The XI Corps of the Indian Army is based in Jalandhar and is a part of Western Command. XI Corps is also known as Vajra Corps.
History XI Corps was raised to take command of the formations in the Punjab in 1950Renaldi & Rikhye 2011, 26. as India reorganised its post-1947 army to meet the new threat of Pakistan. It was raised on March 1, 1950 at Ambala under the command of Lieutenant General Kalwant Singh. The corps headquarters was relocated to Jalandhar in July 1951.
To reduce the load of XI Corps, X Corps was formed at Bathinda on 1 July 1979, taking over south Punjab and north Rajasthan.
Formation sign The Corps formation sign consists of the 'red-white-red background' depicting a corps of the Indian Army overlaid by a Vajra, the powerful thunderbolt weapon of Lord Indra, the symbol of sacrifice of the great sage Dadhichi, who voluntarily sacrificed his body to make the fiercest weapon from his thighbone.
Organisation
The corps consists of:
7 Infantry Division (Golden Arrow Division) headquartered at Firozpur, raised in 1964.Renaldi & Rikhye 2011, 40 9 Infantry Division (Pine Division) headquartered at Meerut. It has one brigade each at Meerut, Delhi and Jalandhar. 15 Infantry Division (Panther Division) headquartered at Amritsar. Appears to include 350 Infantry Brigade.Renaldi & Rikhye 2011, 166. 23 (Independent) Armoured Brigade (Flaming Arrow Brigade) at Khasa, Amritsar. 55 (Independent) Mechanised Brigade (Double Victory Brigade) at BeasRenaldi & Rikhye 2011. Corps Artillery Brigade headquartered at Jalandhar Corps Air Defence Brigade headquartered at Ludhiana. 333 Missile Group equipped with Prithvi-I missile at Secunderabad
Operations Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
List of Commanders
RankNameAppointment DateLeft officeUnit of CommissionReferencesLieutenant GeneralKalwant Singh1 March 19501st Punjab RegimentS P P Thorat1955May 19571/14 Punjab RegimentT B Henderson Brooks196219635th Maratha Light InfantryJoginder Singh DhillonNovember 1963August 1966Bengal SappersPremindra Singh BhagatAugust 1966August 1970Bombay SappersNaveen Chand Rawlley1970197212th Frontier Force RegimentOm Prakash MalhotraMay 1972July 1974Regiment of ArtilleryKrishnaswamy Gowri Shankar19841985Corps of SignalsV K Nayar198531 October 1987Parachute RegimentBakshi Krishan Nath ChhibberJuly 1990September 19929th Gorkha RiflesVed Prakash MalikAugust 1992March 1994Sikh Light InfantryH B KalaApril 1994Jat RegimentVirendra Kumar Sewal Armoured CorpsKamal DavarMarch 2000April 20017th Light CavalryShantonu ChoudhryApril 2001April 2002Regiment of ArtilleryKrishnamurthy NagarajApr 2002May 2003Maratha Light InfantryS PattabhiramanMay 2003May 2004Bombay SappersParmendra Kumar SinghMay 2004May 2005Regiment of ArtilleryMandhata SinghMay 2005April 20069th Gorkha RiflesNoble ThamburajMay 2006September 2007Bombay SappersS S KumarOctober 2007August 2008Brigade of the GuardsVirender Singh TonkAugust 2008July 2009Rajput RegimentRamesh Halgali24 July 2009August 2010Sikh Light InfantryMunish SibalAugust 2010November 2011Rajputana RiflesSanjeev MadhokNovember 2011March 2013Brigade of the GuardsAshwini Kumar BakshiMarch 2013July 2014Bihar RegimentN P S HiraAugust 201431 July 2015Sikh Light InfantryJagbir Singh Cheema 21 August 201531 August 2016Sikh RegimentB S Sahrawat1 September 20162 November 2017Kumaon Regiment Dushyant Singh2 November 20174 November 2018Maratha Light Infantry Arvind Dutta5 November 20185 November 2019Dogra RegimentSanjeev Sharma6 November 20192 December 2020Rajputana RiflesC B Ponnappa2 December 202010 February 2022Mahar RegimentDevendra Sharma11 February 202215 May 202314th Horse (Scinde Horse)Vijay B Nair15 May 202330 June 2024Punjab RegimentAjay Chandpuria1 July 202431 March 2026Dogra RegimentAmit Kabthiyal1 April 2026IncumbentGarhwal Rifles
Notes
References