Military unit
The XVI Corps, or the White Knight Corps, is a corps of the Indian Army raised on 1 June 1972 with Lieutenant General J F R Jacob as its first General Officer Commanding (GOC). It has its headquarters at Nagrota Cantonment , (Jammu district), Jammu and Kashmir . In 2005, IX Corps was raised in southern part of the XVI Corps' area, taking over two of its divisions.
Organisation
The corps is reported to include
Its current General Officer Commanding is Lieutenant General Navin Sachdeva.
Lt Gen Harsha Gupta assuming command of White Knight Corps (16 Corps) from Lt Gen Paramjit Singh Sangha, on 12 Oct 2019.
General Manoj Pande, COAS, visiting 16 Corps, August 2022.
List of commanders
Rank
Name
Appointment date
Left office
Unit of commission
References
Lieutenant General
J F R Jacob , PVSM
17 June 1972
23 July 1974
Regiment of Artillery
[ 2]
K V Krishna Rao , PVSM
24 July 1974
15 March 1978
Mahar Regiment
[ 3]
D K Chandorkar, AVSM
20 March 1978
30 June 1979
Rajputana Rifles
K Chiman Singh
01 July 1979
29 July 1981
Rajputana Rifles
A K Handoo, PVSM
30 July 1981
09 March 1983
Brigade of Guards
K K Hazari, PVSM, AVSM
10 May 1983
25 September 1985
Regiment of Artillery
M Mayadas, PVSM
26 September 1985
27 October 1986
5th Armoured Regiment
Sunith Francis Rodrigues , VSM
28 October 1986
31 October 1987
Regiment of Artillery
Vijay Singh
01 November 1987
14 October 1989
Harwant Singh, AVSM
15 October 1989
25 September 1991
62 Cavalry
Shankar Roychowdhury
26 September 1991
15 August 1992
20 Lancers
[ 4]
H S Bedi
31 August 1992
08 May 1994
Dogra Regiment
Manjit Singh Bhullar, VSM
09 May 1994
23 January 1997
Sikh Regiment
D S Chauhan, UYSM, VSM
24 January 1997
30 January 1999
Madras Regiment
[ 5]
Arjun Singh Khanna, PVSM, AVSM, VrC
31 January 1999
31 March 2001
Regiment of Artillery
[ 6]
J.B.S. Yadava , PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM
01 April 2001
19 August 2002
11th Gorkha Rifles
[ 7] [ 8]
T P S Brar, PVSM, YSM
20 August 2002
17 November 2003
Maratha Light Infantry
[ 9]
Ashok Kapur, VSM
18 November 2003
04 December 2004
Sikh Light Infantry
[ 9]
Sudhir Sharma, AVSM, YSM, VSM
05 December 2004
20 April 2006
Brigade of Guards
T K Sapru, PVSM, YSM
02 May 2006
31 October 2007
4th Gorkha Rifles
[ 10]
R K Karwal, PVSM, AVSM, SM**, VSM
01 November 2007
17 October 2008
Rajput Regiment
[ 11]
R K Swamy, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM
18 October 2008
16 October 2009
Mahar Regiment
[ 12]
Romeshwar Roy, AVSM, YSM
17 October 2009
04 December 2010
Jammu and Kashmir Rifles
[ 13]
Jai Prakash Nehra, PVSM, AVSM
10 December 2010
01 November 2011
Madras Regiment
[ 14]
A S Nandal, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM
02 November 2011
04 October 2012
5th Gorkha Rifles
[ 15] [ 16]
Deependra Singh Hooda , PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM**
05 October 2012
16 April 2014
4th Gorkha Rifles
[ 17]
Konsam Himalay Singh , PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM
17 April 2014
23 July 2015
Rajput Regiment
[ 18]
Rajendra Ramrao Nimbhorkar , PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM**, VSM
24 July 2015
08 October 2016
Punjab Regiment
[ 19] [ 20]
Ajae Kumar Sharma , UYSM, YSM, SM
09 October 2016
10 October 2017
Sikh Regiment
[ 20]
Saranjeet Singh, YSM
11 October 2017
11 October 2018
Sikh Light Infantry
[ 21] [ 22]
Paramjit Singh Sangha, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM
12 October 2018
12 October 2019
Parachute Regiment
[ 23]
Harsha Gupta, AVSM, YSM, VSM
13 October 2019
13 October 2020
Sikh Light Infantry
[ 24]
M. V. Suchindra Kumar , AVSM, YSM**, VSM
14 October 2020
28 October 2021
Assam Regiment
[ 25]
Manjinder Singh , YSM, VSM
29 October 2021
23 December 2022
Madras Regiment
[ 26]
Sandeep Jain , SM
24 December 2022
31 December 2023
Mahar Regiment
[ 27]
Navin Sachdeva, AVSM, SM
01 January 2024
Incumbent
Garhwal Rifles
[ 28]
References
^ "Army's elite counter-insurgency unit Rashtriya Rifles turns 25 tomorrow" . The Economic Times . 11 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2021 .
^ Khullar, Darshan (2017). Themes of Glory: Indian Artillery in War . VIJ Books (India) Pty Ltd. ISBN 978-9385563973 .
^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 15 March 1975. p. 353.
^ "General S Roy Chowdhury" . Retrieved 15 July 2021 .
^ "Local support to militants in Jammu wanes: army" . 22 January 1999. Retrieved 15 July 2021 .
^ "PIB" (PDF) . 31 March 2001. Retrieved 15 July 2021 .
^ "Chaki, Yadav take over as deputy chiefs of Army staff" . The Times of India . 1 September 2002. ISSN 0971-8257 . Retrieved 5 March 2023 .
^ Dugger, Celia W. (15 June 2002). "For Indian Troops on Line of Control, Anger Hasn't Subsided" . The New York Times . ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 14 September 2023 .
^ a b "Lt Gen Kapur takes over GOC 16 corps in J&K" . 3 December 2003. Retrieved 15 July 2021 .
^ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories" . www.tribuneindia.com . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Karwal new 16 Core Commander - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir" . www.earlytimes.in . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Swamy new 16 Corps Chief - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir" . www.earlytimes.in . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Lt Gen Roy to take over as GOC 16 Corps tomorrow" . news.webindia123.com . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Gen. Nehra takes over as GoC 16 Corps" . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Lt Gen Nehra hands over command to Lt Gen Nandal" . www.merinews.com . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Nandal takes over as new GOC 16 Corps Indian Army - Indian Express" . archive.indianexpress.com . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Lt Gen Hooda new GOC of 16 corps" . Zee News . 4 October 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Lt Gen Singh assumes command of 16 Corps" . www.hindustantimes.com/ . 16 April 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Lt Gen Nimbhorkar takes over as General Officer Commanding of 16 Corps" . News18 . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ a b "Lt Gen A K Sharma takes over as GoC of 16 Corps" . Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Lt Gen Saranjeet Singh is 16 Corps GOC" .
^ "Singh takes over as GOC 16 Corps" . Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K . 12 October 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017 .
^ "Surgical strikes: Lt Gen Paramjit Singh involved in surgical strike planning takes over as XVI Corps GOC | India News - Times of India" . The Times of India .
^ Corps, White Knight (12 October 2019). "Lt Gen Harsha Gupta assumed command of elite @WhiteKnightCorps from Lt Gen Paramjit Singh Sangha, on 12 Oct 19. He exhorted all ranks to continue to strive for excellence & be combat ready to thwart nefarious designs of enemy & inimical forces @NorthernComd_IA @adgpipic.twitter.com/sebJQhk3Uq" . @Whiteknight_IA . Retrieved 12 October 2019 .
^ "16 Corps gets a new commander amid a spike in LoC ceasefire violations by Pakistan" . www.hindustantimes.com . 13 October 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020 .
^ "Lt Gen Manjinder Singh takes over as GOC of White Knight Corps" . 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021 .
^ "Lt Gen Sandeep Jain, SM, on assuming the command of the elite White Knight Corps" . 23 December 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2022 .
^ "Lt-Gen Navin Sachdeva assumes command of 16 Corps" . The Times of India . 2 January 2024. ISSN 0971-8257 . Retrieved 24 June 2024 .
Further reading
Richard A. Renaldi and Ravi Rikhe, Indian Army Order of Battle , Orbat.com for Tiger Lily Books: A division of General Data LLC, ISBN 978-0-9820541-7-8 , 2011.
External links
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