Non-Stop Gurkhas CBI (id:#62551)

(Schwerpunkt #21 ID: SP249)   [next]   [previous]

Witok, Burma 1944-03-14 (3 others)

Overview:

The Japanese hoped to bypass the Allied army on the border of Manipur State and Burma, and cut off them from their supply lines for defeat in detail. The Allies planned to allow themselves to be surrounded, but to supply their forces by air and watch the Japanese wither at the end of a tenuous supply. However, this plan depended on the Indian divisions at the border disengaging from the Japanese and retreating to Imphal for the real defense. Despite knowledge of the Japanese plans, the Allies began the withdrawal too late. The 20th Indian Division was at the end of the line. The Japanese used the same tactics that had stood them so well in 1942 – infiltration causing panic. The 20th garrisoned Tamu and the villages at the border. At one such village, the defenders, in the process of planning a retreat, heard the rumble of engines. Tanks! The Japanese 14th Tank Regiment had been asked to push the defenders out, to the block the Japanese were sure to have established on the road behind. However, the Japanese found Witok defended by the best battalion of the 10th Gurkha Rifles. Armed with automatic weapons and fresh from jungle school, the Gurkhas placed so mush fire on the attackers that the Japanese broke off the attack. This was the first action for the 4/10 Gurhkas in the six month long struggle for Imphal, during which they earned the nick-name “the non-stop Gurhas”.

Defender: Gurkha (Elements of the 4/10 Gurkha Rifle Battalion and the 2nd Battalion (Border Regiment), 100th Indian Infantry Brigade, 20th Indian Division)  

Errata (source)