Bengal Engineer Group
| Bengal Engineer Group | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1803–present |
| Country | India |
| Allegiance | Republic of India (historically: Bengal Army; Indian Army) |
| Branch | Corps of Engineers |
| Role | Military engineering |
| Regimental Centre | Roorkee, Uttarakhand |
| Nickname(s) | Bengal Engineers, Bengal Sappers |
| Motto(s) | "Ekta-Sewa-Ilam-Dhridhta-Shoorvirta" |
| Colors | On January 12,1989, the president's colour was presented to the Bengal Engineer Group by the President R Venkataraman, at Roorkee |
| Anniversaries | 7 November |
| Decorations | 11 Victoria Cross 117 Indian Order of Merit 01 Padma Bhushan 02 Padma Shri 04 Kirti Chakra 03 Vir Chakra 24 Shaurya Chakra 04 Yudh Seva Medal 190 Sena Medals 11 Arjuna Awards 01 Dhyan Chand Award |
| Battle honours | 80 11 Theatre honours |
| Commanders | |
| Colonel Comdt of Bengal Sappers | Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan,VSM |
| Colonel of the Regiment | Lt Gen Arvind Walia, AVSM Engineer - in - Chief |
| Notable commanders | Lt Gen J. S. Dhillon, Padma Bhushan, Lt Gen K. N. Dubey PVSM,Lt Gen B N Das,PVSM , Lt Gen J S Bawa,PVSM,AVSM, Lt Gen T B Nanda, Lt Gen P C Joseph,AVSM, Lt Gen S Mazumder , Lt Gen Vimal Shinghal,PVSM, Lt Gen D Ajwani, PVSM,VSM ,Lt Gen R M Chadha, PVSM , AVSM ,Lt Gen Hari Uniyal,PVSM, Lt Gen Rana S K Kapur,PVSM,AVSM,SM,VSM ,Lt Gen Yuvraj Mehta,PVSM,AVSM,Lt Gen M K Chari,AVSM ,Lt Gen Rakesh Puri, Lt Gen U Bhattacharya, AVSM, PVSM, Lt Gen B S Dhaliwal, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, Lt Gen Gautam Dutt,VSM, Lt Gen R K Raichand,AVSM, Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee,AVSM,YSM,Lt Gen A K Nanda,AVSM, Lt Gen M C Badhani,PVSM,VSM, Lt Gen Vijay Sharma,PVSM,VSM, Lt Gen Jatinder Sikand,AVSM,VSM, Lt Gen A T Parnaik, AVSM,SM,VSM, Lt Gen Suresh Sharma,PVSM,AVSM, Lt Gen S K Shrivastava,PVSM,AVSM, Lt Gen D S Ahuja,AVSM, Lt Gen Harpal Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, Lt Gen K K Repswal,SM,VSM, Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhary, VSM,Lt Gen S S Dahiya,SM,VSM |
The Bengal Engineer Group (BEG) (informally the Bengal Sappers or Bengal Engineers) is a military engineering regiment in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. The unit was originally part of the Bengal Army of the East India Company's Bengal Presidency, and subsequently part of the British Indian Army during the British Raj. The Bengal Sappers are stationed at Roorkee Cantonment in Roorkee, Uttarakhand.
The Bengal Sappers are one of the few remaining regiments of the erstwhile Bengal Presidency Army and survived the Rebellion of 1857 due to their "sterling work" in the recapture by the East India Company of Delhi and other operations in 1857–58. The troops of the Bengal Sappers have been a familiar sight for over 200 years in the battlefields of British India with their never-say-die attitude of Chak De and brandishing their favourite tool the hamber.
Over the years the Bengal Sappers have won 80 battle and 11 theatre honours, 11 Victoria Cross, 117 Indian Order of Merit, 24 Shaurya Chakra, 190 Sena Medals and 11 Arjuna Awards, the highest number of won by any single organization in the country. Lt Gen Joginder Singh Dhillon was commissioned into Bengal Engineer Group in 1936 and commanded the First Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, becoming the first army officer to be awarded the Padma Bhushan in November 1965. Among the three Sapper units of the Indian Army, the Bengal Sappers was the first engineer group to receive the 'President Colours' in recognition of its service to the nation, on 12 January 1989, by Ramaswamy Venkataraman, the eight President of India, who presented the Regimental Colours to Bengal Engineer Group at Roorkee.
Besides service on the battlefield, the Bengal Engineers also rendered valuable peacetime contributions. The military engineer Lt. James Agg designed St John's Church, Calcutta. It was based on James Gibbs's St Martin-in-the-Fields in London and was consecrated in 1787. St John's was the Anglican cathedral of the city – capital of the Bengal Presidency – until St Paul's Cathedral, begun 1839, was completed in 1847. St Paul's was also designed by a Bengal Engineer, William Nairn Forbes, who was also architect of the "Old Silver Mint" building at the India Government Mint, Kolkata, basing its portico on the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens.