Battling through deserts, across mountains and deep inside jungles, the Gurkhas’ deployments epitomised the truly global nature of the Second World War
Ageneration before the Second World War, the Gurkhas’ mettle had been tested at Gallipoli. They had prevailed despite the campaign’s folly, but now, facing down German armour in Libya’s desert sands, the Nepalese warriors were about to be tested again. The 10th Indian Division – including 1/2nd, 2/4th, 2/7th and 2/10th Gurkhas – had been deployed to the Middle East in May 1941, and their arrival broadly coincided with German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel seizing the initiative in North Africa. One year later, 26 May 1942, and the Gurkhas, together with their Allied counterpar ts, were holding the line outside the coastal city of Tobruk at all costs.
Rommel had broken through the Allies’ outer belt of defences by 1 June as 2/4th Gurkhas, among others, were sent out to meet the threat. Supported by artillery, the men offered a valiant resistance but were unable to hold back the seemingly unstoppable Axis forces. The remnants of the battered battalion surrendered on 6 June. Meanwhile, the enemy continued their advance towards the strategically significant Libyan city, where, from 19 June, they met 2/7th Gurkhas as part of the garrison’s force. Unfortunately, after exhausting their ammunition fending off repeated German attacks, and with Rommel having broken through into Tobruk’s centre, the surviving Nepalese had little choice but to capitulate, and the entire port fell on the 21st.
Bloodied though the Gurkhas were in their latest wartime exploits, they were not out of the fight. As part of Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery’s Eighth Army, Nepalese formations contributed to the eventual victory in the North Africa theatre, their broad-bladed kukris, as in previous centuries, striking fear into the hearts of their enemies.
Nor would their exploits be limited to the desert campaign. In Italy, 1/5th Gurkhas landed on the mainland as part of 8th Indian Division in October 1943, par ticipating in numerous engagements as the Allies inched nor thwards. They were soon joined by the North African veterans of 4th Indian Division that December, which was involved in two major assaults against German positions at Cassino from February 1944. 1/2nd, 1/9th and 2/7th Gurkhas, fighting with their usual bravery but sustaining horrendous casualties in the process, were never theless unable to dislodge the defenders – a feat ultimately achieved by the Polish in May 1944. Later bolstered by additional Gurkha units, the Nepalese served with distinction for the rest of the Italian campaign until the Germans surrendered there on 2 May 1945.
Prior to victory in Europe, in the Southeast Asian theatre the Gurkhas’ for tu
