Gurkha Rifles

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Gurkha tribesmen began to be recruited into the Bengal Army after the Gurkha War in 1816. They bore many names before becoming Gurkha Rifles. Articles on the regiments can be found as follows:

The 11th Gurkha Rifles was raised during the 1st World War then disbanded. The 25th, 26th & 29th Gurkha Rifles were raised during the 2nd World War then disbanded.

On the FIBIS website British Indian Army regiments are listed with titles as at the re-organisation of 1895. So 6th, 7th & 8th Gurkha Rifles are in articles titled 42nd, 43rd & 44th Gurkha Rifles. At the Partition of India in 1947 the regiments were given the choice of attachment to the British Army or the Indian Army. The 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th & 10th Regiments chose Britain. The 3rd, 4th, 5th , 8th & 9th Regiments chose India.

Details of the structure of the Regiments are available below.[1]

Spelling variants

Gurkha, Goorkha, Goorkhá

The kukri

The kukri ( or ‘khukuri’) , the Nepalese knife used by the Gurkha Regiments is a lethal weapon which could be used to behead opponents.[2][3]

The kukri has been used from the time the Nepalese joined the East India Company Bengal Army in 1815[4]

There have still only ever been 5 Officially military pattern number kukris in official British Gurkha issue.[5] A small batch of kukris were manufactured at the Rifle Factory, Ishapore in 1927[6]

Gurkha jaats or tribes

Gurkha jaat or tribe names may be seen on medals. Common names include Gurung, Limbu, Pun, Rai, Tamang and Thapa.

The Gurungs were the largest tribe recruited by the British and Indian Armies for their Gurkha regiments, particularly for recruitment in the West of Nepal. Rais and Limbus were Eastern Nepal - 7th and 10th Gurkhas. The Gurungs, along with the Magars were considered the beau ideal of what a Gurkha soldier should be.

In the Army most men were known by their 4 digit numbers rather than their names as the number of surnames was extremely limited. One might have 30 Gurungs on parade and young Officers who knew their men knew their numbers. The men also referred to each other by their numbers and each cohort regarded their intake as "number-ies" - men of the same intake and therefore seniority. [7]

External Links

Historical books online

References

  1. Great War Forum thread Ghurka infantry establishments
  2. William Pennington in his autobiography Pick up your Parrots and Monkeys: The Life of a Boy Soldier in India (2003) reports being saved in WW2 Burma by a Gurkha who beheaded a Japanese who was about to kill the author (page 333). Pennington also reported seeing Ghurkas playing football with severed Japanese heads (page 332).
  3. "Henry George "Hank" Baker: An Obituary: 23rd June 1918 – 15th January 2006" by Roger Croston The Tibet Journal Vol. 30/31, No. 4/1, Contributions to the study of Tibetan medicine (Winter 2005 & Spring 2006), pp. 193-196. jstor.org. Register and read online for free, see Miscellaneous tips. Page 193 details an incident against tribesmen in the Ahmedzai Salient, Waziristan, North West Frontier c 1939
  4. 19th Century accounts of the kukri in action by 'Sirupate' Gurkha and Kukri Historical Tora Blades Forum, archived pages.
  5. The 20th Century British Military Pattern Gurkha Issue Kukri by Jonathan R.S. Sword Forum. Contains a few images, but many are no longer available.
  6. Thread from Sword Forum 1927 RFI MKII Kukri with images. Images are also on Photobucket
  7. QGE, (previously Martin G). whats a GURUNG and a THAPA Great War Forum 10 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.