HISTORY OF ORDNANCE SCHOOL

LT COL MUHAMMAD KHALIL ZIKRIA TI(M) Lsc

The school traces back to the training of officers at the Royal Military Academy Woolwich which was established in 1741, near The Royal Artillery Depot at Woolwich, with the aim of prod cing, in the words of its first charter, !"ood #fficers of Artillery and $erfect %ngineers!& The 'orps of Royal %ngineers, originally an all(officer corps, was not formally separated from The Royal Regiment of Artillery ntil 17)7& *oth remained nder the control of The *oard #f #rdnance ntil 1)+,, and were collecti-ely referred to as the #rdnance 'orps& The RMA pro-ided the high le-el of scientific ed cation re. ired by these two corps, while at the same time ens ring that their officers had the same le-el of military training as those ser-ing in the line& #fficers of %ast /ndia 'ompany had to go for training at Woolwich& 0inally the *ritish tho ght of training ordnance officers in /ndia& The #rdnance 1chool in ndi-ided /ndia was established temporarily in 123+ at $oona and was instit ted as Army #rdnance 'orps 1chool& /t took shape as a permanent establishment& /n 1237 it was designated as the /ndian Army #rdnance 1chool of /nstr ction& The school was located near the amm nition factory at 4irkee& With the centrali5ation of the ed cational training of /ndian other ranks and the responsibility for cond cting of departmental e6aminations for 7'#s its importance and si5e increased in 1288&i 'onc rrently the 9#rdnance $roced res 'ommittee: was transferred from Rawalpindi to /A#1 4irkee& 1ame year the record office for the /ndian Military Wing of the corps was also bro ght nder it& Th s the commandant of the school became officer ;in(charge records and was empowered to carry o t recr itment of /ndian other ranks& /n 128) the school also started to train artificers&ii 1ince with all this growth the e6isting accommodation at 4irkee became ins fficient, the school was therefore mo-ed in 0ebr ary 1282 to Robert *arracks at <abalp r& /t was re designated as /ndian Army #rdnance 'orps Training 'entre& At this time the responsibility for mechanical transport and its repair organi5ation was also transferred to the /ndian Army #rdnance 'orps& The record office of The /ndian Military Wing, *ritish other ranks and permanent ci-ilian personnel of the corps were also transferred to <abalp r and attached to this instit tion& 0or /ndian #rdnance 'orps personnel ser-ing o-erseas a War Record #ffice was also formed with the 'entre, beca se of the massi-e e6pansion of the 'entre, d ring World War // another training centre had to be opened at 4atni for imparting specialist training& The centre also opened specialist training cells in -ario s depots&iii #n 1 < ne 1247 the /A#' training centre was split into two separate establishments namely the /A#' school and /A#' Training 'entre& The /A#' school was mo-ed from the Roberts *arracks to the ridge in <abalp r, while /A#' training centre was mo-ed to 0ero5ep r i- where the /A#' training battalion has already been formed in 124, /n 1247 the remnants of school mo-ed from <abalp r to Malir 'antt 4arachi and were located in *ahawalp r =ines where as elements i&e&> the boys company of ordnance centre mo-ed initially from 0ero5ep r to =ahore and then to Malir 'antt& *oth segments were consolidated as $akistan Army #rdnance 'orps 'entre& The f nctioning started on 3?th #ctober 1247& =t 'ol M A Rahim /bne @afi5 was designated as the first 'ommandant #rdnance 'entre& #n 2th <an ary 124) the appointment of 'entre 'ommandant was p graded and 'olonel "eorge M rphy M*% a retired Royal Army #rdnance 'orps officer took o-er the command of centre& The 'entre nderwent reorgani5ation process in 1eptember 124), 12+3 A 12++ & The 1chool and 'entre were declared as a separate entity b t designed to f nction nder centre commandant& The 1chool started operating training branches at 7owshehra, Rawalpindi, =ahore And B etta& These were the old specialist training cells being operated for training in pre partitioned /ndia& This instit tion remained a part of #rdnance 'entre till 12)4 &on 1)th <an ary 12)+ the new blocks were ina g rated by =ie tenant "eneral RaCa 1aroop 4han @iDME 1bt, The 'olonel 'ommandant& The school has progressed rapidly d ring last co ple of years& 7ew training aids ha-e been proc red& The printing facilities ha-e been impro-ed& The comp ter centre with , personal comp ters was ina g rated on 3+ #ctober 12), by MaCor "eneral F5air M hammad 4han& The Director of #rdnance 1er-ices& The school has been affiliated with 4arachi Fni-ersity for grant of *sc hono rs in 'hemistry of %6plosi-es& A new co rse on %#D has been introd ced& &The 1chool is on its way to establish a state of the art %#D =aboratory& The 1chool has been e. ipped with a state

of the art Te6tile Testing B ality 'ontrol A Ass rance =aboratory of /nternational standards& A new co rse on B ality 'ontrol A Ass rance has been introd ced for Mid 'areer =e-el #fficers& The 'o rse has been appro-ed by 1indh *oard of Technical %d cation for award of certificate in B ality 'ontrol A Ass rance& #ne year Diploma in Military Materials Management has been introd ced with appro-al of 1indh *oard of Technical %d cation& 0irst batch of G#(88 ha-e been awarded this Diploma& The 1chool has been certified by /1#(2??1( 3??) 1tandard in 0ebr ary 3??2& %fforts are in process for p gradation of #rdnance 1chool into 'ollege

of Materials Management

COMMANDANTS ORDNANCE CENTRE & SCHOOL LT COL M A RAHIM IBNE HAFIZ Psc COL G MURPHY MBE COL L H CRUMBY COL SHAH NA"AZ COL M A RAHIM IBN HAFIZ Psc LT COL M S KHAN COL SHAH NA"AZ COL S MA%BOOL ELAHI COL M S MALIK COL S A MA%SOOD A"C Psc IM COL M M SHAFI IM COL M A M ANSARI Psc BRIG M A M ANSARI Psc BRIG NUR ASIF BRIG A G MUMTAZ (( BRIG CH M SHARIF SI (M) BRIG R M SALIM KHAN BRIG G M A"AN BRIG PER)EZ ASGHAR MIAN Psc BRIG MUHAMMAD ZAMAN *ssc Psc BRIG MUHAMMAD AKHTAR MALIK SI(M) COL SA++AD AHMAD %URESHI COL ALI SHER KHAN SI(M) BRIG MUNIR SAEED Psc SCHOOL SEPARATED FROM CENTRE SCHOOL COMMANDANTS LT COL USMAN SHAH Psc(( COL NASIR MAHMUD S,- ./0c COL M H BER%I LT COL RASHID MAHMUD LT COL M ASIF RATHORE COL M ASIF RATHORE COL MUHAMMAD ATHER KHAN COL A+MAL PER)EZ SIDDI%UI BRIG SSG KIANI Psc BRIG MUHAMMAD ALI +A)ED Psc BRIG SA+ID ALI KHAN Psc BRIG TAHIR KAHLOON Psc BRIG DILDAR BANGASH Psc BRIG AKRAM RANA Psc1 ./0c BRIG ZULFI%AR AHMAD RANA Psc1 23c

YEAR 1947 94! 1949 19#1 19#1 19#$ 19## 19#& 19#9 19&$ 19&& 19&! 197' 1971 197# 1977 19!1 19!& 19!7 199' 1991 1994 199# 1997

19!$ 19!4 19!7 199' 199' 1991 199$ 1997

'1'

F44-24-5s

The History of RMA Sandhurst

ii

The History of Indian Army Ordnance Corps Chapter 24 Page 112

History and Insignia of the ritish Army Ordnance Ser!ices Compi"ed # edited $y Mi%e Comerford

iii

&IR&'' ('POT )'AR P*)' AIR+I',(

OR()A)C' SCHOO, -A A,P*R'

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The Sainak Samachar Magazine