Indian Army Day 2020: The Story Behind 15 January

India’s nation is celebrating it’s 72nd Army Day on January 15, 2020. India celebrates this day in the honor of Field Marshal KM Cariappa. Cariappa took command of the Indian Army from General Francis Butcher on the same day in 1949.

Why Army day is celebrated on January 15?

Francis Butcher was the last Chief British Commander in of India. So Field Marshal KM Cariappa became the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army after him. India celebrate this day every year to commemorate the taking over of Cariappa as the top commander of the Indian Army, and Cariyappa was the first person to be given the rank of Field Marshal.

Facts about Indian army:

• The Indian Army was formed in 1776 by the East India Company in Kolkata.
• The Indian Army is included in the world’s three largest armies along with China and the United States.
• In 2013, ‘Operation Rahat’ was the world’s largest civilian rescue operation to save Uttarakhand’s flood victims.

About KM Cariappa:

• Born in 1899 in Kurg, Karnataka, Field Marshal Kariappa started a job in the British Indian Army at the age of just 20.
• Cariappa led the army along the western border in the Indo-Pak war of 1947.
• At the time of Indo-Pak independence he was entrusted with the responsibility of dividing the armies of the two countries.
• In 1953, Cariappa retired from the army.

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