| Unit Name: | III Corps |
| Dates: | 1915–1919 1941–1942 1985 - present |
| Country: |  India |
| Role: | Mountain (Holding) Corps |
| Size: | Corps |
| Command Structure: | Eastern Command |
| Garrison: | Dimapur |
| Nickname: | Spear Corps |
| Current Commander: | Lt Gen Abhijit S Pendharkar |
| Notable Commanders: | Lt Gen Johnson P Mathew Lt Gen Ram Chander Tiwari Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita General Anil Chauhan Lt Gen Abhay Krishna General Bipin Rawat General Dalbir Singh Suhag Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah General Bipin Chandra Joshi Lt Gen Raj Mohan Vohra Lt Gen Joginder Singh Bakshi |
The III Corps is a formation of the Indian Army that was formed during World War I in Mesopotamia during its respective campaign. Prior to the reorganization of the British and Indian forces in Mesopotamia, it was designated as the Tigris Corps.
A new III Corps was formed by the Indian Army during World War II for service in Southeast Asia. The corps fought in the Battle of Singapore where it surrendered in February 1942.[1]
It is headquartered in the state of Nagaland of India in the city of Dimapur, at Rangapahar Military Station.
3 Corps was raised during World War I by Lt Gen Ahlmer and soon thereafter, the command was changed to Lt Gen Frederick Stanley Maud, who was appointed as the Corps Commander on 09 Dec 1915. 3 Corps was allotted the 6th (Poona) Division and 12th Indian Division along with a Cavalry Brigade and tasked with the defence of the Tigris Line. The Corps thereby earned the sobriquet of "The Tigris Corps". 3 Corps played a major role in the Mesopotamian front, which was a campaign in the middle eastern theatre of World War I, fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, troops from Britain, Australia and vast majority of British Raj, against the central powers, mostly the Ottoman Empire. The Theatre was vast and consisted of hot, inhospitable desert terrain. Tank warfare had still not achieved its primacy and deserts remained primarily a no man’s land. The fight was concentrated along the course of Tigris and the Euphrates rivers where Ottomans had a head start. The British had realised that they needed to secure and control the delta of Tigris at Shatt-El-Arab and Basra to deny the Ottomans access to Abadan Refinery and the oil rich delta. It also provided the British with a bridgehead for the induction of troops through the sea route and to maintain their forces logistically during future operations in the north. Keeping this as the broad objective, the British dispatched the 6th Indian Division as the Indian Expeditionary Force to Basra in 1915.
The Corps was later split into two separate formations, namely 1 and 3 Corps. I Corps moved northwards towards Mosul, while 3 Corps led a renewed offensive towards Baghdad, which finally fell to 3 Corps in 1916. The composition of 3 Corps was largely Indian troops and the credit for the swift capture of Baghdad was attributed to them. The Allied forces controlled a major part of Mesopotamia because of the fall of Baghdad, and most importantly, had direct access to the sea and the oldest refinery of Asia at Abadan. In view of the strategic objective of bringing Mesopotamia under British control and liberation of Kuwait from Ottoman control being achieved, an armistice was signed between the British and the Ottoman Empire.
The military phase of the operations in the Middle East was over, paving the way for political and diplomatic overtures. 3 Corps which had played a great role in achievement perhaps did not get its due compared to similar forces fighting in the European Theatre. The Corps was finally demobilized in 1919, only to be resurrected in 1941 during World War II.
HQ 3 Corps was raised on 27 Apr 1941 with headquarters at Kuala Lumpur. Lt Gen Percy Heath was placed in Command of the Corps. It had two Divisions, namely the 9th and 11th Indian Divisions under command.
11th Indian Division which was tasked to defend Kuala Lumpur and withdraw towards Thailand was outflanked by the Japanese. The Division fought major battles at Jitra from 08-12 Dec 1941, Kampar from 30 Dec 1941 to 02 Jan 1942, Slim River from 06 Jan to 08 Jan 1942, Gemas and Muar River from 14 Jan to 02 Jan 1942 and gave a good account of themselves, despite debilitating logistic shortcoming and virtually no air support. 9th and 11th Indian Division suffered significant casualties without any significant reinforcements.
During the Malayan campaign, 3 Corps had borne the brunt of War, and men suffered from inclement weather and tropical diseases apart from enemy action. Jungle terrain coupled with intolerable tropical weather and humidity made the conditions insuperable. Fighting here required the very best of human endurance, both mental and physical. 3 Corps had fought most of its battles in these virtually inhuman conditions, but there was little coverage of the same. While the trenches of Ypres, Somme, Alsace and Lorraine and those who fought in them were widely covered, the contributions of the anonymous Indians who died in Malaya remain un-recounted. 3 Corps virtually ceased to exist post Feb 1942.
After the independence of India, a new III Corps was raised by the Indian Army on 4 February 1985 and is spread over the North Eastern States of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. At the time of its formation, it consisted of 8 and 57 Mountain Divisions, under its command, in addition to troops of Assam Rifles. The 8 Mountain Division was moved out to Kashmir in 1990.[2]
The corps is currently based at Dimapur in north east India, and consists of three divisions being responsible for eastern Arunachal Pradesh and the Myanmar border. It is tasked for use in any future Indian war against China.
Jane's estimates that it consists of:[3]
| Rank | Name | Appointment Date | Left Office | Unit of Commission | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lieutenant General | Joginder Singh Bakshi | 5 March 1985 | 30 March 1986 | Jat Regiment | [17] |
| Raj Mohan Vohra | 31 March 1986 | 20 September 1987 | 4th Horse (Hodson's Horse) | ||
| Vijay Madan | 21 September 1987 | 6 May 1989 | 4th Gorkha Rifles | ||
| Bipin Chandra Joshi | 7 May 1989 | 17 May 1990 | 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) | ||
| B S Nalwa | 18 May 1990 | 13 May 1991 | Regiment of Artillery | ||
| H K Kapoor | 14 May 1991 | 15 December 1992 | Corps of Engineers | ||
| N S Malik | 16 December 1992 | 29 October 1994 | 4th Horse (Hodson's Horse) | ||
| Krishna Mohan Seth | 30 October 1994 | 22 October 1995 | Regiment of Artillery | ||
| S S Grewal | 23 October 1995 | 9 September 1997 | Jammu and Kashmir Rifles | [18] | |
| Rustom Kaikhusro Nanavatty | 10 September 1997 | 19 June 2000 | 8th Gorkha Rifles | [19] | |
| T S Shergill | 20 June 2000 | 4 October 2001 | 9th Deccan Horse | [20] | |
| V K Jetley | 5 October 2001 | 2 January 2003 | Dogra Regiment | [21] | |
| Rajinder Singh | 3 January 2003 | 31 December 2003 | Regiment of Artillery | [22] | |
| Daljeet Singh | 1 January 2004 | 22 September 2005 | 8th Light Cavalry | [23] | |
| Zameer Uddin Shah | September 2005 | September 2006 | Regiment of Artillery | [24] | |
| Manbir Singh Dadwal | September 2006 | 30 July 2008 | Dogra Regiment | [25] | |
| Rakesh Kumar Loomba | 31 July 2008 | August 2009 | 1st Horse (Skinner's Horse) | [26] | |
| Nand Kishore Singh | August 2009 | March 2011 | 3rd Gorkha Rifles | [27] | |
| Dalbir Singh Suhag | March 2011 | 19 June 2012 | 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) | [28] | |
| Arun Kumar Sahni | 20 June 2012 | August 2013 | Regiment of Artillery | [29] | |
| Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan | August 2013 | 31 August 2014 | Madras Regiment | [30] | |
| Bipin Rawat | 1 September 2014 | 22 November 2015 | 11th Gorkha Rifles | [31] | |
| Abhay Krishna | 23 November 2015 | 31 December 2016 | Rajputana Rifles | [32] | |
| title= | Anil Chauhan | 1 January 2017 | 8 January 2018 | 11th Gorkha Rifles | [33] |
| Gopal R | 9 January 2018 | 10 January 2019 | 8th Gorkha Rifles | [34] | |
| Rajeev Sirohi | 10 January 2019 | 10 January 2020 | The Grenadiers | ||
| Rana Pratap Kalita | 11 January 2020 | 10 February 2021 | Kumaon Regiment | [35] | |
| Johnson P Mathew | 10 February 2021 | 1 March 2022 | Punjab Regiment | [36] | |
| Ram Chander Tewari | 1 March 2022 | 6 March 2023 | Kumaon Regiment | [37] | |
| Harjeet Singh Sahi | 6 March 2023 | 10 Aug 2024 | Rajput Regiment | [38] | |
| Abhijit S Pendharkar | 10 Aug 2024 | Incumbent | Assam Regiment | [39] [40] |