Combat Diary
Combat Diary

Author: Brig Jasbir Singh

Publisher: Lancer Publishers

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781935501183

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Brigadier Jasbir Singh's Combat Diary enlists the history, the wars, the achievements and the various accomplishments of the 4/19 Hyderabad Regiment and brings to the common reader a picturesque account of a glorious regiment, through the various campaigns in the two World Wars under British rule in India.

Battle for Malaya
Battle for Malaya

Author: Kaushik Roy

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2019-11-01

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0253044227

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The defeat of 90,000 Commonwealth soldiers by 50,000 Japanese soldiers made the World War II Battle for Malaya an important encounter for both political and military reasons. British military prestige was shattered, fanning the fires of nationalism in Asia, especially in India. Japan's successful tactics in Malaya—rapid marches, wide outflanking movement along difficult terrain, nocturnal attacks, and roadblocks—would be repeated in Burma in 1942–43. Until the Allied command evolved adequate countermeasures, Japanese soldiers remained supreme in the field. Looking beyond the failures of command, Kaushik Roy focuses on tactics of the ground battle that unfolded in Malaya between December 1941 and February 1942. His analysis includes the organization of the Indian Army—the largest portion of Commonwealth troops—and compares it to the British and Australian armies that fought side by side with Indian soldiers. Utilizing both official war office records and unofficial memoirs, autobiographies, and oral histories, Roy presents a synthesis of history from the top with history from below and provides a thick narrative of operations interwoven with tactical analysis of the Battle for Malaya.

Saragarhi Battalion: Ashes to Glory
Saragarhi Battalion: Ashes to Glory

Author: Col Kanwaljit Singh

Publisher: Lancer Publishers LLC

Published: 2015-02-17

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 8170620228

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Ashes to Glory is a fascinating account of the 4th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment (XXXVI SIKH). Written and compiled by two officers of the Battalion who have been brought up in its traditions, the book recalls how, time and again, it has rallied to the call and risen to even greater glory. The Battalion suffered over 600 casualties within three hours at Hai during World War I and was overrun by Rommel’s Panzer division in the burning sands of EI Alamien during World War II. Again, in 1962 and 1965 it faced major reverses, yet emerged unscathed. Tracing the Battalion’s trials and tribulations, triumph and glory, the book recounts how, within four years of its raising, it earned its first Battle Honour in Manipur. However, it is in the NWFP on 12 September 1897, while defending the post of Saragarhi, that it achieved undying glory. Havildar Ishar Singh and twenty-one other ranks laid down their lives fighting, refusing to surrender to thousands of Orakazi tribesmen surrounding their post. All twenty-one of them were awarded the Indian Order of Merit, the then highest award given to an Indian. Ever since then it has been known as the Saragarhi Battalion. The Battalion went on to win twenty-two Battle Honours, thereby establishing its claim as not only one of the most decorated units of the Indian Army, but also a widely travelled one. These pages contain a fascinating account of the Battalion’s operations in China during the Boxer Rebellion; NWFP and Aden between the two World Wars, Abysinnia, Ethiopia, Eriteria, Egypt and Italy during World War II. The Battalion also has the honour of having participated in all the four operations since Independence, including the 1947 Kashmir Operations when it was air lifted into the valley. This is not only the story of the Battalion of the Sikh Regiment but in a way that of soldiering in the Indian Army, for it brings out the resilience of the Indian Soldier when pitched against insurmountable odds. Written on the eve of the centenary of the Battalion, it makes compelling reading.