195 Medium Regiment (Banwat) is part of the
Regiment of Artillery Regiment of Artillery may refer to:
* Regiment of Artillery (Pakistan)
* Regiment of Artillery (India)
The Regiment of Artillery is a combat support arm of the Indian Army, which provides massive firepower during all ground operations of t ...
of the
Indian Army
The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...
.
Formation
The regiment was raised on 15 February 1965 at
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
as 195 Mountain Regiment. The regiment was subsequently converted to a field regiment and is presently a medium regiment.
Class composition
The regiment was raised as a pure
South Indian Class regiment.
Operations
The regiment has taken part in the following operations
–
;
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Satjit Singh, was part of the 25 Artillery Brigade and was equipped with
75/24 Pack Howitzers. It was deployed in the
Poonch Sector in
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019
* Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...
, primarily in support of 93 Infantry Brigade. The regiment fired around 12,500 rounds in the defensive battle of Poonch between 3 and 7 December, thus fizzling the
Pakistani
Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...
12 Infantry Division offensive. The regiment played an important part in the capture of Nangi Tekri on 11 December 1971.
Captain D Tyagi, the OP officer from the Regiment was part of the daring attack of the gun position at Mandhol by
9 Para (SF) on 13 December.
The regiment earned the ‘honour title’ ''Banwat'' and the sobriquet ''Defenders of Poonch'' for its gallant actions on 3 and 4 December in the defence of Banwat, which is located north east of Poonch.
It won the following gallantry awards –
*
Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) - Lieutenant Colonel Satjit Singh
*
Sena Medal
The Sena Medal () is awarded to members of the Indian army, of all ranks, "for such individual acts of exceptional devotion to duty or courage as have special significance for the Army." Awards may be made posthumously and a bar is authorized for ...
– Gunner Rama Murti
*
Mentioned in dispatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...
– Major CM Bhalla, Captain SS Sandhu
;
Operation Meghdoot
Operation Meghdoot was the codename for the Indian Armed Forces operation to take full control of the Siachen Glacier in Ladakh. Executed on the morning of 13 April 1984, it marks the highest battlefield in the world. This operation preempted Pa ...
;
Operation Parakram
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
The regiment took active part in the operation and its guns saw action against the Pakistani army.
;
Operation Rakshak
Indian Army operations in Jammu and Kashmir include security operations such as Operation ''Rakshak'', which began in 1990, Operation ''Sarp Vinash'' in 2003 and Operation ''Randori Behak'' in ''2020''. Other operations include humanitarian m ...
The regiment has taken part in counter insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and has completed four tenures in the state.
Honours and achievements
*Seven of the commanding officers of the regiment have become
general officer
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
s.
They include –
**Lieutenant General AS Parmar , who was the Commandant, School of Artillery
**Lieutenant General MPS Bhandari , who was also the Director General Artillery
**Lieutenant General A Natarajan , who was the
Adjutant-General of the Indian Army
**Major General DS Chimni
**Major General Kuldip Chandra Vig
**Major General MN Kashid
**Major General Mohabat Singh
**Brigadier Satjit Singh
**Brigadier AJS Behl
**Brigadier Balwinder Singh
**Brigadier SN Bhaduri
*The Regiment has the distinction of having five Brigadiers currently serving in the Indian Army.
*Chinna Raju Srither of the regiment is a national level
archer
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...
and has won numerous medals as part of the
men's compound team, including a silver at the
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...
, a silver at the
Archery World Cup
The Archery World Cup is a competition organized by World Archery, where the archers compete in four stages in four countries and the best eight archers of each category (from 2010, four archers during 2006–09) advance to an additional stage to ...
in 2011 and a gold at the Archery World Cup in 2017.
*Havildar Latheesh VS is a national level rower.
See also
*
List of artillery regiments of Indian Army
References
{{reflist
Military units and formations established in 1965
Artillery regiments of the Indian Army after 1947
Medium artillery regiments