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The Brigade and three Battalion Commanders
of the All Indian 51 Infantry Brigade in Burma. Left to Right: Lt. Col. SPP
Thorat, 2/2 Punjab; Lt. Col. L.P. Sen, 16/10 Baluch; Brigader R.A.
Hutton, Commander 51 Brigade; and Lt. Col. K.S. Thimayya, 8/19
Hyderabad. All three battalion commanders earned the DSO [Distinguished
Service Order] for their performance in Burma. Thimayya rose to the rank of General and became the Chief of
the Army Staff, a post he held from 1957 to 1961. Sen was Brigade Commander of
161 Infantry Brigade that was
airlifted to Srinagar in 1947, which beat the Pakistani-supported raiders back all the
way to Uri. Thorat and Sen later rose to the rank
of Lieutenant General in their army career. Both held the appointment of GOC Eastern Army
Command, with the later holding the command during the 1962 Indo-China
War. |
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A portrait of Tulbahadur Pun, Victoria Cross
(VC).
Pun was awarded a VC at
Mogaung on the night of 6/7th June 1944. After his comrades were killed
around him, he single handedly charged a group of Japanese who were dug in
30 yards away across open ground, firing a bren gun from the hip he
overcame the enemy and captured their position and two light machine guns.
Mogaung is counted as the 3rd Gurkha Rifle's
most glorious day as it won two Victoria Crosses (the second was a posthumous award to Captain
Michael Allmand), one DSO (Distinguished Service Order), one IOM (Indian Order of Merit),
three MCs (Military Cross), two IDSMs (Indian Distinguished Service
Medals) and 9
MMs.
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Men of the 2/6th Gurkha Rifles who served with equal
distinction in Italy. The second photograph shows a Gurkha soldier proudly displaying
his feared Khukri - a Nepalese dagger. A Gurkha and his khukri are an extremely dangerous
combination for the enemy.
Circa World War II. |
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5/5 Marathas in Italy, late
1944 or early 1945. Machine gunners with Vickers MMG's setting up pre-established fields
of fire for a defensive position. The bulbous devices on the muzzles of the Vickers are
recoil accelerators designed to minimize jamming during sustained fire. |
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Madras Sappers and Miners work on a 'corduroy' road east of
Kohima, on the Jessami track, August 1944. Timber provided a cheap way of
producing a reasonably durable road surface for those hard-to-reach areas where mule or air
transport was not enough. |
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Engineers of
the 8th Indian Division rest on the morning of 12 May
1944. They spent the previous night clearing enemy mines planted on the Gustav Line,
allowing infantry and armour to break through during the drive that would take
the Allies north to Rome. |
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Jawans of the 4th Indian Division, right after Operation
Crusader. These Jawans were virtually the only fresh troops available to the Allies, in the
advance towards the capture of the Libyan port of Derna in December 1941. |
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A Sikh-manned Bren
gun team of the Fourth Indian division
participating in manoeuvres prior to Operation Compass, the December 1940
offensive against the Italian Army in the desert of Western Egypt and Eastern
Libya. |
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4.2" mortar crews of
5/5 Marathas, the machine gun battalion of the 8th
Indian Division, in action in Italy. Machine gun battalions manned the Vickers
machine guns and heavy mortars that supported infantry divisions. |
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Jawans from the
17th Indian Divison on assault at Imphal in June 1944. The Naik in the
foreground carries a Thompson SMG and the riflemen in the background carry a SMLE with a fixed bayonet. |
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British and Indian troops exchange
pleasantries as they meet on the road between Imphal and
Kohima following the successful relief of the Kohima box. Circa April 1944. |
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You've retaken the village, now you must do what you can to save
it. Indian troops do what they can to extinguish fires in a village in the Arakan. |
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The jungle is neutral. Gurkha soldiers make use of the
ample cover that nature has bestowed on them in the fighting in the Arakan. |
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Indian Paratroopers
during World War II. Source: Parachute Regiment (India). |
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Indian Paratroopers
during World War II. Source: Parachute Regiment (India). |
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Indian Paratroopers
during World War II. Source: Parachute Regiment (India). |
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