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132-580: The Bangladesh Army ( Bengali : বাংলাদেশ সেনাবাহিনী , romanized : Bāṅlādēś sēnābāhinī ) is the land warfare branch , and the largest component of the Bangladesh Armed Forces . The primary mission of the Army is to defend the land of Bangladesh from any external attack. Control of personnel and operations is administered by the Army Headquarters, Dhaka Cantonment . The Bangladesh Army
264-548: A RFI was published for procurement of assault rifles and submachine guns . Evaluation notice for medium range Anti-tank guided missile was also published in April 2017. In March 2018, Bangladesh Army issued tender for the procurement of 220 anti-tank weapons. The models shortlisted are Russian RPG-7 V2 and Chinese Type 69-1 . Evaluation process of 155mm howitzer also started in September 2017. In November 2017, Bangladesh Army started
396-492: A bid to lessen this burden on young learners, efforts have been made by educational institutions in the two main Bengali-speaking regions (West Bengal and Bangladesh) to address the opaque nature of many consonant clusters, and as a result, modern Bengali textbooks are beginning to contain more and more "transparent" graphical forms of consonant clusters, in which the constituent consonants of a cluster are readily apparent from
528-590: A different word from a speaker of Standard Bengali in Bangladesh, even though both words are of native Bengali descent. For example, the word salt is লবণ lôbôṇ in the east which corresponds to নুন nun in the west. Bengali exhibits diglossia , though some scholars have proposed triglossia or even n-glossia or heteroglossia between the written and spoken forms of the language. Two styles of writing have emerged, involving somewhat different vocabularies and syntax : Linguist Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar categorises
660-480: A diphthong. The total number of diphthongs is not established, with bounds at 17 and 31. An incomplete chart is given by Sarkar (1985) of the following: In standard Bengali, stress is predominantly initial. Bengali words are virtually all trochaic ; the primary stress falls on the initial syllable of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables thereafter, giving strings such as in সহযোগিতা shô -hô- jo -gi- ta "cooperation", where
792-672: A large scale and were communally limited. Owing to Bengal's geographic location, Bengali areas bordering non-Bengali regions have been influenced by each other. Small numbers of people in Midnapore , which borders Odisha , have used the Odia script to write in Bengali. In the border areas between West Bengal and Bihar , some Bengali communities historically wrote Bengali in Devanagari , Kaithi and Tirhuta . In Sylhet and Bankura , modified versions of
924-531: A long term modernisation plan for its Armed Forces named Forces Goal 2030 . As per the plan, Bangladesh Army will be divided into three corps — Central, Eastern and Western. A riverine brigade is being formed at Mithamain of Kishoreganj district . Government has a plan to add 97 new units within 2021. Of them, 19 units will be formed for the Sylhet Cantonment, 22 for the Ramu Cantonment and 56 units for
1056-660: A majority in Bangladesh speaks dialects notably different from SCB. Some dialects, particularly those of the Chittagong region, bear only a superficial resemblance to SCB. The dialect in the Chittagong region is least widely understood by the general body of Bengalis. The majority of Bengalis are able to communicate in more than one variety – often, speakers are fluent in Cholitobhasha (SCB) and one or more regional dialects. Even in SCB,
1188-679: A motor accident, shortly after being awarded the Victoria Cross (VC). This made Messervy the only Indian Army officer to command a British Army division during the Second World War. When division HQ was overrun by the Germans at the start of the Battle of Gazala , Messervy was captured on 27 May 1942; but, removing all insignia, managed to bluff the Germans into believing he was a batman and escaped with other members of his staff to rejoin division HQ
1320-633: A number of United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO) since its formation in the 1970s. Its first deployments came in 1988 when it participated in two operations – UNIIMOG in Iraq and UNTAG in Namibia President HM Ershad initiated these deployments for the first time, starting with the contribution to UNIIMOG in Iraq . Later as part of the UNIKOM force deployed to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia following
1452-584: A part in the adoption of the English alphabet to write Bengali, with certain social media influencers publishing entire novels in Roman Bengali. Frank Messervy General Sir Frank Walter Messervy , KCSI , KBE , CB , DSO & Bar (9 December 1893 – 2 February 1974) was a British Indian Army officer in the First and Second World Wars . Following its independence, he
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#17328443704371584-435: A result of its contributions to various UN peacekeeping operations, up to 88 Bangladeshi soldiers have lost their lives (as of February 2009). However, the performance of Bangladesh's contingents has been described as being of the "highest order" and the appointment of several senior Bangladesh military officers as the commander of UN peacekeeping missions and Senior Military Liaison Officers, may be seen as further recognition of
1716-488: A result of this meeting, Bangladesh was divided into eleven sectors . These sectors were placed under the control of Sector Commanders, who would direct the guerilla war against Pakistani occupation forces . For better efficiency in military operations each of the sectors were also divided into a number of sub-sectors. As a point of note, the 10th Sector was under direct command of the Commander-in-Chief and included
1848-562: A rounded total of 280 million) worldwide. The Bengali language is native to the region of Bengal , which comprises the present-day nation of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal . Besides the native region it is also spoken by the Bengalis living in Tripura , southern Assam and the Bengali population in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Bengali is also spoken in
1980-597: A short but highly organised uprising concentrated only in Dhaka , formed by members of the Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (National Socialist Party) and members of enlisted personnel led by Lt. Col. (Retd.) Abu Taher also resulted in the killing of Several Army and Air Force Officers and soldiers including Major General Khaled Mosharraf , Major ATM Haider . Colonel Shafaat Jamil was arrested and forcibly retired. Colonel Abu Taher released Major General Ziaur Rahman who
2112-455: A source of antagonism and mistrust among the local tribes against the government. The government failed to address the long-standing issue of the displacement of tribal people, numbering an estimated 100,000 caused by the construction of the Kaptai Dam by the then Pakistan government in 1962. Displaced tribesmen did not receive compensation and more than 40,000 Chakma tribals had fled to India. In
2244-408: A special diacritic, called the hôsôntô (্) , may be added below the basic consonant grapheme (as in ম্ [m] ). This diacritic, however, is not common and is chiefly employed as a guide to pronunciation. The abugida nature of Bengali consonant graphemes is not consistent, however. Often, syllable-final consonant graphemes, though not marked by a hôsôntô , may carry no inherent vowel sound (as in
2376-575: A state language of the then Dominion of Pakistan . On 21 February 1952, five students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the University of Dhaka ; they were the first ever martyrs to die for their right to speak their mother tongue. In 1956, Bengali was made a state language of Pakistan. 21 February has since been observed as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh and has also been commemorated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO every year since 2000. In 2010,
2508-463: A vowel in isolation from any preceding or following consonant, the independent form of the vowel is used. For example, in মই [moj] "ladder" and in ইলিশ [iliʃ] "Hilsa fish", the independent form of the vowel ই is used (cf. the dependent form ি) . A vowel at the beginning of a word is always realised using its independent form. In addition to the inherent-vowel-suppressing hôsôntô , three more diacritics are commonly used in Bengali. These are
2640-494: Is Bangladesh's national march, written by The National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in Bengali in 1928. It was adopted as the national marching song by the Bangladeshi government in 1972. Additionally, the first two verses of Vande Mataram , a patriotic song written in Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee , was adopted as the "national song" of India in both the colonial period and later in 1950 in independent India. Furthermore, it
2772-536: Is a classical Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With over 237 million native speakers and another 41 million as second language speakers as of 2024, Bengali is the fifth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. It is the fifth most spoken Indo-European language . Bengali
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#17328443704372904-468: Is a cursive script with eleven graphemes or signs denoting nine vowels and two diphthongs , and thirty-nine graphemes representing consonants and other modifiers. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms. The letters run from left to right and spaces are used to separate orthographic words . Bengali script has a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the graphemes that links them together called মাত্রা matra . Since
3036-423: Is also being modernized. Two Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin's were put into service in 2012. Six Mil Mi-171Sh were procured in 2016. C-295W transport aircraft was ordered from Spain one was delivered in 2017. Another EADS CASA C-295 delivered in 2022. [1] Bangladesh Army also procured 36 Bramor C4EYE battlefield reconnaissance UAVs from Slovenia in 2017. The Bangladesh Army has been actively involved in
3168-447: Is also constitutionally obligated to assist the government , during times of domestic national emergency e.g. the army helps people during any natural calamity. This additional role is commonly referred to as "aid to civil administration" or, using the Latin form, "Protectio, Transparentia, Reintegratio", in others words, "Protect and Serve". The martial tradition of Bengal has its roots in
3300-400: Is an abugida , a script with letters for consonants, with diacritics for vowels, and in which an inherent vowel (অ ô ) is assumed for consonants if no vowel is marked. The Bengali alphabet is used throughout Bangladesh and eastern India (Assam, West Bengal, Tripura). The Bengali alphabet is believed to have evolved from a modified Brahmic script around 1000 CE (or 10th–11th century). It
3432-668: Is believed by many that the national anthem of Sri Lanka ( Sri Lanka Matha ) was inspired by a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore , while some even believe the anthem was originally written in Bengali and then translated into Sinhala . After the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the Sierra Leone Civil War under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone ,
3564-699: Is considered a separate language, although it shares similarities to Northern Bengali dialects. During the standardisation of Bengali in the 19th century and early 20th century, the cultural centre of Bengal was in Kolkata , a city founded by the British. What is accepted as the standard form today in both West Bengal and Bangladesh is based on the West-Central dialect of Nadia and Kushtia District . There are cases where speakers of Standard Bengali in West Bengal will use
3696-810: Is going on to procure six more Mil Mi-17 1Sh helicopters. They also have a plan to add attack helicopters to the fleet in the near future. Tender was floated for procurement of a command ship in 2017. The vessel will be used as a floating command centre during different operations. Several tenders were floated to procure a total of six Landing craft tank for the army between 2017 and 2018. Bangladesh army issued tender for procuring two Troops Carrier Vessel (TCV) in January 2018. The vessels will be able to carry 200 personnel. On 29 June 2021, Government to Government (G2G) defence memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Bangladesh and Turkey . According to Dr. İsmail Demir, president of Presidency of Defense Industries ,
3828-404: Is known as Apabhraṃśa , by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language over the course of time. Though some archaeologists claim that some 10th-century texts were in Bengali, it is not certain whether they represent a differentiated language or whether they represent a stage when Eastern Indo-Aryan languages were differentiating. The local Apabhraṃśa of
3960-477: Is set out below in the International Phonetic Alphabet (upper grapheme in each box) and romanisation (lower grapheme). Bengali is known for its wide variety of diphthongs , combinations of vowels occurring within the same syllable . Two of these, /oi̯/ and /ou̯/ , are the only ones with representation in script, as ঐ and ঔ respectively. /e̯ i̯ o̯ u̯/ may all form the glide part of
4092-707: Is similar to the armies of the Commonwealth Nations . However, major changes have taken place following the adoption of US Army tactical planning procedures, training management techniques and noncommissioned officer educational systems. Beginning in 2017 after the Rohingya genocide , the Bangladesh Armed Forces are embarking on a long-term modernization and reorganization. The force is being divided into three corps — Central, Eastern and Western. To support and reinforce national security, new military bases are under construction. Three new infantry divisions have been raised,
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4224-545: Is the official , national , and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh , with 98% of Bangladeshis using Bengali as their first language. It is the second-most widely spoken language in India . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura and the Barak Valley region of the state of Assam . It is also the second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. It
4356-500: Is the most widely spoken language in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal , and is spoken by significant populations in other states including Bihar , Arunachal Pradesh , Delhi , Chhattisgarh , Meghalaya , Mizoram , Nagaland , Odisha and Uttarakhand . Bengali is also spoken by the Bengali diasporas ( Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian Bengalis) across Europe, North America,
4488-603: The 17th Infantry Division at Sylhet , 10th Infantry Division at Ramu in Cox's Bazar and 7th Infantry Division at Barishal - Patuakhali , raising the number of divisions to ten. Additional infantry protective systems such as combat armor , and ballistic goggles are being procured, alongside lethality improvements such as night vision systems and collimator sights for the BD-08 assault rifle. Other equipment such as personal radios and GPS devices are also expected. For speciality actions,
4620-663: The 2nd Commando Battalion has been raised, joining the 1st Commando Battalion under the Para-Commando Brigade . Armored forces received the Chinese MBT-2000 in 2011, while the existing Type 69 tank fleet has been improved to the Type 69IIG standard. Another 174 Type 59 tanks will be receiving the Type 59G Durjoy upgrade. Infantry mobility modernizations consist of some 300 BTR-80 APCs , an undisclosed number of Otokar Cobra LAVs, International MaxxPro MRAP vehicles, and
4752-583: The 5th Indian Infantry Division , which was about to be formed at Secunderabad . In mid-1940, the division was sent to the Sudan to counter the threat from the Italian forces based in Italian East Africa . Messervy was appointed commander of Gazelle Force . Created on 16 October 1940, it was a mobile reconnaissance and strike formation of expanded battalion size created from elements of 5th Indian Division. During
4884-500: The Aesop's Fables in Bengali was printed using Roman letters based on English phonology by the Scottish linguist John Gilchrist . Consecutive attempts to establish a Roman Bengali have continued across every century since these times, and have been supported by the likes of Suniti Kumar Chatterji , Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda , and Muhammad Enamul Haq . The Digital Revolution has also played
5016-660: The Arabic , Persian , and Turkic languages . The arrival of merchants and traders from the Middle East and Turkestan into the Buddhist -ruling Pala Empire , from as early as the 7th century, gave birth to Islamic influence in the region. In the 13th century, subsequent Arab Muslim and Turco-Persian expeditions to Bengal heavily influenced the local vernacular by settling among the native population. Bengali absorbed Arabic and Persian influences in its vocabulary and dialect, including
5148-527: The BOV M11 ARV. To modernize the artillery forces, Nora B-52 K2 self-propelled artillery system have been procured from Serbia . Their firepower is further increased by the addition of two regiment of WS-22 Guided Multiple Rocket Launcher System. For anti-tank role Metis-M missile systems and PF-98 rocket systems were procured. Two regiments of FM 90 surface to air missile were added in 2016 to enhance air defence capabilities. The Army Aviation Wing
5280-609: The Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, a total of 8 battalions of the East Bengal Regiment were formed. In 1970, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led Bangladesh Awami League to win the General Elections of Pakistan . The Pakistan Army which was then in power refused to handover power and unrest broke out. On 25 March 1971, The Pakistan Armed Forces cracked down on the civilian population of East Pakistan through
5412-468: The Constitution of Bangladesh states Bengali to be the sole official language of Bangladesh. The Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 , made it mandatory to use Bengali in all records and correspondences, laws, proceedings of court and other legal actions in all courts, government or semi-government offices, and autonomous institutions in Bangladesh. It is also the de facto national language of
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5544-703: The Gulf War , the Bangladesh Army sent a mechanised infantry battalion (approx. 2,193 personnel). Since then, the Bangladesh Army has been involved in up to thirty different UNPKOs in as many as twenty five countries. This has included activities in Angola , Namibia , Cambodia , Somalia , Sudan , Eritrea , Uganda , Rwanda , Bosnia & Herzegovina , Mozambique , former Yugoslavia , Liberia , Haiti , Tajikistan , Western Sahara , Sierra Leone , Kosovo , Georgia , East Timor , Congo , Côte d'Ivoire and Ethiopia . As
5676-564: The Kaithi script had some historical prominence, mainly among Muslim communities. The variant in Sylhet was identical to the Baitali Kaithi script of Hindustani with the exception of Sylhet Nagri possessing matra . Sylhet Nagri was standardised for printing in c. 1869 . Up until the 19th century, numerous variations of the Arabic script had been used across Bengal from Chittagong in
5808-493: The Mukti Bahini were absorbed into different branches of Bangladesh Army. In 1974, Bangladeshi soldiers and officers repatriated from Pakistan after the Bangladesh Liberation War were absorbed into the Bangladesh Army. During the 1972-73 tenure, engineers , signals, army services, ordnance, military police , remount veterinary and, farm and medical corps was established in Bangladesh Army. Bangladesh Military Academy (BMA)
5940-520: The Nadia region . Bengali shows a high degree of diglossia , with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language. Modern Bengali vocabulary is based on words inherited from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, along with tatsamas and reborrowings from Sanskrit and borrowings from Persian , Arabic , Austroasiatic languages and other languages with which it has historically been in contact. In
6072-958: The Sheikh Hasina Cantonment in Lebukhali. A Riverine Engineer Battalion is also going to be formed under a proposed cantonment at Mithamoine in Kishoreganj . Formation of two new tank regiments is under consideration. Process of converting some regular infantry battalions into para infantry battalions and mechanized infantry battalions is also going on. Bangladesh Army has started an ambitious modernisation program for its infantry soldiers named Infantry Soldier System . This system includes equipping all of its soldiers with modern equipment like Night Vision Goggles (NVG) , Ballistic helmets , Eye protective gear , Bulletproof vest , person to person communicators, palmtop GPS device and BD-08 assault rifles with Collimator sight . In April 2018,
6204-550: The Staff College, Camberley , from 1925 to 1926, Messervy was appointed as an instructor at the Staff College, Quetta from 1932 to 1936, where Bernard Montgomery was among his fellow instructors. He was made commanding officer of the 13th Duke of Connaught's's Own Lancers , then in British India , during 1938 and 1939. In September 1939, Messervy was promoted to colonel and became a General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) of
6336-590: The University of Karachi (established by East Pakistani politicians before Independence of Bangladesh ) also offers regular programs of studies at the Bachelors and at the Masters levels for Bengali Literature. The national anthems of both Bangladesh ( Amar Sonar Bangla ) and India ( Jana Gana Mana ) were written in Bengali by the Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore . Notuner Gaan known as " Chol Chol Chol"
6468-499: The boldface represents primary and secondary stress. Native Bengali words do not allow initial consonant clusters ; the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e., one vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern, even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as গেরাম geram (CV.CVC) for গ্রাম gram (CCVC) "village" or ইস্কুল iskul (VC.CVC) for স্কুল skul (CCVC) "school". The Bengali-Assamese script
6600-557: The phonology of Eastern Bengali is seen through the lack of nasalised vowels and an alveolar articulation of what are categorised as the "cerebral" consonants (as opposed to the postalveolar articulation of western Bengal). Some varieties of Bengali, particularly Sylheti , Chittagonian and Chakma , have contrastive tone ; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words. Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly, Hajong
6732-608: The 16th century, Portuguese missionaries began a tradition of using the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Bengali language. Though the Portuguese standard did not receive much growth, a few Roman Bengali works relating to Christianity and Bengali grammar were printed as far as Lisbon in 1743. The Portuguese were followed by the English and French respectively, whose works were mostly related to Bengali grammar and transliteration. The first version of
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#17328443704376864-652: The 1945 offensive during which, he captured the key communications centre at Meiktila in Burma and advanced to Rangoon between February and April. When Messervy returned from home leave hostilities had ceased. He was made Commander-in-Chief Malaya Command in 1945 after the Japanese surrender . Close to the Partition of India , Messervy was made General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command, India from 1946 to 1947. Finally when Pakistan came into being on 15 August 1947, he
6996-596: The 1975 figure. The Bangladesh Armed Forces participated in the Gulf War in 1991 in Operation Desert Storm , alongside other multinational forces under Allied Command. The Bangladesh Army brought in a contingent of Engineers and undertook the task of clearing landmines and bombs in Kuwait . This assistance took place under the operational code name "Operation Kuwait Punargathan (OKP)" in English "Operation Rebuilding Kuwait (ORK)". The Bangladesh Army's structure
7128-413: The 1980s, the government began settling Bengalis in the region, causing the eviction of many tribesmen and a significant alteration of demographics. Having constituted only 11.6% of the regional population in 1974, the number of Bangalis grew by 1991 to constitute 48.5% of the regional population. Peace negotiations were initiated after the restoration of democracy in Bangladesh in 1991, but little progress
7260-637: The 19th and 20th centuries, there were two standard forms of written Bengali: In 1948, the government of Pakistan tried to impose Urdu as the sole state language in Pakistan, giving rise to the Bengali language movement . This was a popular ethnolinguistic movement in the former East Bengal (today Bangladesh ), which arose as a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the Bengalis and their desire to promote and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as
7392-421: The 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time. The ancestor of Bengali was the language of the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty . During the medieval period, Middle Bengali was characterised by the elision of the word-final অ ô and the spread of compound verbs, which originated from the Sanskrit Schwa . Slowly, the word-final ô disappeared from many words influenced by
7524-432: The Bangladesh Army's growing esteem in the peacekeeping community. In January 2004, BBC described the Bangladeshi UN Force as "Cream of UN Peacekeepers". Bangladesh Army has specialised its peacekeeping operation capabilities around the world through participation in numerous peacekeeping and nation building operations. It has created BIPSOT ( Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training ) which specialises in
7656-401: The Bengali equivalent of a full stop – have been adopted from Western scripts and their usage is similar. Unlike in Western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) where the letter forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called মাত্রা matra . The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example,
7788-426: The Bengali script is an abugida, its consonant graphemes usually do not represent phonetic segments , but carry an "inherent" vowel and thus are syllabic in nature. The inherent vowel is usually a back vowel , either [ɔ] as in মত [m ɔ t] "opinion" or [o] , as in মন [m o n] "mind", with variants like the more open [ɒ] . To emphatically represent a consonant sound without any inherent vowel attached to it,
7920-422: The British armour at Sidi Rezegh. The division's battle groups took part in the Eighth Army 's pursuit when Rommel withdrew from his defensive positions at Gazala in December, ending the year at Benghazi . In early January 1942 Messervy had received orders to depart for India where he would assume command of the 31st Indian Armoured Division . He was instead appointed to replace Major General Herbert Lumsden ,
8052-439: The Chattogram Circuit House in a military coup. Less than a year later, the then Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad on 24 March 1982 took power in a silent coup at dawn, suspended the constitution and imposed Martial law and remained in power through farce elections and corruption. He remained in power until 6 December 1990. The Chattogram Hill Tracts Conflict was the political and military conflict between
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#17328443704378184-816: The Chief of Army Staff for the smooth functioning of the Army. The Branches & Directorates of Army Headquarters are given below- Chief of Army Staff's Secretariat Bangladesh Army is divided into the following administrative Corps : Commissioned officers are honored as 'first class gazetted officers' by the Government of Bangladesh. NCO rank starts from Lance Corporal . Sergeants holds key appointments in companies , batteries (company equivalent of artillery), infantry battalions and artillery regiments, e.g. Company Quartermaster Sergeant (CQMS), Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM), persons holding these appointments have separate rank insignias though these are not actually ranks. Cantonments are where Bangladesh Army personnel work, train, and live. Bangladesh has made
8316-503: The Chief of Staff of Pakistan Army General Sir Frank Messervy , he organised his men to form the nucleus of an Infantry Regiment, the Bangali Paltan (Platoon). At the time of the creation of Pakistan , Abdul Gani got the approval of the then newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army General Frank Messervy to form the East Bengal Regiment composed solely of youths from East Bengal , would be East Pakistan . On 17 August 1947, General Messervey while bidding farewell to
8448-482: The First World War, the Bangali Paltan was formed to recruit soldiers from Bengal. In 1916, the British Government created Bengali Double Company. The soldiers were trained in Karachi and shipped to Baghdad. They fought in the war and after the war helped crush a rebellion by Kurds in 1919. During the Second World War , British Indian Army Eastern Command created an auxiliary force who were part engineers and part infantry named as Indian Army Pioneer Corps . Most of
8580-416: The Government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (United People's Party of the Chattogram Hill Tracts) and its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini over the issue of autonomy and the rights of the tribes of the Chattogram Hill Tracts. The Shanti Bahini launched an insurgency against government forces in 1977, and the conflict continued for twenty years until the Bangladesh government and
8712-425: The Indian Army, with the situation being so severe that the division had at one point resembled a training formation rather than a combat division. This all changed in the summer of 1942 when serious training began to take place and which started to absorb the many lessons learned from fighting in the jungle and the Japanese. This would serve the division well when it did enter combat the following year. The division
8844-520: The Middle East and other regions. Bengali was accorded the status of a classical language by the government of India on 3 October 2024. It is the second most spoken and fourth fastest growing language in India , following Hindi in the first place, Kashmiri in the second place, and Meitei ( Manipuri ), along with Gujarati , in the third place, according to the 2011 census of India . Bengali has developed over more than 1,400 years. Bengali literature , with its millennium-old literary history,
8976-405: The Naval Commando Unit as a C-in-C's special force. Following the conference a period of prolonged guerrilla warfare was launched by the Bangladesh Forces , which continued for a number of months. A further restructuring was undertaken and the Bangladesh Forces were organised into three brigade size combat groups: During the sensitive and formative years after the end of the war, personnel of
9108-437: The PCJSS signed the Chattogram Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997. At the outbreak of the insurgency, the Government of Bangladesh deployed the Bangladesh Army to begin Counter-insurgency operations. The then-President of Bangladesh Major General Ziaur Rahman created a Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board under an army general to address the socio-economic needs of the region, but the entity proved unpopular and became
9240-403: The Pioneer Corps soldiers from Bombay, the General endorsed the views of Captain Ghani and said' you will prove to the world that Bengali soldiers are equally competent as other nations of the world.' With these inspiring words Captain Ghani moved to Dhaka in September 1947, with two Pioneer Companies and was temporarily located in Pilkhana now the Headquarters of the BGB . He was later told by
9372-401: The administration to find a suitable place to accommodate the soldiers. He moved to the north of the Capital and found Kurmitola as the perfect place for a cantonment . Toiling day in and day out the barracks were constructed and jungles cleared, parade ground prepared. On 15 February 1948, the flag of First East Bengal Regiment , the Pioneer of Bangladesh Army was raised with Captain Ghani on
9504-513: The areas that it had captured, a Pakistan win was 'even more certain'. He had 'few doubts' as to which dominion most people of Kashmir would choose. Historian Gowher Rizvi states that influences of this kind persuaded the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs Philip Noel-Baker to ensure that Pakistan's viewpoint was "not ignored" in the UN Security Council. Messervy died at home in
9636-481: The army of Kings and their chiefs, who were called Senapati or Mahasenapati. Armies were composed of infantry , cavalry, war elephants and war boats. The arrival of Muslims and the establishment of the Bengal Sultanate further strengthened the military . The sultanate had well-organised, disciplined armies. During Mughal rule, cannons and artillery were introduced to Bengal. During British colonial rule, Bengal
9768-482: The artillery power. She added that process of procuring one battery of Oerlikon GDF-009 was going on. Government had signed a contract to procure Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) systems and two battery of radar controlled air defence guns. The government also procured six MALE UAV and tactical missile system for the Bangladesh Army. Bengali language Bengali , also known by its endonym Bangla ( বাংলা , Bāṅlā , [ˈbaŋla] ),
9900-548: The assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a new government, led by Khandkar Mushtaq Ahmed and supported by the coup plotters, was set in place. Khandakar Mushtaq passed the Indemnity ordinance which provided immunity to the assassins of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Three months later on 3 November 1975 , several senior officers and NCO's led by Maj. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf and Colonel Shafaat Jamil led their own forces to remove Khandakar Mushtaq's government from power who they believed
10032-536: The basis of modern standard colloquial Bengali. In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh ( Barisal , Chittagong , Dhaka and Sylhet Divisions of Bangladesh), many of the stops and affricates heard in West Bengal and western Bangladesh are pronounced as fricatives . Western alveolo-palatal affricates চ [ tɕɔ ] , ছ [ tɕʰɔ ] , জ [ dʑɔ ] correspond to eastern চ [tsɔ] , ছ [tsʰɔ~sɔ] , জ [dzɔ~zɔ] . The influence of Tibeto-Burman languages on
10164-885: The command structure of the Bangladesh Forces throughout Bangladesh Liberation War . This conference was presided over by the Bangladesh interim government in exile , headed by then Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed and Colonel (Retd.) M. A. G. Osmani was made the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Bangladesh Armed Forces . M. A. G. Osmani was reinstated into active duty from his retirement. Principal participants of this conference included: Squadron Leader M. Hamidullah Khan , Major Ziaur Rahman , Major Abdul Jalil , Captain ATM Haider , Lt. Col. MA Rab and Major Khaled Mosharraf . As
10296-469: The consonant which comes first is put on top of or to the left of the one that immediately follows. In these ligatures, the shapes of the constituent consonant signs are often contracted and sometimes even distorted beyond recognition. In the Bengali writing system, there are nearly 285 such ligatures denoting consonant clusters. Although there exist a few visual formulas to construct some of these ligatures, many of them have to be learned by rote. Recently, in
10428-503: The country. In India, Bengali is one of the 23 official languages . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura and in Barak Valley of Assam . Bengali has been a second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. In Pakistan , Bengali is a recognised secondary language in the city of Karachi mainly spoken by stranded Bengalis of Pakistan . The Department of Bengali in
10560-587: The development of Dobhashi . Bengali acquired prominence, over Persian, in the court of the Sultans of Bengal with the ascent of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah . Subsequent Muslim rulers actively promoted the literary development of Bengali, allowing it to become the most spoken vernacular language in the Sultanate. Bengali adopted many words from Arabic and Persian , which was a manifestation of Islamic culture on
10692-621: The east to Meherpur in the west. The 14th-century court scholar of Bengal, Nur Qutb Alam , composed Bengali poetry using the Persian alphabet . After the Partition of India in the 20th century, the Pakistani government attempted to institute the Perso-Arabic script as the standard for Bengali in East Pakistan ; this was met with resistance and contributed to the Bengali language movement. In
10824-549: The eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa or Abahatta (lit. 'meaningless sounds'), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups, the Bengali–Assamese languages , the Bihari languages , and the Odia language . The language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period. For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around
10956-417: The ensuing East African campaign , Messervy commanded Gazelle Force with notable success, latterly attached to the Indian 4th Infantry Division . By 13 February 1941, the campaign had become static and Messervy's formation was disbanded. In early March 1941, Messervy was promoted acting brigadier to command the Indian 5th Infantry Division's 9th Indian Infantry Brigade and played a significant role in
11088-525: The evaluation process of 122 mm field artillery howitzers. Later on in November 2017, the Bangladesh Army published the tender for the procurement of 105mm towed field artillery systems. In 2019, army signed contract to procure one regiment of T-300 Kasirga Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) system from Turkey. Bangladesh Army signed contract with China for 44 VT-5 light tanks. The tanks were scheduled to be delivered within 2020. In March 2018, tender
11220-509: The export agreement of various products of Roketsan has been signed with Bangladesh . Roketsan already delivered TRG-300 Tiger MLRS to the Bangladesh Army in June 2021 from a separate agreement. In a ceremony on 27 October 2021, Prime Minister discussed about the ongoing modernization plan of the Bangladesh Army and its upcoming equipment. She states that one regiment of 105 mm and 155 mm each artillery guns have been procured to increase
11352-466: The final ন in মন [m o n] or the medial ম in গামলা [ɡamla] ). A consonant sound followed by some vowel sound other than the inherent [ɔ] is orthographically realised by using a variety of vowel allographs above, below, before, after, or around the consonant sign, thus forming the ubiquitous consonant-vowel typographic ligatures . These allographs, called কার kar , are diacritical vowel forms and cannot stand on their own. For example,
11484-476: The following day. Messervy knew little about tanks and was not considered a great success commanding armoured divisions by his superiors. He was dismissed from command of 7th Armoured Division by Eighth Army commander Neil Ritchie in late June 1942 following the severe defeat the division had sustained at the Battle of Gazala. He transferred to Cairo as Deputy Chief of General Staff, GHQ Middle East Command 1942 and
11616-772: The foundation and formed the bedrock of disputes between professional army officers and the ruling administration which led to a very bloody chapter in the history of newly independent Bangladesh . On 15 August 1975 , a few sacked army officers, disgruntled junior officers and NCOs secretly planned and assassinated President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his entire family at his personal residence in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, except for his two daughters ( Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana ) who were abroad studying in West Germany . Five of those responsible officers were executed in January 2010 while others are still absconding and are outside Bangladesh. After
11748-714: The government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared Bengali as an honorary official language in December 2002. In 2009, elected representatives in both Bangladesh and West Bengal called for Bengali to be made an official language of the United Nations . Regional varieties in spoken Bengali constitute a dialect continuum . Linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji grouped the dialects of Bengali language into four large clusters: Rarhi , Vangiya , Kamrupi and Varendri ; but many alternative grouping schemes have also been proposed. The south-western dialects ( Rarhi or Nadia dialect) form
11880-499: The graph মি [mi] represents the consonant [m] followed by the vowel [i] , where [i] is represented as the diacritical allograph ি (called ই-কার i-kar ) and is placed before the default consonant sign. Similarly, the graphs মা [ma] , মী [mi] , মু [mu] , মূ [mu] , মৃ [mri] , মে [me~mɛ] , মৈ [moj] , মো [mo] and মৌ [mow] represent the same consonant ম combined with seven other vowels and two diphthongs. In these consonant-vowel ligatures,
12012-412: The graphical form. However, since this change is not as widespread and is not being followed as uniformly in the rest of the Bengali printed literature, today's Bengali-learning children will possibly have to learn to recognise both the new "transparent" and the old "opaque" forms, which ultimately amounts to an increase in learning burden. Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke । daṛi –
12144-623: The hard-pressed defences at Imphal and Kohima in India. By May, the whole division was back in the front line in the Kohima sector, fighting a key five-day battle at the Naga Village. It then advanced towards the Chindwin river , combining with Indian 20th Infantry Division to inflict a heavy defeat on the Japanese at Ukhrul. In December 1944, Messervy was appointed to command IV Corps , which he led in
12276-483: The language as: While most writing is in Standard Colloquial Bengali (SCB), spoken dialects exhibit a greater variety. People in southeastern West Bengal, including Kolkata, speak in SCB. Other dialects, with minor variations from Standard Colloquial, are used in other parts of West Bengal and western Bangladesh, such as the Midnapore dialect, characterised by some unique words and constructions. However,
12408-510: The language movement. Although Sanskrit has been spoken by Hindu Brahmins in Bengal since the 3rd century BC, the local Buddhist population spoke varieties of the Prakrit . These varieties are generally referred to as "eastern Magadhi Prakrit ", as coined by linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji , as the Middle Indo-Aryan dialects were influential in the first millennium when Bengal
12540-535: The language. Major texts of Middle Bengali (1400–1800) include Yusuf-Zulekha by Shah Muhammad Sagir and Srikrishna Kirtana by the Chandidas poets. Court support for Bengali culture and language waned when the Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the late 16th and early 17th century. The modern literary form of Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the west-central dialect spoken in
12672-522: The lead of all the affairs though the first commanding officer was British Lt Col V J E Patterson. after the raising of the first battalion the second battalion was approved Captain Gani began to recruit the personnel for the regiment. On 7 February 1949, the flag of the Second East Bengal Regiment was raised with the newly recruited soldiers and from personnel from First East Bengal Regiment. Before
12804-428: The letter ত tô and the numeral ৩ "3" are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the matra , as is the case between the consonant cluster ত্র trô and the independent vowel এ e , also the letter হ hô and Bengali Ôbogroho ঽ (~ô) and letter ও o and consonant cluster ত্ত ttô . The letter-forms also employ the concepts of letter-width and letter-height (the vertical space between
12936-756: The letters having fallen into the hands of an Indian officer Major Onkar Singh Kalkat . Kalkat was put under house arrest, but he escaped and made his way to India. By the D-day of 22 October, when the attack was launched, Messervy was away in London, leaving General Douglas Gracey , the Chief of General Staff, as the Acting Commander-in-Chief On his return, he stopped in Delhi, where Lord Mountbatten made him swear that he had not been asked for, nor had he provided, any help to
13068-470: The martial law government abolished the Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini . Under Zia's rule, Bangladesh was divided into five military regions. When Ershad assumed power in 1982, Army strength had established at about 70,000 troops. Starting in 1985, the army had experienced another spurt in growth. As of mid-1988, it had about 90,000 troops (although some observers believed the number was closer to 80,000), triple
13200-585: The neighbouring states of Odisha , Bihar , and Jharkhand , and sizeable minorities of Bengali speakers reside in Indian cities outside Bengal, including Delhi , Mumbai , Thane , Varanasi , and Vrindavan . There are also significant Bengali-speaking communities in the Middle East , the United States , Singapore , Malaysia , Australia , Canada , the United Kingdom , and Italy . The 3rd article of
13332-514: The parliament of Bangladesh and the legislative assembly of West Bengal proposed that Bengali be made an official UN language. As of January 2023, no further action has been yet taken on this matter. However, in 2022, the UN did adopt Bangla as an unofficial language, after a resolution tabled by India. In 2024, the government of India conferred Bengali with the status of classical language . Approximate distribution of native Bengali speakers (assuming
13464-530: The rebel forces and shown on records as being absent. Nevertheless, Messervy issued a statement on 12 November 1947, denying that any "serving Pakistan Army officers are directing operations in Kashmir", which was cited by Pakistan in the UN Security Council debates as proof of Pakistan's innocence. Messervy was relieved of his post on 15 February 1948, leading to his retirement on 22 August that year. He
13596-427: The so-called "inherent" vowel [ɔ] is first expunged from the consonant before adding the vowel, but this intermediate expulsion of the inherent vowel is not indicated in any visual manner on the basic consonant sign ম [mɔ] . The vowel graphemes in Bengali can take two forms: the independent form found in the basic inventory of the script and the dependent, abridged, allograph form (as discussed above). To represent
13728-522: The soldiers were recruited from both West and East Bengal . This force assisted the main war effort by building roads, airfields, fortifications and, when needed, fought the Japanese in an infantry role. This force was organised in company groups attached to various regiments of Indian Army in direct support role. Captain Abdul Gani was a company commander in the Burma front and led his troops in battle. After
13860-476: The start of Operation Searchlight and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the independence of Bangladesh . The Pakistani Army and allied paramilitaries killed 300,000-3,000,000 civilians and uniformed personnel. Meanwhile, in March 1971, Bengali soldiers in East Pakistan revolted and the Bangladesh Liberation War started. There was a Bangladesh Army Sector Commanders Conference during 11–17 July 1971. The conference
13992-536: The superposed chôndrôbindu (ঁ) , denoting a suprasegmental for nasalisation of vowels (as in চাঁদ [tʃãd] "moon"), the postposed ônusbar (ং) indicating the velar nasal [ŋ] (as in বাংলা [baŋla] "Bengali") and the postposed bisôrgô (ঃ) indicating the voiceless glottal fricative [h] (as in উঃ! [uh] "ouch!") or the gemination of the following consonant (as in দুঃখ [dukʰːɔ] "sorrow"). The Bengali consonant clusters ( যুক্তব্যঞ্জন juktôbênjôn ) are usually realised as ligatures, where
14124-404: The then prevailing view that anything other than light tanks could not be used in Burma. This was to have a significant impact in the next two years when medium tanks were used to telling effect against the Japanese. In July 1943, Messervy was appointed GOC of the 7th Indian Infantry Division , in succession to Major-General Thomas Corbett , which, although an improvement above his old position,
14256-476: The third Battle of Keren during the second half of March 1941. His promotion was in part related to his actions during the advance from Kassala through Agordat to the early fighting at Keren during February. When Major-General Noel Beresford-Peirse, then commander of the 4th Indian Infantry Division , was promoted to command XIII Corps in North Africa Messervy, a brigadier for only six weeks,
14388-499: The training of peacekeepers for employment in all types of UNPSO (UN Peace Support Operations). This institute fulfills the requirement of UNDPKO as per U.N. General Assembly resolution which outlines 'the necessity and responsibility of every nation to train their armed forces before any deployment. Army Headquarters The Army Headquarters consists of Chief of Army Staff & his seven Principal Staff Officers & several Directors & Staff Officers who support, advice & assist
14520-458: The tribesmen. But within a week he was found providing arms and ammunition to the Pakistani invading forces. He complained to Governor George Cunningham of the NWFP that Mountbatten had gone over to the side of the "Hindus". Pakistani officers narrate that both Messervy and Gracey were involved in running the day-to-day operations of Pakistan's Kashmir War . Officers were loaned out for commanding
14652-484: The visible matra and an invisible baseline). There is yet to be a uniform standard collating sequence (sorting order of graphemes to be used in dictionaries, indices, computer sorting programs, etc.) of Bengali graphemes. Experts in both Bangladesh and India are currently working towards a common solution for this problem. Throughout history, there have been instances of the Bengali language being written in different scripts, though these employments were never popular on
14784-435: The vocabulary may differ according to the speaker's religion: Muslims are more likely to use words of Persian and Arabic origin, along with more words naturally derived from Sanskrit ( tadbhava ), whereas Hindus are more likely to use tatsama (words directly borrowed from Sanskrit). For example: The phonemic inventory of standard Bengali consists of 29 consonants and 7 vowels, as well as 7 nasalised vowels . The inventory
14916-619: The war these Pioneer Troops were concentrated in Jalna, India, waiting to be demobilised and return home. In 1946, Captain Ghani the then Adjutant and Quartermaster of Indian Pioneer Corps Centre at Jalna envisioned and generated the idea of forming an Infantry regiment out of the Pioneer soldiers from East Bengal who would be returning home demobilised, to the Centre Commander. After receiving permission from
15048-490: The wounded commander of the 1st Armoured Division which had recently arrived in the desert. During Rommel's attack from El Agheila in late January 1942, the division was outmatched by the Axis armour and heavily defeated. Upon Lumsden's return in March, Messervy was moved to command the 7th Armoured Division ("The Desert Rats") which had just lost its newly appointed commander, Major General Jock Campbell , who had been killed in
15180-554: Was a part of the Greater Magadhan realm. The local varieties had no official status during the Gupta Empire , and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of Sanskrit literature for Hindu priests, the vernacular of Bengal gained a lot of influence from Sanskrit. Magadhi Prakrit was also spoken in modern-day Bihar and Assam , and this vernacular eventually evolved into Ardha Magadhi . Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what
15312-506: Was a prominent place for military and police recruitment, with entire horse-mounted cavalry and lancer units being recruited there prior to the Bengal Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Post-mutiny, units with the epithet "Bengal" in their name, such as Bengal Sappers and Bengal Cavalry, were largely recruited from non-Bengali peoples from Bihar, Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh which were technically still part of Bengal Presidency at that time. During
15444-559: Was an unlawful government in the first place. That same day the same group of disgruntled army personnel who assassinated Sheikh Mujib and had jailed politicians involved with the Bangladesh Liberation war , assassinated Syed Nazrul Islam , Tajuddin Ahmed , Muhammad Mansur Ali and AHM Qamaruzzaman in Dhaka Central Jail . Chief of Army Staff, Major General Ziaur Rahman was placed under house arrest. On 7 November 1975 ,
15576-606: Was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army . On 20 August, a letter signed by Messervy went out to all the brigade headquarters in northwest Pakistan, attaching plans for a certain Operation Gulmarg . According to the plan, 20 lashkars of Pashtun tribesmen were to be armed and trained in various brigade locations in northwest Pakistan for an armed invasion of Kashmir. The information leaked out, one of
15708-519: Was appointed to take his place. He was promoted to the acting rank of major general as a result of his new appointment. Messervy took his division to North Africa in April 1941, taking part in Operation Battleaxe in June. During Operation Crusader in November that year, 4th Indian Division, dug in on the Egypt–Libya border, played a key role in repelling Rommel's tanks after they had defeated
15840-529: Was established in Comilla cantonment in 1974. On 11 January 1975, the passing out parade of the first Bangladesh Army short course took place. In 1975, the President Guard Regiment (PGR) was established. There were suspicion among the army personnel of the formation of the paramilitary Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini and the addition of civilian Mukti Bahini members in it. These suspicions and misconceptions laid
15972-597: Was extensively developed during the Bengali Renaissance and is one of the most prolific and diverse literary traditions in Asia. The Bengali language movement from 1948 to 1956 demanding that Bengali be an official language of Pakistan fostered Bengali nationalism in East Bengal leading to the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1999, UNESCO recognised 21 February as International Mother Language Day in recognition of
16104-461: Was floated for two local warning radars. The models shortlisted for the tender are Ground Master 400 of Thales , TRML-3D /32 of Hensoldt and KRONOS Land of Leonardo . Army also issued tender for procuring 181 Man-portable air-defense systems . Here, Chinese FN-16 , Russian Igla-S and Swedish RBS 70 systems has been shortlisted. Army Aviation has plan to add one more EADS CASA C-295 transport aircraft to its fleet soon. Besides, process
16236-461: Was granted the honorary rank of general. Later, he wrote an influential article on Kashmir in the Asiatic Review , where he alleged that India had planned to militarily intervene in Kashmir several weeks before the event. He opined that if the pro-India National Conference party was allowed to hold power in Kashmir, India would likely win a plebiscite , but if Pakistan was allowed to hold on to
16368-462: Was held three months after the oath of the newly formed Bangladesh Government at Meherpur , Kushtia . During this conference, the structure and formation as well as resolving issues surrounding the organisation of the various sectors, strategy and reinforcements of the Bangladeshi Forces was determined. It was of considerable historical importance from a tactical point of view, as it determined
16500-408: Was imprisoned by Khaled Mosharraf . Ziaur Rahman took promotion to Lieutenant General and appointed himself as the Chief of Army Staff and Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrator. He then executed Lt. Col. Abu Taher for his role in the coup on 7 November. Later, in 1977 under a public referendum of a yes no vote he took the helm as president. On 30 May 1981, President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in
16632-697: Was initially educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst , and was commissioned into the Indian Army in January 1913 and in 1914 joined 9th Hodson's Horse . which later became part of the 4th Duke of Cambridge's Own Hodson's Horse. He would see action in the First World War in France, Palestine and Syria from 1914 to 1918. He later served in Kurdistan in 1919. After attending
16764-460: Was made with the government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party . Fresh rounds of talks began in 1996 with the newly elected prime minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League . The Chattogram Hill Tracts Peace Accord was finalised and formally signed on 2 December 1997. Following the 1975 coup, additional personnel were absorbed into the regular army when
16896-400: Was not initially greeted with much enthusiasm by the division's officers, who all admired Corbett. The division had been created some three years before Messervy's assumption of command and originally contained many professional soldiers in its ranks. However, many of these men had been, in the usage of the day, "milked" to help create other new units then being formed in the huge expansion of
17028-533: Was principally a bulwark of British power and trade in the South Asian region. The British under Robert Clive defeated a 50,000-strong Bengal Army of Nawab Siraj-ud-daullah in the Palashi (Plassey) in 1757 and later the forces of Nawab Mir Qasim at the Battle of Buxar in 1764. The Army of Bengal was formed, which later became part of a united British Indian Army from 1895 to 1947. The eastern part of British India
17160-517: Was sent to India a few months later to raise 43rd Indian Armoured Division as its commander. Originally intended for service in Persia, the division was disbanded in April 1943 when the threat to Persia was removed by the Soviet victory at Stalingrad . Much to his horror, Messervy was then made Director of Armoured Fighting Vehicles, General Headquarters, India , in 1943, where he argued successfully against
17292-661: Was sent to the Arakan in Burma to join XV Corps in September. In the Japanese offensive in February 1944, despite having his headquarters overrun and scattered and his supply lines compromised, Messervy's brigades conducted a successful defence whilst being supplied by air ( Battle of the Admin Box ). After going on the attack in late February, 7th Indian Division was relieved in mid-March. In March 1944, Messervy lost two brigades sent to reinforce
17424-642: Was the first commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army from August 1947 to February 1948. Previously, he had served as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command , India in 1946 and 1947. Messervy was born in Trinidad on 9 December 1893, the oldest child of Walter John Messervy (born in Jersey in the English Channel), a bank manager in the colony (and later England) and his wife Myra Naida de Boissiere from Trinidad. Sent to England from Trinidad, Messervy
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