v.1.1 April 28, 2012

This is written from memory; over the decades memory can deceive. Please feel free to send in corrections and additions.

Prior to 1961 no division was deployed against China. In 1961, 4^th Infantry Division shifted from Ambala, where it had been assigned to the Pakistan theatre, to the North East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh) in view of the increasing threat. The division was destroyed in the 1962 fighting, and reconstituted as a mountain division, again based in Ambala, as a reserve for the HP/UP border. It participated in the 1965 War against Pakistan, and shifted to Allahabad in 1970, remaining a reserve division. In 1971 it fought in the Bangladesh campaign, returning to Allahabad to become a standard infantry division, which it remains to this day. It now is part of a strike corps.

During the 1962 War, three new divisions were raised: 3rd Infantry Division at Leh, 2nd Division (later Mountain Division) for the northeast corner of NEFA, and 8^th Division (later mountain division) as a command reserve for the Northeast region.

Simultaneously, 17^th Infantry Division, which had been raised to replace 4^th Division in the Punjab, and 20^th, 23^rd, and 27^th Infantry Divisions were shifted from the Punjab to the Northeast, stripping the Punjab of its defenses in a bid to strengthen the Northeast. These four divisions were converted to mountain configuration. 5^th Division was raised to replace 4^th Division, which returned to Ambala.

Later 57^th Mountain Division was raised as a command reserve, and became committed, along with 8^th Mountain Division, to the growing counterinsurgency operations in the east. 6^th Mountain Division was raised in 1963-64 and based at Barielly, with responsibility for the eastern part of the UP-Tibet border.

Around 1965, the division deployments were as follows:

2^nd Mountain Division at Tezu (IV Corps)

3^rd Infantry Division at Leh, five brigades including 121 (I) Brigade at Kargil

4^th Mountain Division at Ambala, Western Command reserve

5^th Mountain Division at Bomdila (IV Corps)

6^th Mountain Division at Bareilly, for UP border and Army HQ reserve

8^th Mountain Division in Mizoram, reserve for Eastern Command

17^th Mountain Division in Sikkim (XXXIII Corps)

20^th Mountain Division at Binaguri (XXXIII Corps)

23^rd Mountain Division at Rangia (IV Corps)

27^th Mountain Division in Sikkim (XXXIII) Corps)

57^th Mountain Division in Nagaland, reserve for Eastern Command

In addition, there were independent brigades deployed on the northern border:

22^nd Sector (Pratapur Sector) in Northeast Ladakh, not a formal brigade

51^st (Independent) Parachute Brigade (Sugar Sector) in Himachal Pradesh

9^th (Independent) Mountain Brigade in Joshimath UP

40^th (Independent) Brigade in IV Corps

In 1965, India used three mountain divisions in the Pakistan theatre: 4^th Mountain (XI Corps); 6^th Mountain (I Corps); and 23^rd Mountain, which was on its way from the Northeast to the Gurdaspur area when the cease-fire was rung down.

In 1967, 17^th Mountain Division units participated in a small-scale but sharp action against the Chinese at the Nathu La (Nathu Pass), the first and only time a division raised specifically to protect against China has engaged Chinese forces in 40 years.

In 1971, a massive redeployment of mountain units took place for the Bangladesh operations. 4^th, 23^rd, 20^th, 8^th, and 57^th Divisions fought in the Eastern theatre. HQ 6^th Mountain with two brigades was shifted to Eastern Command as a reserve.

After the war, thinking was that the mountain division had outlived its utility and should be replaced with the standard infantry division. Some shifts due to changing strategic imperatives also took place.

As part of the buildup against Pakistan, 163^rd Brigade, the reserve brigade of 3^rd Division at Leh, was withdrawn along with 51^st (I) Parachute Brigade from Himachal, and sent to the Fazilka-Ganganager area, neither brigade ever returned as the threat from China was thought to have reduced. 23^rd Division converted to infantry configuration and went to Ranchi, while 9^th Infantry Division at Ranchi, an Eastern Command reserve division raised in 1963-64 shifted to UP and the Punjab. 21^st Infantry Division was raised at Rangia to replace the departed 23^rd Mountain Division. 4^th Mountain became an infantry division assigned to a strike corps.

Temporary redeployments took place in 1984 and 1986-87, to meet the needs of the Punjab insurgency and the imperatives of Exercise/Operation Brasstacks. For example, in 1986-87 6^th Mountain Division shifted to Leh, and 57^th Division entered the Punjab for CI duties, consequent on the Brasstacks crisis.

Deployments remained static till 1989, when the increasing intensity of the Kashmir insurgency required new shifts. HQ III Corps, which had been raised to control CI formations in the Northeast, plus its main components, 8^th and 57^th Mountain Divisions, shifted to the Jammu and Kashmir theatre. While HQ III Corps and 57^th Division returned to Northeast on the waning of the insurgency, 8^th Mountain Division stayed back and was subsequently lost to Eastern Command as it became a permanent part of Northern Command. In 1984-85 a new division was raised in Ladakh, the 28^th, but as an infantry division, and was intended for use against Pakistan, not China.

In the early 1990s efforts were made by India and China to demilitarize the border between them, with the result that some Eastern Command divisions, previously irrecoverably committed to Eastern Command, more and more became considered as Army HQ Reserves.

During the 1999 Kargil crisis, when India feared Pakistan would invade Kashmir, three mountain divisions reinforced Jammu and Kashmir for some months.

In 2001, only 3^rd, 17^th , 5^th, and 2^nd Divisions are considered firmly deployed against China. 23^rd Division has gone to a strike corps. All the rest - 6^th , 20^th, 21^st Infantry, 27^th and 57^th Divisions - are now in Army HQ reserve and are free to be deployed as required.

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