In the days of the British Empire, when men of many different races and religions served under the Crown, it was probably the Gurkha soldier who most captured the imagination of the British people, with his combination of courage, loyalty and good humour. For the Gurkha, military service is a matter of honour, demanding strict discipline and self-sacrifice when necessary. This is the story of the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles, from the regiment's raising in 1817 as the Cuttack Legion in the service of the ...
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In the days of the British Empire, when men of many different races and religions served under the Crown, it was probably the Gurkha soldier who most captured the imagination of the British people, with his combination of courage, loyalty and good humour. For the Gurkha, military service is a matter of honour, demanding strict discipline and self-sacrifice when necessary. This is the story of the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles, from the regiment's raising in 1817 as the Cuttack Legion in the service of the Honourable East India Company, until its amalgamation with the 2nd King Edward VII's Gurkha Rifles (the Sirmoor Rifles) to form the 1st Battalion of The Royal Gurkha Rifles in 1994. In the course of its 177 years of existence the regiment has had many changes of title, and acquired its present one in 1959. Prior to independence in 1947, the former Indian Army contained ten regiments of Gurkha Rifles, and in 1948 four of them, including the 6th, were transferred to the British Army. During the Great War the 6th distinguished themselves at Gallipoli, and later in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Salonika and Afghanistan. In World War II the regiment fought in all the main theatres except north-west Europe, particularly in Burma, where the 3rd Battalion was awarded two VCs in one battle when serving with Wingate's Chindits. After the war the regiment played a prominent part in Malaya during the emergency, and then in Borneo during the confrontation with Indonesia. The book reflects how, wherever they served, the 6th Gurkhas lived up to the Gurkha philosophy that it is "better to die than live a coward". The author is a military historian who never served in a Gurkha regiment, but did serve with Gurkhas on many occasions during his service in India and Burma with both his British regiment and the Burma Rifles.
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