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Auction: 22001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 308

Five: Rifleman Anbahadur Thapa, 2nd Gurkha Rifles

1939-45; War and India Service Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya (21131563 Rfn. Anbahadur. Thapa. 2. G.R.); Indian Independence 1947 (21131563. Rfn. Anbahadur. Thapa. G.R.), mounted for wear, very fine (5)

During the Second World War, 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) was expanded from two to five battalions. The 1st Battalion served in North Africa, Italy and Greece; the 2nd Battalion served in Malaya and Singapore where it went into captivity; the 3rd Battalion, raised in 1940, took part in the first Chindit Campaign and subsequently, from 1944, in the Burma Campaign; the 4th Battalion was raised in 1941 and saw service on the NW Frontier of India before being deployed to Burma in 1945 (it went on to serve in French Indo-China following the surrender of Japan); and the 5th Battalion, which was raised in 1942 to replace the 2nd Battalion that had gone into captivity.
The nucleus of the 5th Battalion came from eight different parents outside the Regiment to include 2/3GR, 4/3GR, 1/8GR and 4/8GR as well as from the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the Regiment. It also received 684 recruits from the Regimental Centre. In December the 5th Battalion moved to the NW Frontier, where it was to serve for the remainder of the War, for which it was eligible for the 1939-45 Star, India Service Medal; although its only contact with rebel tribesmen occurred in February 1946! it returned to Dehra Dun in January 1947 and was disbanded, with some 300 men selected for retention in the Regular battalions and the Regimental Centre. It is therefore assumed that Rifleman Ambahadur Thapa served with the 5th Battalion and was selected to serve with one of the Regular battalions of 2GR that were transferred to The British Army in 1948 and were committed to the Malay Emergency over the next twelve years. It should be noted that the four regiments transferred to The British Army were, initially, collectively designated 'The Gurkha Regiment' and thus the initials 'GR', which is engraved on their India Independence Medal.

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Sold for
£110

Starting price
£90