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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 267

The Tibet Medal awarded to Subadar K. Singh, 32nd Pioneers, who displayed conspicuous gallantry during the assault at Palla village in 1904, earning the Indian Order of Merit in the process

Tibet 1903-04, no clasp, silver issue (Sub. K. Singh, 32nd Pars (sic)), engraved in running script, possibly a slightly later issue, good very fine

Provenance:
DNW, July 2003.

[I.O.M., 3rd Class] awarded 1905:

'For conspicuous gallantry at the assault on the village of Palla, on the 26th May 1904. This Indian Officer personally superintended the laying of four mines against the walls of buildings in the village, on each occasion under heavy fire, and, after effecting a breach in the most formidable house in the village, he was the first to enter the building which was crowded with the enemy, shooting one of them.'

The attack at Palla village was the turning point of the Tibetan campaign as related by Sir Francis Younghusband in India and Tibet:

'This blowing up of houses crammed full of armed men is indeed a desperate undertaking, but except by this method of deliberately rushing up and placing a charge under manned walls, and firing the charge, there was no means of getting in, and Sheppard, Garstin, Walker, and O'Connor deserve all the honour that is due to the bravest of military actions.

Breaches had been made, but the village had yet to be stormed, and Major Peterson, with his Sikh Pioneers, as soon as it was light, gallantly stormed house after house, while Colonel Brander supported him with the guns on the hillside a few hundred yards off. The Tibetans fought stubbornly, as they always did in these villages, but Major Peterson pressed steadily on, and by 1.30 the village was in Colonel Brander's hands.

Our losses were, besides Lieutenant Garstin, Royal Engineers killed, Captain O'Connor, Lieutenant Mitchell, 32nd Pioneers, Lieutenant Walker, Royal Engineers, and nine men wounded. It was a heavy casualty list for our little garrison to sustain, but the capture of the village was a great shock to the Tibetans, who till then, according to a Chinaman whom Mr. Wilton met when accompanying one of our sorties, had become very truculent, and talked of first attacking us and cutting all our throats, and then murdering all Chinese.

The Palla village was occupied by our troops, and at 1.30 on the morning of May 30 the Tibetans, who had for long been trying to screw themselves up for an attack upon us, attacked both this and a Gurkha outpost we had established. It was a beautiful sight to watch, with the jong keeping up a heavy fire on us, and the houses at the foot of the jong firing away hard on the village. But the Tibetans were easily repulsed, for Colonel Brander had been careful to fortify the place well, and the Tibetans after this never ventured to take the offensive against us, and the tide now definitely began to turn.'

Kesar Singh served with the 32nd Pioneers in Afghanistan at the occupation of Kandahar and Giriskh in 1880, (Medal & clasp). On the N.E. Frontier at Sikkim in 1888 and on the N.W. Frontier at Hazara in 1891, (Medal & two clasps), and at the Relief of Chitral 1895 and in Waziristan during 1901-2, (Medal & two clasps).


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Sold for
£1,500

Starting price
£170