MHOW, the Oldest Military cantonment in India

Mhow Is The Oldest Military Cantonment In India

MHOW Cantonment is the oldest military Cantonment in India. Read the below article to know about this Cantonment in detail.

 MHOW which is an acronym of Military Headquarter of War is a cantonment 22 km from Indore the  the earlier capital of the Holkars. After the defeat of the Holkars at the Battle of  Mandsaur, the British got the right to set up the cantonment at Mhow.

This cantonment housed the pure English 5 Division of the Southern army and was the lynchpin to control Central India. The Raj was now in its prime and Mhow developed as a center of military trainng.  The British gave great importance to Mhow because of its strategic importance and also connected it b ya rail line to Indore and Ratlam.

 The cantonment  is now a full fledged town ship and after 1947 all the facilities have been taken over by the Indian army. The Indian army has the Cllege of Combat, the Infantry School, College of Tele communication Engineering located here. Earlier the Headquarters of the Army Training command was also located here, but now it  is  shifted to Simla in Himachal Pradesh.

The cantonment is nearly 200 years old and Sir Winston Churchill the wartime British premier spent some time here when he had his stint with the British Indian army.

Mhow also has an excellent Officers club and a lovely golf course.

These facilities were devolped by the English for their officers, but now are used by officers of the Indian army. Mhow itself has a  bracing climate and  people can visit it for a short holiday. 

 Mhow earlier had many Parsis residing here and the first MLA from Mhow was a Parsi. Now the Parsi's have left, but many retired officers have Mhow their home. Mhow will always have a special niche in Indian military history.