Sirmoor Battalion/2nd Goorkhas worldwide casualties 1815-1994
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The men buried in the Slobozia Memorial Cemetery in Romania (shown above) were 2nd Battalion prisoners of war captured by the Germans in France sent to work in Romania, and who died in captivity.
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Volume I of the Regimental History reports than in the Second Afghan War (1879-80) 'Their [the 2nd Goorkhas'] grand total of casualties throughout the second phase of the Afghan Campaign came to 63 of all ranks of whom 23 succumbed to diseases'. Click here to read a short account of the Regiment's involvement in the campaign and see the 3 medals awarded for it.
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See the separate map below showing details of casualties in India.
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See the separate interactive map of France below for more details of 2nd Battalion casualties there in 1914-1915. Click here for an account of the campaign and see the two medals awarded for it.
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The thirteen 2nd Goorkha casualties in Egypt were men of the 2nd Battalion who died of disease when the 2nd Battalion was briefly in Egypt from November 1915 to February 2016 on their way from France to India, taking part in operations against the Turks. Their names are commemorated on the Heliopolis (Port Tewfik) Memorial in Cairo, shown in the picture above.
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The 18 casualties buried at the Zehrensdorf Cemetery 15 miles south of Berlin are men of the 2nd Battalion who were prisoners of war after being captured on the Western Front, many of them dying of wounds incurred during the fighting.
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See the separate map below showing details of casualties in India. The India Gate Memorial in New Delhi, shown above, commemorates the 84,000 men of the Indian Army who died on active service in the period 1914-21. 13,300 names are inscribed on it, including those of Sirmooris who were killed.
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The two 2nd Goorkhas named on the Helles Memorial at Gallipoli (shown in the picture above) are Rifleman Dewansing Gurung of the 1st Battalion and Rifleman Hazarsing Gurung of the 2nd Battalion. Both were attached to the 1st Battalion 4th Gurkha Rifles at Gallipoli, where they were killed. The third man, Lance-Naik Ramsing Thapa, died on 4 October 1919. He is commemorated on the Haidar Pasha Memorial in Istanbul, having previously been buried at the Mashiak or Osmanieh cemeteries elsewhere in Turkey. He may have been captured by the Turks in Iraq (then known as Mesopotamia) when the 1st Battalion was there earlier in the war, and died after the armistice, still in captivity.
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Captain Donald Macintyre, the eldest son of Major General Donald Macintyre VC, had been evacuated from the 2nd Battalion on the Western Front in October 1915 suffering from tuberculosis. He was placed on half pay and sent to Vevey to recuperate, where sadly he died in 1919. He is buried in the war cemetery there (shown above).
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Four of the 2nd Goorkhas buried here were 2nd Battalion men wounded on the Western Front who had been evacuated to the UK for medical treatment: two Gurkha Other Ranks are commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton, and two at the Patcham Down Indian Forces Cemetery, Sussex.
In addition, Lieutenant Colonel AB Lindsay, died on 16th September 1914 while in a staff appointment at the War Office, of heart failure brought on by ill health after many years hard campaigning with the Regiment; he is commemorated on the Brookwood 1914-18 memorial, Surrey. Lieutenant WS Thompson, who died on 16th April 1920, is buried at Mortehoe Cemetery in Devon.
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Three men were killed in action and four died of disease during the Third Afghan War from May 1918 to August 1919. A further six later died of wounds or disease. Click here to read an account of the campaign and see the medal awarded for it.
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These men died during 1st Battalion operations in Iraq from August 1941 to April 1942. They include Rifleman Ritbahadur Rai, killed at the age of 16, one of the youngest 2nd Goorkhas to have lost his life in World War 2. They are commemorated on the Basra Cremation Memorial, shown above. Click here to read an account of the campaign and see the medal awarded for it.
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Two Gurkha Other Ranks are commemorated on the Lebanon cremation memorial in Beirut (shown above). They died when the 1st Battalion was in northern Palestine (now Israel) in late 1941/early 1942.
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Major TOM Edwards was severely injured when the steering of a Crusader tank on which he was riding went wrong and it overturned down a 12-foot drop some eight miles south-west of Bethlehem. He suffered severe head and facial injuries and died on 4th November 1943.
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A Gurkha Officer, Jemadar Harkabahadur Rana, died on 15th November 1945 during 1st Battalion operations in Macedonia in 1944-45 and is buried at the Phaleron War Cemetery, Athens, shown above, together with 6 Gurkha Other Ranks.
Click here for an account of the 1st Battalion's operations in Greece.
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Two Gurkha Officers, Jemadar Meharsing Gurung and Jemadar Ratansing Jhankri, and 66 Gurkha Other Ranks were killed outright on 28 August 1942 when a mine demonstration at Mena went wrong, and a further 85 were injured, many of them being blinded or losing limbs. They are commemorated on the Alamein Cremation Memorial. The remainder commemorated here became casualties during the advance westwards. Click here to read an account of the campaign.
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Three men of the 1st Battalion killed during battles in North Africa are buried in the Tripoli War Cemetery (shown above).
Also buried here is Captain Christopher Arumainayagam MC of the Indian Army Medical Corps. He was the popular and gallant doctor of the 1st Battalion, and drowned in an accident on 19 May 1943. He is not included in the CWGC casualty numbers for the 2nd Goorkhas but those of his parent corps.
Click here to read an account of the campaign.
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22 men of the 1st Battalion are commemorated on the Medjez-El-Bab Memorial (shown above) and a further 4 are buried in the Sfax War Cemetery. Click here to read an account of the campaign.
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Please see details on the separate map below showing the location of memorials and cemeteries in Italy where men of the 1st Battalion are commemorated or buried. Click here to read an account of the campaign.
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See separate map below showing details of casualties in India. Men of the Indian Army who died in the Second World War are commemorated by the Delhi and Karachi 1939-45 War Memorials, identical monuments in two cities which record the names of those who died in all theatres worldwide.
The Delhi Memorial is shown above.
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Major G W N Silcock of the 3rd Battalion, who had taken part in the First Chindit Expedition, sleeping indoors and upstairs for the first time in many months, had a nightmare and jumped out of a first floor window only to later die of his injuries. The CWGC records show that his body was transferred from Kurushkul Cemetery, Cox's Bazaar to its current location in Bangladesh.
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Two Gurkha Other Ranks are commemorated on the Nicosia Cremation Memorial. They died when the 1st Battalion was in Cyprus from April to August 1942.
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The large number of First World War casualties in Iraq are men of the 1st Battalion who died during the 1st Battalion campaign in what was then known as Mesopotamia from 1916-1918. They included many men who died of disease rather than enemy action. The majority, 334, are commemorated on the Basra Memorial, including 4 British Officers (Major B R Nicholl; Major E W C Ridgway; Captain NGR Woodyatt; Captain AHR Saunders) and 6 Gurkha officers (Subedar Shamsher Kharwas; Subedar Karbir Thapa; Jemadar Gopi Thapa; Jemadar Partab Sahi; Jemadar Chandrasing Gharti and Jemadar Dhanraj Gurung). 2 British Officers are buried at the Basra War Memorial (Captain J R W Herrick; 2Lt W L Tanburn) as is one Gurkha Other Rank. 3 British Officers (Major H K W Bruce; Captain H F F Marsh; 2Lt C E Dunlop) and 2 Gurkha Other Ranks are buried at the Basra War Cemetery.
Click here to read an account of the campaign.
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The men commemorated in Singapore are mostly those of the 2nd Battalion who died during the defence of Malaya against the Japanese or subsequently in captivity. However, Kranji cemetery also includes graves transferred from the French Military Cemetery in Saigon where four men of the 4th Battalion 2nd Gurkhas were thought to have been buried when they were killed in late 1945.
7 men are buried in the Kranji War Cemetery, including Second Lieutenant KR Yates, who died on 9th October 1942.
48 men are commemorated on the Singapore Cremation Memorial, including the Battalion Subedar Major, Hari Sing Bohra, who died on 21 May 1944 of wounds inflicted by the Japanese while a prisoner of war, Jemadar Kubahadur Rana who died on 11 March 1945, and Jemadar Dallu Gurung who died on 1 July 1944.
The Singapore Memorial (shown above) commemorates 77 men, including the Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel GH Woollcombe, who was lost at sea while being evacuated from Singapore, having been ordered to escape from the Japanese to held build-up and train forces in India. Also on the memorial are Captain BC Hancock, who was executed by the Japanese on 20 September 1942 after leading a break-out from the jail he was in, Captain RHD Bucknall and Lieutenant DB Combe, who both died on 10 February 1942, Lieutenant MJ Dowty who died on 15 February 1942, Second Lieutenant FH Lovett who died on 19 January 1942, and Subedar Pahalmansing who died on an unknown date in December 1944.
Click here to read an account of the campaign.
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See the map of casualties in India below for more details.
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Two men of the 2nd Battalion are buried in the Kuala Lumpur (Cheras Road) civil cemetery (shown above). One of them is Captain AC Dallas-Smith, who died of dysentery in gaol after being captured by the Japanese. Click here to read an account of the campaign.
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55 officers and men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions were killed in action in the Malayan Emergency from 1948-60. A further 22 died in accidents or disease while on active service. They are all buried at sites in Peninsular Malaya depending on where their units were stationed at the time of their deaths. They include: Lieutenant(KGO) Shere Thapa, killed on 28 November 1950; Major TA Wimbush, killed on 2 July 1951; Major W Shaw, killed on 3 July 1952; Lieutenant(GCO) Bishanbahadur Gurung, killed on 22 December 1951; and Major DA Truss and Major (GCO) Pahalmansing Gurung, both killed in a light aircraft crash on 7 June 1956.
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The Borneo Confrontation campaign took place in Sarawak, part of the recently-formed federation of Malaysia, and in the northern part of the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Both the 1st and 2nd Battalions undertook several tours of duty there, including cross-border operations. The dead included Captain(GCO) Purnabahadur Gurung, killed on 8 September 1963. Click here for more information about the Borneo Campaign.
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Two men were killed in the Brunei Revolt, including Lieutenant DE Stephens. Click here for an account of the 1st Battalion's role in suppressing the uprising.
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The men who died in action or of disease in Myanmar (then known as Burma) were officers and other ranks of the 3rd and 4th Battalions which had been on operations there, including the Chindit expeditions. 263 men are commemorated on the Rangoon War Memorial, including Jemadar Andaran Gurung, who died on 24th June 1943. Two men are buried in the Rangoon War Cemetery. 10 men are buried in the Taukkyan War Cemetery, Yangon. They include Lieutenant Colonel LA Alexander, Commandant of the 3rd Battalion, who died on 28th April 1943, Major JE Stephenson, who died on 8th September 1944, and Major PR Collins, who died on 7th June 1945.