1st Gorkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment): Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Military Unit}}{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}

In 1886, the regiment became the '''1st Goorkha Light Infantry''' and a 2nd Battalion was raised in February.<ref name=Singh2007/> In 1891, the regiment was designated a [[rifle]] regiment when it became the '''1st Gurkha (Rifle) Regiment''' and in consequence of this the regiment's [[Colour (flag)|Colours]] were laid up.<ref group="Note">Rifle regiments by tradition did not possess Colours.</ref> The regiment then took part in operations in [[Burma]] and the [[North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan|North-West Frontier]] campaigns in the 1890s; at [[Waziristan]] in 1894 and the [[Tirah Campaign|Tirah campaign]] in 1897.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

In 1901, the regiment's title was shortened when it became the '''1st Gurkha Rifles''' and in 1903 its title was changed once more, this time to the '''1st Gurkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment)'''.<ref name=Chappell12/> This title had been adopted to commemorate due to the significance of [[Malaun]] to the Regiment; it was where the British had decisively beaten the Gurkhas in 1815 during the [[The Gurkha War|Anglo–Gurka War]] and subsequently recruited them into the Nusseree battalions. The regiment was located near [[Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh|Dharamsala]] when the [[1905 Kangra earthquake]] struck on 4 April, killing 20,000 people. The 1st Gurkhas themselves suffered over 60 fatalities.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

In August 1914, the [[First World War]] began. In December, the 1st Battalion was deployed to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in France as part of the [[Sirhind Indian Infantry Brigade]], attached to [[3rd (Lahore) Division]]. The 1st Battalion's first taste of trench warfare came when they were involved in the defence of [[Battle of Givenchy|Givenchy]] shortly after. After braving a winter in the trenches, on 10 March 1915 the 1st Battalion took part in the [[Battle of Neuve Chapelle]] which lasted until 13 March. In April, the battalion took part in the [[Second Battle of Ypres]], fighting in the subsidiary [[Battle of St. Julien]] which began on 24 April and concluded on 4 May. Later that month the battalion took part in the [[Battle of Festubert]] and in September the [[Battle of Loos]] began, the last major engagement on the Western Front that the 1st Battalion took part in, before being withdrawn from the Western Front.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

Conditions on the Western Front were very different to those that the regiment had been used to in the [[Indian subcontinent|sub-continent]] and they, along with the rest of the Indian Army troops deployed, suffered badly during the winter months. As a result, in December 1915 it was decided that the infantry units of the [[Indian Corps]] would be withdrawn from France and sent to other theatres.<ref>Neillands 2004, p. 225.</ref> As a result, the 1st Battalion, along with the rest of the 3rd Division, was sent to [[Mesopotamia]] to take part in the [[Mesopotamian Campaign|campaign]] against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] which had begun in 1914.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} The Sirhind Brigade was given a numerical designation, the 8th Brigade. In 1916, the 1st Gurkhas took part in a number of attempts, including the attack on [[Dujaila Redoubt]] in March, to relieve [[Siege of Kut|Kut-al-Amara]], which had been besieged by the Ottomans since 7 December 1915. Those attempts, however, failed and Kut remained under siege until it surrendered to the Ottomans on 29 April 1916.<ref>Gardner 2004, p. 324.</ref>

Following this the regiment took part in the Allied offensive against the Ottomans later that year; this included the effort to recapture Kut, begun in December, which was recaptured in February 1917 and the capital [[Fall of Baghdad (1917)|Baghdad]] which was taken the following month. The 1st Battalion was later moved to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] in early 1918. It was involved in the effective Allied offensive against the Ottomans in September, the [[Battle of Megiddo (1918)|Battle of Megiddo]], and also saw action at the [[Battle of Sharon|Sharon]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

During the period that they had served on the Western Front in France the men of the 1st Gurkhas had found the conditions quite different from those that they were used to, however, they acquitted themselves commendably, performing with distinction in the many battles they took part in, proving the capability of the Gurkhas once more.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} The war formally ended on 11 November 1918 with the signing of the [[Armistice]]. The regiment was awarded eleven Battle Honours and four Theatre Honours during the war.<ref name=Chappell13/>

The regiment saw ferocious fighting during the [[Malayan Campaign|Japanese invasion of Malaya]]; the 2nd Battalion, part of the [[28th Indian Infantry Brigade|28th Brigade]], stook part in the fighting at [[Battle of Jitra|Jitra]] where it was forced to hastily retreat after taking part in the initial resistance on the [[Asun]] and being isolated and confronted by overwhelming Japanese forces which included tanks. The 2nd Battalion was in action a few weeks later at [[Battle of Kampar|Kampar]] where they successfully held off superior forces. Within a few days they were again in action but were out-numbered and sustained heavy casualties during the engagement at the [[Battle of Slim River|Slim River Bridge]] on 7 January.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} The Allies withdrew from Malaya, to [[Battle of Singapore|Singapore]], by January 1942. The Japanese subsequently launched an invasion of Singapore and bitter fighting ensued; Singapore, which had once been perceived as impregnable, fell on 15 February 1942 with 130,000 British, Australian and [[British Empire|Empire]] troops, including men of the 2nd Battalion,<ref>Cross & Gurung 2007, p. 37.</ref> taken [[Prisoner of war|prisoner]] by the Japanese.

The war concluded with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945 on the deck of the [[USS Missouri (BB-63)|USS ''Missouri'']] in [[Tokyo Bay]]; the Allies had prevailed after nearly six years of fighting. In [[French Indochina]] that same day the [[Viet Minh]], led by [[Ho Chi Minh]], declared their independence from France as the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]]. Shortly afterwards the British began to send units of the [[20th Infantry Division (India)|20th Indian Infantry Division]], which the 1st and 3rd Battalions were part of, to occupy the south of the country while the [[Nationalist Chinese]] occupied the north; the deployment was completed by October.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}  

The force was intended to disarm the Japanese forces and help in their repatriation back to Japan. The force, however, soon became embroiled in the fight against the Viet Minh and was soon helping in the restoration of French-control over the country. The British were, due to a lack of sufficient manpower, ironically forced to have the Japanese forces working alongside their own in Indochina in order to maintain peace and stability. The operations against the Viet Minh gradually became more intense and after substantial French reinforcements arrived the British and Indian forces departed by May 1946, and the [[First Indochina War]] would begin shortly afterwards.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

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On 1 April 2015, a new battalion with about 700 soldiers was raised as the 6th Battalion, 1st Gorkha Rifles (6/1GR); it was the first time in 50 years that a new Gorkha battalion had been formed. The new battalion, christened "Kanchi Paltan", was raised at Sabathu in the Shivalik foothills near Shimla, which is the location of the 14 Gorkha Training Centre.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiangorkhas.in/2016/04/first-gorkha-regiment-gets-new-battalion-6by1GR.html |title=Historical First Gorkha Regiment gets new Battalion 6/1GR |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222002451/http://www.indiangorkhas.in/2016/04/first-gorkha-regiment-gets-new-battalion-6by1GR.html |archivedate=22 February 2020 |access-date=15 July 2021}}</ref> It is the first Gorkha battalion comprising only locally domiciled Gurkhas. The ratio between Nepali Gurkhas and Indian-resident Gurkhas in the army's seven Gurkha regiments had typically been around 70:30.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.janes.com/article/59270/indian-army-raises-new-indigenous-gurkha-battalion|title=Indian Army raises new indigenous Gurkha battalion {{!}} IHS Jane's 360|website=www.janes.com|access-date=2016-04-19}}</ref> The announcement about the raising of this battalion was made by Lt Gen [[Ravi Thodge]], then Master General of Ordnance and Colonel of the Regiment, in October 2015 during the grand celebrations of the reunion and bicentenary of the regiment.{{Cn|date=October 2022}}