8 Gorkha Rifles

Srijap 1

The Indian Army believed Major Dhan Singh Thapa was dead when it announced his Param Vir Chakra. He commanded Srijap 1, a post of 1/8 Gorkha Rifles on the northern bank of Pangong Lake, surrounded by three Chinese posts. On 20 October 1962 the Chinese opened with a bombardment at about 4.30 am and then came in waves. Only 28 men of D Company were there to meet them.

The post beat off three attacks. After the third, three men were left. With the ammunition gone, Thapa jumped into the trenches and fought hand to hand until he was overpowered and taken prisoner. He was released after the war, and the award first announced as posthumous was presented to him in person by President Radhakrishnan. He retired on 30 April 1980 as a lieutenant colonel and died in Pune in 2005. It is the regiment's only PVC. In 1979 his battalion became the 3rd Battalion of the Mechanised Infantry Regiment, and 7/8 was raised on 1 July that year.

Loos, 25 September 1915

Sources give different figures for 2/8 at Loos. The Gurkha Museum puts its attacking strength at about 500; another account gives some 800. The museum's sequence of events is the most detailed.

The battalion went over the top at 6 am, after a mine at 5.48 am and a bombardment, with the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Gurkhas and the 2nd Leicesters. Its first wave took three lines of German trenches, and Captain Buckland went beyond the third with about 150 men. The Leicesters did not reach their objective, which left the Gurkha right flank open. Lt Col Morris was mortally wounded. By mid-morning Buckland was the only British officer not killed or wounded, and he was ordered back to report, leaving Gurkha officers in command.

Subedar Sarabjit Gurung led a party against Germans who had retaken their old front line and were attacking from the rear. He was killed with all his men. Subedar Ransur Rana held Buckland's position until it was overwhelmed, and Jemadar Remine Thapa stayed to cover the retreat until his men had got away. At 3.30 pm the survivors, 2 officers and 30 men, reached the reserve line. The museum records 164 killed, 139 wounded and 166 missing. General Sir James Willcocks, commanding the Indian Corps, wrote that "the 8th Gurkhas indeed did their duty and found their Valhalla".

Quetta, 31 May 1935

Both battalions were stationed near Quetta when the earthquake struck on the night of 30/31 May, and they reached the city at dawn. Naik Nandlal Thapa's section was among the first into the wrecked residential area. Working through aftershocks, he is credited with rescuing 10 people, the last a man he and his men heard crying out from the debris on their way back to barracks and dug out with their bare hands. Lance Naik Chitrabahadur Gurung's section worked for hours to free the wife of the Railway Police Superintendent from their destroyed bungalow. Both men received the Empire Gallantry Medal. When the George Cross replaced it in 1940 Nandlal Thapa exchanged his. Chitrabahadur Gurung had died in 1939.

Four Victoria Crosses

Three went to British officers before the First World War:

• Lt Richard Ridgeway, Konoma in the Naga Hills, 22 November 1879
• Lt Charles Grant, Thobal in the Manipur Expedition, 27 March 1891, with about 80 Gurkhas
• Lt John Duncan Grant, Gyantse Jong in Tibet, 1904

Taungdaw and Leh

The fourth VC came on the night of 12/13 May 1945 at Taungdaw, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy. Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung of 4/8 held the most forward post of his platoon when at least 200 Japanese attacked. Grenades wounded him severely, and he lost his right hand and the use of his right eye. He kept firing alone for four hours. The citation describes him as determined "not to give one inch of ground". He received the medal at the Red Fort on 19 December 1945, served on in the Indian Army after 1947 and retired as a havildar. He moved to Britain in 2008 and died in December 2010.

The regiment came to India in 1947, with Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw as its best-known officer, and 5/8 was formed from 4/2 Gurkhas, who opted for India as a battalion. In 1948, Major Hari Chand's column of 2/8 reached Leh on 7 July. His later raids destroyed Pakistani mountain guns at Basgo. He received the Maha Vir Chakra and four other ranks the Vir Chakra.

At a glance

• Raised: 1824, as the 16th Sylhet Local Battalion
• Regimental centre: 58 Gorkha Training Centre, Shillong, Meghalaya
• War cry: Ayo Gorkhali