Para Commandos (India) - History

History

The parachute units of the Indian Army are among the oldest airborne units in the world. The first such unit to be authorized was on 15 May 1941, and the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade was formed on 27 October 1941, comprising the 151st British Parachute Battalion, 152nd Indian Parachute Battalion & 153rd Gurkha Parachute Battalion.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, an ad hoc commando unit, named Meghdoot Force, consisting of volunteers from various infantry units was organized by then Major Megh Singh of the Brigade of the Guards. The unit performed well in combat and the Government authorized the formal raising of a commando unit. Lt Col Megh Singh was selected to raise the unit which was originally intended to be a part of the Brigade of the Guards. However, recognizing parachute qualification as an integral element of special operations, the unit was transferred to the Parachute Regiment and raised as its 9th Battalion (Commando) on 1 July 1966. The erstwhile members of the Meghdoot Force formed the nucleus and the new unit was based in Gwalior. In June 1967 the unit was split equally into two to form a second commando unit, designated as 10th Battalion, both with three Companies each. 10th Battalion was mandated to operate in the Western Desert and 9th Battalion in the northern mountains. In 1969, these battalions were redesignated as 9 and 10 Para (Commando) battalions.

In 1978, the 1 Para, as an experiment, was converted to become the first special forces unit of the Indian army and was kept as the tactical reserve. Already a recipient of the Chief of Army Staff Unit Citation twice and GOC-in-C Eastern Command Unit Citation once, the unit was originally 1 Punjab which was later re designated as 1 PARA (PUNJAB) and in 1978 was converted to 1 PARA (SF). The unit is well over 200 years old.

1995 saw the formation of the fourth commando battalion when 21 Maratha Light Infantry was selected to convert to special forces and slated for the Eastern Command. After stringent selection and training process that spanned more than a year, on 1 February 1996, the unit under Col VB Shinde, was formally inducted as the 21st Battalion (Special Forces), The Parachute Regiment. The unit has done well in its short lifespan and is the proud recipient of the Chief of Army Staff Unit Citation twice (1992 and 2006) and GOC-in-C Eastern Command Unit Citation once (2008) among a host of individual gallantry awards.

With the changing scenario in military operations and the need for more special forces units, 2 Para began the conversion process from parachute to special forces role, followed closely by the 3 Para and the 4 Para in the year 2004 and 2005 respectively. Recently 11 Para (SF) became the newest battalion to join the folds of The Parachute Regiment raising the strength of the special forces to eight battalions. The Parachute Regiment presently has eight special forces, three parachute, two Territorial Army and one Counter-Insurgency (Rashtriya Rifles) battalions in its fold.