Last 200 years, with 200,000 Gurkha soldiers fighting in the last two world wars and about 3,500 Gurkhas currently serving in the British Army, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.The Gurkha Bridage world famous for its bravest of the brave soldiers, so much that the former British Empire even regarded it as one of the brightest jewels in the royal crown and had no other way save for taking one Gurkha brigade back home after the Indian independence in 1947. The contribution of Gorkha veterans in World War II, here the Heroic Act of FIVE Gorkha Daredevils. Although there are thousands of story for bravery but Im mentioning the story of only FIVE Gorkha Heroes here. But again as the Gurkha Motto goes, “Better to die then to be coward”. On the word of erstwhile Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, “If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gurkha.”Heed this too as said by none other than the Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler, if he had Gurkhas then he can win all over the world. He went further and said “there is nothing in the world I scare of but Gurkhas.” So here are the Four Brave Gurkha Daredevils of History who are gonna make anybody go crazy after reading their deeds of bravery :
Ganju Lama (22 July 1924 - 2000) was a Gurkha recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. At the age of 19 years old, and as a Rifleman in the 1st Battalion, 7th Gurkha Rifles, in the Indian Army during World War II when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross: In Burma, on the morning of the 12th June 1944, the enemy put down an intense artillery barrage lasting an hour; on north of the village of Ningthoukhong. The heavy artillery fire knocked out several bunkers and caused heavy casualties, and was immediately followed by a very strong enemy attack supported by five medium tanks. "B" Company, 7th Gurkha Rifles, was ordered to counter-attack and restore the situation. Shortly after passing the starting line it came under heavy enemy medium machine-gun and tank machine-gun fire at point blank range, which covered all lines of approach.
Rifleman Ganju Lama attacked the enemies only carrying a gun in his hand and not being noticed by the enemies he crawled forward towards them on his own initiative, with great coolness and complete disregard for his own safety. In spite of a broken left wrist and two other wounds, one in his right hand and one in his leg, caused by withering cross-fire concentrated upon him, He succeeded in bringing his gun into action within thirty yards of the enemy tanks and started firing at the enemy Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks knocking out first one and then another, the third tank being destroyed by an anti-tank gun. Blood was flowing down his body and with one grenade in his hand he was crawling towards the enemies, when he was quite close to the enemies he threw the only grenade he had with him, killing some more enemies. The Japanese were not at all expecting this solo attack by Ganju lama who had destroyed their fully loaded two powerful tanks. The Japanese still did not give up and this fight lasted for about 13-14 hours, the Gorkhas did not let a single enemy to enter their territory. During this battle the Japanese 67th Regiment lost about 330 or more soldiers where the Gorkha Regiment lost only 30 soldiers.
Tul Bahadur Pun
The Section commander tried to lead the remaining two men but was at once badly wounded. Rifleman Tul bahadur Pun and his remaining companion continued the charge, but the latter too was immediately wounded. Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun then seized the Bren Gun and firing from the hip He continued the charge on this heavily bunkered position alone. With the dawn coming up behind him and in the face of the most shattering concentration of automatic fire directed straight at him he presented a perfect target to the Japanese. He moved further ahead for thirty yards over open ground, ankle deep in mud, through shell holes and over fallen trees. Despite these overwhelming odds, he reached the Red House and killing its Japanese occupants, captured two light machine guns and much ammunition. He then gave accurate supporting fire from the bunker to the remainder of his platoon which enabled them to overcome the remaining enemy bunkers.
VC Lachhiman Gurung
Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung was manning the most forward post of his platoon which bore the brunt of an attack by at least 200 of the Japanese enemy. They attacked with guns, machines guns, tanks and grenades, twice he hurled back grenades which had fallen on his trench, but when He tried to clear the third grenade, it exploded in his right hand, blowing off his fingers, shattering his arm and severely wounding him in the face, body and right leg. His two comrades were also badly wounded but the rifleman, now alone and disregarding his wounds, loaded and fired his rifle with his left hand for four hours, calmly waiting for each attack which he met with fire at point blank range. Afterwards, when the casualties were counted, it is reported that there were 31 dead Japanese around his position which he had killed, with only one arm. "It is only that we have such bad tempers when something makes us angry"
Without waiting for orders, Gurung dashed out to attack the first enemy fox-hole, throwing two grenades, he killed the two occupants and without any hesitation rushed on to the next enemy fox-hole and killed the Japanese in it with his bayonet. He cleared two further fox-holes with bayonet and grenade. During his single-handed attacks on these four enemy fox-holes, Rifleman Bhanbhagta Gurung was subjected to almost continuous and point-blank Light Machine Gun fire from a bunker on the North tip of the objective. For the fifth time, Gurung went forward alone in the face of heavy enemy fire to knock out this position. He doubled forward and leapt on to the roof of the bunker from where, his hand grenades being finished, he flung two No. 77 smoke grenades into the bunker slit. Gurung killed two Japanese soldiers who ran out of the bunker with his Kukri, and then advanced into the cramped bunker and killed the remaining Japanese soldier.
He encouraged his men to be prepared for a third assault, which came after a short while indeed. The third Chinese attack was, however, more powerful and intense. The enemy now came with tanks in support of the infantry. The platoon post was now in a much depleted strength owing to the casualties suffered in earlier attacks. But the post held out till the ammunition lasted. When it was finally overrun by the Chinese, he jumped out of his trench and killed many intruders in hand-to-hand fighting. He was eventually overpowered and killed. His cool courage, conspicuous fighting qualities and leadership were in the highest traditions of the Army. Major Thapa was believed to have been killed in this engagement, and the original citation given above reflects this. He was later discovered to have been taken prisoner by Chinese soldiers and after his release from the POW camp, he resumed his military career. For his gallantry act, Major Dhan Singh Thapa was honoured with the highest wartime gallantry medal, Param Vir Chakra.
In Afghanistan in 2010, Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun single-handedly fought off 30 Taliban soldiers. As Pun was keeping guard on the roof of a checkpoint, the attackers came at the complex from all sides with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s.
It took less than an hour for Pun to kill them all. He went through all of his ammo—400 rounds and 17 grenades, as well as a mine that detonated—to defeat each attacker. When he ran out of ammo, a Taliban soldier climbed up to the roof, only to be hit with a machine-gun tripod that Pun threw at him.
Pun's valor was rewarded with a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, the second highest British military decoration awarded for bravery. Here is a citation
| On the evening of the day in question [17 September 2010], Sergeant Pun was one of four men left in the southern compound because the platoon had pushed out a patrol to dominate the road to the east in readiness for the next day’s parliamentary elections. All were taking turns to man a single sangar position on the roof in the centre of the compound.
Sergeant Pun was on duty when he heard a clinking noise to the south of the checkpoint:
“I thought at first maybe it was a cow," he said, "but my suspicions soon built up, and I saw Taliban digging to lay down an IED in front of our gate.”
Sergeant Pun had the presence of mind to gather up two radios, which would enable him to both speak to his commander and to call in artillery support, his personal weapon, and a general purpose machine gun.
Realising that he was about to be attacked, he quickly informed his commander on one of the radios, and launched a grenade at the enemy. Sergeant Pun single-handedly fought off an enemy attack on his lightly manned position. In the dark he tackled the enemy head on as he moved around his position to fend off the attack from three sides, killing three assailants and causing the others to flee.
In doing so he saved the lives of his three comrades and prevented the position from being overrun. Sergeant Pun couldn’t know how many Taliban were attempting to overcome his position, but he sought them out from all angles despite the danger, consistently moving towards them to reach the best position of attack:
“I thought there might have been around 20 to 30, but later locals told me it was probably about 15. The firing went on continually for about 17 minutes,” said Sergeant Pun.
“At first I was a bit scared, and I thought definitely they are going to kill me. But as soon as I started firing, that feeling went away.”
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| — Ministry of Defence | ||
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