A

BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE
MAHRATTA LIGHT INFANTRY

COMPILED

BY

MAJOR J.S. BARR

1945
 FOREWORD

CHAPTER 1
The Regiment and the Men of the Regiment

CHAPTER II
The Regular Battalions of the Regiment

CHAPTER III
The Regiment in the War 1939-45
Africa and the Middle East

CHAPTER IV
The Regiment in the War of 1939-45
Italy

CHAPTER V
The Regiment in the War of 1939-45
Assam and Burma

CHAPTER VI
Service In India

CHAPTER VII
The Regimental Centre, Belgaum 1939-45

CHAPTER VIII
The Glory and The Price

CHAPTER IX
Battle Honours of the Regiment

CONCLUSION

PRINTED BY

G. CLARIDGE AND CO., LTD.,

FRERE ROAD, FORT

BOMBAY.
 FOREWORD

THIS little publication cannot, and does not, claim to be the full and detailed History of The Mahratta
Light Infantry that the long and glorious story of the Regiment, born of the gallantry and steadfast
devotion to duty of men of Maharashtra over a period of close upon one hundred and eighty years, so
richly deserves.

Today the story of the Regiment is written large by its many Battalions on the battlefields of
Europe, Africa, and of East Asia and the final tale of its deeds is not yet told. For that more complete
History which we hope will one day be written we must await an author with abler pen, and having
perhaps more ample leisure to collect the greater fund of fact and narrative become available with the
return of peace to the far continents of our world.

The object of the author in preparing the following necessarily incomplete and, it is feared, very
inadequate story is to provide a ready means whereby officers newly come to the Mahratta Light Infantry,
and having little leisure to read deeply, may acquire at least a passing knowledge of the Regiment in
which they have the honour to serve.

Acknowledgment is due by the author for the information afforded him by perusal of the following
publications—” History of the Bombay Army” by Lieut.-Colonel Sir Patrick Cadell, C.S.I., V.D., “India’s
Army” by Major Donovan Jackson, and “Kali Panchwin” by Colonel Sir Reginald Hennell—by study of
War Diaries of various Battalions to which he had access, and from personal conversations with brother
officers of the Regiment.

JAMES S. BARR, Major

The Mahratta Light Infantry.

BELGAUM, September, 1945.

 CHAPTER I

THE REGIMENT

IN early days each battalion of typical infantry had a “Light” Company composed of small picked wiry
men, able to move swiftly to reinforce or surprise as opportunity offered; these became “crack”
companies and, later, the title Light Infantry came to be bestowed as a mark of honour.

In recognition of the gallant conduct of detachments at the siege of Kahun and the defence of
Dadar, in Baluch territory, during the First Afghan War of 1841 the present 2nd Battalion was created
Light Infantry. Thirty years afterwards the honour of becoming Light Infantry was accorded to the 1st and
3rd Battalions for their gallantry in Sir Robert Napier’s Abyssinian Campaign of 1867-68, where the 3rd
Battalion particularly distinguished itself at the storming of Magdala.

At the grouping of all six Mahratta Battalions, which took place in 1922, the resulting Regiment
assumed its present title of the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry.

Being the only Light Infantry Regiment of the pre-war Indian Army, the 5th Mahratta Light
Infantry is alone among all Infantry Regiments in that the regimental numeral is not incorporated in the
shoulder-title design.

The Regiment performs the form of drill peculiar to Light Infantry and marches past in the
characteristic Light Infantry quick time of 140 paces to the minute.

The red and green hackle, green lanyard, green hosetops and stockings, and especially the hunting
horn badge and crest, are worn with pride by the Regiment as outward symbols of its Light Infantry
status.

The Men of the Regiment

The rank and file of the Regiment, and its Indian officers, are Mahrattas of the Maharashtra; a
country which, for the Recruiting Officer of today, comprises the Konkan and Deccan of South-western
India, the former being the coastal strip of the Bombay Presidency and the latter the high tableland
immediately to the east of the Western Ghats.

Sons of a race of ancient and high martial tradition, the story of how a community of village
peasantry was transformed into a nation of formidable warriors, of Shivaji the “Mountain Rat,” of the
attempts at a second empire, and of the long series of wars with the British power is one of the romances
of Indian History.

Small of stature and generally careless of appearance, the Mahratta is no swashbuckler. He has not
the martial air of the Rajput, and the military turban which the Sikh or Pathan ties deftly, as if with one
fold, falls about the head and down the neck of the Mahratta in the most capricious convolutions.
Nonetheless he comes of hard stock, is wiry and of great endurance, and performance rather than
appearance is the ultimate test. The wiry men of Maharashtra bore the heat of Upper Sind in the First
Afghan War better than the up-country troops, while the same sepoys were not found wanting in the
hardships of the Abyssinian War, in the privations of Mesopotamia, or on the long marches of Allenby’s
advance through Palestine. More recently, from the bullet-swept heights of Keren to the mountains of
Italy and the jungles of Assam and Burma, the Mahratta has won a reputation for gallantry and loyal
service unsurpassed in the Indian, or any other, Army.

Such men are the direct descendants of the great Shivaji’s troops who in the storied days of the
Mahratta Confederacy, watered their horses in the Indus, harried the borders of Mysore, and set the scared
citizens of Calcutta to digging the Mahratta Ditch.

In recognition of their unsullied reputation for loyalty the Mahratta Light Infantry was, in 1930,
formed into a completely class Regiment, one of three only in the present Indian Army and a matter of
justifiable pride throughout the Regiment today.
 CHAPTER II

THE REGULAR BATTALIONS OF THE REGIMENT

1st Battalion

Originated from native levies formed into battalions when the East India Company was forced to
organize defence against a possible French invasion of Bombay from the sea in 1768, as the 2nd Bombay
Sepoys, later the Battalion assumed in turn the titles of 3rd Regiment Native Infantry (1824), 3rd Light
Infantry (1868), 103rd Mahratta Light Infantry (1903), and, on the grouping of 1922, its present
designation of lst/5th Mahratta Light Infantry.

An unofficial title long borne by the Battalion, and certainly justified by its long and glorious
record, is that of “Jang-i-Paltan” or “Fighting Regiment.”

Following its raising the Battalion saw continuous service in Kathiawar, Gujerat, and the Deccan
until in 1799 it played a notable part in the campaign in Mysore which culminated in the defeat and death
of Tippoo Sultan. With the present 2nd Battalion, it won great distinction at the battle of Seedaseer and
the storming of Seringapatam. The anniversary of the former battle, 6th March, is celebrated annually by
the Battalion as “Seedaseer Day.”

During the earlier half of the nineteenth century the Battalion saw varied service in the Mahratta
wars, in the Persian Gulf—where it rendered notable service at the capture of Beni-Boo-Ali, and in the
Punjab campaign of 1848. In this campaign the Battalion fought with great distinction at the capture of
the two Sikh strongholds of Multan and Gujerat.

In 1867 the Battalion crossed the Indian Ocean to take part in the arduous campaign against King
Theodore of Abyssinia when, as a memento of the storming of Magdala, it received from Sir Robert
Napier an Abyssinian silver drum. For its gallantry in this campaign the Battalion was awarded the title
“Light Infantry.” Twenty years later the Battalion again campaigned in Africa, this time in Somaliland,
then followed a prolonged period of comparative quiet until the outbreak of the Great War of 1914-18
once more sent the then 103rd Mahratta Light Infantry campaigning in foreign parts.

The Battalion formed part of the original expeditionary force to the Persian Gulf in 1914 and
established the Mahratta name at the first battle of Kut, in Mesopotaniia, and the desperate battle of
Ctesiphon where the brunt of the loss—amounting to half the fighting force—fell upon the Infantry.
Following the glorious stand at Kut, a siege borne by all ranks with the same fortitude and courage which
typified their behaviour in the victories before that catastrophe, the Battalion was captured at the
surrender of the town on 29th April 1916, having lost 312 out of a strength of 551.

Following the Turkish peace of 1918 the reformed Battalion was sent to join the force defending
the North-West Frontier against the Afghan invasion of 1919 and, in the Mabsud-Wazir fighting of 1921-
24, fought an outstanding action at Palesina,

2nd Battalion

How and when this Battalion first came into existence is somewhat obscure owing to incessant
change in the early history of the Bombay Army. There is strong evidence to show that the Battalion was
formed in 1768 with the amalgamation into battalions of the original unnumbered companies of Bombay
Sepoys but 1788, when two earlier formations combined to form the 2nd/1st Regiment, is generally
accepted as the date of raising. Titles assumed in turn by the Battalion were the 1st/3rd Regiment (1796),
5th Native Infantry (1824), 5th Light Infantry (1841) when Light Infantry status was accorded following
the defence of Kahun, 105th Mahratta Light Infantry (1903), and, on the grouping of 1922, its present
designation of 2nd/5th Mahratta Light Infantry.

Because Of the black feathers worn in the turbans of the 5th Native Infantry the Battalion was
from early days known unofficially as the “Kali Panchwin,” or Black Fifth, a title it still bears.

During those years immediately following its raising the Battalion saw varied service in Malabar
and Mysore with an interlude of a few months in Ceylon, during 1796, when it formed part of a force
which captured Colombo from the Dutch.

Early in 1799 an expeditionary force of the Bombay Army was sent to co-operate with the Madras
Army in operations against Tippoo Sultan, the notorious usurper of Mysore. In support of the Madras
Army then threatening Tippoo’s stronghold of Seringapatam the Bombay force advanced inland from
Cannanore and on 6th March a small force of three battalions, of which the present 2nd Battalion together
with the 1st Battalion formed part, while occupying the outpost of Seedaseer held out all through a long
day of desperate fighting against repeated assaults by an overwhelming force of Tippoo’s army. This
notable defence, for at the end of the day the defeated enemy retired, is commemorated annually by the
Battalion, on 6th March, as “Seedaseer Day” by a special parade. Two months later the Battalion again
played a conspicuous part in the storming of the great fort of Seringapatam which, Tippoo himself having
been killed, ended the campaign.
 During the earlier part of last century the Battalion served almost continually in the succession of
wars waged against Scindia and Holkar and their Pindari allies in Northern India, being present at the
storming of the fort of Bhurtpore in 1826.

In 1821 two companies of the Battalion were despatched with the force sent against the Arab
pirates of the Persian Gulf, taking part in the sharp fighting which resulted in the capture of the enemy
stronghold of Beni-Boo-Ali.

Eighteen years later, the Battalion performed notable service in Baluchistan during the First
Afghan War, when, for the extreme gallantry of detachments at the defence of the outpost of Kahun, it
was honoured by being accorded the title of” Light Infantry.” From May 1841 until August 140 men held
the post of Kahun, in conditions of extreme beat and privation, against an overwhelming force of hostile
tribesmen until, finally forced to capitulate, they were permitted to march out with the honours of war.
This heroic defence is commemorated by the honour “Kahun” upon the Regimental Colours, an honour
earned by the Battalion and borne by no regiment other than the Mahratta Light Infantry.

One company served in Persia in 1857, being present at the capture of Mohammerah, and
following general service and garrison duties during the Mutiny years the Battalion

sailed for China in 1860, being present during the operations ending in the surrender of Pekin and at the
fighting around Shanghai.

Arriving in Abyssinia too late to take part in the campaign against King Theodore in 1867 the
Battalion, following several years in cantonments at Belgaum, next saw active service in the Second
Afghan War of 1879-80. Creditable and arduous service was performed in operations for the relief of
Kandahar.

In 1886 the Battalion again proceeded on field service, this time crossing the Bay of Bengal to
Burma where for two years it was continuously employed in jungle operations against those bands of
marauding dacoits which infested Upper Burma for long, after the fall of Mandalay brought organized
resistance to an end. It is recorded of this campaign that all hardships of disease, heat, and an elusive
enemy in most difficult country were borne by the Battalion with unvarying cheerfulness.

With the exception of a few months’ punitive service in the Aden Protectorate during 1901, the
Battalion saw no further field service until the outbreak of the Great War of 1914-18.

To its great disappointment the Battalion was retained in India, on railway defence duties, during
the first two years of the war but it arrived in Mesopotamia in August 1916. The first major action was
fought on 9th January 1917 when, in the successful attack by the 9th Brigade on the strong Turkish
position at Abdul Hassan Bend, the Battalion earned great praise and suffered severe casualties.

A few days after the capture of Baghdad, in March 1917, the Battalion proceeded with the 9th
Brigade against Turkish positions in the Jebel Hamrin mountains. Encountering overwhelming enemy
opposition the force was obliged to retire and the Battalion earned great praise in the hard-fought
rearguard action which followed, in which both the Commanding Officer and the Second-in-Command
were killed and some 278 casualties sustained.

Early in 1918 the Battalion said good-bye to the heat and sand of Mesopotamia and in May of that
year arrived in Palestine. In General Allenby’s attack of 19th September, which completely destroyed the
Turkish Army and virtually ended the war with Turkey with the capture of Damascus, the Battalion took
part in the initial assault with the 9th Brigade. Despite severe casualties, 121 out of 667 who went into
action, the Battalion carried its objective, capturing three batteries of guns on the way, and advanced to
Samaria before being relieved.

Following two years of garrison duty in Palestine and at Amman the Battalion returned to India on
6th May 1920 and was employed variously in garrison duties until 1931 when it again crossed the Bay of
Bengal for duty in suppression of the Burma Rebellion of that year.

3rd Battalion

Raised at Calicut in 1797 as thë2nd Battalion the 5th (Travancore) Regiment of Bombay Native
Infantry~ the Battalion was designated in turn the 10th Regiment of Bombay: Native Infantry (1824), the
10th Regiment of Bombay Native Light Infantry (1868), the 10th Regiment of Bombay Light Infantry
(1885), the 110th Mahratta Light
 5

Infantry (1903), and, on the grouping of 1922, assumed its present title of 3rd/5th Mahratta Light
Infantry.

During the forty years following its raising the Battalion served almost continually, first in
Malabar against the forces of Tippoo Sultan and later against the Mahrattas, Pindaris, and other turbulent
folk of Western and Central India.

The first service of the Battalion beyond the shores of India took place in 1841 when it proceeded
to Aden for a short period, returning to share in arduous campaigning in the Southern Mahratta country in
1844, notably in the Mahratta States of Koihapur and Sawantwadj.

Next followed the Mutiny operations of 1857-59 when the Battalion saw varied service in Central
India. In 1867 the Battalion again proceeded overseas, this time as part of the expedition sent to Abyssinia
against King Theodore. Together with the then 3rd Native Infantry, now the 1st/5th Mahratta Light
Infantry, the Battalion fought magnificently at the storming of Magdala, receiving special commendation
from Sir Robert Napier.

During the Second Afghan War of 1879-80 the Battalion served with distinction with the force
despatched from Quetta to the relief of Kandahar, earning the battle honour “Afghanistan,” after which
followed a lengthy period of normal garrison duties until the outbreak of the Great War of 1914-18 again
sent it campaigning overseas.

The outbreak of war found the Battalion stationed at Belgaum and on 7th November it sailed from
Bombay as part of the Indian Expeditionary Force for service against the Turks in Mesopotamia.

Disembarking at Basra on 17th November 1914, with the 18th Brigade, the Battalion’s first action
was fought at the capture of Kurra, on the Tigris. In April 1915, again with the 18th Brigade, it fought a
memorable battle in the defence of Shaiba against a superior Turkish force advancing down the Euphrates
against Basra when, following three days of dogged defence and spirited counter-attack during which the
Battalion sustained 135 casualties, the enemy, having lost some 8,000 men, was forced into retreat.
 In September of the same year the Battalion was heavily engaged with the enemy in the occupation
of Kut-el-Amara and subsequent advance up the River Tigris. At Ctesiphon, the farthest point reached by
General Townshend’s force in its advance towards Baghdad, there was fought on 2lst/24th November one
of the severest actions of the campaign in Mesopotamia; a battle in which the Battalion fought with
notable distinction to which its casualties, 455 including 22 British and Indian officers, are ample witness.

Although the battle of Ctesiphon was a victory for the small British force, the defeated enemy
being forced to retreat, so heavy were the casualties that any idea of a further advance against Baghdad in
the face of overwhelmingly superior Turkish forces had perforce to be abandoned. There followed the
long arduous retirement to Kut-el-Amara and the epic 146 days’ defence of that city by its gallant but
heavily outnumbered garrison of British and Indian troops. With the failure of the relief force to break
through the investing Turkish lines what remained of the gallant garrison, wasted by disease and come to
the end of its food and ammunition, was forced to capitulate on 29th April 1916.

Of the hardships and inhuman treatment endured by the garrison of Kut at the hands of their
Turkish captors on the dreary march north and the long years of captivity in Turkish camps, much has
been written. It is sufficient to say that, of the 6 British officers, 12 Indian officers, 299 other ranks, and
39 followers who were marched away into captivity only 5 British officers, 11 Indian officers, 165 other
ranks and 15 followers survived to return to India at the end of the war.

During the whole period of its arduous service in Mesopotamia the Battalion was brigaded, in the
18th Brigade, with the 2nd Battalion the Royal Norfolk Regiment. The two Battalions fought together in
every battle, the survivors marching together into captivity following the fall of Kut-el-Amara, and the
close friendship born of dangers and hardships shared is commemorated by a silken flag, presented by the
Royal Norfolk Regiment to the Mahratta Light Infantry in 1942, which hangs in the Officers’ Mess of the
Regimental Centre at Belgaum.

With the loss of the Battalion at Kut-el-Amara in 1916 nought remained except the Depot details at
Belgaum. However from this cadre, greatly expanded, the Battalion was resuscitated in June 1917 and,
after an introduction to active service on the North West Frontier, sailed in May 1918 to join the Egyptian
Expeditionary Force in Palestine. By the end of the summer of 1918 the stage was set for the final act of
General Allenby’s campaign in Palestine and, forming part of the 20th Brigade which attacked the left of
the enemy’s line east of the Jordan Valley, the Battalion played its part commendably in the great advance
of September 1918 which broke through and finally destroyed the Turkish Army in that theatre of war.
 Returning from Palestine in March 1919 the Battalion proceeded almost immediately to the North-
West Frontier for service in the war with Afghanistan. Service on the Frontier and general garrison duties
kept the Battalion fully employed until the outbreak of the present War in 1939.

4th Battalion

In the year 1800 the Battalion was raised at Mangalore, as the 2nd Battalion the 8th Regiment of
Bombay Native Infantry, assuming in succession the titles of 16th Bombay Native Infantry (1824) 116th
Mahrattas (1903), and, on the grouping of 1922, its present designation of 4th/5th Mahratta Light
Infantry.

Immediately following its raising, the Battalion saw service in Malabar, a detachment taking part
under Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, in the recapture of the fortress of Jemalabad. There
followed service in Kathiawar in 1807, in 1911 at the storming of the fort of Chaya, and again in 1814.
Five years later, in 1819, the Battalion formed part of an expedition into Kutch, when the strong fort of
Bhuj was taken by storm. In 1841, for the first time, the Battalion proceeded overseas, to Aden in defence
of the Protectorate against Arab attempts at recapture.

With the exception of some service in 1859, against certain turbulent tribes in Gujerat and
Kathiawar, the Battalion saw no further field service until the Second Afghan war of 1879-80. In
operations to retrieve the disastrous defeat at Maiwand the Battalion marched with the Quetta force to the
relief of Kandahar. This forced march was notable in the circumstances of extreme heat, lack of transport,
and short rations and the Battalion

gained distinction by its successful defence, by 300 men and 350 sick, of the post of Kach against the
attack of 2,000 tribesmen. This reverse almost certainly prevented an enemy advance into India.

The Battalion took part in the Sudan Campaign of 1885 and again, in 1901, sailed across the
Indian Ocean, this time to East Africa for particularly arduous service against the tribesmen of what
afterwards became Italian Jubaland.

During the earlier part of the Great War of 19 14-18 the Battalion, to its disappointment, was
retained in India for service against the ever restive tribesmen of the North West Frontier but eventually,
in 1917, it proceeded overseas to take part in the final successful advance which broke Turkish resistance
in Mesopotamia.

The termination of the Great War failed to bring immediate peace in Mesopotamia where for long
months elements of the British Expeditionary Force were necessarily retained for the garrisoning of
outposts in a country lawless and disordered following the collapse of Turkish government. In 1920 there
broke out the Arab Rebellion which assumed serious proportions, it being estimated that some 130,000
tribesmen were at one time in revolt. Numerous small garrisons and outposts were besieged, the relief of
which by hastily organised columns entailed much serious fighting. Thus the Battalion went to the relief
of a detachment of its sister regiment, the 114th Mahrattas, hard pressed at Humaitha, and at Hilah two
companies composited with two companies of Gurkhas in a resultant battalion known as “Gurattas”
carried out several successful and hard fought engagements.

Garrison duties, alternated with Frontier service, occupied the Battalion during the years following
its return to India, especially good work being done in the Midnapore area during the political terrorist
movement of the nineteen-thirties.

5th Battalion

In December 1803, on the renewal of hostilities with Napoleonic France and consequent threat of
attack by sea, there was raised in Bombay from the volunteer corps of Bombay Fencibles which came into
existence in 1800, the 1st Battalion the 9th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry which in turn assumed
the titles of 17th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry (1824), 117th Mahrattas (1903), 117th (Royal)
Mahrattas (1921), and, on the grouping of 1922, its present designation of Sth/5th (Royal) Mahratta Light
Infantry.

Immediately following its raising the Battalion saw service against Scindia in Gujerat, taking part
in the costly siege of Bhurtpore in 1805. There followed field service in Kathiawar and in 1817 the
Battalion was fighting against the Mahrattas of the Konkan and Deccan. Two years later, in 1819, it
formed part of a force despatched against the Rao of Kutch, when the strong fortress of Bhuj was taken by
storm.

No further field service fell to the Battalion until 1859 when, in the troublous times following the
Mutiny, it was called upon to take part in arduous operations against the turbulent Waghers of Kathiawar.
Then followed a lengthy period of garrison duties in Western India until, in 1891, the Battalion proceeded
for the first time overseas with a force sent across the Indian Ocean against insurgents in the Somaliland
Protectorate.
 8

Further garrison duties occupied the then 117th Mahrattas until the outbreak of the Great War of
1914-18 saw it enter upon a period of active service for ever memorable in the annals of the Battalion.

In October 1914, in anticipation of Turkey’s entry into the war, the Battalion, as part of the 16th
Brigade, proceeded to the Persian Gulf and on 6th November shared in the capture of Fao, later proceeding
to Abadan where a Turkish force was held at bay until reinforcements from India, in which was included
the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry, arrived to relieve the situation. Further successes led to the evacuation
of Basra by the Turks and the decision to advance up the Tigris against Baghdad.

Prior to this advance, however, the small force had to face a Turkish advance in force down the
Euphrates, which was broken in what has been called the “miracle of Shaiba” when at the small town of
that name, after three days’ desperate fighting, on 14th April 1915, the exhausted defenders—with whom
were numbered the Battalion and the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry—with all their troops in line and their
ammunition almost expended advanced to attack the enemy at Bajasieh and drove him from the field.

There followed the advance up the Tigris towards Baghdad and on 27th/28th

September 1915 was fought the brilliant, but very costly, battle resulting in the capture of

Kut-el-Amara from greatly superior Turkish forces in strongly defended positions. The

Battalion in this battle played a most conspicuous part, attacking the enemy’s trenches

with the utmost gallantry and losing fifty per cent of its strength in casualties.

With sadly depleted forces the advance was continued—a fatal decision as later events were to
prove—and at Ctesiphon, barely 30 miles from Baghdad, was fought on 22nd/24th November one of the
most desperate battles of the war in Mesopotamia. In this epic struggle, when Townshend’s weary 11,000
attacked and, after bloody fighting, defeated 18,000 fresh Turkish troops, the Battalion played a most
conspicuous part. With outstanding gallantry it captured, and held against counter-attacks, the “Vital
Point” of the Turkish defence. The casualties were grievous, however, one company being practically
annihilated and indeed the British force lost 4,500 men, so that all thought of continuing the advance on
Baghdad had to be abandoned.
 Then began the toilsome and weary retreat to Kut-el-Amara and the bitter 146 days’ siege
ending—all attempts at relief having failed—with the honourable capitulation, on 29th April 1916, of the
disease-ridden, starving garrison. Of the 225 men of the Battalion, all that remained at the end of the
tragedy of Kut, only 130 survived the hardships of captivity to return to India at the close of the war.

For its conspicuously distinctive service from the original landing at Fao until the capitulation at
Kut-el-Amara the Battalion was honoured, in 1921, with the title “Royal” it has subsequently borne. As
the Royal Battalion, royal blue is the colour of shoulder lanyard, pugri fringe, and hosetops in place of the
Light Infantry green worn by other battalions of the Regiment and a royal crown is superimposed upon
the Regimental shoulder titles.

As with the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry and the 2nd Royal Norfoiks of the 18th Brigade, the
117th Mahrattas and the 2nd Dorsetshire Regiment of the 16th Brigade

during these years of dangers, hardships, and honourable captivity shared, arrived at a close degree of
mutual friendship and appreciation, and it is of interest to relate the sequel to both instances of close
comradeship between British and Mahratta battalions. In 1942, the recent war having brought to Western
India both the 2nd Royal Norfoiks and the 2nd Dorsets, representative parties of these two Battalions,
with their respective Commanding Officers, came to the Regimental Centre at Belgaum and at the close
of a memorable three days’ visit to the home of the Mahratta Light Infantry presented to their hosts, in a
simple but inspiring ceremony, a silken flag of their combined colours with the device “NORSETS”
which hangs today in the Officers’ Mess of the Regimental Centre.

As with the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry, the Depot cadre of the 117th Mahrattas was, in 1918,
expanded to resuscitate the Battalion lost at Kut two years before. The reformed Battalion, later in the
year, proceeded on active service to Persia where, in October, one small party of about 100 men, isolated
and surrounded, fought a particularly gallant action against hostile Tangistani tribesmen.

The Great War successfully concluded, the Battalion returned to India to be regrouped in 1922,
into the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry as the 5th (Royal) Battalion of which Regiment it continued to be
fully employed on garrison and Frontier duties until the outbreak of recent war in 1939.

10th Battalion
 In the year 1800 the Battalion was raised at Bombay as the 2nd Battalion the 7th Regiment of
Bombay Native Infantry to assume in succession the titles of 14th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry
(1824), 114th Mahrattas (1903), and, on the grouping of 1922, its present designation of 10th /5th
Mahratta Light Infantry.

Less than two years following its raising saw the new Battalion on field service in Gujerat where it
took part in several severe actions as part of a Bombay expedition to aid in supressing a powerful
rebellion against the Gaekwar, the fortress of Baroda being captured by assault on 8th July 1802. The
campaign concluded with the defeat of the insurgents in a severely contested action at Saori on 6th
February 1803.

Some fifteen years afterwards the Battalion rendered good service in the hard fought Mabratta War
of 1818, playing a notable part in the complete defeat of the Peshwa’s army at Sholapur on 10th May.

Then followed a lengthy period of garrison duty in Western India until, in the troublous times
following the Mutiny of 1857, the Battalion was engaged during most of 1859 in arduous operations
against the truculent Waglier tribes of Kathiawar.

The Battalion was given no opportunity for further service until nearly sixty years had passed,
having no part in the Second Afghan War of 1879-80 or the numerous minor campaigns of the North-
West Frontier. It was not until the outbreak of the (3i~eat War of 1914-18 that the Battalion, since 1903
the 114th Mabrattas, was again called upon for active service.

Frontier service was its role during the first year of the war but proceeding overseas in 1915 the
Battalion, serving for the first time in its long history beyond India’s borders, joined the army in
Mesopotamia then battling against odds to the relief of General

10

Townshend’s gallant, but starving and exhausted, little force besieged in Kut-el-Amara. The fortune of
war offered it little share in the brilliant campaign whereby General Maude’s victorious army recaptured
Kut and occupied Baghdad but in the action at Sharqat, on 29th October 1918, came the great
opportunity, nobly taken, when the Battalion attacked with the utmost gallantry and steadiness strong
Turkish positions stubbornly defended. In the final struggle the Turks, in their last counter-attack, swept
through a Sikh Battalion on to the 114th Mahrattas, who stood firm and regained the lost position.
 Casualties, inevitably, were very heavy but the Battalion gained the notable distinction of earning
two D.S.Os., four M.Cs., six I.O.Ms., sixteen I.D.S.Ms., and eight Mentions in Despatches. No Indian
regiment, before or since, has gained so many honours in a single action. This desperate and gallant fight
is commemorated by a flag presented by Brigadier-General A. G. Wauchope, C.M.G., C.I.E.. D.S.O.,
under whose command the 114th Mahrattas fought at Sharqat, which hangs in the Quarter Guard at the
Regimental Centre and by the Battalion annually on “Sharqat Day,” 29th October, by a special parade and
regimental sports.

With this victory came the collapse of Turkish resistance in Mesopotamia and the end of the war
but two years later, out of the widespread political unrest that followed the end of Turkish rule in that
country, came the Arab Rising of 1920 which proved a serious matter for the by then much reduced
British Army of Occupation. Garrisons and outposts all over the country were attacked by large forces of
insurgents and in many cases hard put to it to hold out until relieved. A detachment of the Battalion
formed one such garrison at Rumaitha which put up a prolonged and desperate defence until relieved, at
the second attempt, by a column of which the 116th Mahrattas formed part.

The return to India of the Battalion saw the conclusion of its history as an active unit for, on the
grouping of 1922, the 114th Mahrattas became the 10th, or Training, Battalion of the 5th Mahratta Light
Infantry and as such has since, from the permanent Regimental Centre at Belgaum, ably fulfilled its role
as draft-finder to the active battalions of the Regiment.
 CHAPTER III

THE REGIMENT IN THE WAR OF l939-45

Africa and the Middle East

THE outbreak of the recent World War in September 1939 found four out of the five active battalions of
the 5th Mahratta light Infantry employed in garrison duties in various parts of India and on the restless
North-West Frontier. Only the 2nd Battalion was then beyond India’s borders, having proceeded overseas
in August 1939 as part of the garrison of the Aden Protectorate.

With the declaration of war upon Hitlerite Germany all reservists, both officers and other ranks,
were immediately recalled to service with the Colours and all battalions brought up to war strength in
anticipation of the stern work all knew must lie ahead.

Nevertheless, Europe and Germany were far distant from India where the tempo of war at first beat
slowly and it was not until after the entry of Mussolini’s Italian Empire into the war, following the fall of
France in June 1940, that field service for the Indian Army became an imminent actuality. Indian troops
proceeded overseas to help protect Egypt against the certainty of Italian invasion and, following the
occupation of British Somaliland by a strong Italian force, to strengthen the thin defences of the Sudan
menaced by powerful enemy forces from behind the borders of Eritrea and Abyssinia.

It was to take part in the defence of the Sudan and in the subsequent successful operations that led
to the elimination of Mussolini’s East African Empire that battalions of the Mahratta Light Infantry first
proceeded on field service in this greatest of all wars.

It has been mentioned that the 2nd Battalion was already serving overseas, in Aden, and in August
1940 this Battalion disembarked at Port Sudan to be followed a few days later by the 3rd Battalion come
direct from India. Both battalions proceeded to the Khartoum area and early in 1941, as units respectively
of the 4th and 5th Indian Divisions, took a notable share in the arduous and brilliant campaign to remove
the threat to the Sudan and seize the enemy colony of Eritrea. Both these battalions won undying fame in
the desperate and bloody assault which took the Italians’ immensely strong mountain fortress of Keren in
March 1941.
 The campaign opened with intensive patrolling and a series of engagements with Italian forces
threatening the Sudan which resulted in the capture in succession of the fortified towns of Gallabat,
Kassala, Urn Hagar, and Tessenei and the driving of the enemy back across his own frontiers into Eritrea.
For his gallantry and example while leading a boldly planned and executed night raid on Fort Gallabat
Captain P. C. Doyle of the 3rd Battalion was awarded the M.C., and the I.O.M. was posthumously
awarded to Naik Vishnu Mane who was mortally wounded while gallantly leading his section against an
enemy machine-gun post.

By the end of February the British forces had reached the area of Keren and on 15th March the 4th
and 5th Indian Divisions launched a frontal attack upon that powerful

12

and strongly held mountain fortress. The 2nd Battalion, commanded by Lieut-Colonel A. 0. Kersey,
M.C., was set the task of assaulting and capturing the precipitous and rocky feature known as Flat Top.
The attack was launched according to plan and ‘D’ Company on the right, under heavy mortar fire and
having lost its Company Commander severely wounded when scarcely over the starting line, under
Subedar Narayan Palao quickly seized its immediate objective.

‘C’ Company on the left also made rapid progress until, some 200 ft. below its objective, it was
held up by heavy mortar fire. Nevertheless the company continued to work its way forward and the bodies
of the Company Commander, Captain N. Church, and five men later were found actually on the summit.

The two reserve companies were then ordered forward in support and after severe bomb fighting
the Mahrattas, by sheer gallantry, drove the enemy, who all the time were in superior strength, from their
well-nigh impregnable positions on the summit. For his gallantry and fine leadership in this attack Major
Cocksedge was awarded the D.S.O.

During the night powerful enemy counter-attacks succeeded in recapturing the summit of Flat Top.
The sole remaining reserve, one platoon, having failed to restore the situation, the Adjutant, Captain A. J.
Oldham, collected thirty men of the porterage company and organized a second counter-attack. This
assault he led personally in a bayonet charge and successfully dislodging some 150 of the enemy,
reoccupied Flat Top. For his initiative and gallantry in this desperate action Captain Oldham was awarded
the M.C.
 The Battalion thus, in a day and night of desperate fighting with a resolute enemy superior in
numbers and having every advantage of position, succeeded in carrying and holding its objectives. Some
measure of the severity of the action, however, may be reckoned from the casualties suffered in the attack
and subsequent consolidation, these being, killed and wounded, 3 British officers, JO Indian officers, and
245 other ranks.

At the same time that its sister battalion was making this desperate bid for Flat Top, and as part of
the same general assault on the Keren defences, the 3rd Battalion, some way to the right and under
command of Lieut.-Colonel Reid, D.S.0., M.C., was engaged in a task at least equally difficult. As part of
the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade the Battalion’s immediate objectives were the two steep and strongly
held features known as Pimple and Pinnacle. It was not until late afternoon that the Battalion was ordered
into the attack and, passing through our advanced troops which were holding the lower slopes of the two
hills, the leading companies began to scale the precipitous slopes. They were met by heavy and accurate
fire from machine-guns and mortars and, finding direct assault on the precipitous slopes impossible, made
for the saddle between the two features. As darkness fell very heavy mortar and machine-gun fire could
be heard as the two companies pressed forward undeterred by heavy casualties. Twice ‘B’ Company,
commanded by Subedar Shrirang Lawand, were forced back and yet a third time, encouraged by the
example of their indomitable leader, they pressed forward until the saddle was reached. Fifteen minutes
later they were on their objective. The Divisional Commander has placed on record how, in the darkness,
the first intimation he had of the capture of Pinnacle was hearing, from across the valley, the triumphant
Mahratta battle-cry of” Shivaji Maharaj ki jai.”

13

Pimple was carried during the night and, assaulting on the heels of a defeated counter-attacking
force, the West Yorkshires took the key position of Fort Dologorodoc.

There followed some days of consolidation and reconnaissance, always under heavy mortar and
artillery fire from which severe casualties were sustained, and on 25th March the Brigade again went into
the attack with the object of securing sufficient ground for the Sappers to repair the extensive demolition
on the Keren road and so enable the tanks and armoured cars to go through. There followed two days of
heavy fighting in most difficult country, fighting in which the enemy held every advantage of position
and inflicted grievous casualties, but in spite of losses the Battalion pressed steadily on until eventually
news was received that the Sappers’ task was done and the demolition repaired. Next morning a dirty strip
of white cloth fluttered from the enemy-held Sanchal Peak —the battle for Keren was over. An enemy
superior in strength had been driven out of well-nigh impregnable positions and the Mahrattas had played
a notable part in this great victory which effectually broke Italian power in East Africa. But the price had
been heavy. In twelve days of continuous fighting the Battalion suffered in casualties, which included the
Commanding Officer wounded, 7 British officers, 7 Indian officers, and 238 other ranks.

In recognition of his leadership throughout the battle and the inspiring example of his personal
gallantry, Lieut.-Colonel Reid was awarded a bar to his D.S.O. while the M.C. was fittingly awarded to
Subedar Shrirang Lawand, who, by his outstanding leadership under heavy fire and complete disregard of
personal danger, in command of one of the assaulting companies was very largely responsible for the
capture of Pinnacle Hill and its retention in the face of very heavy enemy shell fire and repeated counter-
attack. For his gallantry and devotion to duty in command of another company during the assault, in
which he was severely wounded, the M.C. was also awarded to Captain d’Issa Boomgardt.

For their personal initiative and conspicuous gallantry in evicting the enemy from his strong
position on these bullet-swept and well-nigh inaccessible slopes a number of N.C.Os. and sepoys of both
battalions were cited in despatches and later awarded the I.O.M. or the 1.D.S.M. It may fairly be claimed
for the two battalions that, since they alone of all the battalions engaged succeeded in taking their
objectives and holding them against all counter-attacks, their gallant conduct was mainly responsible for
the signal victory of Keren. The following may be quoted from a message received by Lieut.-Colonel
Kersey, commanding the 2nd Battalion, from Brigadier R. A. Savory in command of 11th Indian infantry
Brigade

“I wish in particular to thank your Battalion for the great dash it displayed in

capturing and holding Flat Top Hill, in spite of very severe casualties. It has been a magnificent effort.
Will you please tell your officers and men that 1 am now more proud than ever to have them in my
Brigade.”

At the same time that their sister battalions were making regimental history in East Africa, the 1st
Battalion and 5th Royal Battalion were ordered to mobilize and shortly afterwards, in May and July
respectively, sailed from India to disembark for field service, as had their fathers of the old 103rd and
117th only a generation earlier, at the port of Basra at the head of the Persian Gulf.

14

For some years prior to the outbreak of hostilities in Europe Nazi influence had insidiously
penetrated throughout the Moslem lands of the Middle East and in the early months of the war the
activities of enemy agents in spreading pro-Axis propaganda in this region were greatly intensified. The
unbroken series of German military successes in Western Europe in 1940 and in the Balkans during the
spring of 1941 followed by the apparently irresistible advance of Hitler’s armies into Soviet Russia in the
summer of the latter year encouraged strong pro-Nazi elements, led by the would-be Dictator Rashid Au
in Iraq and Riza Shah the tyrant ruler of Iran, openly to declare in active collaboration with the apparently
all-conquering European Dictators.

In order to protect British interests in these two countries, and particularly to secure the vitally
important oil-fields, it became urgently necessary for Britain to effect the military occupation of both Iraq
and Iran. In the late summer of 1941 the 1st Battalion operated with the force that occupied Baghdad and
secured the vital oil pipe-line running westwards to the Palestinian coast while the Royal Battalion
performed excellently in the short but sharp fighting which preceded the capture of Kurramshahr
(Mahomerrah) and the collapse of Iranian resistance. Thus were the Iranian oil-fields secured and enemy
activities, both in that country and in Iraq, successfully forestalled.

During the ensuing two years these two battalions served—with an exciting interlude in the case of
the 1st Battalion, which was hurried to the Western Desert for a few tense weeks to assist in holding back
Rommel’s imminent threat to Egypt in 1942—in garrison and security duties in Iraq and Northern Iran,
the Royal Battalion co-operating on occasions with Soviet Russian troops which had entered the latter
country from the direction of the Caucasus. During this long period of testing service, frequently in most
trying extremes of climate from the burning sands of Iraq to the snow-covered mountains of Northern
Iran, and generally lacking the stimulus of active service, both battalions earned unqualified praise for
their steadiness, good discipline, and soldierly qualities in all circumstances.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of the end of the East African Campaign, the success of which they had
so signally helped to ensure in the victorious battle of Keren, both the 2nd and the 3rd Battalions were
embarked in the summer of 1941 for Egypt, whence the former proceeded as part of the 11th Indian
Infantry Brigade of the famous 4th Indian Division for service in the Western Desert and the latter, after a
long march into Iran and back to Palestine, was embarked for Cyprus where during the winter of 1941-42
it remained with the 5th Indian Division in the role of defence of that important island against possible
imminent enemy air and sea attack.

Frequently in contact with the enemy in the coastal sector of the Western Desert front, with
patrolling and the organization of defence positions as its general role, the 2nd Battalion participated in
the abortive assault on the enemy’s strong Halfaya positions in June 1941 and the more successful attack
upon Bir-el-Gobi in December of the same year. In both these operations the Battalion attacked with great
gallantry in the face of powerful and determined enemy opposition and suffered severe casualties from
machine-gun and mortar fire.

For their gallantry during the earlier engagement at Halfaya in June, when the 2nd Battalion lost in
casualties 7 officers (British and Indian) and 108 other ranks, two

15

Indian officers were awarded the LO.M. On 15th/17th June Subedar-Major Raojirao Shinde having been
left in command of ‘D’ Company during the withdrawal, it was entirely due to his coolness and disregard
of personal danger that he was able to extricate the company, with the minimum loss of life and
equipment, from a difficult situation exposed to accurate machine-gun fire. During the action and long
approach march he displayed such energy and endurance as would have been remarkable in a much
younger man.

On the morning of 16th June Jemadar Sakharam Shinde led his platoon under very heavy artillery
and close and accurate machine-gun fire. He personally led the forward section which captured the
objective, and in so doing was badly wounded. Nevertheless, he saw to the advance of his other two
sections and remained in command during the rest of the day. Later Jemadar Sakharam Shinde, who
displayed courage and determination of the highest order, died of his wound.

The 2nd Battalion was again heavily engaged in the action at Bir-el-Gobi on 4th/6th December
1941, when during a powerful enemy counter-attack two companies were overrun by a concentration of
German tanks, losing in casualties 3 British officers, 5 Indian officers, and 240 other ranks.

Notable devotion to duty, for which he deservedly won the posthumous award of the l.O.M., was
displayed by Sepoy Babaji Desai who, when his Section Commander had been killed, took command and
used his Bren gun very effectively in assisting the advance of the company against heavy enemy machine-
gun fire. Later this sepoy was ordered to remain in position covering the withdrawal of his company and
carried out this task so well that the company suffered few casualties from the fire of the enemy’s
machine-guns on its immediate front. Sepoy Babaji Desai and the two men with him were killed before
they could themselves withdraw.

In February 1942 a noteworthy and very successful raid was carried out by a patrol of the 2nd
Battalion upon the airfield of Martuba, then some 40 miles in rear of the enemy’s lines. The party,
consisting of Captain A. J. Oldham, M.C., Lieutenant J. B. Elliott, and eight other ranks with two
Mahratta sappers, proceeded some distance in trucks which they later concealed and continued on foot
making use of the cover afforded by the many deep wadis common to this area of the Western Desert. On
the second night out the party were able to approach and reconnoitre the airfield and on the following
night made a daring and successful raid resulting in the destruction, with demolition charges, of three
enemy aircraft and a bomb dump.

Successfully evading interception by the surprised enemy the party was able to withdraw into the
desert, and on the fourth day regained the British lines. For his leadership and judgment in this daring raid
Captain Oldham was awarded a bar to his M.C.

In recognition of his able handling of his battalion in successive rearguard actions covering the
retreat of the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade in the general retiral of the army from the Barce-Benghazi area
during the period 24th January to 4th February 1942, Lieut.-Colonel M. P. Lancaster, commanding the
2nd Battalion, was awarded the D.S.O.

June 1942 saw Rommel’s powerful and successful counter-offensive which carried his Afrika
Korps to El Alamein and the very gates of Egypt. As the British Desert Army

16

fell back to the eastward the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade was attached to the South African Division
hastily thrown into Tobruk to hold that fortress on the enemy’s sea flank. On 20th June, at daybreak, the
enemy launched a very powerful surprise attack with his armoured forces on that sector of the perimeter
held by the Mahrattas. Assisted by intense dive-bombing from the air the heavy enemy armour broke into
and overwhelmed the thinly held defences, and within a very short time the tragedy of Tobruk was
complete. A splendid Brigade of the incomparable 4th Indian Division had ceased to exist. With the
marching away into captivity of its survivors there passes out of our story, but not, be it assured, out of
honoured memory, the gallant 2nd Battalion.

The high regard in which the 2nd Battalion, as part of the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade, was held is
evident in the following letter written by Major-General F. I. S. Tuker, commanding the 4th Indian
Division, a few weeks after the fall of Tobruk, to the Commandant of the Regimental Centre at Belgaum
:—

“Dear Commandant,

I have wished to write to you before but have not done so as I had hoped to get more news of your
2nd Battalion. I have had no more. All I can tell you is that the attack opened on 2/5th Mahratta front
on the morning of 20th June, at 0630 hours, with smoke, H.E., and air bombing. German infantry
lifted the perimeter minefield and got into the defences. But this was no real matter. 11th Brigade
asked for the prearranged tank counter-attack by Division to go in at once. It never materialised and
the opportunity passed. Finally the Brigade Commander put in all his reserve Carriers and they were
wiped out. Then followed a German tank attack with up to 70 tanks, as far as can be made out,
mainly on the 2/5th front. 2/5th put up their usual courageous fight but were swamped from all
accounts.

We have no news of any of your officers or men.

 Tobruk was under command of Major-General Klopper, South African Division, and the bulk of
the troops were South Africans. 11th Brigade held a front of about 12 miles on the E. and S.E. face
of Tobruk—right, Camerons; centre, 2/Sth M.L.I.; left, 2/7th G.R. The Brigade at the time was
detached from 4th Indian Division.

11th Brigade Group fought as it always has done—the 2/7th G.R. were still fighting on 12 hours
after Tobruk had surrendered; Camerons repulsed three attacks before being overrun by tanks; 2/5th
did all that was humanly possible and more; 25th Field Regiment fought till 14 out of 16 guns were
destroyed and then blew up the other two. One Troop left 8 destroyed German tanks in front of it.

The loss of 11th Brigade is to us quite irreparable. We regarded them as the finest Infantry Brigade
in the Army. In this Brigade your 2nd Battalion has always played a most gallant part, and has added
a long chapter of courage, skill, and devotion to the history of your famous regiment.

The reason for the loss of Tobruk was that the place was hastily occupied, insufficiently mined,
11th Brigade had far too big a front (12 miles), and A/T guns were very few, while the arrangements
for the Division counter-attack were obviously faulty. This last may have been the main reason for
the failure.

17

Please let the Colonel of your regiment know the little I have been able to tell you here.”

To meet the threat to the Nile Valley of Rommel’s seemingly irresistible advance reinforcements
were hurriedly rushed to the Western Desert approaches and with these came the 1st Battalion the
Mahratta Light Infantry from Iraq and the 3rd Battalion from Cyprus. The stay of both these battalions in
Egypt was short but both nobly played their part in the confused and critical ten days before the line was
established to bait Rommel’s advance at El Alamein. Hastily thrown forward into defence positions the
abandonment of which, in order to avoid encirclement, was almost immediately ordered, the two batta-
lions became involved in the hurried retreat from Mersah Matruh.

Already mobile forces were across their line of retreat and in the confusion of the subsequent break
through to the eastward, considerable losses were sustained. These included Lieut.-Colonel Marshall,
commanding the 1st Battalion, and Brigadier Reid, D.S.O., M.C., who had been until recently in
command of the 3rd Battalion, both being taken prisoner along with other officers and men, and Major
Hale, Second-in-Command of the 1st Battalion, who was killed in action.
 With the reorganization of the Eighth Army, on the timely arrival of reinforcements from Britain,
those forces so hurriedly assembled to meet the recent emergency were redispersed and in this
redistribution the 1st and 3rd Battalions returned respectively to their erstwhile duties in Iraq and Cyprus.

By the middle of 1943. the Axis threat to the security of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle
East had receded with the destruction in Tunisia of Field-Marshal Rommel’s Afrika Korps at the hands of
the British, Indian, and Dominions troops of General Montgomery’s Eighth Army, and the three
remaining Mahratta units—the 1st Battalion, 3rd Battalion, and 5th Royal Battalion, which last recently
had been converted to the specialised role of a Machine Gun Battalion—together with other elements of
the 8th and 10th Indian Divisions, were brought to Syria and the Suez Canal area for specialised training
in Mountain Warfare and Amphibious Operations in readiness for the campaign then being prepared to
carry the war into Axis-held Southern Europe.

With the departure of the three regular battalions of the 4th Mahratta Anti-Tank Regiment
(originally the 8th Battalion), which accompanied them to Italy, and of the 5th Mahratta Anti-Tank
Regiment (originally the 9th Battalion) to India—the Artillery units having served since 1942 in Iraq and
Syria—no Mahratta formations remained with the forces of the Middle East until, in the very last weeks
of the war, the 14th Battalion, a war service battalion which had earlier proceeded overseas for a period in
1942-43 to garrison the tiny Attu Atoll in the Indian Ocean against possible Japanese attack, arrived from
India for service in Iraq.
 CHAPTER IV

THE REGIMENT IN THE WAR OF 1939-45

Italy

ON 3rd September 1943, fourth anniversary of the outbreak of war, British armies from Sicily crossed
the Straits of Messina and successfully invaded the Calabriar’ provinces of Southern Italy. There followed
the immediate capitulation of the Italian Government and these forces, rapidly reinforced by other Allied
armies, began the arduous campaign which in nearly two years of bitter fighting, in which the enemy
exploited to the full the natural advantages of terrain ideally suited to defence, drove the German armies
the entire length of the Italian Peninsula to their utter defeat and unconditional surrender in the Valley of
the Po.

On 24th September 1943 the 1st Battalion and the 5th Royal Battalion disembarked at Taranto, in
the heel of Italy, as units of the 8th Indian Division despatched from the Middle East to reinforce the
Eighth Army. With the same formation, too, came the 4th Mahratta Anti-Tank Regiment which had been
raised originally at Belgaum as the 8th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry and converted to Indian Artillery on
New Year’s Day 1942. Together with the gunners the Royal Battalion, in the role of machine-gunners,
became Divisional troops and in the long and arduous campaign to follow it was their fate to serve, never
as regiment or battalion, but as individual batteries or companies detached in support of other infantry or
armoured formations. The recording of the history of these two Mahratta units in the Italian campaign of
1943-45 unfortunately suffers on account of this dispersion, detailed reports and accounts not being
readily available, and there is reason to believe that much of interest and deserving of record remains
untold.

Quickly organizing after disembarkation, the 1st Battalion moved up without delay and went into
the line on the Adriatic sector of the front which by this time had been extended from sea to sea right
across Southern Italy. The Mahrattas first went into action during the fighting for the crossing of the River
Trigno early in November when, following up the assualt troops which had successfully forced the river,
they advanced to capture the village of Roccavivara and took part in the subsequent advance to the River
Sangro. Here the Germans had established a strong defence line covering the river, necessitating a major
operation to force the crossing and drive the enemy from his positions on high ground to the north.

In the general assault plan the 1st Mahrattas were allotted a forward role and on 27th November
moved to the attack. Effecting a secret concentration in a small area of dead ground near Paglietta, on the
near side of the river, the surprise attack of the 21st Indian Infantry Brigade successfully forced the
Sangro and in three days of heavy fighting against increasing enemy opposition the 1st Mahrattas,
supported by tanks, battled their way in spite of casualties into the fortified village of Romagnoli.

In their successful forcing of the Sangro line all three Infantry Brigades of the 8th Indian Division
received valuable help from the guns of those sub-units of the 5th Royal Battalion allotted to them in
support.

19

During the attack at the Sangro, his platoon suffering casualties from a well-sited enemy machine-
gun firing from a loophole in a farm house, Lance-Naik Han Lakde stalked the house and fired his Bren
gun through the window, to be fired upon in return. Lying still, with bullet wounds in head and arm, the
enemy believed him dead and once more thrust their machine-gun through the loophole whereupon the
Lance-Naik seized the barrel and, although badly burned, reversing the gun, shot nine of the enemy. For
his courage and devotion to duty, in thus enabling his company to continue its advance, Lance-Naik Han
Lakde was awarded the I.O.M.

A feature of the fighting in this area was the heavy and accurate enemy shelling. On 30th
November the German gunners, having located Battalion H.Q. in a house, put down a heavy
concentration which destroyed the house and either killed or wounded all H.Q. personnel including the
Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Colonel Thomson, who was mortally wounded.

As winter set in the advance continued towards the line of the River Moro where, on the river itself
and the covering heights beyond, the enemy made their next concentrated effort to hold up the forward
movement of the Eighth Army. Campaigning conditions by this time had become very bad, constant
heavy rain having turned the soft Italian country roads to mud-filled channels well-nigh impassable to
motor transport.

By early December the 1st Battalion, maintaining continued close contact with strong enemy
rearguards and frequently subjected to accurate harassing fire from German artillery, had fought its way
forward into the small towns of Lanciano and Frisa and it was here, on Frisa ridge overlooking the Mono
Valley, that the enemy gunners located and shelled the Regimental Aid Post, causing many casualties
among the medical personnel and killing Lieutenant Patel.
 On 12th December the line of the River Moro, a stream which though not so wide as the Sangro
was yet a formidable obstacle, was forced by troops of the 8th Indian Division with the 1St Mahrattas in
an assault role. ‘B’ Company, having made a successful crossing by night, with the object of establishing
a bridgehead for the 21st Indian Infantry Brigade, was very heavily counter-attacked by numerically
superior German infantry and tanks. The Mahrattas put up stout resistance but were overrun by enemy
tanks, against which they had no defence other than small arms fire, and forced to surrender. The
Company Commander, Major Mahant, however, being in wireless communication with his own guns,
called down upon his own position a heavy concentration of shell fire, causing the enemy tanks and
infantry hastily to make for cover. In the ensuing confusion, although inevitably suffering casualties and
already disarmed, he with most of his company was able to effect his escape. For this gallant and selfless
action Major S. N. Mahant, who unfortunately was killed in action only a short time afterwards, was
awarded the M.C.

This initial setback, however, did not deter the 1st Mahrattas, whose spirited assault carried them
across the River Moro and on to the high ground beyond. Here German resistance was stubborn, attack
followed by fierce counter-attack with all weapons in support, as during the closing days of 1943 the
Battalion fought its way forward through the hilly country around the small town of Villa Grande. In
defence positions on a high feature close to the town ‘C’ Company was heavily attacked by enemy
infantry strongly

20

supported by tanks. A serious situation developed but the Mahratta Company refused to be shaken and the
Company Commander, Major N. J. M. Pettengel, whose cool courage and high standard of leadership
earned him the M.C., by moving from platoon to section, in the open and constantly exposed to heavy
fire, notably succeeded in repelling the enemy tanks by bold and skilful use of those company weapons
which were in the circumstances his sole available defence.

In the battle to force the crossing of the River Moro the machine-guns of the 5th Royal Battalion
rendered notable service in support of the assaulting infantry and the I.D.S.M. was won by Jemadar
Rajaram Sawant when, in command of a machine-gun platoon in support of the 3rd/l5th Punjab
Regiment, being attacked by enemy infantry and there being no time to get his guns into action, he led his
platoon in a spirited bayonet charge which drove back the enemy with considerable loss. The I.D.S.M.
was also awarded to Naik Babu Gaikwad for gallantry in the same battle when, in command of a
machine-gun section, he was largely responsible for beating off a dangerous counter-attack.

Aided by atrocious weather and ground conditions rendering impossible large-scale offensive
operations, the Germans were able to hold the Eighth Army advance along the line of the Orsogna-Ortona
lateral road. Defensive positions were taken up along the River Arielli and in the mountains to the west
and for the remaining winter months the battalions existed in miserable conditions of constant rain and
mud and enduring bitter cold as the mountains were swept by frequent snow blizzards. Constantly, and
despite the bitter weather, in contact with the enemy the initiative was retained by frequent raids and
aggressive patrolling. The German gunners, following the example set by our own artillery, kept up
constant harassing fire with guns and mortars. Casualties were frequent from all causes and included
Major P. Killick killed on Taverna ridge on 18th March, also Captain Hinds attached from the Frontier
Force Regiment.

During March 1944 and while accompanying a reconnaissance patrol sent out from ‘C’ Company,
the 1st Mahrattas, Captain Merrywether of the 4th Mahratta AntiTank Regiment was killed by enemy
action.

Meanwhile another Indian Division, the 10th, had been despatched to Italy from the Middle East.
As a unit of this fresh formation the 3rd Battalion landed at Taranto on 28th March 1944. After a few
weeks of necessary organization the 3rd Battalion moved forward and went into the line in the Ortona
sector not very far from where the 1st Battalion was in position and just before the latter battalion was
moved elsewhere. During this introductory period, continuing throughout several weeks of early summer,
the 3rd Mahrattas gained their initial experience of European warfare along the Arielli River, where
vigorous patrolling and subjection to shelling were the order of the day.

For some months past, during the winter and early spring, the Allied Fifth Army, operating on the
western side of the Appennines, had been held up by the formidable defences of the Germans’ “Gustav
Line” which, with the “Hitler Line” in rear, covered the approaches to Rome. Towards the end of April
General Alexander, Allied Supreme Commander in Italy, in a realignment of his forces, secretly moved a
major portion of the Eighth Army across the mountains to effect a concentration with the object of forcing
these very strong German defence lines. Resulting from this general move westward the 1st Battalion
found itself by the end of April in the area of Cassino, where very heavy fighting had taken place earlier
in the year.

21

Here, facing the Germans across the River Rapido, the positions occupied by the Mahrattas were
completely open to enemy observation from the dominant Monastery Hill overlooking Cassino so that no
movement whatsoever was possible by day without attracting accurate shelling from well-directed
German guns. So great indeed was the advantage to the enemy of his dominating field of view that, in
order to cloak preparation for the coming assault and to keep the Germans guessing as to its probable
direction, a permanent heavy smoke screen was maintained for several weeks over the entire Cassino
area. Into this artificial fog the enemy gunners kept up continuous fire with guns, multiple mortars, and
rockets.
 At 2300 hours on the night of 15th May the crossing of the River Rapido was made by the 17th
and 19th Brigades supported by the 5th Royal Mahrattas. In the heat of action some of the latter left their
machine-guns and joined in the assault. The 21st Brigade, including the 1st Mahrattas, crossed during the
night and consolidated the bridge-head. At 0800 hrs. the Mahrattas advanced through the Royal West
Kents to enlarge the bridge-head and a terrific battle ensued. Companies moved only a few hundred yards
at a time, being pinned by “rebelwerfers” and machine-guns. Superb support was given by tanks and
Royal Battalion 4.2 mortars and M.M.Gs. By the end of the day Piquataro had been captured and New
Zealanders passed through the 1st Mahrattas to keep the enemy on the run. This continuous pressure and
steady advance by the Royal West Kents, 1st Mahrattas, and New Zealand troops prevented the enemy
from holding his second line of defence—the “Hitler Line “—which was finally smashed by the New
Zealanders the next day. The way to Rome was open and the pursuit to the north continued.

Mention has been made above of the valuable support given by the 5th Royal Battalion during the
assault on the “Gustav Line.” At the crossing of the Gari River, in the Cassino area, while commanding a
machine-gun platoon in support of the lst/l2th Frontier Force Regiment, and after his officer had become
a casualty, Havildar Krishna Yeshwantrao won the I.D.S.M. for notable gallantry and resource in
particularly trying circumstances.

At this same crossing of the Gari River the M.C. was awarded also to an officer of the 4th
Mahratta Anti-Tank Regiment for gallantry in command of pioneer personnel of his regiment employed
on bridge construction under heavy enemy fire.

While other formations closed in upon the Italian capital the 8th Indian Division’s line of advance
led into the mountains and deep valleys of the Appennines. While their main forces were withdrawing to
the northward the Germans, using to the full the advantage for defence offered by the difficult terrain,
sought to delay the pursuit with strong and aggressive rearguards, cleverly fought tanks and self-propelled
guns, and the ingenious use of demolitions, mines, and booby traps.

Near the mountain village of Guarcino, a strong enemy rearguard being in position on high ground
covering the line of advance, it fell to the 1st Mahrattas to eliminate the opposition and open the road. A
plan for the assault, based on information gained by careful reconnaissance, was prepared and the attack
went in, well supported by artillery and tanks, on 4th June. This assault, which provided a model
demonstration of close co-operation between infantry and tanks, was entirely successfull and at the cost of
only one casualty the enemy was driven from his position with heavy loss. Some 45 Germans were taken
prisoner and of these 15 were brought in by a signaller, Sepoy Ramchandra Yadav, M.M., he having
provided himself with an abandoned German rifle for the

22
purpose. For continued distinguished service in command culminating in his skilful handling of the
Battalion in the very successful attack at Guarcino, Lieut.-Co1one1 D. W. H. Leeming was awarded the
D.S.O.

Throughout the midsummer months of June and early July the advance continued, but although the
rapidity of the German retreat, and improved terrain, permitted frequent use of motor transport, enemy
rearguards and tanks still showed plenty of fight. For his skill and courage in removing the numerous land
mines by use of which the Germans sought to delay the pursuit, Jemadar Tulararn Parab was awarded the
M.C.

As the advance continued the victorious troops were warmly welcomed by the inhabitants of the
many liberated villages and towns. At Jenne, ‘C’ Company of the 1st Mahrattas, proceeding on a lone
detachment, received a particularly warm ovation and at San Pietro the villagers rang the church bells in
welcome—only to have their church tower shelled and destroyed by the Germans in retaliation. By the
end of July the 1st Battalion, from its advance positions in the southern hills, was within sight of
Florence.

Towards the end of June the 10th Indian Division also had been moved across the Appennines, and
the 3rd Battalion went into the line in the Petrignano area, south of Rome. Taking part in the general
forward movement of the Allied armies the Battalion advanced northwards to the area of Montone where
contact was made with strong German rearguards holding formidable defences in the hills overlooking the
small town. From 8th July and in severe fighting that continued for six days the 3rd Mahrattas took their
full share in the 20th Indian Infantry Brigade’s struggle for the heights, finally capturing the position and
driving the enemy northwards. On 10th July Naik Yeshwant Ghadge performed an act of outstanding
gallantry whereby he, although unfortunately at the cost of his life, earned for the Regiment its first
Victoria Cross.

Naik Yeshwant Ghadge’s company attacked a position strongly defended by the enemy. During
this attack the section under his command came under heavy machine-gun fire at close range which killed
or wounded all members of the section except himself. Without the slightest hesitation and well knowing
that none were left to rescue him, Naik Yeshwant Ghadge rushed to the machine-gun post, first throwing
a grenade which knocked out the firer and then shooting one of the crew with his tommy gun. Finally,
having no time to change the magazine, he grasped the gun by the barrel and beat to death the remaining
two men of the crew. Unfortunately Naik Yeshwant Ghadge was shot in the chest and back by enemy
snipers and died in the post which he had captured single-handed. The courage, determination, and the
devotion to duty of this N.C.O., in a situation where he knew that the odds against him gave little chance
of survival, were outstanding.

It was during this fighting north of Montone that the M.C. was won by Captain J. H. Powell for a
somewhat unusual display of courage and initiative. As Mortar Officer he was giving close support to a
forward company attacking a strongly held German position. Meeting heavy machine-gun fire which
caused numerous casualties, including the Company Commander killed, the company was thrown into
confusion and retired some distance, leaving a number of its wounded lying out in front. Quickly
appreciating the situation Captain Powell arranged for mortar support and, rallying the company

23

under his personal command; led it forward to renew the assault. The attack again being halted by heavy
fire this officer adopted the expedient of going boldly forward, alone and unarmed, and by passing
himself off as a Medical Officer was able to arrange for the evacuation of his wounded men lying out in
the open. In this role Captain Powell was admitted into the German positions, where indeed he had to
endure and was slightly wounded by the fire of our own artillery, and was able to make an accurate
appreciation of the enemy’s defences whereby, on his return to Battalion H.Q., his Colonel was able to
plan the subsequent successful attack which captured the German position.

On 25th July the 3rd Battalion had the unique experience of being visited by H.M. the King-
Emperor, then making a tour of the Italian battle fronts.

By the beginning of August the 3rd Battalion had moved up to the area of Regina where the
Germans, no doubt wishing to gain time for the completion of their new defence line further north, were
making a stubborn stand with strong rearguards. In the full-scale attack which followed the 3rd Mahrattas
were cast in a forward role. The assault opened with a successful night attack, in which the Mahrattas
carried their initial objectives, but from 3rd/7th August very severe fighting continued as the Battalion
fought its way into the enemy positions stubbornly defended by picked German troops aided by all
support weapons. In the five days’ bitter fighting the 3rd Battalion sustained heavy casualties—no fewer
than 152 all ranks, killed and wounded—before the enemy opposition in the Regina area finally was
overcome.

For outstanding examples of gallantry and leadership in command of their platoons during these
attacks Jemadar Sitaram Maske, I.D.S.M., and Havildar Daji Jadhao, respectively, were awarded the M.C.
and the I .D.S.M.

By the beginning of August the 8th Indian Division forced the line of the River Pesa and by 14th
August the 1st Battalion had made an entry into the city of Florence. in the not inconsiderable street and
house fighting which ensued to eliminate enemy delaying parties and snipers the liberating troops fought
at a disadvantage in that while the Germans made full use of artillery and tank support they themselves, in
order to minimize damage to historical monuments, were bound by orders to use only small arms fire in
these operations. A number of casualties, including prisoners lost to enemy raiding parties, were sustained
by the Mahrattas who in Florence for the first time found themselves operating in liaison with Italian
partisans in considerable numbers. This so-called cooperation was a not unmixed blessing, however, and
it fell to our men to round up and disarm many of these patriots.

By the end of August Kesseiring, the German Army Commander, had withdrawn his forces into
very strong defence positions in what was known as the Gothic Line. This defence line extended right
across Italy, following the trend of the Apennines immediately north of Florence and reaching the
Adriatic sea coast in the vicinity of Pesaro. For Field Marshal Alexander’s planned autumn offensive, a
full-scale assault on the Gothic Line, the 8th Indian Division came temporarily under command of the
American Fifth Army, thus providing probably the first battle association of Mahrattas with American
troops.

On 13th September, following prolonged artillery and air bombardment and with fullest support
from all arms, the assault was launched as planned and was immediately

24

successful. The Gothic Line was quickly breached and the enemy again retired to the northward into the
extremely mountainous country covering the important town of Bologna and the approaches to the valley
of the River Po. The Germans offered little resistance on the assault sector allotted to the 1st Mahrattas
but opposition stiffened as the advance penetrated into the high mountain country and in the weeks of stiff
fighting that followed the enemy stubbornly contested every ridge and mountain crest in the way of the
slow advance.

A particularly well planned and skillfully executed attack by ‘A’ and ‘C’ Companies of the 1st
Mahrattas captured the high feature of Monte Veruca and so opened the way for the 21st Indian Infantry
Brigade to seize the high mountain feature of Feminamorta. By this time fighting was going on with Rifle
Companies holding positions on heights up to 6,000 ft. altitude in terrain almost roadless and
impracticable for wheeled transport. All supply at this time, and during the ensuing winter months, was
necessarily maintained by means of mule transport or by man pack.

As September gave way to October the slow advance continued under extremely arduous
conditions—sometimes progressing literally by hands and knees, so steep were the wet and slippery
mountain slopes—with the weather steadily deteriorating as the early winter set in. By the time the 21st
Indian Infantry Brigade reached the area of the twin mountain features, Monte Colombo and Monte Cece
south-west of Faenza, the advance was halted, and as much by constant snow-rain-fog-wind and mud as
by the resistance of the enemy. For the 1st Mahrattas vigorous close patrolling became the order of the
day and for a particularly bold effort in this line Lance-Naik Bapu Hule won the M.M. on Monte
Colombo.

With a sepoy of his section this N.C.O. crept up an enemy-held spur and, taking advantage of the
cover afforded by a thick mist, entered the German position unobserved. Not content with noting the
enemy dispositions and locating a minefield, he brought away with him a German tommy gun and
dropped other enemy weapons into a flooded slit trench.

By the end of September the 3rd Battalion, with the 10th Indian Division, had recrossed the
Apennines and returned to the Adriatic sector in the area of Rimini. On this sector, too, the autumn
offensive had made considerable progress and within a few days the Battalion was in action in an assault
upon enemy formations holding strong defence positions on Monte Farneto, a hill feature some way
inland from the coast.

Iii spite of extremely unfavourable weather conditions the position was carried by assault on 6th
October at a relatively low cost in casualties. For five days, however, the enemy sought, by repeated
counter-attacks, to regain their lost ground. In successfully repelling those determined attacks, and as a
result of the intense shelling by which the Germans supported their assaults, the Battalion lost 85 all ranks
killed and wounded. A heavy share of the defence fell upon ‘B’ Company and for their notable example
of leadership shown in encouraging their men in most trying circumstances, Major P. H. Chase, the
Company Commander, and two Platoon Commanders, Jemadar Shankar Bodhe and Jemadar Eknath
Kaple, were awarded the M.C.

The same decoration was awarded also to Captain Anand, I.A.M.C., the Battalion M.O., for
courage and devotion to duty in tending the many wounded under heavy fire.

25

Throughout the fighting the weather continued to be atrocious, so much so that for three days no hot food
could be obtained.

His counter-attacks having failed, the enemy again fell back and the advance continued until held
up by further strong German defence positions on Monte Cavallo, another high feature some way to the
north-east. Again the 3rd Mahrattas went into the attack, to meet with stubborn opposition and with
artillery support, greatly hampered by the continued heavy rain and mist. During five days of severe
fighting the struggle for the hill continued before, at a cost to the Mahrattas of 63 casualties, the enemy
opposition was overcome. Among those killed, by enemy shell fire, was A’ Company Commander, Major
A. Kadam.

As the advance to the north continued, the 3rd Battalion was again engaged in close action as the
Germans put up a stubborn stand in prepared defences in the area of the small village of Albereto
immediately south of and covering the Faenza-Ravenna lateral road. In the bitter December weather, with
ground conditions such that no tank support was available to the much-tried infantry, the 3rd Mahrattas
experienced several days of hard fighting before the enemy opposition finally was overcome. In this
struggle ‘A’ Company particularly distinguished itself, and for inspiring leadership and personal courage
Major I. Rashid, the Company Commander, also Subedar Dakojirao Shinde and Jemadar Balkrishna
Mane were awarded the M.C.

During the heavy fighting of December a machine-gun section of the 5th Royal Battalion, while
attached in support of infantry in the Monte Grande area, took a very active part in beating off a
dangerous German counter-attack on Monte Cerere. So determined was this attack in face of machine-gun
fire that the gunners had to resort to swinging traverse fire at very close range, while the remainder of the
section used tommy guns and grenades as the enemy strove to close with the gun. For their example of
courage and resource in this critical situation the M.C. and M.M. were awarded respectively to Jemadar
Krishna Mhabde and Naik Ramchandra Ghadge.

During the latter part of December the 1st Battalion was in rear for a badly needed spell of rest and
reorganization in the upper valley of the River Lamone, some way south of Faenza, and had every reason
to expect that Christmas 1944 would be spent in reasonably comfortable circumstances. It was not to be,
however, as on Christmas Eve news was received that the American 92nd Negro Division had been
attacked and thrown into confusion and that the 21st Indian Infantry Brigade would go to its assistance.
Without delay the 1st Mahrattas moved with the Brigade in motor transport right across Italy via
Florence, Lucca, and Castelnuova to the Serchio Valley. In a series of minor actions, the enemy not being
in great strength, the Germans were driven back into the mountains and the situation quickly restored.
Much American equipment was recovered and, early in January, the Battalion returned to Pisa to rest
awhile.

By the beginning of the New Year the 3rd Battalion had advanced to the line of the River Senio
where the Germans had prepared very strong defence positions covering the approaches to Ferrara and the
Lombardy Plain. During the first three months of 1945, winter conditions prevailing accompanied by
considerable flooding of the low-lying terrain, activity was limited to vigorous patrolling with much
heavy shelling and mortaring by both sides. For their outstanding leadership of fighting and
reconnaissance patrols in
 26

the area of Tamagnini, Havildar Shankar Fadtare and Naik Kafse were awarded the I.D.S.M.

During February and early March the 1st Battalion also arrived on the River Senio and occupied
positions in the Bagna Cavallo area. Here the river flows as a canal between high flood banks, and being
dug in on opposite sides of these banks the opposing forces were at unusually close quarters. In places
only a few feet of earth separated the Mahrattas from their German adversaries—grenades, catapults, tins
of burning oil, and even stones being freely used as close quarter weapons. Rockets were employed by the
Germans in great profusion.

In the latter weeks of March the 1st Battalion was withdrawn to the River Lamone to train in the
use of special equipment in anticipation of the coming major assault to force the formidable Senio
defences.

On 9th April, preceded by a terrific artillery bombardment and very heavy air strikes, the assault
was launched all along the line of the River Senio. On the 1st Mahrattas’ front, a little way north-east of
the village of Lugo, the attack was opened at about five o’clock in the evening by tanks and crocodiles of
the 48th Royal Tank Regiment moving forward from the starting line and concentrating very heavy fire
with guns and flame-throwers on the near bank of the river while the Mahrattas followed under enemy
mortar and rifle grenade fire. After half an hour the tanks and flame-throwers ceased fire and the infantry
immediately assaulted the near bank.

As ‘A’ and ‘D’ Companies, leading the assault, gained the near bank, they came under extremely
heavy mortar and grenade fire, causing many casualties, including Lieutenant Iyengar killed, but, holding
on grimly, were able to secure their objectives while ‘C’ and ‘Y’ Companies came up to cross the river,
being heavily mortared as they attempted to drag assault boats with them up the unexpectedly steep flood
bank. Major Crawford, commanding’ D’ Company, noting the delay in getting boats forward, ordered one
section to ford the river and himself followed with the remainder of the platoon. Similarly, on the left,
Major Howard crossed over with one section of ‘C’ Company, to be killed almost immediately on the far
bank together with all but one man of his party.

As ‘A’ and the remainder of’ C’ Company dug in on the near bank, one platoon of ‘Y’ Company,
led by Major Van Ingen, swam the river on the right and succeeded in establishing itself on the far bank.
Enemy fire continued to be intense over the entire front causing very many casualties. Seeing that his
company was suffering loss from two German machine-guns firing into its rear from under the near bank,
Jemadar Rajaram Bhonsle recrossed the river with one sepoy and personally silenced both posts, an act of
gallantry for which he was later awarded the M.C. Meanwhile, on the right, where ‘Y’ Company was
trying to gain the far bank of the river, an outstanding feat of gallantry was being performed which not
only had an important bearing on the progress of the battle but earned for the regiment its second Victoria
Cross.

In the words of the Gazette citation

“In this sector the Senio River is about 15 ft. wide and from 4 ft. to 5 ft. deep between precipitous
flood banks 30 ft. high. These banks were honeycombed with

27

an intricate system of German dugouts and defence posts with a mine belt on the inner face of the east
bank above the dugout entrances.

Sepoy Namdeo Jadhao was a company runner and crossed the river with his Company Commander
close behind one of the leading sections. Wading the river and emerging on the far bank the party
came under heavy fire from at least three German posts on the inner side of the near bank, the
Company Commander and two men being wounded and the rest, with the exception of Namdeo
Jadhao himself, being killed.

This gallant sepoy immediately carried one of the wounded men through the deep water and up the
steep bank through the mine belt to safety. He then made a second trip to bring back the other
wounded man. Both times he was under heavy mortar and machine-gun fire.

He then determined to eliminate the machine-gun nests which had pinned down the companies and
to avenge his comrades, so, crossing the exposed near bank a third time he dashed at the nearest post
and silenced it with his tommy gun. He was, however, wounded in the hand and, being unable to fire
his gun any further, threw it away and resorted to grenades. With these he successfully charged and
wiped out two more enemy posts, at one time crawling to the top of the bank to replenish his stock of
grenades from his comrades on the reverse slope. Having silenced all machine-gun lire from the near
bank he climbed to the top and, despite heavy mortar fire, stood in the open shouting the Mahratta
war-cry and waving the remainder of the companies over the river.
 This sepoy not only saved the lives of his comrades but his outstanding personal gallantry enabled
the two companies firmly to hold the river banks and the Battalion eventually to secure a deeper
bridgehead which, in turn, led to the ultimate collapse of all German resistance in the area.”

Exploiting the success of ‘Y’ Company, the remaining companies now crossed the river and by
midnight the situation all along the far bank was in hand, immediate enemy resistance having been
overcome and prisoners being taken. Quickly reorganizing after the bitter fighting of the crossing, on a
three-company basis owing to heavy losses, the 1st Mahrattas rapidly continued the advance, mopping up
diminishing enemy resistance and rounding up prisoners. By the following afternoon the advance had
gained the River Santerno, the enemy being given no opportunity to make a fresh stand, and there the
battle-weary battalion was relieved.

In this battle for the River Senio, one of the most difficult and bitterly contested actions of the
entire Italian Campaign, the 1st Battalion captured its objectives and took 90 enemy prisoners but paid the
heavy price of 4 officers and 109 other ranks killed and wounded. For gallantry and outstanding
leadership during the battle Major Hardy earned the D.S.O. while the M.C. was awarded to Major Winter
and Major Crawford, and Major Van Ingen received an American decoration.

In the battles for the Senio .River crossings the machine-guns of the 5th Royal Battalion and the
mortars of the 4th Mahratta Anti-Tank Regiment notably played their part in supporting the infantry of
the 8th Indian Division. For meritorious service in these

28

and earlier actions in Italy, Lieut.-Colonel Edwards, commanding the Anti-Tank Regiment, was awarded
the D.S.O., while of the Royal Battalion Lieut.-Colonel D. S. Brar, who incidentally had the distinction of
being the first Indian Commanding Officer to command an infantry battalion in actual battle, received the
O.B.E., and the M.B.E. was given to Major J. F. Caullield-Kerney and Captain T. Jackson.

From the Semo and the Santerno Rivers the pursuit continued to the north with ever-increasing
momentum, all three Mahratta Battalions sharing in the advance and the disintegrating and dispirited
German forces being allowed no respite as they were hustled by the triumphant Eighth Army over the
broad River Po, crossed by the 1st Battalion and 3rd Battalion respectively on 26th and 29th April, to be
pinned against the barrier of the Alps.
 The 8th Indian Divisional Intelligence Summary dated 30th April contains the laconic and
significant statement, “Enemy Situation—Hopeless,” and on 2nd May 1945 the German Armies in Italy
capitulated unconditionally. The long and hard fought Italian Campaign was over at last.

Leaving the 3rd Battalion to perform occupational service in the Treste area, where Marshal Tito’s
Yugo-Slav partisans were adopting an aggressive attitude, the 1st Battalion and the 5th Royal Battalion,
after four years of active service overseas, sailed from Taranto homeward-bound for India—” Arevedice
Italia.”
 CHAPTER V

THE REGIMENT IN THE WAR OF 1939.45

Assam and Burma

In the closing weeks of 1941, while the struggle in North Africa ebbed and flowed and while our
forces in Syria and Northern Iran organized defences against a probable Nazi eruption into those
countries from the direction of the Caucasus where the hard-pressed Red Armies were being
forced east and south, a new and dangerous situation had arisen in Eastern Asia with the opening
of hostilities by Tokyo and the all-conquering advance of the Japanese Armies in the spring and
summer of 1942. Hong-Kong, Malaya, Singapore, and Rangoon had been lost to the new enemy
in quick succession and with their occupation of Upper Burma the Japanese, by the opening of
the monsoon, were upon the Eastern Frontiers of India.

A hastily assembled force had been sent up to this little known borderland to hold open those few
routes by which the exhausted Burma Army could complete its grim fighting retreat through the wild
tangle of jungle-clad mountains into India. As part of this Eastern Army went the 4th Battalion from
Baluchistan. In May 1942 this battalion arrived at Imphal, in the Manipur hills, to be followed four
months later by the 6th Battalion from the North-West Frontier. This latter battalion being the first of the
new war service battalions to be raised by the Regiment in accordance with the vast expansion of the
Indian Army which had been taking place since 1939.

During the ensuing two and a half years these two battalions, as units of the 23rd Indian Division,
remained constantly on active service in those wild remote hills of the Assam-Burma borderland. En this
jungle-covered tangle of precipitous hills and deep valleys, some of the most difficult country in the
world, they campaigned under most trying conditions of heat and cold through three monsoons in an area
of the world’s heaviest known rainfall and endemic with the deadliest malaria.

Besides preparing defences against a probable enemy attempt to invade India by land the duties of
the two battalions during the latter part of 1942 and throughout 1943 included deep patrolling into
Japanese-occupied territory in the Kabaw and Upper Chindwin Valleys. These patrols, which often were
of several weeks’ duration when the parties carried the minimum of rations and were dependent upon the
sparsely inhabited country for subsistence, called not only for toughness and endurance from all ranks but
for a very high standard of initiative and leadership on the part of the officers and N.C.Os. who led them.
That these qualities were forthcoming was amply shown by the successful results achieved Wand the
degree of superiority in jungle warfare obtained over the wily enemy. In the not infrequent patrol clashes
the Mahratta more than held his own, although success was not achieved without loss and several fine
young officers fell to the rifles of lurking enemy snipers lying in wait to pick off the patrol leaders.

For his outstanding gallantry during a night action near the village of Okkan in the Kabaw Valley,
on l6th/llth February 1943 when the 4th Mahrattas covered the

30

advance across the Chindwin of Brigadier Wingate’s first “Chindit” expedition, Lance-Naik Maruti
Shinde was awarded a well-earned I.D.S.M. The Japanese, in superior force, pressed home a determined
attack on his platoon, using bayonet and grenades and covered by mortar fire. The crew of the supporting
Bren gun were killed, several men wounded, and the remainder driven in. Lance-Naik Maruti Shinde
remained alone, 100 yards in advance of all support, coolly firing his tommy gun, inflicting casualties and
holding up any further enemy infiltration. He remained in this isolated position for two hours until the
situation was restored. It was due to this N.C.O’s complete disregard of personal danger that the entire
platoon locality was not overrun, as the enemy diverted by him were in considerable strength.

The I.D.S.M. was awarded also to Havildar Abu Gosalkar for gallantry during the same action.

A sharp action was fought on 21st June 1943 when a small detachment of the 4th Mahrattas, under
the command of Captain D. N. Pearson, in co-operation with a platoon of the 1st Seaforth Highlanders,
made a raiding attack on the Japanese post at Yetagaun in the Atwin Yomas between the Kabaw Valley
and the Chindwin. While the Mahrattas successfully engaged the attention of the Japanese by attacking
frontally, the Highlanders penetrated the village from the rear. Severe casualties were inflicted on the
surprised enemy, and documents of important intelligence value captured, before the force successfully
withdrew in face of superior numbers.

Early in 1944 another war service battalion, the 17th, which for over two years since its raising at
Belgaum in October 1941 had been training in Southern India, embarked from Madras for active service
against the Japanese in Burma. Landing at Chittagong on 4th March 1944 as a unit of the 25th Indian
Division, this battalion was quickly moved up to the Arakan sector of the long drawn Burma front and
occupied positions in the Razabil area. Almost immediately the new battalion was involved in patrol
clashes, in which casualties were both inflicted and sustained, later extended to heavy defensive fighting
as the Japanese developed their abortive plan to encircle and destroy our forces covering the Eastern
Bengal approaches to India.
 On 5th April a strong force of Japanese and Jifs, with all supporting arms, opened a series of
determined attacks on positions held by the 17th Mahrattas. The struggle continued throughout two days
and nights of fierce attack and counter-attack, in leading one of which Major N. K. B. Dodge, the Second-
in-Command, was killed at close quarters with the enemy, until finally, severe casualties having been
inflicted and sustained, the Battalion was obliged to abandon its forward positions in face of superior
force. It is a measure of the severity of the two days’ fighting that ‘B’ Company on withdrawal mustered
no more than 26 men, but brought safely away eight of its nine Bren guns and all its 2-inch mortars. For
outstanding examples of gallantry and leadership throughout these two days of very severe fighting Major
R. B. Teal and Subedar Mohammed Umar were awarded the M.C.

While our forces in the Arakan were bloodily repulsing the enemy thrust towards Eastern Bengal
the Japanese opened powerful thrusts into Manipur. This loudly vaunted “Invasion of India,” the initial
success of which isolated Imphal and established a dangerous threat to the vitally important Assam
railway system, led to the series of bitter battles

31

which, at Kohima and in the mountain approaches to Imphal, continued throughout the summer and
monsoon of 1944 and resulted in the final ejectment and virtual destruction of the invading Japanese
Army.

As units of the 23rd Indian Division, in the recently constituted Fourteenth Army commanded by
Lieut.-General W. J. Slim, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., the opening of the Japanese offensive in the first
week of March 1944 found the 4th and 6th Battalions occupying forward positions in the Ukhrul area
west of the Upper Chindwin. Almost immediately the 6th Battalion was hurried off with the 49th Indian
Infantry Brigade on urgent operations to cover the retirement of the 17th Indian Division which, cut off
by the Japanese advance, was fighting its way back to Imphal from its isolated situation at Tiddim in the
mountains 180 miles to the southward. In the course of these operations, during ensuing weeks, sub-units
of the Battalion were engaged in a series of successful delaying actions while reconnaissance and fighting
patrols, led with boldness and initiative by junior commanders, harassed the persistent efforts of the
enemy to outflank and cut off our retiring troops. Casualties in this mountain warfare of ambush and
stratagem were sustained but the enemy was made to pay a heavy price for the miles gained towards his
objective—the upland plain and town of Imphal.

Naik Vishram Chawan, sent out with his section on 15th April to investigate reported enemy
movement in the Thairolok village area, on contacting a Japanese patrol some 20 strong with other enemy
in close support, immediately attacked regardless of the enemy’s superior strength, himself charging a
Japanese light machine-gun group—killing the gun numbers and capturing the weapon, which the section
brought away with them in the face of enemy efforts to retrieve it. For his gallant leadership in this
dashing action, in which twelve enemy were killed for a loss to his own force of only two men wounded,
Naik Vishram Chawan was awarded the I.D.S.M.
 Meanwhile a serious situation had developed in the Ukhrul area to the east of Imphal where the 4th
Battalion occupied positions in the way of a powerful Japanese column advancing on Imphal from
bridgeheads on the Upper Chindwin near Homalin. This battalion, left behind in this area when the rest of
the 23rd Indian Division moved elsewhere, now formed part of the 50th Independent Brigade, of which
the remaining components were two recently formed Indian Parachute Battalions and the 15th Indian
Mountain Battery, with the vital task of delaying the enemy advance while adequate forces were collected
for the defence of Imphal. How it succeeded in its task—in which, owing to the relative inexperience of
the Paratroops, a major share of the defence fell to the Mahratta Battalion—is a stirring story.

Contact was made with the enemy on 18th March in determined patrol clashes from which it soon
became abundantly clear that the Japanese were advancing in much greater strength than at first had been
supposed. At least an enemy Division, with supporting arms, was pressing forward along the Naga tracks
leading west from Homalin. For several days the Brigade retired slowly, contesting the ground in
determined rearguard battles in which the enemy took heavy punishment. ‘A’ Company, 4th Mahrattas,
which had been detached in support of an isolated Paratroop Company, found itself assaulted by an entire
enemy battalion, and in a stubbornly contested fighting retreat was extricated, bringing away all its
wounded, from a dangerous situation by the Company Commander,

32

Major N. V. Holland, in praiseworthy fashion. For his gallantry and leadership on this occasion, as in
earlier instances, Major Holland was awarded the M.C.

In clearing an enemy road block across the line of retreat of’ A ‘ Company, Jemadar Laxuman
Desai thrice led his platoon in blitz assaults up the steep bank of a sunken road in face of very heavy
machine-gun fire. Severely wounded in the third attack he lay in the middle of the road giving orders until
be lost consciousness. For his outstanding example of courage and leadership Jemadar Desai gained a
well-earned M.C. The M.C. was awarded also to Subedar Shripat Vishvasrao for his gallantry and
leadership in securing the evacuation under fire of 25 badly wounded men.

By 22nd March the Brigade, in its fighting withdrawal, had reached the area of Sanshak where it
had been decided to occupy a defensive position for a final stand on the plateau overlooking the Naga
village of that name. The enemy pressing closely, and in order to gain time for the force to organize its
defence, ‘D’ Company, 4th Mahrattas was ordered to occupy rising ground some little way in front of the
main position. Gaining the crest of the rise ‘D’ Company found itself faced with a large enemy force
already advancing up the reverse slope. Instantly appreciating the situation, the Company Commander,
Major H. R. R. Steele, led his men in a fierce attack which drove the surprised Japanese back in disorder.
Quickly reorganizing his company on the hill, Major Steele, who later was awarded the M.C.,
successfully held off much superior enemy forces for several vital hours until ordered to withdraw into
the now prepared Brigade perimeter.
 There followed for the isolated and surrounded Brigade four extremely trying days and nights
when, subjected to constant heavy shelling and mortaring, without food and with very little water, it
defended itself, and without hope of relief, desperately against successive attacks from greatly superior
Japanese forces determined to remove this stubborn obstacle in their advance on Imphal. Attack was
followed by counter-attack by day and by night and although part of the perimeter was overrun, that held
by the Mahratta Battalion remained at all times firmly held despite the many casualties sustained. Reserve
platoons or sections of Mahrattas were employed to help restore critical situations as these developed in
other sectors of the ever contracting perimeter.

When part of the perimeter of a Parachute Battalion was overrun, leaving in an absolutely exposed
position the two 3-inch mortars of the Mortar Detachment he was commanding, Havildar Sambhaji
Bhuingde jumped from his emplacement and, ignoring the heavy fire coming down in the area, organized
his mortar numbers in a position of all-round defence while setting an example by firing his rifle and
hurling grenades to keep the enemy out of the post, thus saving his mortars and staving off a possible
complete debacle. Although shot through the chest he continued, while lying on the ground and in great
pain, to encourage the efforts of his men.

By the evening of 26th March additional forces having been concentrated for the defence of the
Imphal area the survivors of the 50th Independent Brigade, who had been prepared—and indeed
expected—to hold their position at Sanshak until finally destroyed, received an order to break out and
fight their way back to Imphal, 40 miles distant. No alternative disposition being possible in the
circumstances, the Brigade stood to at 2230 hours and moved out, maintaining its existing box formation,
through the 4th Mahrattas’ sector of the perimeter. Strangely little opposition was met from the encircling
Japanese who apparently were taken completely by surprise.

33

Daybreak found the Battalion broken up by the rough country and thick jungle into groups of
varying strength, one of the largest of which accompanied Lieut.-Colonel J. H. Trim and Battalion H.Q.,
making their way cautiously and painfully to the westward with intermittent rifle and automatic fire
indicating frequent clashes with strong Japanese parties moving to head them off. Exhausted after many
days of hard fighting, without food and water other than the little obtained from friendly Nagas,
encumbered by such wounded men as were able to walk, and suffering greatly from the extreme heat by
day, the Battalion struggled onwards in small groups by various tracks across three 6,000 ft. mountain
ranges towards our lines in the Imphal area which were reached by the Colonel’s party on the fourth day,
other groups coming in for several days afterwards.

There being no alternative, the seriously wounded had to be left at Sanshak—a very hard decision
to have to make—and it is believed that they received fair treatment from the Japanese. Many badly
wounded men, however, made the effort to accompany the Battalion in its withdrawal and no praise can
be too high for the resolution and endurance they displayed on that dreadful march to safety. Havildar
Sainbhaji Bhuingde, shot right through the chest in defence of his mortars and later awarded the I.D.S.
M., in reaching Imphal in four days displayed a notable example of fortitude.

On remustering, the 4th Battalion’s casualties in the Sanshak operations were found to be
approximately 260 including three officers killed and wounded. Of the missing who fell into Japanese
hands a large number escaped and later rejoined after making their way for many days by little known
Naga tracks through the wild almost uninhabited mountains of that region. Several escapees, including the
Regimental Armourer, turned up eventually at Dimapur having marched nearly 180 miles northwards to
the Brahmaputra Valley.

The Army Commander has recorded the statement that the stand at Sanshak, in which the 4th
Battalion played a notable part in delaying the advance ard splitting the Japanese column, gained the vital
few days enabling the 5th and 7th Divisions to be flown in from the Arakan and so ensure the defence of
Imphal. For his share in the defence, circumstances causing much of the responsibility for the
organization and execution of the Brigade’s operations to devolve upon him, Lieut.-Colonel J. H. Trim
later was awarded a well-merited O.B.E.

In the latter days of March strong Japanese forces passing through the bills to the east of Imphal,
with the Assam railway at Manipur Road as their immediate objective, invested and attacked the small
but vitally important centre of Kohima at an elevation of over 4,000 ft. on the Dimapur-Imphal Road
included in the small garrison, consisting mostly of detachments from various units, which put up a
notably gallant defence against fierce enemy attack for several days until strengthened by relieving
troops, were two platoons of the 27th Mahrattas. This war service Garrison Battalion had been on active
service in Assam since August 1943, engaged generally on airfield defence duties, ard the two platoons of
Mahrattas, sharing in the defence of Kohima, worthily maintained the tradition of their regiment.

Following a short spell in reserve for reorganization and re-equipment both the 4th and 6th
Battalions were moved up to occupy defence positions on the Litan Road covering the eastern approaches
to Imphal. Both battalions held these positions, patrolling

34

vigorously and making occasional contact with small enemy forces endeavouring to infiltrate forward to
the Imphal plain, until the middle of May when the 49th Indian Infantry Brigade was sent south to meet a
new Japanese threat in the direction of Palel.
The 6th Battalion occupied defence positions in the area of Shuganu and during the period of 2lst/27th
May had two companies engaged in support of elements of the 20th Indian Division in sharp actions to
eliminate enemy forces which had succeeded in establishing themselves on the Tiddim Road and
seriously threatened the 17th Indian Divisional Headquarters. For his skilful leadership of’ D’ Company
in difficult circumstances, Major G. K. F. Reed later was awarded the M.C.

While its sister battalion was thus in action on the Tiddim Road the 4th Battalion became engaged in
operations to counter a serious threat from the south where a strong force of Jifs, the Gandhi Brigade of
the Japanese-sponsored Indian National Army, was advancing through the very rough country
immediately south-west of Palel. Marching on a man-pack scale, with a Mountain Battery in support, the
Battalion, on 2nd June, made a long and very arduous march by Serai and Liwa with a climb of several
thousand feet to the Naga village of Mitlong. After a short rest the Battalion moved out on a night
approach march which involved a drop of 1,500 ft. to cross the Chapki Turel and a very steep climb of
some 2,000 ft. on the farther side of the valley, and by first light was in position immediately below the
enemy defences which patrols had accurately located on a series of steep crests. In the spirited attack
which followed successive strong positions were taken with severe loss to the enemy, who generally put
up stiff resistance before retiring in disorder to formidable prepared positions some distance in rear and
from which, on the threat of a further Mahratta assault on the following day, they withdrew in haste
towards their operational base at Mombi. Lack of water, and orders limiting the extent of operations,
prevented further pursuit.

The Battalion’s losses in this its sole operation against the Jifs in force were not heavy but evacuation of
wounded, such was the mountainous nature of the country, involved a two-day stretcher carry of 23 miles
by Naga tracks. At least one badly wounded man died under the ordeal.

Less than two weeks after its return from Mitlong the 4th Battalion again experienced heavy fighting
when it returned to the Litan Road sector to come temporarily under the command of the 20th Indian
Division with the special task of ejecting the Japanese from a strong position on a high ridge overlooking
the road and relieving an isolated platoon of a British regiment. Attacks on the position by units of the
20th Indian Division having failed, the task was allotted to the Mahratta Battalion with two troops of 7th
Light Cavalry, mounted in Stuart tanks, in support.

The operation proved a sticky affair from the start. The monsoon had opened with

very heavy rain and in the consequent slippery state of the ground it was found well-nigh impossible to
get the tanks forward up the extremely steep slopes of the hill. Postponing

the infantry assault, heavy bulldozers winched the tanks up an improvised track and at the end
of two days, by which time the enemy were well aware of what was toward and all advantage of surprise
was lost, three tanks—their clutches practically burnt out—had reached the crest of the ridge. With these
three tanks giving such support of which they
35

were capable the attack went in on the morning of 15th June; the enemy having meanwhile reinforced
their forward troops and strengthened their prepared positions.

Following a not very effective artillery concentration and air strike ‘A’ and ‘B’ Companies, preceded by
the three light tanks and with ‘ D’ Company in support, moved forward in pouring rain up the slope of the
ridge. Almost immediately coming under heavy fire from all infantry weapons, and shelled by enemy
artillery, the attack was pressed home despite heavy casualties, which included the two forward Company
Commanders— Major N. V. Holland, M.C., and Captain J. R. Bessell—killed, and penetrated the
Japanese forward defences with considerable loss to the enemy. Here, however, the assault was held up
by murderous automatic and medium machine-gun fire at close range from well sited and strongly
constructed enemy bunkers while numerous tree snipers and heavy mortar fire added to the stream of
casualties passing to the rear.

Of the three tanks one had its tracks blown off on a mine while the second became hopelessly bogged on
top of a caved in enemy bunker and the third had its turret jammed by a direct hit from an anti-tank gun
which the Japanese had contrived to bring up and were shooting apparently over open sights.
Nevertheless for several hours the infantry fought stubbornly on, edging forward in front and probing
round the flanks with platoons of the reserve company, but everywhere were met and halted by the same
murderous cross-fire from cleverly hidden defences in depth, while the tale of casualties steadily grew.

Lance-Naik Narayan Shinde took command and rallied his platoon after the Commander and all senior
N.C.Os. were killed or wounded. Crawling forward to close quarters he led his men in a charge that
overran six bunkered positions, killing the occupants, then held on until ordered to retire. For courage and
leadership of a standard far beyond what might be expected from an N.C.O. of his rank this Lance-Naik
was awarded the I.D.S.M.

Subedar Ramchandra Shinde, when his Company Commander and all Company H.Q. personnel were
killed or wounded by an enemy shell, carried on the attack with no H.Q. and in face of very heavy small
arms fire—in which he continually had to expose himself by standing up to give directions to his sub-
units-—led three attempts to carry strong enemy positions and when ordered to retire extricated his
company with skill and a display of cool leadership which earned for him a well-merited M.C.

After several hours of fruitless and costly effort, orders being received to discontinue the assault, the
Battalion withdrew in the pitiless rain, bringing away all its wounded, to receive the commendation of the
4th Corps Commander, Lieut.-General G. A. P. Scoones, C.S.I., D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C., who also
expressed his sympathy in its heavy losses. In persistent efforts to come to grips with a determined and
well sited enemy, and almost without support, some 130 of all ranks, including two well tried Company
Commanders, were either killed or wounded. An officer of a Gurkha regiment, who observed the entire
action, was heard to report on the telephone to his superiors that “These are the most gallant Indian troops
I have seen in action.”

Reverting to the command of the 23rd Indian Division, the 4th Battalion, together

with the 6th Battalion which meanwhile had been withdrawn from Shuganu, were imme

36

diately engaged in operations to meet a Japanese threat to Palel from the east. On 29th June two
companies of the 6th Mahrattas, with a company of the 4th Battalion in support, attacked a commanding
feature held by the enemy and overlooking the bridge at Palel. It was on this bridge that, on the previous
night of teeming rain—and having only an hour or so previously completed a long and tiring march, a
standing patrol of the 4th Mahrattas was suddenly and fiercely attacked out of the darkness by a body of
Japanese armed only with swords, and only with difficulty succeeded in repelling their fanatical
assailants.

The attack of the 6th Mahrattas was put in with boldness and resolution but despite the utmost gallantry
of all ranks in attempting to work forward up the steep and slippery slopes in face of very heavy fire from
machine-guns and grenade dischargers our troops eventually were compelled to withdraw without
penetrating the Japanese defences, both leading Company Commanders having become casualties. An
indication of the intensity of the enemy fire may be had from the fact that Major A. F. S. Wilson, who
together with Subedar Tukaram Shewale was awarded the M.C. for gallantry in this action, in the space of
a few minutes had the stock of his rifle shattered by an enemy bullet, his equipment and grenade pouch
torn away by another, and was wounded in the hand by a third.

Three days later the same position was again attacked by the 6th Battalion—this

time with adequate air, artillery, and tank support—and taken, the enemy not waiting

to meet the assault.

Meanwhile the 4th Mahrattas, by a difficult night march up the Sengmai Turel on 28th/29th June,
occupied without opposition or casualties except, unfortunately, from our own guns, a hill spur
strategically situated relative to the surrounding Japanese positions. Subjected to sporadic attention from
enemy artillery it was here, on 6th July, that an unlucky shell fell directly in the Battalion Command Post
killing Lieut.-Colonel C. J. W. Simpson, who had succeeded to the command of the Battalion only six
days before, and the Adjutant, Major W. D. McConnell.

At first light on the morning of the 8th July the Japanese position in Khunbi village was successfully
attacked and taken. The company which put in the assault bad no easy task as in pouring rain and thick
mist, which nullified both air and artillery support, as in face of very heavy automatic and grenade fire it
scaled the extremely steep and slippery terraces of the burned out Naga village. Under cover of 2-inch
mortars and grenade dischargers firing from a flank and gallantly led by Major P. S. Thapa and Subedar
Sadhu Jagdale, both of whom were awarded the M.C. in recognition of their courage and leadership, the
Mahrattas stormed over the crest and annihilated the defenders who, as customary with Japanese troops,
defended their position to the last. For gallantry and initiative in destroying single-handed a troublesome
enemy machine-gun post, Naik Laxuman Shinde was awarded the I.D.S.M.

As part of the same general operation in the Sengmai Turel the 6th Battalion was actively engaged
during the period 3rd/l2th July in eliminating the Japanese from strongly held hill positions on Khudei
Khunou ridge. In face of bold infiltration by fighting patrols and determined assaults upon successive
elements of his somewhat extended position

37

the enemy, who continually harassed the attackers by shell fire causing considerable casualties
finally pulled out to the
eastward. casualties, finally pulled out
to the eastward. “sof

persi~

At this period, the tide of Japanese invasion having halted and begun to ebb, the Army Commander
decided to put into operation previously formulated plans for the general offensive to drive the now
wavering enemy forces out of Manipur. For its part in the 23rd Indian Division’s share in the general
plan—to drive the Japanese from their Tengnoupal positions and clear the road to Tamu—the 49th Indian
Infantry Brigade was ordered to concentrate at Palel. Marching back to Palel in two days of heavy rain
and and mud, after six weeks of constant marching and fighting in most difficult terrain and in the worst
monsoon conditions, the two Mahratta battalions were given only 24 hours in which to reorganize and, as
far as such was possible, to re-equip. Quite inadequate grace in view of the fact that all ranks were very
tired, many ill with fever, and the great majority with broken feet and boots.
 In accordance with the Divisional plan, which was for a surprise flanking march Tami by the 49th
Indian Infantry Brigade to get well behind the Japanese positions and cut
their supply line

on the Tamu Road while the other two Brigades launched a frontal attack on the Tengnoupal

defences, the two Mahratta Battalions marched on an expedition after the itself true Wingate

pattern, on a man-pack basis carrying three days’ hard scale rations besides extra ammunition and
grenades.

Weary and footsore, with mules only for a few mortars, signal and medical equip-
no o ment, and a Mountain Battery, the long column plodded on—in single file
with the Casu Brigadier in front toting his rifle and pack—for five long and weary days. Moving by as th
narrow slippery Naga tracks, hidden from enemy observation in the eternal mist and rain and above the
5,000-6,000 ft. level, the going was very bad indeed on the endless succession morn of steep ridges. At
times the vertical distance covered in a day’s march must have approximated to the map distance.
Exhausted and fever-stricken men had to be left behind, to find their own way back or follow on as best
they could, and fallen mules and equipment was retrieved from far down the khud-side while, in order to
preserve security, no lighting of fires was permitted. After the first day, and for seven days thereafter, no
hot food was cooked nor hot tea prepared—the lack of the last a very real hardship in such wet and
miserable conditions. During these weary days and comfortless nights the column pressed back swiftly on
to Sibong, a Naga village on a jungle-clad spur overlooking the Tamu Road in the Lokchau River gorge
some 2,000 ft. below. The advance was so rapid that in spite of a small encounter between the Rajputana
Rifles and an enemy post the Japs were taken completely by surprise. Undeterred by enemy harassing
tactics initial efforts were made to approach and destroy the road bridge across the Lokchau River and
this proving impracticable, owing to the precipitous nature of the to hi approach and strong enemy
bunkered defences with dug-in tanks in support, operations developed into a fierce struggle for Battle
Hill—a prominent feature, seizure of which would give close command of the road. For his cool courage
and resource in a very valuable single-handed reconnaissance of the Lokchau area, when at great personal
risk and although suffering from high fever he penetrated the Japanese position, Major H. S. Richmond of
the 6th Battalion was awarded an extremely well merited M.C.

A previous assault by another unit having failed, on 25th July the 6th Mahrattas made a determined attack
on Battle Hill. In the absence of artillery support, other than

38

that of the Mountain Battery with the limited ammunition at its disposal, no preliminary softening up”
was possible, and although the Mahrattas attacked with resolution and ersistence they were held up finally
by the very heavy fire from enemy wired and bunkered positions effectively masked by long grass. After
several hours’ fighting, and to avoid further wasteful casualties, the attacking companies were ordered to
withdraw.

Battle Hill remaining untaken, the 4th Mahrattas moved out from Sibong before first light next day, 26th
July, in an outflanking jungle march with the object of establishing and holding a road block a few miles
north of Tamu. Carrying its rations and reserve ammunition on an all-porterage basis, and leaving its
mortars behind, the Battalion moved slowly and painfully in a very steep descent, and subsequent climb,
of some 2,000 through extremely rough country with no defined track to follow, and after five hours’
exhausting march reached the road at the prearranged point. So far the approach had been unopposed but,
having dealt with a party of enemy marching in the direction of Tamu, the head of the column on crossing
the road encountered enemy defences. Sharp fighting developed and before any attempt could be made to
dig in, or any effective road Lock other than a line of tar barrels and a few mines be established, the
Battalion found self violently counter-attacked by large numbers hurrying up from both directions.

Forced back from the road, the numerically weak battalion—Rifle Companies by this time were reduced
to 40/50 men—took up an improvised defence position, with no opportunity to dig in, and defended itself
throughout the remainder of the days. Casualties, which included Major W. M. Mackay temporarily in
command, were numerous; the Battalion lay in its parlous situation harassed by enemy snipers, swept by
automatic rid machine-gun fire, exposed to a rain of mortar and grenade discharger shells, and
momentarily expecting to be rushed. Major H. R. R. Steele, M.C., and Subedar Ganpatrao Patil were
outstanding examples of courage and devotion to duty as, exposed to the heaviest fire, they moved from
group to group encouraging their men. Major Steele later ‘as awarded a bar to his M.C. while the M.C.
also was given to Subedar Patil.

By nightfall, the enemy pressure having slackened, the Battalion disengaged on orders received, and
withdrew. All through the darkness of the night the column struggled back through the jungle-filled
ravines or on the steep khud-sides and next morning, exhausted and footsore but carrying its wounded,
regained Sibong. For his courage under re and leadership in extricating his battalion from an extremely
precarious situation, Major W. M. Mackay, M.C., was awarded the D.S.O.

Although the hoped-for road block had not been established, the imminent threat his rear so alarmed the
enemy for the security of his escape route that his retirement, ore or less orderly hitherto, before the
successful assault of the 23rd Indian Division quickly became a rout. Abandoning their Tengnoupal
defences the Japanese fled in disorder through the hills with crippling loss of men and equipment in a
debacle that carried ‘The Invaders of India’ back beyond the Chindwin River into Burma.

Aided by powerful support from Divisional Artillery, now brought within effective range, the 6th
Mahrattas occupied Battle Hill on 31st July with little opposition and established contact with the main
forces of the Division advancing from Tengnoupal. Thereafter the much tried Brigade, of which barely
half the number which had started
 39

thence sixteen days before remained on their feet, marched for two days wearily up the road to Palel. The
two Mahratta Battalions arrived on 3rd August—worn out, ragged, bearded, and unbelievably dirty—to
be sent rearwards to Shillong for an extended period of rest and rehabilitation. Their first and only spell
out of the forward area in almost two and a half years.

En route to Shillong the column fell in with the 27th Battalion, at Mao on the Imphal-Dimapur
Road, and with the 18th Battalion, a war service battalion which following a period of famine duty in
Bengal during 1943, was then engaged in railway defence with its headquarters at Gauhati.

Throughout the monsoon period of 1944 activity in the Arakan sector, where the rainfall is
particularly heavy and continuous, was necessarily restricted, but towards the end of the year our forces in
this area, taking advantage of improved conditions, proceeded to exert pressure on the enemy defences.
Shaken and materially weakened by their recent heavy defeats, both in the Arakan and in Manipur, the
Japanese began to pull out from their forward positions in the Buthedaung area. Following up this
methodical withdrawal the 17th Battalion, which had been on active service in this sector since the
beginning of the year, continued in close contact with enemy rearguards throughout the advance down the
Mayu Peninsula, sustaining some casualties from the shelling with which the Japanese sought to delay the
pursuit, and early in 1945 entered the port of Akyab.

Embarking from Akyab on 2nd February in river steamers the Battalion proceeded to reinforce our
amphibious troops in their operations to occupy the Myebon Peninsula further south. Re-embarking at
Myebon in landing craft, the 17th Mahrattas made an assault landing near the village of Ruywa.
Opposition on the beaches was limited to hostile shelling, but on pushing inland contact was made with
enemy infantry, severe fighting developing as for several days and nights the Japanese made repeated
counterattacks upon the hastily prepared Mahratta defences. These positions covered the enemy’s supply
road and denied its use by their wheeled transport, some vehicles being destroyed by fire.

That portion of the block held by ‘A’ Company was particularly the object of determined enemy
shelling, many casualties being sustained, and of fierce infantry attacks, all of which were successfully
beaten off although, on one occasion, not before several Japanese, led by an officer, were killed inside the
Mahratta perimeter. Sepoy Krishna Rathore, in the darkness and confusion, succeeded in hitting the
enemy captain on the head with a shovel and, seizing the sword from his grasp, killed the officer with his
own weapon. The sepoy later was presented officially with the sword to keep as a souvenir of his exploit.
 In April 1945 the 17th Battalion embarked at Akyab for Madras and on the sudden capitulation of
Japan in August, together with the 4th and 6th Battalions which also had been brought back to India for
special training, was on the point of sailing with the newly formed 34th Corps of the Twelfth Army to
participate in amphibious operations for the recapture of Singapore.

40

Early in September the operation was carried out as planned, the three Mahratta Battalions landing
unopposed at ports on the west coast of Malaya to take the surrender, at Kuala Lumpur, of the Japanese
forces in that area and to maintain order in the liberated colony.

Thus the Second Great War officially ended, but for the 4th and 6th Battalions more work was still
to be done.

On the outbreak of trouble in Java, they moved as part of the 49th Brigade to Batavia. Here they
became involved in a sudden armed uprising of the civil population, which trapped them in isolated
groups, some of these were unable to withstand the unexpected weight of the assaults made on them and
were overwhelmed before the situation could be got in hand. Casualties were high and among them five
officers were lost, while Captain R. C. Smith of the 4th and Captain T. L. Laughiand of the 6th, who were
with Brigadier Mallaby, when he was murdered, escaped after enduring considerable danger and
hardship.

The complete story of their heroic exploits is still to be told, for both battalions are still in the
Dutch East Indies—” Carry on.”
 CHAPTER VI

THE REGIMENT IN THE WAR OF 1939-45

Service in India

WITH the progressive expansion of the Indian Army, during the six years’ emergency of the
recent war, battalions of the Regiment were successively milked of officers and other ranks, in particular
of N.C.Os., in order to form the cadres of many new war service battalions the raising of which had been
made possible by the splendid response throughout Maharashtra to appeals for recruits to the Regiment.

From the following list of new war service battalions it will be seen how greatly, as from September 1939
to August 1945, the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry had been expanded.

6th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

Raised at Mardan on 20th June 1940, by Lieut.-Colonel E. Ross-Magenty, as the first of the new war
service formations, the new Battalion served in the Razmak area of the North-West Frontier during 1941.
There it had its introduction to field, service in the operations normal to service on that troubled
borderland and, on 14th February 1941, was involved in a sharp action with hostile tribesmen in the area
of Mir All, when a company was with difficulty extricated from a precarious situation on Isha Hill. For
gallantry in this action Sepoy Maruti Jadhao was awarded the I.D.S.M.

During a counter-attack against a concentration of tribesmen this sepoy, as Number One of the light
automatic gun and although wounded in hand and knee, continued to serve his weapon against a party of
retiring hostiles while enfiladed by heavy fire from another group on his flank. By his gallant conduct
Sepoy Maruti Jadhao contributed to the successful withdrawal of his company.

In November 1942 the Battalion proceeded on active service against the Japanese in Burma.

7th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

This, the second of the new war service battalions, was raised at Fyzabad on 1st August 1940 by Lieut.-
Colonel A. L. Collingwood. After a period of initial training the new battalion served on internal security
duties in the Midnapore area of Bengal to be transferred, in the autumn of 1941, to Frontier service in
Quetta District.

On 1st August 1942 the 7th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry ceased to exist as such, having proceeded to
Rawalpindi for conversion to the Indian Armoured Corps as the 51st Mahratta Regiment. Its existence as
an Armoured formation was of short duration, however, as with effect from 1st October 1942 the new
regiment again underwent conversion when, at Chakiala, it became the 8th Mahratta Anti-Tank Regiment,
Indian Artillery.

42

8th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

Two additional war service battalions of the Regiment were raised at Belgaum on 1st February 1941.
Under command of Lieut.-Colonel L. C. M. Bellamy, the 8th Battalion, after a period of initial training,
transferred to Madras for a short term of internal security duty before proceeding to Jhansi where, on 1st
January 1942, it was converted to Indian Artillery as the 4th Mahratta Anti-Tank Regiment.

In the early summer of the same year the new regiment proceeded overseas for active service in Iraq and
Syria, later to take its part in the Italian Campaign of 1943-45.

9th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

Raised at Belgaum on 1st February 1941 by Lieut.-Colonel E. R. E. Rerrie, this new war service battalion,
after a few months’ training at its place of birth, moved first to Cannanore for a short spell of internal
security duty, then proceeded to Jhansi to be converted, on 1st January 1942, to Indian Artillery as the 5th
Mahratta Anti-Tank Regiment.

On 4th May 1942 the Regiment sailed from India and, ten days later, disembarked at Basra for general
service in Iraq and Iran, much of this service being performed in the neighbourhood of Baghdad.
In June 1943 the Regiment returned to India and spent more than a year, in the Ranchi area, training in
Eastern warfare methods before proceeding to Burma in November 1944. At the conclusion of hostilities
with Japan the 5th Mahratta Anti-Tank Regiment was on service in the vicinity of Rangoon.

l4th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

This war service battalion was raised at Ambala, on 1st February 1941, by Lieut.Colonel E. S. Storey-
Cooper, O.B.E., M.C., and proceeded to Dacca, in Eastern Bengal, for a term of internal security duty in
the autumn of the same year. In February 1942 the 14th Battalion moved across India to undergo a period
of training at Campbellpore.

In October 1942 the 14th Battalion embarked for service in the Indian Ocean as the defence garrison of
the tiny Attu Atoll, where was a base vital to the air patrol of the sea routes and a possible object of
Japanese attack.

At the end of 1943 the Battalion returned to India for a period of special training, in the Ahmednagar and
Bombay areas, in amphibious operations with the role of Beach Group to the 33rd Indian Corps. It was
during this period, and following the disastrous explosion of April 1944, that the Battalion performed
notable service in clearing away the debris from the wrecked Bombay Docks.

In the last weeks of the war in Europe, during February 1945, the 14th Battalion proceeded overseas for
service in Iraq.

l5th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

As the 11th Mahratta Light Infantry (Indian Territorial Force) this Battalion was embodied for service, at
the outbreak of war on 3rd September 1939, at Belgaum.

43
 In February 1940 the 11th Battalion moved to Ahmednagar where it was employed in railway
security duties until March of the following year, when it proceeded to Karachi for duty in defence of the
important airfield at Drigh Road.

On 14th September 1940 the 11th Battalion was regularized as a war service unit, all personnel
unwilling to accept full general service liability being mustered out, and renumbered the 15th Mahratta
Light Infantry as which, in April 1942 and having been brought up to strength, it proceeded to Fort
Sandeman in Baluchistan.

The Battalion’s term of Frontier service ended, however, in July 1943, when it was selected to be
the Mahratta unit in the 14th Training Division newly established at Chindwara, in the Central Provinces,
with the special role of affording post-recruit training to drafts prior to despatch to active battalions on the
various battle fronts.

In this highly specialized role the 15th Battalion, up to the end of the war, performed excellent
service in giving essential toughening training, under conditions approximating realistically to field
service, to ~he several thousands of young soldiers sent out by the Regimental Centre at Belgaum.

l6th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

A second Territorial Battalion of the Regiment was raised at Belgaum in December 1939, as the
12th Mahratta Light Infantry (Indian Territorial Force), and was embodied for service on 1st June 1940.

Moving to Baroda the Battalion was regularized, all personnel unwilling to accept full active
service liability being mustered out, and renumbered as the 16th Mahratta Light Infantry.

There followed a period of training at Allahabad, when the strength was brought up to
establishment, and in July 1942 the Battalion moved to Peshawar. Throughout the ensuing three years the
16th Battalion was engaged in the arduous, but little advertised, service of Frontier defence—successively
at Mir Ali, Bannu, and Damdil—and at the cessation of hostilities in the summer of 1945, was stationed at
Landi Kotal.

l7th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

 Yet another war service battalion was raised at Belgaum on 15th October 1941, as the 17th
Mahratta Light Infantry, by Lieut.-Colonel A. 0. Kersey, M.C., and, following a short period of initial
training, proceeded on 10th December to Wah, in the Punjab, to join the 51st Indian Infantry Brigade then
in process of forming.

Four months later the Battalion moved south to Secunderabad as a unit of the 20th Indian Division
and at the end of May 1942 went to Bangalore area for intensive specialized training, having meanwhile
come under command of the 25th Indian Division. A further short move followed, to the Kolar Gold
Fields area for Brigade exercises and watercraft training, then the Battalion proceeded to the
neighbourhood of Trichinopoly for training in jungle warfare.

During the ensuing twelve months the 17th Battalion carried out Divisional and Corps training, in
different areas of Southern India, until, early in February 1944, it proceeded with the 25th Indian
Division on active service on the Burma front.

44

l8th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

Raised at Belgaum on 15th August 1941 as the 25th Mahratta Light Infantry (Garrison Battalion), by
Lieut.-Colonel D. H. Tapp, this new battalion completed its initial training in garrison duties in February
1942 when it proceeded to Dehra Dun as Guard Battalion at the Central Internment Camp for enemy
civilians. These duties were of short duration, however, as in May of the same year the Battalion moved
to Madras in the role of airfield and coastal defence against the imminent possibility of a Japanese landing
in Southern India. In August 1942 the Battalion was upgraded to active battalion status, with enhanced
defence responsibilities, and renumbered the 18th Mahratta Light Infantry.

In November 1943, the threat of enemy invasion having receded, the Battalion proceeded to meet another
crisis, of a different sort, which had arisen in Bengal where acute famine conditions prevailed. With
headquarters at Chandpur, in Eastern Bengal, the Battalion was employed in detached company areas on
famine relief duties which continued for six months.
In the early spring of 1944 the 18th Battalion moved up into Assam for forward railway defence duties on
the Jaintia Hills section of the Assam railway system so vitally important to the Fourteenth Army at that
time battling to repel the Japanese invasion of India’s eastern frontier. In August of the same year
Battalion H.Q. moved to Gauhati with responsibility for a major proportion of the Bengal-Assam railway
system.

In February 1945 the 18th Battalion was transferred across India to the NorthWest Frontier, where it
formed part of the Peshawar Brigade.

26th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

Raised at Belgaum on 1st March 1942, by Lieut.-Colonel H. S. I. Pearson, as an additional Garrison

Battalion, this new unit, on completion of a period of initial training, moved to Bangalore District early in
1943.

For almost two years the Battalion remained at Bangalore, being employed in general station duties and in
providing guards for Italian prisoners-of-war camps, until, at the end of 1944, it proceeded to Arvadi, near
Madras, for general garrison duty.

27th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

On 1st December 1942 a further battalion of the Regiment was raised at Kirkee, by Lieut.-Colonel P.
Shelley, as the 27th Mahratta Light Infantry (Garrison Battalion). The new unit, which was formed by
expansion of the 22nd Garrison Company, completed its period of initial training and proceeded, in
October 1943, to Assam where—in the Brahmaputra Valley, in Manipur, and latterly in Burma—it
operated in the roles of airfield protection and lines of communication defence.

The 27th Battalion had the distinction of being the only Mahratta Garrison Battalion to serve with a field
formation and, two platoons having fought with credit in the defence of Kohima in April 1944, to see
action against the enemy.

28th/5th Mahratta Light Infantry

On 15th May 1943 yet another battalion of the regiment was raised, by Lieut.Colonel A. 0. Rowlinson, as
the 28th Mahratta Light Infantry (Garrison Battalion).

45

The new battalion was raised at Allahabad by the absorption of the 23rd and 28th Garrison Companies
and was employed in general garrison duties.

In October 1944 the 28th Battalion moved to Bhopal State for guard duties at the large Italian prisoners-
of-war camp near Bhairagarh.

29th/5th Mahraita Light Infantry

On 1st October the latest, and last, of the Regiment’s war service battalions came into being with the
formation of the 29th Mahratta Light Infantry (Garrison Battalion). The new battalion, which was formed
at Khulna, under command of Lieut.-Colonel C.F. Turpin, by conversion of the 1st Indian Coast Defence
Battalion, moved almost immediately to Calcutta to be employed in general Garrison duties.

In March 1945 the 29th Battalion was transferred for garrison and station duty at Kamptee.
 CHAPTER VII

THE REGIMENTAL CENTRE, BELGAUM, 1939-45

AS was inevitable, it was upon the Training Establishment at Belgaum that the burden of the
Regiment’s very considerable expansion fell most heavily during these years of war. Throughout six
years of sustained effort, and denied the inspiration of the active service for which so many yearned in
their hearts, it was the hard work and organization of the Administrative and Instructional Staff which, by
the intensive training and equipping of recruits numbered in tens of thousands, made possible the
maintenance in the field of the five regular battalions and the raising of many new ones.

Entering the war in September 1939 as the 10th (Training) Battalion of five single

Training Companies, affiliated to and staffed by the five regular battalions, the Centre

at Belgaum expanded progressively through the successive stages of additional Training

Companies and Double Training Companies to become, in July 1942, the 5th Mahratta

Light Infantry Regimental Centre.

At the peak of expansion, during 1942-43, the Centre comprised four Infantry Training Battalions,
a Specialist Training and I-folding Battalion, two Duty Companies, a Boys Company, a large Attached
Section, an ever growing Records and Accounts Section as additional active battalions mobilized for war,
and a very considerable Centre Headquarters with ancillary welfare and educational organizations. There
were occasions during this period when the ration strength at the Regimental Centre exceeded 7,000 of all
ranks.

Commandants at Belgaum during the first two war years were, in succession, Lieut.-Colonel H.
Hanna, O.B.E., Lieut.-Colonel W. V. Clark, and Lieut.-Colonel A. 0. Kersey, M.C., to be followed in
October 1941 by Colonel C. A. Strong, O.B.E., M.C., who commanded the Regimental Centre for over
three years which covered the high-water period of expansion with notable ability and success. Colonel
Strong’s flair for organization, energy, and drive—backed by the loyal co-operation of his Administrative
and Training Staffs, chief among whom was Major R. H. Coad, O.B.E., M.M., who as Quartermaster for
nearly six years sustained with notable success the almost incredible burden of supply and maintenance—
built up the standard of the Mahratta Centre until its reputation stood second to none as measured against
other Training Establishments of the Indian Army.
 The effort involved in building up and maintaining this very high standard had its not undeserved
reward in that on his last two visits of inspection the Director of Individual Training, G.H.Q. (I), quoted
the Mahratta Centre as being the most efficiently organized and best Regimental Centre in India.

Additional strain was put upon the Regimental Centre when during the political disturbances of
1942, which assumed dangerous proportions in the districts of Belgaum and South Kanara during the
latter months of that year, it was called upon constantly to hold in readiness and to operate flying columns
in support of the Civil Authority in

47

its efforts to combat local outbreaks of mob violence and organized sabotage. All such calls for military
assistance were met with promptitude and efficiency which had the desired effect.

In the stress of intensified training the desirability of publicizing the Regiment’s high tradition and
notable war effort was not lost sight of. In January 1943 there was presented on the regimental parade
ground, before H. E. Sir Roger Lumley, G.C.I.E., T.D., Governor of Bombay, and a large gathering of
keenly appreciative spectators, an ambitious and admirably staged Tattoo depicting, in colourful
pageantry in the floodlit arena, a few of the past and present activities of the Mahratta Regiment. The
performance was repeated, in the varying form of a Mahratta Mulaqat, in November 1944 when among
those present was Lieut.-General Sir Noel Beresford-Peirse, commanding Southern Army.

Another notable visitor to the Regimental Centre was the Viceroy of India, His Excellency Field-
Marshal the Right Honourable Lord Wavell, P.C., G.C.B., G.M.S.I., C.M.G., M.C., who came to
Belgaum on 20th January 1944 and had lunch with the officers of the regiment.

Parallel with the general expansion of the Regimental Centre was an extension of welfare and
educational activities for the benefit of Mahratta soldiers and their families. In addition to the Mahratta
War Memorial Boys’ Hostel for the housing and education of the young sons of Mahratta service men,
which was doubled in capacity, and the Families Hospital—both managed and maintained by the
Centre—large, well-equipped Recreation Rooms were established in each Training Battalion area and a
very popular Boys’ Company was formed of young Mahratta lads eager but not old enough to enlist in the
regiment.
 Another development, and one of far-reaching benefit, was the organization of a Regimental Farm
on land leased for the purpose. Here where there are admirably laid out poultry and rabbit runs, extensive
vegetable gardens, and demonstration agricultural plots, a competent staff gives instruction to wounded
and discharged soldiers while the varied produce forms a welcome and valuable addition to the daily
rations at the Centre.

A further, and later, development has been the establishment of a flourishing Women’s Welfare
institute where, under the supervision of ladies of the Regiment, wives and daughters of soldiers are
taught useful handicrafts and given elementary education.

Early in 1945 Colonel Strong left Belgaum, in order to take up a new appointment, and was
succeeded by Colonel R. L. Isaacs under whose command the Regimental Centre continued to maintain
its same high standard of efficiency. In the last months there was added a Demobilization Section
officered and staffed to deal with the manifold complexities entailed in the accommodation,
documentation, and discharge of the many thousands of Mahratta soldiers due to pass through Belgaum
on their release from the Army.

Altogether, from September 1939 until August 1945, no fewer than 19,847 recruits were received
into the Regimental Centre at Belgaum, the peak monthly intake being reached with 976 in July 1941, and
passed out as trained soldiers to those units with which they were to serve.

48

Of this large total—in addition to which the Centre trained the initial intake of recruits for the
Madras Regiment, the Mahar Regiment, and the Lingayat Regiment on the formation of these units—
while a certain proportion were drafted to the Indian Artillery, Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners, Royal
Indian Army Service Corps, Auxiliary Pioneer Corps, and even to the Royal Indian Navy, the great
majority became efficient soldiers of the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry.

That the high standard of training imparted to soldiers of the Regiment was justly appreciated by
Commanders under whom they served is exemplified in the following letter, dated 19th December 1944,
addressed to Colonel Strong by Lieut.-General Sir Oliver Leese, Bt., K.C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O.,
commanding the Eighth Army in Italy:

“I should like you, as Commandant of the Training Centre of the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry, to
know of the great work which battalions of the Regiment have done in the Eighth Army in Italy.
 The three Battalions played a prominent part in some of the most hard-fought actions of the
campaign this summer. The 1/5th and the Sth/5th were engaged in the epic fighting of the 8th Indian
Division in the crossing of the Rapido and in the great thrust up the Liri Valley. Much later, on the
Adriatic, after we had broken the Gothic Line, the 3rd/5th Mahrattas was engaged with the 10th
Indian Division in the advance against strong opposition after the fall of Rimini.

In these fine actions, the three Battalions earned a great name and the Regiment may be proud Of
their achievements.

It is remarkable also, and a tribute to their high discipline and morale, that our Mahrattas in Italy
stood up splendidly to the bitter weather last winter. The conditions of intense cold, with many weeks
of deep snow, were such as to try the hardest troops.

You may like to let this be known to the men of your Centre under training and to tell them from
me how proud they should be of their comrades in your three Battalions in Italy. Perhaps I may
congratulate you personally on the excellent training which these men must have received; for they
could not have done so well if they had not started in the right school.

With my best wishes to you and your staff.

Yours ever,
 CHAPTER VIII

THE GLORY AND THE PRICE

IN this the greatest of all wars few regiments of the Indian Army contributed more to the cause of
Empire and of Victory, in most gallant service, in stern endurance, and in bloodshed, than did the 5th
Mahratta Light Infantry. With its many battalions serving in all major theatres of war in which the Indian
Army was represented, and always with distinction, its fine record will bear comparison with the best.

Few indeed are the regiments whose lists of honours and awards exceed the splendid record earned
by the gallantry and devoted service of the officers and other ranks of the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry as
the following list, not necessarily yet complete, will show :—

Officers

Companion of the Bath (C.B.) 1

Companion of the British Empire (C.B.E.) 1
Companion of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.) 1
Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) 6
Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) 5
Member of the British Empire (M.B.E.) 7
Military Cross (M.C.) 22
Mention in Despatches .. 45

Viceroy’s Commissioned Officers

Order of British India (O.B.I.) 41
Indian Order of Merit (I.O.M.) 3
Military Cross (M.C.) 18
Indian Distinguished Service Medal (I.D.S.M.) 2
Mention in Despatches 26

Other Ranks
Victoria Cross (V.C.) 2
Indian Order of Merit (I.O.M.) 10
Indian Distinguished Service Medal (I.D.S.M.) 48
Military Medal (M.M.) 49
Mention in Despatches 75
 50

To the men whose brave deeds earned these decorations, and to those many others whose gallantry
received no tangible reward, all honour is due, but never must be forgotten the bitter price at which the
glory of victory was bought. In the various campaigns, fought in three continents, the following battle
casualties were sustained in addition to the not inconsiderable numbers who lost their lives as the result of
accident or through sickness :—

Officers V.C.Os. Other Ranks

Killed 29 28 709
Wounded .. 51 98 2,583
Missing 2 — 139
Total .. 82 126 3,431

The Regiment honours the sacrifice, and the memory, of these comrades.
 THE BATTLE HONOURS OF THE REGIMENT

Mysore—1790-92 (1st and 2nd Battalions)

In November 1790 the Bombay Army, under General Abercrombie, took the field along the
Malabar Coast against the forces of Tippoo Sultan, the powerful and aggressive ruler of Mysore, who had
invaded Travancore, a State in alliance with the British. The Army, in which were included both the
present 1st and 2nd Battalions, captured Cannanore on 19th December and undertook a most laborious
ascent of the Pondacherrin Ghat only to abandon the campaign on account of sickness and lack of
supplies.

Renewing the campaign in 1791 Abercrombie, on 16th February 1792, joined hands with a Madras
Army before Tippoo Sultan’s fortress capital of Seringapatam. On the eve of the delivery of a general
assault, however, Tippoo opened peace negotiations and a treaty signed on 19th March ended what is
known as the Third Mysore War.

Seedaseer—1799 (1st and 2nd Battalions)

War with the ruler of Mysore again having broken out in 1798, a Bombay Army early in the
following year advanced from Cannanore to force the Ghats and converge upon Tippoo Sultan’s capital
fortress of Seringapatam in conjunction with a Madras Army advancing from the east. This Bombay
Army, about 6,500 strong, was divided into three brigades each of three battalions with some artillery. In
the Right Brigade were the present 1st and 2nd Battalions together with what was, prior to disbandment,
the 1st Bombay Pioneers.

Tippoo Sultan’s plan was to hold with a small force the Madras Army while falling with his main
body upon the lesser Bombay force. At 9 a.m. on 6th March 1799 Tippoo’s main body, estimated at
12,000 men, fell upon the Right Brigade at Seedaseer, near the summit of the Ghats, where it was
encamped at a distance of some eight miles from the rest of the army.

Throughout the long day the three Battalions, less than 2,000 men in all, gallantly withstood
repeated furious assaults from the greatly superior Mysore force, fighting under the eye of Tippoo Sultan
himself, until late afternoon brought the Left Brigade to their relief and the enemy withdrew from the
field.
 In his despatch to the Directors of the East India Company in England, the Governor-General
wrote, “I am confident that your most honourable Court will be of the opinion that the conduct and
success of the Army of Bombay on that day (Seedaseer Day) has seldom been equalled and never
surpassed.”

The anniversary of the Battle, 6th March 1799, has for many years past been celebrated annually
by the 1st and 2nd Battalions as “Seedaseer Day.” The celebrations take the form of regimental sports
and, in the case of the 2nd Battalion, by a pageant

52

in the colourful uniforms of the period depicting episodes of the battle. The Regiment may thus, with
reason, claim to be the originators in India of the spectacular military Tattoo.

Seringapatam—1799 (1st and 2nd Battalions)

Following his reverse at Seedaseer, Tippoo Sultan withdrew with his forces into his very strong
fortress capital of Seringapatam, built upon an island in the River Cauvery. Before Seringapatam the
Madras and Bombay columns joined forces early in April and siege was immediately laid to the
formidable stronghold.

Despite fierce enemy sorties, and under cover of supporting artillery fire, siege approaches were
pushed forward until, a breach having been made in the outer wall, a general assault was ordered on 4th
May 1799. The Cauvery being low the stormers, with whom both the 1st and 2nd Battalions were
represented, were able to ford the river bed some distance upstream whence they were able to cross the
ditch and enter the breach in face of heavy musketry and cannon fire. Enemy resistance was fierce but
after an hour’s desperate fighting, in which Tippoo Sultan himself was killed, the fortress of Seringa-
patam fell.

Beni-Boo-Ali—1821 (1st and 2nd Battalions)

 Towards the end of 1819 an expeditionary force of the Bombay Army, in which the 1st Battalion
and 2nd Battalion were included, was engaged in operations against Arab pirates along the south-eastern
coast of the Persian Gulf. In an assault made by a detachment of this force upon the Arab stronghold of
Beni-Boo-Ali the attackers were heavily defeated and practically annihilated so that, in order to avenge
this serious reverse, it became necessary, in 1821, to despatch a second and stronger force with the same
objective.

Included in this latter force were the 1st Battalion together with the flank companies of the 2nd
Battalion and, on 2nd March 1821, the fort of Beni-Boo-Ali was carried by assault, the Arabs disdaining
the protection of their defences and rushing sword in hand upon our troops to be practically wiped out in a
desperate hand-to-hand fight before the walls in which 203 men of the attacking troops were killed or
severely wounded.

Kahun—1840 (2nd Battalion)

The year 1839 witnessed the commencement of the First Afghan War when, forced to action by the
yielding to Russian influence of Dost Mahommed the usurper ruler of Afghanistan, the Government of
India agreed to extend its armed support to an attempt by Shah Shuja, the deposed Amir, to regain his lost
throne.

In accordance with the plan of campaign a Bombay field force occupied Karachi early in 1840 and
marched northwards into Sind, its role being to hold in check the turbulent Sindis and the Baluch tribes
while the main Bengal force advanced through the Bolan Pass on Kandahar. In the course of these
operations a detachment of the 5th Native Infantry (the 2nd Battalion), some 300 strong under Captain
Brown, marched upon and occupied, in May 1840, the isolated hill fort of Kahun which was the chief
stronghold of the turbulent, and warlike, Marri tribe. Having occupied the fort without much opposition
Captain Brown, in accordance with orders, sent back his baggage camels under an escort of 50 men of the
Regiment together with a half-squadron of Scinde Horse lent

53

him for this purpose. Being aware that hostile Marris were assembled in the vicinity, Captain Brown also
sent out a party of 80 men under Subedar Bay Jadhao to see the return party so far on its way.
 The two parties proceeded together for 12 miles when, there being no sign of the enemy, the
.Subedar decided to return to Kahun. Shortly afterwards both parties were surrounded by the enemy in
overwhelming numbers, the return party as it reached the first water hole at the end of a long day’s march
in intense heat and the Subedar’s party in a pass on its way back to Kahun. Against superior numbers of a
tribe reckoned the bravest and best swordsmen of Southern Afghanistan both parties displayed the highest
attributes of courage and good discipline and fought it out to the inevitable finish. Of the return party 12
men fought their way through to safety. Subedar Baji Jadhao and his gallant 80 died where they stood in
their ranks.

Captain Brown’s force, reduced by these losses to 140 men, was immediately besieged in Kahun
but from May until September the gallant handful in the notorious heat of the Sind Desert, labouring on
the inadequate fortifications by day and by night, suffering from the effects of bad water and half rations,
stricken by disease and without hope of relief, successfully beat off all attempts by the enemy to carry the
place by assault.

At length on 27th September 1840 Captain Brown, having received a message from the Officer
Commanding in Upper Sind to take what steps he considered advisable for the safety of his men,
capitulated with the honours of war accorded him by his respectful enemy. These terms were faithfully
kept by the Marris and the few survivors of the gallant garrison of Kahun were permitted to march away
in possession of their arms, guns, ammunition, and baggage.

On 5th April 1841 General Orders authorized the 5th Native Infantry, which only one month later
was accorded the honour of being made “Light Infantry,” to wear upon its Colours and accoutrements the
battle honour “Kahun.” This battle honour is particularly noteworthy as being unique to the 5th Mahratta
Light Infantry.

Mooltan—1848 (1st Battalion)

During the year 1848 the Sikh Army, led by an insurgent named Mulraj, revolted against the terms
of the treaty concluded in 1845 and, eager for another trial of strength with the British, opened hostilities
in what is known as the Second Sikh War.

By the end of the year, when the 3rd Native Infantry (the 1st Battalion) marched into the Punjab as
part of a Bombay column 7,000 strong, Mulraj was besieged with a large part of his army in the strong
fortress city of Multan. On 27th December 1848, the outer defences having already been reduced, a
general assault was launched under cover of fire from siege artillery. This assault was entirely successful,,
the enemy despite stubborn resistance being driven from the city defences to the final security of the Fort.
 The 3rd Native Infantry (1st Battalion) played a conspicuous part in the assault and gained notable
distinction in the capture, after fierce fighting, of the Khum Bun, or Bloody Bastion, at the city’s southern
gate.

54

Some days afterwards a chance shell exploded the enemy’s main powder magazine and on 27th
January 1849 Mulraj, anticipating an assault ordered for the same day, surrendered with what remained of
the garrison.

Goojerat—1849 (1st Battalion)

Following up its victory at Multan the Punjab field force, advanced up the River Chenab against a
considerable Sikh Army, estimated at 60,000 men with artillery, in position south of the town of Gujerat.

On 21st February 1849 the two forces met in a hard-fought battle at the end of which the British
infantry, greatly assisted by the artillery which did great execution in the enemy’s ranks, drove the Sikh
Army from the field.

This battle, in which the 3rd Native Infantry (1st Battalion) fought with distinction, broke Sikh
resistance and peace was declared before the end of the year.

Punjaub—1848-49 (1st Battalion)

For its noteworthy service throughout the Second Sikh War, as apart from the major battles of
Multan and Gujerat for which individual honours were given, the 3rd Native Infantry (1st Battalion) was
awarded the general battle honour “Punjaub.”

Central India—1857-59 (3rd Battalion)

 In May 1857 the Indian Mutiny broke out at Meerut. This was essentially a revolt of the Bengal
Army and a bright feature of those dark days of cruel massacre and of heroic defence was the almost
unimpeachable loyalty of the Bombay Army as a whole and of its Mahratta regiments in particular.

The Bombay Army had at least as much temptation as that of Bengal to be false to its Colours and
that it did not do so was due to its higher morale and better standard of discipline. Moreover, the main
element of the Bombay Army was Mahratta, soldiers who always have shown loyalty in the highest
degree to their regimental traditions and to their officers.

While all battalions of the Regiment performed creditably, either as units or more usually in
detachments, in the very varied operations undertaken against the mutineers— the 3rd Native infantry and
5th Native Infantry with the Ahmednagar Field Force in 1858, the 14th Native Infantry, 16th Native
Infantry, and 17th Native Infantry in Khandesh and Kathiawar in 1858-59—-it was to the 10th Native
Infantry that the battle honour “Central India” was awarded for its particularly meritorious service at this
period.

The 10th Native Infantry (3rd Battalion), as part of the Rajputana Field Force commanded by Sir
Hugh Rose, marched northwards to the relief of those isolated garriSons of Rajputana and Central India
besieged by insurgent forces. The forts of Ahwah and Kotah were recaptured and the Battalion earned
special distinction at the storming of Gwalior on 19th June 1858. There followed arduous service and
hard marching in pursuit of the elusive rebel leader, Tantia Topi, until his capture near Baroda.

55

China—1860-62 (2nd Battalion)

War having been declared upon the Emperor of China, on account of a series of incidents
culminating in the dismissal of the British Ambassador at Pekin, an expeditionary force which included
the 3rd Native Infantry (1st Battalion) and the 5th Native Light Infantry (2nd Battalion) was despatched to
China early in 1860.

To the great disappointment of the two battalions, both were left to garrison Canton and thus were
absent from the field force during the operations resulting in the surrender of Pekin. However, the 2nd
Battalion embarked at Hong Kong in March 1862 as part of a force sent against the Taepings, or Chinese
rebel forces, in the vicinity of Shanghai.

Detachments of the Battalion served with distinction at the capture from the rebels of the walled
towns of Tseerpoo, Khading, and Tsingpoo and at the successful defence of Khading during May 1862
against an overwhelming rebel force.

Abyssinia—1867-.68 (1St and 3rd Battalions)

The truculent attitude of the Ruler of Abyssinia, King Theodore, who had imprisoned and ill-
treated a number of British subjects including the Consul, compelled the despatch in 1867 of an
expeditionary force, commanded by Sir Robert Napier, to that little known country. This force, which was
mainly made up of regiments of the Bombay Army, included the 3rd Native Infantry (1st Battalion) and
the 10th Native Infantry (3rd Battalion).

The campaign was one of peculiar difficulty in that the force, after having landed on a barren and
waterless coast, had to march some 500 miles through most rugged and precipitous country involving an
ascent of nearly 11,000 ft. to the rocky plateau on which stood Theodore’s fortress capital of Magdala.
The terrain, then practically unexplored, has since become familiar through the Italian campaign of
conquest in 1935 and the British expedition of liberation in 1941.

These apparently unsurmountable difficulties were successfully overcome by the indomitable spirit
and endurance of the troops, both British and Indian, and on 13th April 1868 Magdala was taken by
assault, King Theodore dying by his own hand.

In the advance and final assault the 10th Native Infantry (3rd Battalion) was singled out for special
praise. The 3rd Native Infantry (1st Battalion) had to divert its animal transport to other duties and,
although a prodigious effort was made by all ranks, just failed to reach Magdala in time to partake in the
assault. Nevertheless, in recognition of its fine work on the line of march, it was presented by Sir Robert
Napier with a silver Abyssinian drum which is a treasured possession of the Officers’ Mess.

It was for their outstanding service in this most difficult campaign that the 1st Battalion and the 3rd
Battalion were accorded the title of” Light Infantry.”

Afghanistan—1879-80 (2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions)

 In order to avenge the massacre, in 1879, of the British Resident at Kabul and his entire escort, two
forces advanced into Afghanistan, the northern force entering through the Khyber and occupying Kabul
while the sourthern force advanced through the Bolan and besieged Kandahar.

56

Following the disastrous defeat of a Brigade of the latter force at Maiwand, on 27th July 1880, the
remainder were closely besieged in the citadel of Kandahar until relieved by General Roberts, whose
famous march from Kabul to Kandahar is military history, and by a second force hastily sent forward
from Quetta. With this latter relieving force marched the 5th and 10th Native Light infantry (2nd and 3rd
Battalions) and the 16th Native Infantry (4th Battalion) while the 3rd Native Light Infantry (1st Battalion)
also was employed guarding the lines of communication.

The rapid march in extreme heat was very trying and subject to continual harassment from hostile
tribesmen. The 16th Native Infantry (4th Battalion) gained special distinction by the spirited defence of
the outpost fort of Kuch by 3 officers and 314 other ranks of the Battalion together with 150 sick of other
Bombay regiments. All through the night of 16th August 1880 this small force, from behind very
inadequate defences, stood off the repeated furious assaults of over 2,000 determined tribesmen, and
inflicted severe losses upon the enemy.

The official report of the Force Commander records that the successful defence of Kuch
undoubtedly saved Quetta from attack and prevented enemy incursion into Sind.

Burma—1885-87 (2nd Battalion)

The Third Burmese War, following the initial success of 1885, when Mandalay was taken within a
fortnight and King Theebaw deposed, became a war of subalterns and detachments as for two long years
the expeditionary force, in the face of the greatest difficulties of disease and climate, laboured in what
was described as a most strenuous and disappointing campaign to subjugate the dacoits and scattered
armed bands which infested the country following the dissolution of the Burmese Army.

During three years the 5th Native Light Infantry (2nd Battalion) was engaged, with credit to all
ranks, in this very arduous and exacting campaign.
British East Afrlca—1901 (4th Battalion)

An expeditionary force made up from the Aden Camel Corps, part of an Indian Mountain Battery,
some companies of the East African Rifles, and the 16th Bombay Infantry (4th Battalion) entered the
Jubaland Province of British East Africa in January 1901 in order to chastise the Ogaden Somalis
responsible for the murder of the British Sub-Commissioner for that territory.

For six months this force campaigned in this most difficult bush country against an extremely
elusive foe. This service entailed frequent exhausting marches in a trying climate in pursuit of an enemy
who consistently refused to be brought to decisive action.

There were several sharp engagements with parties of tribesmen and the occupation of their chief
villages eventually brought the rebellious chief to submission.

Megiddo, Sharon, Nablus—1918 (2nd and 3rd Battalions)

On 19th September 1918, in the final phase of the campaign in Palestine, General Allenby
launched his grand offensive that was to destroy Turkish resistance in that country and herald the
beginning of the end of the Great War of 1914-18.

57

Clever tactical moves having deceived the enemy into erroneous anticipation of an attack upon his
left wing in the Jordan Valley, General Allenby launched a surprise assault in great force upon the
Turkish right flank lying in the Plain of Sharon between the Judaean Mountains and the sea north of Jaffa.

The initial assault was made at dawn by the 16th Corps, in which was the 105th Mahratta Light
Infantry (2nd Battalion) recently arrived from Mesopotamia, and greatly assisted by an efficient artillery
barrage proved completely successful. Driving clean through the Turkish defences, the victorious
Divisions swept the demoralized enemy before them, marching and fighting without respite until, on 21st
September, the vital communications centre of Nablus was seized and the line of retreat to the eastward
effectively blocked. Intervention on the part of the considerable Turkish forces east of the Jordan was
effectively prevented by the advance of Chaytor’s Force, consisting of Australian and Indian cavalry and
the 20th Indian Division, which included the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry (3rd Battalion), from the
Jordan Valley to seize Es Salt and Amman on the Hedjaz railway.

Meanwhile, grasping the opportunity afforded by the initial break through, General Allenby
launched his cavalry divisions in a boldly conceived and vigorously executed encircling movement which
seized Haifa and the lateral railway well to the enemy’s rear. Thus, defeated and cut off from all retreat,
the Turkish Seventh and Eighth Armies were destroyed or captured in the Plain of Esdraelon, or Megiddo,
and all effective enemy resistance was at an end.

Palestine—1918 (2nd and 3rd Battalions)

Operations in Palestine during the early part of 1918 were in preparation for, and leading up to,
General Allenby’s great autumn offensive which opened in September.

During May there arrived in Palestine the 105th Mahratta Light Infantry (2nd Battalion), having
come direct from Mesopotamia with the 3rd Indian Division, and the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry (3rd
Battalion). The latter was a reconstituted battalion formed and trained in India to take the place of the
original 110th lost at Kut in 1916.

At the opening of the general offensive, on 19th September, the 105th attacked with the 9th
Brigade on the left of the British line, not far from the coast, while the 110th was with the Desert Force
posted in the Jordan Valley well to the eastward.

Success being assured by the initial break through achieved by the infantry on the left—the 105th
achieved its objective, Jiyus, at a cost of 121 casualties and took three batteries of Turkish guns on the
way—General Allenby passed his cavalry through the gap in a rapid advance up the coast to seize Haifa
and the railway communications in the enemy’s rear.

Thus, surrounded and with their retreat to the eastward cut off by the Desert Force advancing from
the Jordan Valley, the demoralized remnants of the Turkish Seventh and Eighth Armies were speedily
destroyed or captured.
 Allowing the harassed enemy no respite, General Allenby’s hard-driven cavalry continued the
pursuit northward into Syria until the capture of Damascus and Aleppo induced the Turkish Government,
on 31st October, to ask for an armistice.

58

Basra—1914 (3rd and 5th Battalions)

On the outbreak of war with Turkey, on 31st October 1914, the 16th Infantry Brigade undertook
offensive operations at the head of the Persian Gulf. Included in this Brigade were the 2nd Dorsets and
the 117th Mahrattas (Royal Battalion).

On 6th November 1914 a detachment, which included the 117th, effected a landing before, and
smartly captured, the Turkish fort of Fao at the mouth of the Shaat-eI-Arab. This success opened the way
up the river and on landing at Abadan the Brigade beat off a Turkish attack on the night of 10th/11th
November.

The 18th Infantry Brigade, in which were included the 2nd Norfolks and the 110th Mahratta Light
Infantry (3rd Battalion), followed on 13th November, the whole force moving forward signally to defeat a
superior Turkish force at Sahil on 17th November. This defeat led to the evacuation of Basra by the
Turks, this important base being occupied by the 110th on 22nd November 1914.

Shaiba—1915 (3rd and 5th Battalions)

Early in 1915 the Turks in Mesopotamia took the offensive, with the object of retaking Basra, and
advancing down the River Euphrates in greatly superior strength heavily attacked, on 12th April, the
small British force in position at Shaiba some 20 miles west of the city.

The Shaiba garrison consisted of, in addition to one cavalry brigade and some artillery, the 16th
Infantry Brigade, with which were the 2nd Dorsets and the 117th Mahrattas (Royal Battalion), and the
18th Infantry Brigade, including the 2nd Norfolks and the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry (3rd Battalion).
 The enemy, with a force estimated at 15,000 as opposed to just over 5,000 defenders, launched his
initial attack at daybreak on 12th April and for two whole days the small garrison beat off successive
enemy assaults upon its exposed position. On the morning of the third day the British Commander
ordered a general attack and the entire force of exhausted defenders, its ammunition almost expended,
rose from its battered trenches to advance upon its erstwhile attackers. Throughout the heat of the day a
bitter struggle continued before the Turkish lines but at last the enemy broke in a rout that was not
checked for 90 miles.

Thus ended what has been called the” Miracle of Shaiba” when the small British force at a cost of
1,050 casualties totally defeated a Turkish force three times its strength, inflicting 6,000 casualties and
taking 800 prisoners. Of the Bombay troops who played such a part in this notable victory, Major-General
Melliss, V.C., has said, “They have proved on this occasion that they are worthy to stand shoulder to
shoulder with the best troops the Empire can produce.”

Kut-el-Amara---1915-17 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 10th Battalions)

During September 1915 General Townshend’s army in Mesopotamia began its advance up the
River Tigris and on the 27th and 28th attacked and captured the Turkish positions at Sanniyat and Es Sinn
covering the town of Kut-el-Amara situated in a bend of the river. Included in this force were three
battalions of the Regiment—the 103rd Mahratta Light Infantry (1st Battalion), the 110th Mahratta Light
Infantry (3rd Battalion), and

59

the 117th Mahrattas (Royal Battalion) and in the flanking movement which turned the Turkish left the
117th in particular attacked the enemy trenches with great gallantry despite very severe losses.

Of this action, which forced the Turks to evacuate the town, it has been written that, “Both in
generalship and in gallantry, the battle of Kut-el-Amara will be remembered as one of the most brilliant,
possibly the most brilliant, fought by the Indian Army.”

Two months afterwards, retiring down-river after the failure of its ill-considered advance on
Baghdad, the weary remnant of General Townshend’s gallant force was besieged in Kut-el-Amara by
superior Turkish forces.
 During the 146 days for which the exhausted and standing defenders held out in the hope of relief,
successive attempts were made by the relieving force to break through the strong Turkish positions
covering the approaches to the town from the south. On 6th January 1916, at a cost of 4,000 casualties to
the attacking force, a portion of the Turkish defensive position at Shaik Saud was captured but subsequent
successive attacks upon the strongly held enemy positions at Sanniyat—made with the utmost gallantry
but in insufficient numbers—failed to achieve the hoped-for break through. The last desperate assault on
22nd April failed, as had the others before it, a composite Mahratta unit of young recruits for the three
battalions besieged in Kut fighting with great steadiness and courage, and on the 29th the exhausted
garrison was obliged to capitulate.

Attempts to relieve Kut-el-Amara in 1916 had cost more than 30,000 casualties, chiefly due to the
necessity for throwing fresh reinforcements piecemeal into the fight as these were brought up, but early in
1917 operations undertaken with adequate forces achieved the desired result.

With the additional forces to reach Mesopotamia in 1916 were the 105th Mahratta Light Infantry
(2nd Battalion) and the 114th Mahrattas (~0th Battalion) both of which took part in the successful
operations early in the following year. A bitter action was fought in Abu Hassan Bend on 9th January,
when the 105th fought with great gallantry, and on 22nd February the Sanmyat lines were carried by
assault. Kut-el-Amara fell three days later.

Ctesiphon—1915 (1st, 3rd and 5th Battalions)

Following his capture of Kut-el-Amara at the end of September 1915 General Townshend’s force
in Mesopotamia was ordered to advance upon Baghdad.

There had been an unfortunate delay of three weeks, however, in which the Turks had been
allowed to reorganize their defence and as the British force continued its advance up the River Tigris it
found the strongly fortified positions at Ctesiphon, only 30 miles from Baghdad, occupied by a force of
18,000 fresh Turkish troops.

Although having at his disposal barely 11,000 troops, and these very far from being fresh, General
Townshend decided to attack the enemy in his strong defences and, on 22nd November, opened an assault
which, after three days’ bitter fighting, ended with the capture of the enemy’s first defence line and
Turkish orders for a general retreat.
 In the assault, and repulse of determined Turkish counter-attacks, three battalions of the
Regiment—the 103rd Mahratta Light Infantry (1st Battalion), the 110th Mahratta

60

Light Infantry (3rd Battalion), and the 117th Mahrattas (Royal Battalion)—creditably played their parts;
that of the 117th, which lost one company practically annihilated in gallantly storming & vital enemy
strong point, being worthy of particular mention. Such was the cost of victory—nearly fifty per cent. of
his infantry being casualties—that his plan for an advance on Baghdad had to be abandoned and on the
following day General Townshend began his retreat to Kut-el-Amara.

Defence of Kut-ej-Amara—1915-16 (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Battalions)

Included General Townshend’s little force in Mesopotamia which, following its unsuccessful attempt to
reach Baghdad, was besieged in the town of Kut-el-Amara were three battalions of the Regiment—the
103rd Mahratta Light Infantry (1st Battalion), the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry (3rd Battalion), and the
117th Mahrattas (Royal Battalion)—together with two Emergency Companies of the 105th Mahratta
Light Infantry (2nd Battalion) despatched from India to reinforce the 103rd and 110th.

By early December 1915 all communications with the town had been cut by a strong Turkish
besieging force and defence works, of which there were none when General Townshend’s force arrived,
had to be constructed by the defenders under fire. From the first food and ammunition were in short
supply and strict rationing was enforced. Under constant shell fire, and subjected to continual fire from
enemy snipers, the weary and hungry garrison settled down grimly to defend Kut for as long as possible
or until it should be relieved by those forces known to be arriving from India.

Before dawn on Christmas Day 1915 the enemy launched a fierce assault upon the defence sector
held by the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry (3rd Battalion). The attack, which was pressed home with
determination by a large assaulting force, was repulsed after fierce hand-to-hand fighting but at heavy
cost—one Mahratta company losing seventy per cent. in casualties.

On 8th January 1916 the relieving force, in a heavy action at Shaik Saud, drove the enemy back to
his defences at Sannayat and the garrison of Kut, having been put on half rations, continued to beat off all
enemy assaults. Throughout the siege flooding from the rising River Tigris caused considerable hardship
to the much tried defenders and greatly hampered the operations of the relieving force.

Shelled and bombed and frequently attacked, the devoted and gallant garrison held out through
February and March while the relieving force fought action after action in vain efforts to force the strong
Turkish lines at Sannayat.

April saw the end. Supplies of food within the beleaguered town were at an end and small
quantities dropped within the perimeter from aircraft on the 15th and 16th did little to relieve the
desperate situation. On 24th April a small steamer, s.s. “Julnar,” made a gallant attempt to run the
blockade with supplies but was held up by a chain across the river and captured by the Turks.

Four days later General Townshend, at the end of his resources and after a siege lasting 146 days—
a record for the Indian Army~ surrendered unconditionally and on 29th April the Turks entered the town.

61

Baghdad—1917 (2nd and 10th Battalions)

Following the recapture of. Kut-el-Amara, on 25th February 1917, the British Army in
Mesopotamia continued its pursuit of the defeated Turkish forces retiring up the River Tigris in the
direction of Baghdad. Serving in General Maude’s Army were two Mahratta units, the 105th Mahratta
Light Infantry (2nd Battalion) and the 114th Mabrattas (10th Battalion), both of which had arrived in
Mesopotamia from India some months previously.

Advancing up both banks of the Tigris the British force overcame, after heavy fighting, the
resistance of a strong enemy rearguard holding the line of the River Dyala flowing into the Tigris south of
Baghdad and, without further opposition, entered the city on 11th March 1917.

Sharqat—1918 (4th and 10th Battalions)

 With the capture of Baghdad there followed for the British Army in Mesopotamia a lengthy period
of consolidation and preparation for future operations. In October 1918, however, there was launched the
final successful offensive which brought Turkish resistance in Mesopotamia to an end.

From advanced bases established at Samarra and Tehrit, well to the north of Baghdad, operations
were undertaken to destroy the Turkish Divisions entrenched at Sharqat, some distance further up the
River Tigris. While one force, in which served the 116th Mahrattas (4th Battalion) recently arrived from
India, was engaged in driving the enemy from the hilly Jebel Hamrin on the eastern flank of the line of
advance, the main force proceeded up-river to attack the Turkish positions at Sharqat. In the three days of
fierce fighting which followed, the 114th Mahrattas (10th Battalion) particularly distinguished
themselves, advancing to the assault with great steadiness despite severe casualties and, on the final day,
resisting fierce enemy counter-attacks and regaining lost ground.

Despite desperate resistance and gallant counter-attacks the Turks at length were driven from their
positions and a daring encircling movement by the British cavalry completed their discomfiture. Unable
to hold his ground, and with his line of retreat cut, the Turkish Commander surrendered with his forces on
30th October 1918.

Mesopotamia—1914-18 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 10th Battalions)

Of the four long years of the campaign in Mesopotamia, with its victories and its failures, its
heroism and its misery, and with its ultimate hard won success, it has been written—” In spite of the
mistakes made by civilian and soldier alike: in spite of the horrors after Ctesiphon, the misery of the
wounded, the heat, the sickness, the desolation of the empty desert, and the 93,000 casualties the
campaign cost the troops that fought in Mesopotamia can rest secure in the knowledge that they added
imperishable glory to the record of the Imperial Army.”

Of that glory the old Bombay regiments had their full share. A pleasing recognition of their
gallantry and steadfastness was the grant of the title “Royal” to the 117th Mahrattas (Royal Battalion) and
to the Bombay Sappers and Miners.

62

Persla—1918 (5th Battalion)

 The Bolshevik Revolution which swept Russia during the latter part of 1917 inevitably had its
effect upon neighbouring countries. This was particularly the case in Persia, which throughout 1918
remained in a state of considerable unrest. Enemy and Bolshevik agents were industrious in fomenting
this wave of political discontent with the result that certain elements in Persia, and especially the unruly
mountain tribes, engaged openly in hostile acts calculated to embarrass the British Commands in Iraq and
on the North-West Frontier of India.

The Shah of Persia failing to curb the activities of his turbulent subjects, it became necessary for
the British Government to take military measures to bring the situation under control.

To this end operations were undertaken in Seistan and in the mountainous country to the east of
the Persian Gulf, and included in a force sent against the Tangistani tribesmen of the latter region was the
117th Mahrattas (Royal Battalion) as reconstituted following the loss of the original unit at Kut in 1916.
These operations, arduous in the extreme owing to the nature of the country and the harassing tactics of
the enemy, were entirely successful and were noteworthy for the gallant stand, in October 1918, of a party
of barely 100 Mahrattas who, cut off from their main body and short of ammunition and supplies,
successfully resisted for 48 hours all efforts at their destruction.

North-West Frontier of Indla—1914-15, 1917 (3rd, 4th and 10th Battalions)

Always sensitive to the influence of contemporary events in neighbouring countries, the ever-
restless North-West Frontier of India reacted in characteristic fashion to the outbreak of war in Europe in
1914 and the subsequent eastward spread of hostilities through Turkey to the ancient land of
Mesopotamia. The active efforts of enemy agents to stir up a Jehad, or Holy War, which would raise the
Frontier from Baluchistan to the Pamirs in one simultaneous conflagration, failed signally in its main
purpose but was so far successful in that it maintained in the Border tribesmen a constant spirit of
turbulence and menace ever quick to take advantage of British preoccupation elsewhere.

Raiding increased considerably and in order to meet the ever-present threat to India’s borders
considerable forces had to be maintained on Frontier duties during the entire period of the war.
Mabratta units took their share in this arduous and little advertised service. From the outbreak ot war in
1914 the 114th Mahrattas (10th Battalion) until December 1915, and the 116th Mahrattas (4th
Battalion) until April 1917, performed creditable service on the Frontier while the newly raised
2nd/llOth Mahratta Light Infantry (3rd Battalion) had its introduction to field service in punitive
operations against Baluch tribesmen early in 1918.

Afghanistan 1919 (1st and 3rd Battalions)

 The collapse of the Turkish Khalifate, on the military defeat of Turkey in October 1918, ushered
in a period of acute religious unrest and dissension among the Moslem peoples of Mesopotamia, Persia,
and Afghanistan. Urged to such action by Russian influence antagonistic to Great Britain, and
encouraged thereto alike by the enthusiasm for war of the Border tribes and the apparent weakness of
India’s frontier defence forces,

63

King Ammanullah Khan of Afghanistan was ill-advised enough to attack India’s borders in 1919, in what
has come to be known as the Third Afghan War.

That India’s frontier at the time was ill-defended was only too true. British battalions long overdue
for relief had been sent Home and the Indian Army expeditionary forces to Mesopotamia and Palestine
had not yet returned to India so that, to a dangerous degree, frontier defence had been relegated to
inexperienced second-line troops.

In these circumstances King Ammanullah’s Afghan forces met with considerable initial success.
Encouraged by British reverses, the tribes took the field and within a few weeks the entire Border was
aflame. India was invaded by strong Afghan forces with tribal support and there was much bitter fighting
before the enemy was driven back through the passes and peace terms dictated on Afghan soil.

It was not, indeed, until seasoned regiments—some of them but recently returned from overseas
service—were hurried to the support of the hard-pressed forces on the Frontier that the tide of war was
turned. To this arduous service were diverted the 103rd Mahratta Light Infantry (1st Battalion) and the
110th Mahratta Light Infantry (3rd Battalion).
 CONCLUSION

‘ THE foregoing is the honourable tale of the battle honours awarded to the Regiment in its long history,
from 1768 to the present day, and borne with pride upon its Colours. That the tale of battle honours is not
yet completed, and that much regimental history remains to be written, will be plain to the many who
have watched with pride the splendid service rendered by Battalions of the Regiment on the far-flung
battle fronts of this greatest of all wars so recently brought to a victorious conclusion.

That the gallantry and dogged tenacity which so characterized the Mahratta soldier of past years
lives on in his descendant of today has been proved beyond doubt. He, and the officers who have led him
to victory, have added glorious pages to the Regiment’s fine record and further battle honours to the
emblazoned story of its Colours.

The battle-cry that chilled the hearts of Shivaji’s foes in days long gone by, and echoed exultantly
on many a hard won field, will yet be heard, should ever the need arise, o’er future battlefields yet
unknown.

“SRI CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ KI JAI”