New Delhi, August 30

Eighty years after the first unit of the Army Air Defence (AAD) was raised during the British rule in Mumbai, the Corps of the AAD has decided to change its Raising Day to match it with the date the unit was raised by the British.

The AAD will now observe its Raising Day on September 15, instead of January 10.

It was on January 10, 1989, that the Corps AAD was bifurcated from the Corps Artillery and was formed as a separate unit.

In July 1940, Sir Claude Auchinleck, commander-in-chief of the British Indian Armed Forces, took a decision to raise anti-aircraft units in India with Indian troops.

On 15 September, 1940, a group of British officers under Major RA Ronald raised the 1st Technical Training Battery. This group formed the nucleus of the 1st Indian anti-air regiment at Colaba, Mumbai. Immediately, a unit was dispatched to defend oilfields in Digboi, Assam. The remaining troops sailed to Malaya and Singapore to protect assets against the anticipated Japanese onslaught.

In the last days of the World War II (1939-45), the British army overran Burma in May 5, 1945. The Indian anti-aircraft regiments played role in keeping the air space clear and won gallantry awards. The heaviest concentration of the anti-aircraft guns in the British Army outside Britain was with the Indian command.

The AAD had played an active role during the 1965, 1971 and Kargil wars. — TNS