Dogra Regiment

The Dogra Regiment is an oldest infantry regiment of the Indian Army.It was formed in 1922,The regiment currently has 18 battalions,The regiment has produced one Army Chief, General Nirmal Chander Vij(2003),Its Motto :Kartavyam Anvatma (Duty Before Death), War Cry : Jawala Mata Ki Jai (Victory to Goddess Jawala), Decorations : 1 Ashoka Chakra, 9 Maha Vir Chakras, 4 Kirti Chakras, 4 Yudh Seva Medals, 36 Vir Chakras, 1 Vir Chakra & Bar, 1 Padma Bhushan, 11 Uttam Yudh Seva Medals, 5 Param Vishisht Seva Medals, 13 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals, 17 Shaurya Chakras, 119 Sena Medals, 21 Vishisht Seva Medals, 188 Mention-in-Despatches and 263 COAS's Commendation Cards.Regimental Centre: Faziabad, UttarPradesh.                                                                                    Under the British the Dogra Regiment was recruited entirely of Dogra Rajputs, who are high caste Hindus descended from the original Aryan invaders of India. They inhabit the foothills of the Himalayas between the Jhelum and Sutlej rivers in the Punjab. It was one of the few regiments which was composed of a single class, the majority being made up of class squadrons or companies.

The Dogras earned laurels for valour during World War I and II as well as in all major operations after Independence. In the pre-Independence era, the Dogras had to their credit three Victoria Cross and 44 Military Cross awards besides 312 other awards. Post-Independence, the regiment has won an Ashok Chakra, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shree and nine Maha Vir Chakra besides numerous other decorations, including five unit citations.

Six Army battalions raised especially for Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) counter insurgency operations underwent special training, and started deployment in the state by 01 September 2001. With the entire state barring Ladakh under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Army began deploying additional forces to tighten the security net, with 7,200 soldiers of six newly-raised battalions. The battalions are assigned to the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), but parent Regiments raised them at their respective regimental centres. One of the six battalions was raised in New Delhi (Rajputana Rifles). The Maratha Light Infantry (MLI) RR battalion was raised at Belgaum, the Madras Regiment at Tiruchi, the Assam Regiment RR battalion at Shillong, the Punjab RR at Ramgarh, Grenadiers at Jabalpur and the Dogra Regiment RR battalion at Faizabad. The newly-raised battalions underwent special training at the Army's counter insurgency warfare school near Jammu. The Army had six months to raise and train the soldiers for the highly specialised operations. After that there was a four-week-long capsule course in laying ambushes in hills and mountains, detecting and disarming IEDs, carrying out cordon and search operations and carrying out operations to neutralise terrorists in heavily populated neighborhoods.