[fn 1] At the time, it had its divisional headquarters at Secunderabad and the 43rd Lorried Infantry Brigade away with the Punjab Boundary Force.

[4] The division played a major role in Operation Polo, the integration of Hyderabad into the Indian Union in 1948.

[5] The order of battle (ORBAT) for the division was as follows[6]- Strike Force Smash Force - 1 Armoured Brigade (Brigadier S.D Verma) Kill Force - 7 Infantry Brigade (Brigadier Gurbachan Singh) Vir Force - 9 Infantry Brigade (Brigadier Apji Randhir Singh) The 1st Armoured Division with Major General Rajinder Singh 'Sparrow' as the GOC played an important role in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

[11][12] At the time of the cease-fire, 1 Corps held around 500 square kilometres of Pakistani territory and had caused substantial damage to the enemy armour.

Lieutenant Colonel A B Tarapore, 17 Horse was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, Major General Rajinder Singh, GOC, 1 Armoured Division, Brig KK Singh, Commander 1 Armoured Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel MMS Bakshi, Commandant 4 Horse, and Major Bhupinder Singh, 4 Horse were awarded the Maha Vir Chakra.