XVI Corps (India)

XVI Corps
Indian Army XVI Corps Formation Sign
Active1972 – present
Country India
Branch Indian Army
RoleHolding Corps
SizeCorps
Part of Northern Command
Garrison/HQNagrota
Nickname(s)White Knight Corps
Commanders
Current
commander
Lt Gen Navin Sachdeva
AVSM, SM

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 Visit 16 Corps March 2024.jpg
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

  1. ^ "Army's elite counter-insurgency unit Rashtriya Rifles turns 25 tomorrow". The Economic Times. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  2. ^ Khullar, Darshan (2017). Themes of Glory: Indian Artillery in War. VIJ Books (India) Pty Ltd. ISBN 978-9385563973.
  3. ^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)". The Gazette of India. 15 March 1975. p. 353.
  4. ^ "General S Roy Chowdhury". Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Local support to militants in Jammu wanes: army". 22 January 1999. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  6. ^ "PIB" (PDF). 31 March 2001. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Chaki, Yadav take over as deputy chiefs of Army staff". The Times of India. 1 September 2002. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ a b "Lt Gen Kapur takes over GOC 16 corps in J&K". 3 December 2003. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  10. ^ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Karwal new 16 Core Commander - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir". www.earlytimes.in. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  12. ^ "Swamy new 16 Corps Chief - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir". www.earlytimes.in. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  13. ^ "Lt Gen Roy to take over as GOC 16 Corps tomorrow". news.webindia123.com. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  14. ^ "Gen. Nehra takes over as GoC 16 Corps". Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  15. ^ "Lt Gen Nehra hands over command to Lt Gen Nandal". www.merinews.com. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  16. ^ "Nandal takes over as new GOC 16 Corps Indian Army - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  17. ^ "Lt Gen Hooda new GOC of 16 corps". Zee News. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  18. ^ "Lt Gen Singh assumes command of 16 Corps". www.hindustantimes.com/. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  19. ^ "Lt Gen Nimbhorkar takes over as General Officer Commanding of 16 Corps". News18. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  20. ^ a b "Lt Gen A K Sharma takes over as GoC of 16 Corps". Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  21. ^ "Lt Gen Saranjeet Singh is 16 Corps GOC".
  22. ^ "Singh takes over as GOC 16 Corps". Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  23. ^ "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.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ "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.
  26. ^ "Lt Gen Manjinder Singh takes over as GOC of White Knight Corps". 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  27. ^ "Lt Gen Sandeep Jain, SM, on assuming the command of the elite White Knight Corps". 23 December 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  28. ^ "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.