |
| 21 Mountain Division | Rangia, Assam | ||||
| 71 Mountain Division | Missa Mari, Assam | ||||
| XVII Corps(Brahmastra Corps) | Panagarh, West Bengal | Lt Gen Yash Singh Ahlawat[18] | 59 Mountain Division | Panagarh, West Bengal | |
| 23 Infantry Division | Ranchi, Jharkhand | ||||
| 72 Mountain Division | Pathankot, Punjab | ||||
| XXXIII Corps (Trishakti Corps) | Siliguri, West Bengal | Lt Gen Zubin A Minwalla[19] | 17 Mountain Division | Gangtok, Sikkim | |
| 20 Mountain Division | Binnaguri, West Bengal | ||||
| 27 Mountain Division | Kalimpong, West Bengal | ||||
Following is the list of precursors to the Eastern Command and their commanders:[20]
| General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.No | Name | Assumed office | Left office | Unit of Commission | References | |
| 1 | November 1920 | February 1924 | Northamptonshire Regiment | |||
| 2 | February 1924 | April 1928 | Connaught Rangers | |||
| 3 | April 1928 | April 1932 | Royal Irish Regiment | |||
| 4 | April 1932 | April 1936 | Unattached | |||
| 5 | April 1936 | April 1940 | Unattached | |||
| 6 | April 1940 | July 1942 | Royal Field Artillery | |||
| General Officer Commanding Eastern Army | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.No | Name | Assumed office | Left office | Unit of Commission | References | |
| 1 | Jul 1942 | May 1943 | Essex Regiment | |||
| 2 | May 1943 | October 1943 | Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment | |||
| General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.No | Name | Assumed office | Left office | Unit of Commission | References | |
| 1 | October 1943 | December 1944 | 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers | |||
| 2 | January 1945 | October 1945 | Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) | |||
| 3 | October 1945 | January 1946 | Coldstream Guards | |||
| 4 | January 1946 | November 1947 | Royal Sussex Regiment | |||
| Acting | August 1946 | August 1947 | Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) | |||
| General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.No | Name | Assumed office | Left office | Unit of Commission | References | |
| 1 | November 1947 | January 1948 | 88th Carnatic Infantry | [21] | ||
| 2 | January 1948 | November 1948 | 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) | [22] | ||
| 3 | November 1948 | January 1953 | Rajput Regiment | [23] | ||
| 4 | Lieutenant General Sant Singh | January 1953 | 30 September 1956 | 1/14 Punjab | [24] | |
| 5 | 1 October 1956 | March 1957 | ||||
| 6 | May 1957 | May 1961 | 1/14 Punjab | [25] [26] | ||
| 7 | May 1961 | 30 April 1963 | 10th Baluch Regiment | |||
| 8 | 1 May 1963 | November 1963 | Regiment of Artillery | |||
| 9 | November 1963 | 31 March 1964 | Maratha Light Infantry | |||
| 10 | 1 April 1964 | November 1964 | Regiment of Artillery | |||
| 11 | 16 November 1964 | 8 June 1969 | 12th Frontier Force Regiment | |||
| 12 | June 1969 | February 1973 | 2nd Punjab Regiment | |||
| 13 | February 1973 | 31 July 1974 | Brigade of the Guards | |||
| 14 | 1 August 1974 | 31 July 1978 | Regiment of Artillery | |||
| 15 | Lieutenant General E. A. Vas | 1 August 1978 | 31 May 1981 | 9th Gorkha Rifles | ||
| 16 | 1 June 1981 | Aug 1983 | 9th Deccan Horse | |||
| 17 | Lieutenant General K. Chiman Singh | August 1983 | 31 January 1986 | Rajputana Rifles | ||
| 18 | Lieutenant General J. K. Puri | 1 February 1986 | 31 May 1987 | Regiment of Artillery | ||
| 19 | 1 June 1987 | 30 April 1988 | 16th Light Cavalry | [27] | ||
| 20 | 1 May 1988 | 31 May 1990 | 4th Horse (Hodson's Horse) | |||
| 21 | 1 June 1990 | 30 September 1992 | Maratha Light Infantry | [28] | ||
| 22 | 1 October 1992 | 31 May 1993 | Regiment of Artillery | |||
| 23 | Lieutenant General R. N. Batra | 1 June 1993 | 29 February 1996 | Regiment of Artillery | ||
| 24 | Lieutenant General Ravi Eipe | 1 March 1996 | 28 February 1998 | Rajput Regiment | ||
| 25 | Lieutenant General H. R. S. Kalkat | 1 April 1998 | 31 July 2002 | Maratha Light Infantry | [29] | |
| 26 | Lieutenant General J. S. Verma | 1 August 2002 | 31 December 2004 | 63rd Cavalry (India) | ||
| 27 | Lieutenant General Arvind Sharma | 1 January 2005 | 31 December 2006 | 4th Gorkha Rifles | [30] [31] [32] | |
| 28 | Lieutenant General K. S. Jamwal | 1 January 2007 | 29 February 2008 | Regiment of Artillery | [33] [34] | |
| 29 | 1 March 2008 | 31 March 2010 | Rajput Regiment | [35] | ||
| 30 | 1 April 2010 | 30 April 2012 | Sikh Light Infantry | [36] | ||
| 31 | 16 June 2012 | 31 December 2013 | 5th Gorkha Rifles | |||
| 32 | 1 January 2014 | 31 July 2015 | Bombay Sappers | |||
| 33 | 1 August 2015 | 31 July 2017 | Skinner's Horse | |||
| 34 | 1 August 2017 | 30 September 2018 | Rajputana Rifles | [37] | ||
| 35 | 1 October 2018 | 31 August 2019 | Sikh Light Infantry | [38] | ||
| 36 | 1 September 2019 | 31 May 2021 | 11th Gorkha Rifles | [39] | ||
| 37 | 1 June 2021 | 31 January 2022 | Bombay Sappers | [40] | ||
| 38 | 1 February 2022 | 31 December 2023 | Kumaon Regiment | [41] | ||
| 39 | 1 January 2024 | Incumbent | Kumaon Regiment | [42] | ||