Commander of the Army (Sri Lanka)

Commander of the Army is the title of the professional head of the Sri Lanka Army. The current Commander of the Army is Lieutenant General Crishantha de Silva. It is a position comparable to that of Chief of the General Staff of the British Army.

The post traces its roots to the post of General Officer Commanding, Ceylon, which was the title of the General Officer Commanding of the British Army units in Ceylon prior to independence in 1948. After the formation of the Ceylon Army in 1949, its first commanding officer was of the rank of Brigadier, hence the title Commander of the Ceylon Army was formally adopted although it was at times referred as General Officer Commanding, Ceylon as far as the 1960s.

In the recent past serving army commanders have been of the rank of Lieutenant General, promoted to the honorary rank of General when retiring or promoted to Chief of Defence Staff, except in the case of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka in which case he was made General when he was still the Commander of the Army.

List of Commanders

No.	Portrait	Rank	Name	Appointment	Left office	Unit	Decorations
1		Brigadier	Roderick Sinclair, Earl of Caithness	10 October 1949	17 May 1952	Gordon Highlanders	CBE, DSO
2		Brigadier	Sir Francis S. Reid	18 May 1952	8 February 1955	Royal Artillery	CBE
3	80px	Major General	Anton Muttukumaru	9 February 1955	31 December 1959	Ceylon Light Infantry	OBE, ED, ADC
4		Major General	H. W. G. Wijeyekoon	1 January 1960	31 December 1963	Ceylon Light Infantry	OBE, ED
5		Major General	Deshamanya Richard Udugama	1 January 1964	10 November 1966	Ceylon Light Infantry	MBE
6		Major General	Bertram Heyn	11 November 1966	30 September 1967	Ceylon Light Infantry
7		Lieutenant General	Deshamanya Sepala Attygalle	1 October 1967	13 October 1977	Sri Lanka Armoured Corps	LVO, ADC
8		Lieutenant General	Deshamanya Denis Perera	14 October 1977	13 October 1981	Sri Lanka Engineers	VSV
9		Lieutenant General	Tissa Weeratunga	14 October 1981	11 February 1985	Gemunu Watch	VSV
10		Lieutenant General	Nalin Seneviratne	12 February 1985	15 August 1988	Sri Lanka Engineers	VSV
11		Lieutenant General	Hamilton Wanasinghe	16 August 1988	15 November 1991	Sri Lanka Artillery	VSV
12		Lieutenant General	Cecil Waidyaratne	16 November 1991	31 December 1993	Sri Lanka Armoured Corps	VSV
13		Lieutenant General	G. H. De Silva	1 January 1994	30 April 1996	Gemunu Watch	RWP, VSV, USP
14		Lieutenant General	Rohan Daluwatte	1 May 1996	15 December 1998	Sri Lanka Armoured Corps	RWP, RSP, VSV, USP
15		Lieutenant General	C. S. Weerasooriya	16 December 1998	24 August 2000	Sri Lanka Artillery	RWP, RSP, VSV, USP
16		Lieutenant General	L. P. Balagalle	25 August 2000	30 June 2004	Sri Lanka Artillery	RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, VSP
17		Lieutenant General	Shantha Kottegoda	1 July 2004	5 December 2005	Sri Lanka Light Infantry	WWV, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, VSP
18		General	Sarath Fonseka	6 December 2005	15 July 2009	Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment	RWP, RSP, VSV, USP
19		General	Jagath Jayasuriya	15 July 2009	1 August 2013	Sri Lanka Armoured Corps	VSP, USP
20		General	Daya Ratnayake	1 August 2013	21 February 2015	Sri Lanka Light Infantry	WWV, RWP, RSP, USP
21		Lieutenant General	Crishantha de Silva	22 February 2015	Present	Sri Lanka Engineers	RWP, USP

See also

• General's House, Colombo
• Chief of Defence Staff
• Sri Lanka Army
• Commander of the Navy
• Commander of the Air Force

External links

• Former Army commanders
• Three Service Commanders promoted