33rd Armoured Division was raised on 15 November 1982 by Major General L. B. Sondhi.[2][3] It was converted into an Armoured Division in December 1993.[3]
Arjun Tank Trial
Phase II of Arjun Tank was conducted at Hisar, Haryana and check was made for medium fording capability.
The 33rd Armoured Division has 5 Brigades (3 Armoured, 1 Artillery & 1 Air Defence brigades).
33 Armoured (Dot on target) Division - War Memorial, Hisar Military Station.
Brigade: 5 Brigades of the 33rd Armoured Division
A Regiment is a homogenous unit specializing in one thing e.g. Armoured (tank), Mechanised (vehicles), Artillery, etc. A Brigade is multi-functional unit composed of different types of Battalions from various Regiments.
The '33rd Armoured Division' has total 5 Brigades:[2]
the 39th Armoured Brigade (formerly '39th Mechanised Brigade')
the 57th Armoured Brigade (formerly '57th Mechanised Brigade')
the 88th Armoured Brigade (formerly '88th Mechanised Brigade')
the 627th (Independent) Armoured Air Defence Brigade (formerly '627th (Independent) Mechanised Air Defence Brigade')
the 33rd Artillery Brigade
It initially consisted of the 88 Mechanised Brigade (was already in existence), 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 (Independent) Mechanised Air Defence Brigade became part of the Division's Orbat (Order of battle) on 1 December 1989. Later, all Mechanised Brigades were converted to the Armoured Brigades.
Battalion: each Armoured Brigade of 3rd Armoured Division has two Mechanised Battalions
Each of three Armoured Brigades (39, 57 & 88 Armoured Brigades) in the 33rd Armoured Division comprise
Two Armoured Regiments ((includes T-72 Tanks and potentially T-90 and/or Arjun Tank in future)). This includes the historical 1 Horse Armoured Regiment (Skinner's Horse) raised by James Skinner at Hansi in 1803.[2]
2 Mechanised Battalions (amphibious vehicles e.g. BMP-2).
the 33rd Artillery Brigade comprises three regiments:
^"Army exercise". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 5 April 2012. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^ a b c d"Bharat Rakshak :: Land Forces Site - Armoured Formations". bharat-rakshak.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
^ a b"Armoured Formations". Bharat Rakshak. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
^"The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Haryana". tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
^John Pike. "33 Armoured Division". globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
Orbat.com, Indian Armoured Divisions - vignette, archive