The 1st Armoured Division is an armoured division of the Indian Army, headquartered at Patiala, Punjab. It is part of II Corps of the Indian Army's Western Command. Formation The division was formed when the 31st Indian Armoured Division was re-designated on September 1, 1945. The 1st Armoured Division was one of two divisional headquarters transferred from the British Indian Army to the Indian Army upon the partition of British India in August 1947. At the time, it had its divisional headquarters at Secunderabad and the 43rd Lorried Infantry Brigade away with the Punjab Boundary Force. In June 1946, the wartime 255th Indian Tank Brigade was redesignated as 1st Armoured Brigade and assigned to 1st Armoured Division. Operation Polo The division played a major role in Operation Polo, the integration of Hyderabad into the Indian Union in 1948. During this time Major General Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri was serving as the division's commander, also serving as Military Governor of the state in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. For the Hyderabad operation, the division controlled the 1st Armoured Brigade and the 7th and 9th Infantry Brigades. The order of battle (ORBAT) for the division was as follows- Strike Force 9 Dogra Skinner's Horse (minus one squadron) 1 troop Division HQ Squadron Battery 1 Field Regiment (Self Propelled) 1 Forward Air Control team Smash Force - 1 Armoured Brigade (Brigadier S.D Verma) 3 Cavalry (minus one squadron) 17 Horse (minus one squadron) One troop Skinner's Horse 1 Field Regiment (less one battery) (Self Propelled) 2nd Battery 40 Medium Regiment One company 9 Dogra Kill Force - 7 Infantry Brigade (Brigadier Gurbachan Singh) 2 Sikh 3 Grenadiers 14 Rajput 9 Para Field Regiment Vir Force - 9 Infantry Brigade (Brigadier Apji Randhir Singh) 3 Punjab 2/1 Gorkha Rifles 34 Anti Tank Regiment Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The 1st Armoured Division with Major General Rajinder Singh 'Sparrow' as the GOC played an important role in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. He was awarded the Mahavir Chakra for his role during the war. The division was part of the I Corps on the western front. The order of battle was as follows- 1 Armoured Division (Major General Rajinder Singh) 1 Armoured Brigade (Brigadier Khem Karan Singh) 17 Horse 16 Light Cavalry 62 Cavalry (was also part of other formations) 43 Lorried Infantry Brigade (Brigadier HS Dhillon) 2 Lancers 8 Garhwal Rifles 5 Jat 5/9 Gorkha