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Gurkhas:The Fact, details
and origins of Gurkhas and VC Winner:
Much of the question has
been answered in reference to the Khukuri
because without one the other is nothing.
The appellation Gurkha by now the other
name for valor, courage, steadfastness,
loyalty, neutrality and impartiality come
from the small principality of Gurkha, which
by the middle of the 18th century had conquered
most of what is today known as Nepal. Prithivi
Narayan Shan the king of Gorkha and his
successors became so powerful that they
overran the whole of the hill country from
the border of Kashmir to the east of Bhutan.
Turning south, they began to raid into the
territories of Britain’s Honorable
East India Company. This was a situation
that could not be tolerated by “John
Company”, which declared war against
the Gurkhas in 1814. There followed a series
of bloody campaigns until a peace treaty
was signed in the spring of 1816. The British,
after seeing how bravely these small statured
Gorkhalis fought and also with the possession
of most of the quality that makes an ideal
infantrymen, they made a provision in the
treaty to recruit them in the British Army
as the Brigade of Gurkhas. Since then many
Nepalese, mostly the Rai’s , Limbus,
Gurungs and Magar have served and still
serve in the British Army. Their courage,
sincerity and loyalty have won them praise
and friendship from their counterparts and
fear and respect from their enemies. For
their valor, many Gurkha soldiers have been
decorated with medals of honor, including
the Victoria Cross, the highest military
honors for bravery in the British Army.
Few Gurkha Tales
During one battle in Italy,
Rifleman Jagatbahadur, a runner of C Company
of the 2/7th, passed a message through a
hole to two soldiers in a cellar. When a
voice thanked him in German he knew he had
made a mistake, so he passed them a live
grenade.
At the battle of the Sangro,
Jemadar Ram Singh Rana, intellienge officer
of the 1/5th, has just set up his section
to work on maps in a deserted house when
heard sounds coming from the cellar. He
and his men put down their pencils and drew
their kukris. Downstairs they found and
killed nine Germans. Ram Singh and his clerks
then cleaned their kukris and picked up
their pencils as calmly as if they had interrupted
their work for lunch.
Not long after the capture
of Passano Ridge a group of 2/10th Gurkhas
collided with a party of Germans. In true
Gurkha style, Rifleman Ganjabahadur Rai
charged with his naked kukri and engaged
a six foot tall German who tried to fend
him off with his rifle. Ganjabahadur broke
though his guard and hacked him to death.
(The German rifle with marks of kukri slashes
on it was picked up and is still in the
possession of the 10th Gurkhas.) Having
killed one man, Ganjabahadur turned and
sliced another from his neck to his hip
before a party of Germans comning onto his
flank killed him.
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Rifleman, 10th Gurkhas,
1915 |
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Fourteen Victoria
Crosses have been won by Gurkha Regiments.
Some of the Legendary
story of GurkhaVC Winners:
Ram Bahadur limbu:
Rambahadur's unit, C Company
of the 2/10th, had found the Indonesians
strongly entrehched in platoon strength
on top of a steep hill on their own side
of the frontier. The only approach to the
position was along a knife-edge ridge that
would allow only three men to move abreast.
Leading his support group, Rambahadur could
cee a sentry and a machine gun in the nearest
trench. He inched forward until about ten
yards from the trench when the sentry saw
him and fired, hitting his friend, Bijuliparsad
Rai, who was on his right. 'I saw blood
on his face', said Rambahadur later. 'As
soon as I saw his blood, my own blood began
to boil. I swore that the enemy would pay
for this with their blood. Blood for blood
and nothing but blood would settle this
account. For a few moments I could think
of nothing else'.
Running forward Rambahadur jumped into the
trench and killed the sentrym but the enemy
was now alerted and concentrated a heavy
fire by automatic weapons on the attackers,
particularly on the trench held alone by
Rambahadur. Realizing that he could not
support his platoon from this position,
he left the comparative safet of the trench,
collected his fire group, and led them to
a better position forward. He then tried
shouting and mking hand signals to indicate
his intentions to his platoon commander,
but the clatter of machine guns and the
roar of exploding grenades made this impossible,
so he again moved into the open to report.
It was while reporting to his platoon commander
that he saw two younf riflemen of his platoon
lying seriouly wounded in an explsed position.
He began his rescue attempt cautiously,
at a crawl, but on coming under extreml
heavy fire from two machine guns he decided
that only speed would succeed; he jumped
to his feet and ran, Hurling himself on
the ground beside one of the men, he called
for support from two light machine guns.
When they came up on his right, he picked
up the wounded man and carried him to safety,
then turned back to heav fire to bring in
the second. The enemy were obviously making
a concerted effort to stop him and it seemed
to those who watched that he had no chance
of coming through alive. His citation says:
'That he was able to achieve what he did
against such overwhelming odds without being
hit, was miraculous'. Said Rambahadur modestly:
'A man with small structure like me has
some advantage ... It must have been my
lucky day'.
Ganju Lama
Ganju Lama, a PIAT gunner, was with his
battalio when it was ordered one rainy da,
11 Jun e1944, to relieve the 2/5th at the
village of Ningthowkong. The 2/5th was under
attack and two companies of the 1/7th, tring
to go to its relief, came under the fire
of three Japanese tanks. Ganju, who had
already won the Military Medal b destroying
two tanks, crawled forward with his PIAT
to destroy these tanks. Unfortunately, he
was seen and caught in a crossfire. He was
wounded in the art and leg, and his left
wrint was broken. NEvertheless, he crawled
on through slick mud, bleeding profusely,
draggin his weapon and ammunition. When
he came within thirty yards of the first
tank he set up his PIAT, fired, and saw
the tank go up in flames. He somehow managed
to load his weapon and fire again, and again
accurately, destroying a second tank. As
the tank crew survivors crawled out, he
killed them with grenades. Then, his ammunition
exhausted, he crawled back - for more projectiles.
In spite of his wounds and loss of blood,
he made his way forward afain and knocked
out a third tank.
Twenty years later, when Ganju Lama was
serving as an officer in the Indian Army,
a large boil developed on his leg. It swelled
up and finally brust. Out came a Japanese
bullet.
Lachhiman Gurung
Another Gurkha who won the Victoria Cross
during this phase of operations in Burma
was Lachhiman Gurung, a rifleman in the
4/8th Gurkhas. He was a young soldier who
had been in the battalion for only about
two months when, on the night of 12-13 May
1945 at Taungdaw, twenty miles north of
Pegu, he found himself in the forward trench
of 9 Platoon, C Company. His battalion was
then part of 89 Brigade in the famous 'Black
Cat' 17th Indian Division engaged in blocking
the Japanese escape toure from Arakan.
Lachhiman's post dominated a jungle path
which led into his platoon's area and was
the key to his company's position. An hour
and twenty minutes poast midnight, some
two hundred Japanese launched an assault
on C Company's position. It began with a
barrage of grenades hurled at close range.
One grenade fell on the lip of the trench
help by Lachhiman and two other rifleman.
Lachhiman immediately seized it and threw
it back. When a second grenade landed in
the trench, he managed to throw this back
as well. But when for a third time he attempted
to return an enemy grenade it exploded in
his hand, blowing off his fingers, shattering
his right arm and severly wounding him in
the face, bod and legs. His comrades, badly
wounded, lay helpless in the bottom of the
trench.
At this point Japanese drove in their attack,
screaming as they ran forward almost shoulder
to shoulders Lachhimanm in spite of his
grievous wounds and the use of only one
arm, wrenched his rifle into position and
managed to fire, even to reload, with his
left hand, calling out, 'Come and fight!
Come and fight! While I live I will kill
you!' The Japanese assault faltered but,
despite heavy casualties, they pressed forward
again and again in wave after wave of ferocious
attacks. For four hours after receiving
his wounds, Lachhiman remained alone with
his wounded comrades, 'waiting with perfect
calm for each attack', said his citation.
Daylight revealed eighty-seven dead Janapese
in front of C Company's position; of these,
thirty-one lay in front of the trench help
by Lachhiman Gurung. Later he said, 'I wanted
to kill some Japanese before I died'.
After three days in a field hospital, Lachhiman
was evacuated to a hospital in India. Doctors
tried to save his right arm, but finnaly
had to amputate it. He also lost the sight
of his left eye. His recovery took five
months. While he was in the field hospital
he learned that he had been recomended for
the Victoria Cross. When they told him,
he thought there must be some mistake: 'I
was not brave, but I saw all my friends
wounded, and then I looked at my hand and
I was very, very angry'.
Kulbir Thapa
A party of thirty-eight Gurkhas attacking
near Fauquissart managed to crawl through
the German wire ad rush the Germans they
found. Rifleman Kulbir Thapa of the 2/3rd
suddenly found himself alone and wounded.
Then he stumbled upon a severly wounded
soldier of the Leicestershire Regiment.
Thapa made him as confortable as possible
and lay beside him through the rest of the
day and night. In the early morning when
a heavy mist over the battlefield provided
some cover, he decided to move out. Hoisting
the wounded man on his back, he set off
for his own lines. In places the way lay
within a few feet of the Germans and it
was often necessary to ease the wounded
man to the ground and drag him through barbed
wire. More than once he came close to being
discovered. At one spot he came upon two
badly wounded Gurkhas whom he was at the
moment powerless to help. Further on, he
found a shell hole in which he could shelter
the Leicestershire soldier while he went
back for the Gurkhas. He brought them both
safely into the Allied lines, then turned
back to the shell hole. The mist had now
lifted and his last trip, with the Leicestershire
soldier on his back, was accomplished under
heavy fire.
Kulbir received the Victoria Cross he richly
deserved. It was the first to be won by
Gurkha. Unlike most of the valorous acts
that merit the award, his was not an act
performed in the hot-blooded excitement
of battle but was herosim sustained over
a forty-eight hour period. Philip Mason
thought that as a single act of valour '
it must surely rank with the highest of
all'. Perhaps so.
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