33rd Armoured Division (India)

The 33rd Armoured Division, based at Hisar Military Station, is part of I Corps "Strike Corps" of Indian Army. I Corps is a battle formation under South Western Command headquartered at Jaipur.
Indian armoured regiment, the 1 Horse raised by James Skinner at Hansi in 1803 is based at Hissar.

History

Formation

33rd Armoured Division was raised on 15 November 1982 by Major General L. B. Sondhi. It was converted into an Armoured Division in December 1993.

Arjun Tank Trial

Phase II of Arjun Tank was conducted at Hisar, Haryana and check was made for medium fording capability.

Component units

Command: South Western Command (Jaipur)

The 33rd Armoured Division is part of I Corps under South Western Command of Indian Army.

I Corps, headquartered at Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, consists of the following 3 army divisions:
*the 4th Infantry Division also called Red Eagle
*the 23rd Infantry Division also called Cockerel
*the 33rd Armoured Division
the X Corps headquartered at Bathinda, Punjab consists of
*the 16th Infantry Division
*the 18th RAPID
*the 24th RAPID.
*the 6th Independent Armoured Brigade, SAND VIPER BRIGADE.
Corps: I Corps (Mathura)

The I Corps strike corps of the South Western Command, created in 1965 and headquartered at Mathura, consists of the following 3 army divisions:

the 4th Infantry Division, also called "Red Eagle"
the 23rd Infantry Division, Jharkhand, also called "Cockerel"
the 33rd Armoured Division
Division: 33rd Armoured Division (Hisar)

The 33rd Armoured Division has 5 Brigades.

Brigade: 5 Brigades of the 33rd Armoured Division

A Regiment is a homogenous unit from one of the combat arms, like Armoured, Mechanised or Artillery. A Brigade is multi-functional unit composed of different types of Battalions or Regiments.
The '33rd Armoured Division' has total 5 Brigades:

the 39th Armoured Brigade
the 57th Armoured Brigade
the 88th Armoured Brigade
the 627th Armoured Air Defence Brigade
the 33rd Artillery Brigade

It initially consisted of the 88 Mechanised Brigade, the 39 Mechanised Brigade and the 33 Artillery Brigade were also raised on 15 November 1982. The 57 Mechanised Brigade was raised on 1 March 1983. The 627th Mechanised Air Defence Brigade became part of the Division's Orbat on 1 December 1989. Later, all Mechanised Brigades were converted to the Armoured Brigades.

Battalion

Each of the three Armoured Brigades in the 33rd Armoured Division comprise
*Two Armoured Regiments. This includes the historical 1 Horse Armoured Regiment raised by James Skinner at Hansi in 1803.
*2 Mechanised Battalions.
the 33rd Artillery Brigade comprises three regiments:
*1 × Towed artillery Regiment,
*1 × Self propelled artillery Regiment
*1 × LT AD artillery and was located at Faridkot & Ferozpur.
Notable Soldiers
late Maj. Gen. L.B.S. Sondhi - founder of 33rd Armoured Division