Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Bangladesh Army - The Nation's Pride


The Bangladesh Army is the largest of the tri-services in the Bengali nation. It is responsible for defending Bangladesh against external aggressors and supporting national development during peacetime. Recruitment to this force is done through voluntary enlistment.

At present there are almost 200,000 active personnel. A reserve force of force of 1,000,000 personnel will be raised by 2020.

History

Historically, the Bangladesh Army can trace its heritage back to the Bengal Army during Mughal rule since the 1700’s when three Persian Muslim dynasties such as the Nasiri’s, Afshar’s and Najafi’s ruled Bengal.

After the Mughal empire’s capitulation the Bengal Army existed as part of the British empires forces in colonised South Asia. It played an important role as Bengal was the foremost centre of trade and governance in the region at the time. Bengali forces, such as engineering units and sailors also participated in World War I and II as part of the Commonwealth forces contribution to the allied war efforts.

After the British vacated South Asia, the Muslim majority East Bengali’s became part of the newly born country of Pakistan. Bengali forces were again united under a formation known as the East Bengal Regiment. The regiment earned the highest number of gallantry medals in united Pakistan before. Its participated in the Battle of Chawinda and the defence of Lahore during the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

During the Liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971 the East Bengal Regiment fought alongside the Mukti Bahini (Bengali freedom fighters) to liberate Bangladesh from West Pakistani oppression.

After the end of the war the Bangladesh Army was formed on the 26th of December, 1971. Between 1973 and 1975 the Army absorbed 28,000 hard hardened freedom fighters in to its ranks.

Under Zia’s rule Bangladesh was divided in to 5 military regions for efficient management. When Ershad assumed power in 1982 the Army had 70,000 personnel. The Army experienced another spurt of growth during 1985 then finally in mid-1988 it had about 80,000 to 90,000 personnel. In 1995 the Army had 101,000 personnel.

After 2000, the Bangladesh Army’s strength swelled to 150,000 personnel. A new regiment called the Bangladesh Infantry Regiment was also raised during that period.

Since 2001, the Bangladesh Army started recruiting female officers for non-combat roles. In doing so it became one of the few Muslim countries in the world to allow women amongst the ranks of male-dominated disciplined forces.

Organisation

In the past the Bangladesh Army was organised along the lines of the British-Commonwealth armies, however U.S Army ranks, tactical procedures, training management, and non-commissioned officer training were adopted to enhance the combat efficiency of the organisation.

At present the Bangladesh Army has seven regional Infantry Division HQ; (Those are Savar, Bogra, Chittagong, Ghatail, Comilla, Jessore and Rangpur with Headquarters in Dhaka). There are more than twenty-five Infantry Brigades, seven Armoured Regiments, seventeen Artillery Regiments and various divisional support formations deployed throughout the country. It also has the following independent units under direct command of Army Head Quarter: 46th Infantry Brigade, 14th Engineers Brigade, one Para-Commando Brigade, Quick Reaction Force (QRF) Brigade, 6th Air Defence Artillery Brigade, one Signals Brigade and three Army Aviation Squadrons. In addition to this, the Army also has a division for Training and Doctrinal policy formulation and conduct, named the Army Training and Doctrine Command (ARTDOC) Division and a number of training institutions spread all over the country that supplement its combat capability. Capability development and training are managed by each Corps, and as such the Bangladesh Army is divided into the following administrative Corps:

The principal combat arms of the Bangladesh Army include Infantry, Armour and Paracommando. Combat support arms include Army Aviation, Regiment of Artillery, Air Defence Artillery, Corps of Engineers, Military Intelligence, Corps of Signals, Corps of Military Police.

Support Services include the Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Medical Corps (AMC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps (EME), Remounts Veterinary and Farm Corps - (RV and FC), Army Dental Corps (ADC), Army Education Corps (AEC), Army Corps of Clerks (ACC) and the Armed Forces Nursing Services (AFNS.

Training

Training in the Bangladesh Army is done almost entirely inside Bangladesh though staff officers are sent abroad to friendly countries such as US, China, UK, France, Germany, Turkey, Republic of Korea, India and Pakistan as Bangladesh signed military training protocols with these countries. 

Officer training is conducted at various intuitions such as the BMA, NDC, DSCSC, CSMEA, MIST, SI &T, AFIP and AFMC. Non-commissioned officers are imparted training at the NCO academy.







Equipment

The Bangladesh Army is equipped with armoured vehicles such as Type 59, Type 62, Type 69 II G tanks, BTR-70, BTR-80, Type 62 and Type 85 APC's. Artillery equipment includes systems ranging from 105 mm to 130 mm medium guns, MBRL’s and self-propelled howitzers. 155 mm self-propelled howitzers will be delivered in 2011 to equip three new battalions. There are mortars of 60, 81, 82 and 120 mm calibre used by the Bangladesh Army in both towed and self-propelled versions.
 
 
Weapons such as Type 69-I RPG, HJ-8 ATGM and South Korean-made M40A1 RCL’s dominate the anti-tank inventory.

Standard issue infantry small arms include Type 92 9mm pistol, BD-08 assault rifle, Type 56 submachine gun, G3A2/3 combat rifle, HK 11A1/21A1, Type 67-1 and Type 85 general purpose machine guns, AI Arctic Warfare and Type 85 sniper rifles.

 
Air defence artillery is equipped with mainly low-level anti-aircraft guns and man-portable surface-to-air missile launchers from China. Mentionable models include the HN-5, QW-2, Type 56 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine gun, Type 74/65/55 37mm anti-aircraft gun and Type 59 57mm anti-aircraft gun.

The Bangladesh Army boasts a wide array of logistical and engineering equipment due to the nature of its operational deployments. Armoured bridge layers, pontoon bridges, armoured recovery vehicles, graders, rollers, bulldozers, heavy cranes, Toyota, Land Rover, Nissan, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, BMTF, Isuzu, BMC and Western Star trucks and vehicles are in operational usage.

Aviation assets include Bell 206L-4 helicopters, Cessna 152, Cessna 208 and Piper PA31T1A transport aircraft.











6 comments:

  1. Hope my comment is approved.

    How ridiculous the author has completely wiped out India's supreme role in liberating Bangladesh and creating the independent country?? Indian army had captured 93000 pakistani army and signed Instrument of surrender act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_of_Surrender_(1971) . No wonder the author conveniently ignored India's role. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971

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  2. Dear Useless Scientist
    How it was the supreme role of indian army during our liberation war? we fought nine months at our own, USSR gives arms, money, and other support thru india, and did a the job only to broke down ever enemy Pakistan!! and, after Bangladesh got independent, india tried to annex it but failed when sheikh mujib thrown out taj uddin ahmed because this taj uddin signed several pact with india during those turbulent months to join with ill-instinct india then. but for our army, who was the real hero of our liberation saved us. no political had announced the DOI, but a single major did!!! which was india's interest to liberate bangladesh from pakistan? that was totally fractured pakistan, suppress this small territory of muslims because india can't see us a nation! they just look us as muslims and thought that we are occupying their india!!! the fact is that, this is the real insane ridiculous that your thoughts, my intention not to defame india but their extremely narrow minded and ill-tempered politicians who are dreaming annex of bangladesh must understand that their will is an insane and we'll answer with extreme devastation.........

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    1. Do you know AK Khandker the senior minister in the Bangladeshi government and served as a mukti bahini commander in 1971.

      He says India started providing weapons and training to the rebels in May of that year, and stepped up the programme after signing a pact with the Soviet Union in August. According to Mr Khandker, the attacks by Indian-trained separatist fighters were so effective, that by November "the Pakistani army was physically and morally exhausted."

      Today he says that without India, the independence of Bangladesh "would have been extremely, extremely difficult". "The help that India gave to us, we are so grateful to them," he says.
      (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16111843)

      We in India, first give full credit to People of Bangladesh for their independence, only technically supported and actively defeating East Pakistan army and surrendering them to liberate Bangladesh. We did only this much things. But from other side, we expect you to acknowledge India, dont be hostile to the same country which helped you so much in giving you waht you have now.

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  3. History doesn't changed as your wish or mine... So, stop intentional revoke of truth :)

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    1. Stop being so disrespectful!! why are you disgracing our country?! There is no shame in showing gratitude. It doesn't matter what Indian politicians actually wanted or what their goal was, what matters is that they have helped us immensely. Allowing 10 million refugees, they basically opened their borders for us. When united states and china started to move their troops in orders to aid Pakistan, it was Indira Gandhi, who traveled all over the world to gain support for us, while the seventh fleet was at bay, she announced that moving against Bangladesh would leave her no choice but to declare an all out war.. And last but not least, the sacrifice if approximately 4000 Indian soldiers and countless wounded!! The country of India deserves some fucking respect from u!! And yes, it would be close to impossible for us to gain independence without India's help. Try showing a little bit of gratitude from now on...

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  4. i love Bangladesh army commando as they perform hard and challenging training i have ever seen

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