BANGLADESH ARMY

The 'Bangladesh Army' (Bangla: বাংলাদেশ সেনা বাহিনী, ''Bānglādesh Shenā Bāhini'') is the land armed forces branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. It was formed on 26 December 1971 following the Bangladesh Liberation War consisting of Bengali soldiers and officers from the Pakistan Army and members of the Mukti Bahini. Its current strength is estimated to be over 200,000 personnel including 50,000 on early retirement (leave prior to retirement (LPR)).
The Bangladesh Army structure is similar to other armies of the Indian subcontinent which are all modelled and organized along British Army lines. However, the Bangladesh Army has adopted U.S. Army tactical planning procedures, training management techniques and noncommissioned officer educational systems.
It is supported by artillery, armored and combat units. In times of war and crisis, the Bangladesh Army can also be reinforced by the Bangladesh Rifles, Ansar (Village Guards), Village Defence Parties (VDP), police and other land forces numbering about one million trained personnel.
It is also improving its peacekeeping operations capabilities and is working with the U.S. Military in this area.

Contents

History

Formation at Liberation War 1971

Major operations

Bangladesh Liberation War

Chittagong hill tracts

Peacetime activities

Organization

Structure

Chief of Army Staff

List of Chiefs of Army Staff

Ranks

Weapons Used

Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (APC)

Tracked Armored Fighting Vehicles (APC/IFV)

Light Battle Tanks

Main Battle Tanks (MBT)

Anti Aircraft Artillery

★ 'KRL 122mm' This is a Pakistani manufactured MLR system operated by the Bangladesh Army. ★ 'Type 90' This is the Chinese made 122 mm multiple launch rocket system. Is to be acquired by the Bangladesh Army.

★ 'PLZ-45' Maximum range of 45 km. Its 155 mm laser-guided projectile has 90% hit probability. In Production at China, as required by the Bangladesh Army. ★ 'Locally developed self-propelled howizters' The Bangladesh Army developed locally made self-propelled howtzers using surplus T-55 MBT's as their chassis.

External links

References

History

East Bengal under the British Rule was a prominent place for British recruitment, when entire cavalry and lancer units were named after Bengal, especially prior to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
After the First War of Independence, many native Bengalis were forbidden from entering military service citing the "martial races theory", primarily because large numbers of them were involved in the revolt against the British. In fact later the units called Bengal Lancers and Bengal Cavalry were often recruited from non-Bengali races.

Formation at Liberation War 1971

The Bangladesh Army was organized for Liberatioan War in 1971 into three brigades.

★ ''Z force'', under Major Ziaur Rahman, consisted of 1, 3 and 8 East Bengal Regiment.

★ ''S Force'', under Major Shafiullah, was created in October 1971 and consisted of 2 and 11 East Bengal.

★ ''K Force'', commanded by Khaled Mosharraf was created with 4, 9 and 10 East Bengal.

Major operations

Bangladesh Liberation War

When the sub-continent gained independence, India and Pakistan formed different states. Pakistan was divided into two sections, East Pakistan and West Pakistan. There were many cultural differences between these two divisions. In 1952, a rally took place in East Pakistan, against the establishment of Urdu as the national language. All the students involved were shot by the Pakistani military.Language Movement Later, in 1970, elections took place in both divisions as to decide the future of the country. Awami league, a party in East Pakistan, won the majority of the votes in the eastern section, but were not allowed to take power. This ultimately led to a civil war in which about 1-3 million Bangladeshis were killed.Bangladesh Liberation War Finally, after 9 months of bloody war with the help of India, on 16 December 1971 East Pakistan formed an independent state, known as Bangladesh.

Chittagong hill tracts

The Bangladesh Army has been involved in counter insurgency operations against the Shanti Bahini, an insurgent group fighting for tribal rights, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) since 1976. Since 1997, after a peace accord was signed between the Government and Shanti Bahini, CHT has been a relatively quiet issue. However, the Army is still heavily deployed in CHT as a part of peace building, pacification and security duties.
in chittagong hilltracts they are doing a hard job in order to lead and maintain normal life by normal civilian

Peacetime activities

Bangladesh Army has been actively involved in United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO). During the first Gulf War in 1991, the Bangladesh Army sent a 2,193 member team to monitor peace in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Following that, the Bangladesh Army participated in peace keeping activities in Namibia, Cambodia, Somalia, Uganda/Rwanda, Mozambique, former Yugoslavia, Liberia, Haiti, Tajikistan, Western Sahara, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Georgia, East Timor, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire and Ethiopia. As of April 2006, Bangladesh had a total of nearly 9,500 troops committed to UN Peacekeeping operations around the world, the most of any nation in the world. As of February 2007, Bangladesh remained the largest contributor with 10,126 troops in the UN Peacekeeping forces.

Organization

Structure

The army is divided into the following corps:

★ Armored

★ Artillery

★ Signals

★ Engineers

★ Infantry

★ Services (Army Service Corps, Army Medical Corps, Ordnance Corps, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps)

★ Special operations forces

★ Aviation

★ Today the Bangladesh Army has 7 Infantry Divisions deployed around the country. It has one independent infantry brigade , one independent Air-defence Artillary brigade and one Composite brigade. Recently in has raised a division for Training and Doctrinal policy formulations and conducts named as ARTDOC division(Army Training and Doctrine). In addition it has got numbers of training institutions spreaded all over the country that supplement the fighting strength of the Army.

Chief of Army Staff

The Chief of Army Staff (CAS) is the professional head of the Bangladesh Army. He is also regarded as the senior-most defence official in the country. The current CAS is General Moeen U Ahmed, who was promoted to General on 25 May 2007.
The Army Chief functions from the Army Headquarters located in the Dhaka Cantonment. Since 26 May 2007, the Chief of Army Staff is full General, upgraded from the previous Lieutenant General rank. The official residence of the Army Chief is known as ''Senabhaban'' (Army House) and has served as the official residence of the CAS since independence, prior to that serving as the Flag Staff House - the residence of the seniormost officer in the garrison, the General Officer Commanding of 14 Infantry Division of the Bangladesh Army of Dhaka Cantonment.

List of Chiefs of Army Staff

★ General M. A. G. Osmani December 1971-April 1972 (commander in chief of armed forces)

★ Major General K.M. Shafiullah April 1972- August 1975 (dismissed after coup)

★ Major General Ziaur Rahman August-November 1975 (dismissed in November 3 coup)

★ Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf November 3-7, 1975 (leader of short-lived coup; killed on November 7)

★ Major General Ziaur Rahman (2nd Time) November 7, 1975- November 1980

★ Lt. General Hossain Mohammad Ershad December 1980-August 1985

★ Lt. General Atiqur Rahman September 1, 1986-

★ Lt. General Nuruddin Khan

★ Lt. General Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim

★ Lt. General Mahbubur Rahman ( 20 May 1996 to 23 December 1997)

★ Lt. General Mustafizur Rahman (24 December 1997 to 23 December 2000)

★ General Mustafizur Rahman

★ Lt. General M Harun-Ar-Rashid (24 December 2000 to 16 June 2002)

★ Lt. General Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury (16 June 2002 to 15 June 2005)

★ Lt. General Moeen U Ahmed (15 June 2005 to 22 May 2007)

★ General Moeen U Ahmed (23 May 2007 to Present)

Ranks

The rank structure of the Bangladesh Army is modeled after the British Army. The ranks of commissioned officers are (in increasing order)

★ Second Lieutenant

★ Lieutenant

★ Captain

★ Major

★ Lieutenant Colonel

★ Colonel

★ Brigadier General

★ Major General

★ Lieutenant General

★ General

★ Field Marshal

Weapons Used

Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (APC)

★ 'BTR-80' A Russian made Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) is Bangladesh's primary APC.

★ '66 Al-Fahd Infantry fighting vehicle 240' Built by Egypt, Specially using for UNIKOM PSO mission in Iraq-Kuwait border.

★ '9 RN-94' Built by Turkey and Romania, 6 x 6 armoured personnel carrier (APC)

Tracked Armored Fighting Vehicles (APC/IFV)

★ 'BTR-T' Conversion of T-54/55 MBT's into armored fighting vehicles (AFV) by Bangladeshi Engineers. The Army converted 100 or so obsolete MBT's into modern highly protected 'Heavy APC's' and Self-propelled howitzers. Parts for the APC were acquired from Russia and assembled locally.

★ 'M113' This USA-Pakistan made APC in Bangladesh using the M113 for UN missions only on lease basis.

★ 'MT-LB' The MT-LB is lightly armored APC manufactured by Russia. Bangladesh Army has 20.

★ 'YW-531 (Type 85)' This Chinese APC consists of a single 12.7-mm heavy machine gun with the capacity of 10 passengers. Bangladesh has 50.

Light Battle Tanks

★ 'Type 62' Type 62 Light Battle Tank made by China capable of manoeuvring through the riverine, forest, and mountainous terrains. Bangladesh have 142 in total of this tank (42 Type62 LBT and 80 Type 59 II MBT's). Type 62 LBT's were later upgraded with a laser rangefinder and capability of protection against high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) projectile
Presently Bangladesh army has obsoleted these T62 tanks and converted those into APCs and Self Propelled artillary guns.They will be very soon in the service.

Main Battle Tanks (MBT)

★ 'T-54/55' A Russian Main Battle Tank, Currently They have been converted and upgraded to APC's, IFV's and SPH to keep them in service for many years to come. A couple of this type of tank was the donated from Saudi Arabia as Bangladesh deployed its troops there in the Gulf War as part of a broad international coalition effort against Saddam Hussein and his military forces.

★ 'Type 59 II' Chinese licensed version of Russian Type 54A Main Battle Tank. Bangladesh Army bought 120 tanks from China including the Type 59 II MBT's till 1990.

★ 'Type 79' Upgrade of the common Type 69 MBT, developed by the Chinese. Now Bangladesh Army operates hundreds of Type 79 MBT's.

Anti Aircraft Artillery

★ M-53/1

★ M-53/2

★ Type 55

★ Type 56

★ Type 58

★ Type 59

★ Type 59

★ Type 90

★ ZPU-1

★ ZU-23

★ HN-5 (MANPADS)

★ QW-2 (MANPADS) - Manufactured locally by BOF.

★ RBS-70 (MANPADS) - Status unverified.
==Multiple Launch Rocket System==

★ 'KRL 122mm' This is a Pakistani manufactured MLR system operated by the Bangladesh Army.

★ 'Type 90' This is the Chinese made 122 mm multiple launch rocket system. Is to be acquired by the Bangladesh Army.

Self-Propelled Howitzers

★ 'PLZ-45' Maximum range of 45 km. Its 155 mm laser-guided projectile has 90% hit probability. In Production at China, as required by the Bangladesh Army.

★ 'Locally developed self-propelled howizters' The Bangladesh Army developed locally made self-propelled howtzers using surplus T-55 MBT's as their chassis.

See also

★ Military of Bangladesh

★ Bangladesh Air Force

★ Bangladesh Navy

External links

★ Official Website of Bangladesh Army

★ Unofficial Bangladesh Military Forces Website

★ Library of Congress Country Studies assessment of Bangladesh Army (1988)

References