20 Lancers

20 Lancers, is an armoured regiment in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army. The regiment distinguished itself in operations with its spirited defence of Chhamb in Jammu and Kashmir during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War winning one Maha Vir Chakra.
The regiment has provided one Chief of Army Staff, Gen Shankar Roychowdhury,  and an army commander, Lt Gen Pradeep Khanna.
The regiment was originally formed in 1921 by amalgamating 14th Murray's Jat Lancers, raised in 1857 with 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis) raised in 1858. The regiment served till 1937, when it was removed from the order of battle and deactivated, being converted into a training regiment, eventually forming part of the Indian Armoured Corps Corps Training Centre at Lucknow. On Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, this was allotted to India. The centre moved in 1948 to Ahmednagar merging with other establishments, to become the Armoured Corps Centre and School.
The regiment was re-raised by the Indian Army on 10 July 1956 at Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The first Commanding Officer of the re-raised regiment was Lieutenant Colonel Umrao Singh. Initially, the regiment was equipped with AMX-13 tanks. When the regiment was re-raised, the Officer's Mess Silver of the old 20th Lancers was handed over to it. The troops on raising were from the Sikhs of the 6th DCO Lancers which were transferred to 8th Light Cavalry and half of the squadron of the Jodhpur Lancers which were transferred to the 7th Light Cavalry.
The regiment first saw action after re-raising, during the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War in Chhamb-Jaurian in Jammu & Kashmir. 20 Lancers was under command 10 Infantry Division during the 1965 operations. Initially, Pakistan's surprise attack on 1 September, Operation Grand Slam, fell on 191 Infantry Brigade which was supported by 'C' Squadron of the regiment, under Maj Bhaskar Roy.