ndian Army's Artillery regiment will be celebrating its 182nd foundation day on Monday.
The raising day, which is known as Gunners day, is observed every year on September 28 to mark the raising of first Indian Artillery Unit 5 (Bombay) Mountain Battery on this momentous day in 1827.
Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor will lay the wreath at the Amar Jawan jyoti to pay homage to the martyrs on the occasion.
The Bahmani Sultans first used artillery in India in the 14th Century during the Deccan War against Vijaynagar Kingdom. Since then the Mughals, the Marathas, Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan and the Sikhs under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, artillery was the leading arm and the 'Golandaz' battalions occupied a place of pride in the battlefield.
In 1935, Second Lieutenant P.S. Gyani became the first Indian officer to be commissioned into 'A' Field Brigade which was a unit comprising four batteries of horse drawn guns. The Royal Indian Artillery won its spurs in the Second World War.
The Artillery regiment was part of all the wars that India fought since independence. The gunners demonstrated fortitude against all odds during operations of 1947-48, 1962, 1965, 1971 and Kargil War.
Since the mid 1980s, gunners have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with the infantry in counter insurgency operations in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and the North Eastern States.
During the Kargil War in May-June 1999, the Artillery regiment created havoc among the enemy lines and giving an unprecedented victory to the Indian Armed forces.
Amongst the present inventory of the Artillery are the indigenously manufactured 105mm Indian Field Gun (IFG) and its lighter version for employment in mountains called Light Field Gun (LFG). The 155mm FH 77B Bofors, and the 130mm Medium Gun of Russian origin are two of the most versatile and effective gun systems, in all types of terrain and climatic conditions.
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