Historical Record of the 6th Gurkha Rifles
Author: India. Army. 6th Gurkha Rifles
Publisher:
Published: 1925
Total Pages: 458
ISBN-13:
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The Gurkha Diaries of Robert Atkins MC
Author: Robert Atkins MC
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Published: 2021-12-30
Total Pages: 170
ISBN-13: 1399091484
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHow fortunate it is that Robert Atkins wrote up his experiences as a young Gurkha officer in India and later Malaya as, seventy years on, they form an important contemporaneous record of two historically significant periods. When India was granted Independence in 1947, irreconcilable religious differences made Partition inevitable. His account of the death, destruction and suffering that he and his soldiers witnessed makes for traumatic yet compelling reading. In the aftermath of Independence the Gurkha Regiments were split between the Indian and British Armies and Robert returned to England and British service. Three years later on his way to fight in the Korean War, he was ordered to join 1st Battalion, 6th Gurkha Rifles engaged in the battle against communist terrorists, known as the Malayan Emergency. Robert saw more than his share of action over next seven years in this eventually successful but bitterly fought campaign. His courage and leadership earned him the Military Cross. The two diaries are introduced with helpful narratives setting each in their historical context. Written with admirable modesty, this superb personal account informs and entertains.
The Gurkha Rifles
Author: J.B.R. Nicholson
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Published: 1974-06-15
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780850451962
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Gurkhas have a long and distinguished service record. This book examines the uniforms, equipment, history and organisation of the Gurkha rifles. It traces the 19th Century origins of the now famous Gurkha regiments and also covers their service history during the Great Mutiny of 1857 and the 3rd Afghan War (1919). During the two World Wars the Gurhah rifles performed countless tours of duty and their regimental battle honours listed in the book bear testimony to their extensive service. A series of full colour illustrations accompany the text.
Historical Record of The Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, 1958–2018
Author: J. R. Cawthorne
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Published: 2023-01-31
Total Pages: 826
ISBN-13: 1526787989
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Gurkha Army Service Corps, the predecessor of The Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, was raised in Singapore in 1958 ten years after the transfer of Gurkha regiments from the Indian Army to the British Army and towards the end of the Malayan Emergency. Within four years of being formed, it was committed to continuous operations in Brunei and Borneo during Confrontation with Indonesia between 1962-66. It was also redesignated the Gurkha Transport Regiment in 1965 to reflect changes to the Army’s logistic structure. Between 1966-71, the Regiment was substantially reduced in size, along with the rest of The Brigade of Gurkhas, as Britain withdrew its forces from East of Suez. Concentrated in Hong Kong, the Regiment provided transport support to the Garrison for the next 20 years. In 1991, a composite squadron was sent to reinforce British Forces in the Gulf War after which, in preparation for the handback of Hong Kong to China, the Regiment moved to and became permanently stationed in the UK. In recognition of its past services, it was granted the royal title ‘The Queen’s Own Gurkha Transport Regiment’ in 1992. The following two decades saw it undertake multiple operational tours to the Balkans, Iraq, Cyprus and Afghanistan as well as providing humanitarian assistance to the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone. It also expanded both its role, to incorporate supply and catering, and size, which led in 2001 to it being redesignated to its current title ‘The Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment’. This history records the events and activities of the Regiment during its first 60 years of service to the Crown. While of wider interest to military historians, it is principally written for members of the Regiment, past, present and future.
A Connecticut Yankee in the 8th Gurkha Rifles
Author: Scott Gilmore
Publisher: Potomac Books
Published: 1995
Total Pages: 328
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAmerica was still neutral when, in the fall of 1941, a tall, solid thirty-year-old advertising executive from Connecticut volunteered to serve as an American Field Service ambulance driver in the British Army. It was the start of an adventure that took Scott Gilmore to Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, India, and, finally, to the jungles of Burma. After an exciting and dangerous year in North Africa, where he witnessed the fall of Tobruk and the battle of El Alamein, Gilmore was accepted for training as an officer in the elite Indian Army. This was the old Indian Army of the British Raj, a fighting force of unflappable English officers, hardy Indians, and the legendary Gurkhas of Nepal. It was an army at the apogee of its skills and about to inflict on the Japanese their greatest defeat on land. With dry, offbeat humor, Gilmore describes his challenging months at the Officers Training School and with his new unit, the 8th Gurkha Rifles. As he endures the assault courses and marches, confronts the arcane rituals of the officers' mess, and learns the language and customs of his diminutive fellow soldiers, Gilmore's adaptability and good nature is notable, and his American viewpoint on the mix of cultures refreshing. Moreover, like generations of Britons, he learns to love and respect the kukri knife-wielding Gurkha warriors. When Gilmore's 4th Battalion is finally deemed ready to be put to the test as part of General Bill Slim's Fourteenth Army, it plunges into battle in the jungle-covered mountains of the Indo-Burmese border. He and his comrades fight their way across the dry plains of central Burma, execute a dangerous crossing of the mile-wide Irrawaddy River, and press on to Rangoon, enduring ahostile climate and tenacious Japanese opposition. As Gilmore moves up in responsibility to company commander and engages in night reconnaissance patrols and set-piece attacks, his experiences give a forceful picture of the fighting in one of the most difficult and remote theaters of World War II.
Jai Sixth!
Author: James Lunt
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 1994-07-14
Total Pages: 289
ISBN-13: 0850524237
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is the story of the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles from the Regiment raising in 1817 as the Cuttack Legion in the service of the Honourable East India Company until it's amalgamation with the 2nd King Edward VII's Gurkha Rifles ( The Sirmoor Rifles) to form the First Battalion of The Royal Gurkha Rifles in 1994. In the course of its 177 years' existence the Regiment has had many changes of title, acquiring its present one in 1959 when it became 'Queen Elizabeths Own'. In the days of the empire when men of many different races and religions served under the British Crown it was probably the Gurkha soldier who most captured the imagination of the British people, partially on account of his outstanding courage in battle, and partially because of his loyalty and sheer good humour. Prior to Independence in 1947 the former Indian Army contained ten regiments of Gurkha Rifles, each of two battalions. In 1948 four of these, of which the 6th Gurkha's was one, were transferred to the British Army. The others remained in the Indian Army. During the First World War the 6th greatly distinguished themselves at Gallipoli, and later Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Salonika and Afghanistan. In the Second World War the Regiment fought in all the main theatres except North-West Europe, particularly in Burma where the Third Battalion was awarded two Vcs in one battle when serving with Wingate's Chindits. After the war the Regiment played a prominent part in Malaya during the Emergency, and later in Borneo during the confrontation with Indonesia. As will be evident to the reader of this book, wherever they served the 6th lived up to the Gurkha philosophy that is is 'Better to doe then live a coward. The book also bears out the assertion that Field Marshal Viscount Slim, himself an officer of the 6th, that the Gurkha is 'the ideal infantryman'. Although it is sad that, owing to the reduction in strength of the British Army the 6th Gurkhas are being required to amalgamate with the equally distinguished 2nd Gurkhas, it is at least comforting that there will be Gurkhas serving in the Crown, as there have been since 1815. Long may they continue to do so, but no longer will the stirring cry 'Jai Sixth! (Go Sixth) be heard on the battlefield or sports ground. Royalties from sales of this book have been donated by the author to the 6th Gurkha's Benevolent Fund.
A Historical Perspective on Light Infantry
Author: Scott Ray McMichael
Publisher:
Published: 1987
Total Pages: 264
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis study seeks to clarify the nature of light infantry. General characteristics of light infantry forces are identified, and an analysis of how light forces operate tactically and how they are supported is presented. In the process, the relationship of the light infantry ethic to its organization is evaluated, and the differences between light infantry and conventional infantry is illuminated. For the purpose of this study, the term conventional infantry refers to modern-day motorized and mechanized infantry and to the large dismounted infantry forces typical of the standard infantry divisions of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The study concludes that light infantry is unique and distinct. A light infantry ethic exits and manifests itself in a distinctive tactical style, in a special attitude toward the environment, in a freedom from dependence on fixed lines of communication, and in a strong propensity for self-reliance. The study is based on a historical analysis of 4 light infantry forces employed during and since World War II: The Chindits, in the 1944 Burma campaign against the Japanese; The Chinese communist Forces during the Korean War; British operations in Malaya and Borneo 1948-66; and the First Special Service Force in the mountains of Italy 1942-44. -- p. [2] of cover.
Boots on the ground: Troop Density in Contingency Operations
Author: John J. McGrath
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 212
ISBN-13: 9780160869501
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis paper clearly shows the immediate relevancy of historical study to current events. One of the most common criticisms of the U.S. plan to invade Iraq in 2003 is that too few troops were used. The argument often fails to satisfy anyone for there is no standard against which to judge. A figure of 20 troops per 1000 of the local population is often mentioned as the standard, but as McGrath shows, that figure was arrived at with some questionable assumptions. By analyzing seven military operations from the last 100 years, he arrives at an average number of military forces per 1000 of the population that have been employed in what would generally be considered successful military campaigns. He also points out a variety of important factors affecting those numbers-from geography to local forces employed to supplement soldiers on the battlefield, to the use of contractors-among others.
Soldiers of Empire
Author: Tarak Barkawi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2017-06-08
Total Pages: 341
ISBN-13: 1107169585
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBarkawi re-imagines the study of war with imperial and multinational armies that fought in Asia in the Second World War.
Ayo Gorkhali
Author: Tim I Gurung
Publisher:
Published: 2023-12-08
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780143460657
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe history of the Gurkha serviceman is one that goes beyond soldiering and bravery-it is in equal measure a story of the resilient human spirit, and of a tiny community that carved for itself a niche in world history.
