A Second War Group To The 10Th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles; Kia At Talingon, Burma 1945

Great Britain. Rifleman Manbahadur Rai, 4th Battalion, 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles, Killed in Action at Talingon, Burma 1945

1939-1945 Star; Burma Star; Defence Medal (5918 RFN. MANBAHADUR RAI, 10 G.R.); and War Medal 1939-1945 (5918 RFN. MANBAHADUR RAI, 10 G.R.). Naming is officially impressed on the DM and WM, the Stars are un-named. Un-mounted, replacement ribbons with pads on the back from previous board mounting, edge nicks on the DM and WM, contact marks, very fine. Accompanied by a copy of the Casualty Page (472) from "Bugle and Kukri: The Story of The 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles" by Colonel B.R. Mullaly, along with an Extract from the War Diary of February 1945.

Footnote: The 4th Battalion was raised at Abbottabad, India (now Pakistan) on March 15, 1941. From January until May 1942, the Battalion was stationed in the Andaman Islands for garrison and defence duties, and then moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for jungle training until July 1943, when it returned to India. From November 1943 to August 1945, the Battalion distinguished itself in the fighting in Burma under 20th Indian Division (Battle Honour `Burma 1942-45', also earned by 1st and 3rd Battalions). It took part in the battles around Imphal in March to June 1944, particularly at Witok in March (Battle Honours `IMPHAL', also earned by 1st and 3rd Battalions, `Tamu Road' on March 12 to April 4, 1944, and `Shenam Pass' on April 1 to June 22, 1944, the latter also earned by 3rd Battalion). In the subsequent advance south the Battalion fought at Pyingaing or `Pink Gin' in December 1944, the Wainggyo Gorge on December 26-29, 1944, the advance on Myinmu on January 19-23, 1945, and the Crossing of the Irrawaddy on February 13-14, 1945. Its greatest battle was at Talingon, Burma, in the bridgehead beyond the Irrawaddy during the advance on Mandalay. Here the Battalion suffered 50 killed and 127 wounded in a prolonged battle on February 16-26, 1945, but virtually wiped out the counter-attacking Japanese 16th Regiment, inflicting 953 casualties on it, including at least 504 killed (Battle Honours `MANDALAY' on February 12 to March 21, 1945, and `MYINMU BRIDGEHEAD' on February 12 to March 7). In the final drive south, the Battalion fought numerous actions, particularly in the advance down the Irrawaddy Valley (Battle Honours `Kyaukse 1945' on March 8-21, and `Irrawaddy' on March 29 to May 30, 1945) and in the large-scale actions at Allanmyo on April 28, 1945 and near Prome. Finally, it took part in the final destruction of the Japanese forces in Burma near the Sittang River (Battle Honour `Sittang 1945' on May 10 to August 15, also earned by the 1st Battalion). In addition to being awarded the 20th Indian Division's Dagger Banner (depicting a hand grasping a dagger) as the best battalion in that formation, the 4th Battalion was referred to by The Times newspaper as "The non-stop Gurkhas". 5918 Rifleman Manbahadur Rai, 4th Battalion, 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles was the son of Sarba Dhoj Rai, of Dungma, Nepal. He was Killed in Action at Talingon, Burma on February 21, 1945, at the age of 22 and is remembered with honour on the Rangoon Memorial, Face 74. The memorial bears the names of almost 27,000 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaigns in Burma (now Myanmar) and who have no known grave. The memorial was designed by Mr. H.J. Brown, ARIBA and unveiled by General Sir Francis Festing, GCB, KBE, DSO on February 9, 1958. The memorial stands in the Taukkyan War Cemetery, in Taukkyan town in the township of Mingaladon, Yangon greater area, on the main highway No. 1 (Pyay Road) and is the largest of the three war cemeteries in Burma. It was begun in 1951 for the reception of graves from four battlefield cemeteries at Akyab, Mandalay, Meiktila and Sahmaw, which were difficult to access and could not be maintained. The last was an original "Chindit" cemetery, containing many of those who died in the battle for Myitkyina. The graves have been grouped together at Taukkyan, in order to preserve the individuality of these battlefield cemeteries. Burials were also transferred from civil and cantonment cemeteries, and from a number of isolated jungle and roadside sites. Because of prolonged post-war unrest, considerable delay occurred before the Army Graves Service were able to complete their work, and in the meantime, many such graves had disappeared. However, when the task was resumed, several hundred more graves were retrieved from scattered positions throughout the country and brought together here. The cemetery now contains 6,374 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 867 of them unidentified.