Gurkha units & casualties in the Palestine Campaign

[Eran Tearosh]

Hi everyone,

 

I've been dealing lately with some of the activities of the Gurkha Units in the Palestine campaign. The 2 battalions of 3rd Gurkha Rifles (QAO) served in this theater the entire campaign as a part of  Division 75. From mid 1918 four (maybe five) other Gurkha Rifles (GR) battalions arrived and participated in the Megiddo offensive. These battalions were: 1/1 GR & 2/7 GR (Div. 3, Lahore), 1/8 GR (Div. 7, Meerut) and a battalion of the newly formed 11th Gurkha Rifles Regiment, 4/11 Btn (Div. 53, Welsh). 

 

Now things are getting a bit more complicated. I found only 5 graves (of British officers serving with the Gurkah), all in Ramleh, and 38 commemorated names - 32 on the new 1914-1918 Memorial at Ramleh War Cemetery, and I understand there are 3 commemorated in Gaza and 3 commemorated in Deir el Balah. That doesn't make sense!! Going through their actions, mostly of the 3 GR (like Junction station, Saris, Nebi Samuel, Berukin, Rafat and more) it simply seems wrong. 

 

Now, I know that Gurkha dead are cremated. Was that done near the battlefield? Were they recorded somehow?

My guess is that those mentioned at the 1914-1918 Memorial in Ramleh (At least most of them) are those who died in military hospitals (wounds or disease). If so, this means that all those KIA are actually not commemorated and if so - I would like to do something about it. 

 

Another puzzling thing: On the 1914-1918 Memorial in Ramleh two soldiers of another Gurkah Rifles battalion are mentioned - the 10 GR. I cannot find a trace of the 10 GR in the 1918 EEF Order of Battle or anywhere else in connection to the Palestine campaign (they were in Egypt back in 1915, but in 1918 they were in Mesopotamia as far as I know). Any ideas?

 

By the way, I posted yesterday an article (in Hebrew) in the website of The Society for the Heritage of WWI in Israel, honoring the date (July 13th) of a fairly unknown event that took place near Rafat (south-west Samaria), when a German-Ottoman force tried to storm the Rafat Salient, held at the time by the 3/3 GR. Prior to the infantry attack, a devastating artillery bombardment was fired upon Rafat, maybe the most fiercest bombardment of the Palestine campaign. The British OH (Falls) refers to this event in one paragraph on page 426. 

 

 

Hope someone can help regarding the KIA Gurkha and the 10GR.

 

Eran

 

   

 

 

Edited 14 July , 2020 by Eran Tearosh

[phil andrade]

Hi Eran,

 

Might it be that the casualties suffered in this fighting were so low that the five officers buried and the additional thirty eight commemorations represent the total fatalities suffered by the Gurkha contingents in those Megiddo battles ?

 

I suppose forty three deaths might imply a couple of hundred casualties allowing for the wounded : maybe more.

 

It does seem too low, I must admit, especially given the fierceness of that July 13th  fighting you allude to.

 

The CWGC is so good at upholding commemorative standards, it’s simply inconceivable that they would overlook large numbers of Gurkha dead.....but I might be very wrong, and you could write what I know about this campaign on the back of a postage stamp !

 

Are there no official compilations of the Gurkha casualties in this campaign ?

 

Hoping this is of some use,

 

Phil

 

Editing here : A cursory CWGC database survey tells me that 391 “ Indian” dead are commemorated in Israel/Palestine between 1st July and 1st November 1918.  I scrolled quickly through twenty pages and identified twenty five names with the title “ Gurkha” included in the unit designation.  Of these, only two are attributed to 13th July.

Edited 14 July , 2020 by phil andrade

[MaureenE]

My general  understanding is  that all deaths were recorded.

 

There are volumes of casualty returns available at the British Library in London.

Article about Casualty Appendices

https://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2014/09/finding-indian-soldiers-who-served-in-world-war-one.html

 

Those for Indian Expeditionary Force ‘E’ Egypt which I believe are for the Sinai and Palestine Campaign are available from June 1918-July 1919

 

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/9636ad3b-88aa-4f82-b29c-1803925e045e

British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3938-3949

 

Regarding  10 GR there is a FIBIS Fibiwiki page 10th Gurkha Rifles

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/10th_Gurkha_Rifles

 

One of the links from this page "A short history of the 10th Princess Mary's own Gurkha Rifles"

https://web.archive.org/web/20160229135440/http://www.10gr.com/html/History.htm

"Three other facts deserve mention about the First World War. Firstly, drafts of officers and men from the Regiment served with other Gurkha units....In 1917-18 at least 14 Gurkhas from the Regiment died on service with other units in Egypt and Palestine". 

 

Other regiments are linked from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Gurkha Rifles https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Gurkha_Rifles 

 

Cheers

Maureen

[michaeldr]

Eran,

 

This from the CWGC website:-

The HELIOPOLIS (PORT TEWFIK) MEMORIAL commemorates 4,000 men who served and died with the Indian Army during the First World War in Egypt and Palestine, and who have no known grave. The panels bearing the names, erected in the entrance pavilions to Heliopolis War Cemetery, were unveiled by the Indian Ambassador to Egypt in October 1980. The memorial was created to replace the original memorial at Port Tewfik (which had been designed by Sir John Burnet), which existed at the South end of the Suez Canal. It suffered severe damage during the Israeli-Egyptian conflict of 1967-1973 and was eventually demolished. The pavilion at the rear of the cemetery houses the HELIOPOLIS (ADEN) MEMORIAL to more than 600 men of the Commonwealth forces who died in the defence of Aden during the First World War and who have no known grave. The original memorial, sited at Steamer Point, Aden was demolished, as a result of port reconstruction work, in 1967. HELIOPOLIS WAR CEMETERY contains more than 1,700 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War and a number of war graves of other nationalities.

(my emphasis)

 

As far as I can make out, the numbers of casualties for the battalions which you have mentioned and which are recorded on this memorial, are as follows:-

 

3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles – 345

1st King George's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment) – 26

7th Gurkha Rifles – 28

8th Gurkha Rifles – 30

11th Gurkha Rifles - 8

 

regards

Michael

 

Late edit to add: 

Missing from my previous are a link to this Memorial's page:- https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/143800/heliopolis-(port-tewfik)-memorial/

and a figure for the 10^th G R which regiment you also mentioned:- 10th Gurkha Rifles - 19

Edited 14 July , 2020 by michaeldr

[phil andrade]

Michael,

 

Your research has significant implications : is it feasible that Gurkha dead from the fighting that Eran is studying have been commemorated on this Heliopolis Memorial , thereby, in a sense, misattributing their place of death to Egypt rather than Palestine/Israel?

 

To test the water, I selected Egypt for a CWGC database search, and looked at the names of the dead commemorated for 13th July 1918, and saw that three of them were indeed from the QAO Gurkha Rifles, which suggests that they might have been killed in that fierce fight that Eran mentions.

 

If that is the case, then we might have an answer to the question of why the number of Gurkha commemorations is so low at Ramleh : perhaps there are scores of names that have been shifted to the Heliopolis memorial .

 

Phil

[michaeldr]

2 hours ago, michaeldr said:

The HELIOPOLIS (PORT TEWFIK) MEMORIAL commemorates 4,000 men who served and died with the Indian Army during the First World War in Egypt and Palestine, and who have no known grave.

 

Phil,

 

I think that the CWGC have been quite clear in their statement;

the memorial covers both Egypt and Palestine

Don't forget that Allenby's command, even in 1918 after the Dec. '17 capture of Jerusalem, was still known as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force

When the first memorial was set up to record the names of those Indians with no known grave, then it would not have been thought out of place to establish it in Egypt

 

regards

Michael

[michaeldr]

It is possible that the CWGC archive holds some information on the decision to have the memorial

sited in Egypt; see http://media.cwgc.org/media/14236/ac_part_1_sections_07-08.pdf

 

from which quote:-

 

391

WG589/1Pt.l

Anglo-Egyptian Executive Committee - Minutes Of Meetings 20 Aug. 1918 - 31 Dec. 1922

Main topics: selection of sites and acquisition of land; design, construction and maintenance of individual cemeteries (including work of R. Lorimer); erection of private headstones and memorials; matters relating to staff; proposed war graves clause for inclusion in Anglo-Egyptian treaty; powers and membership of committee; Egyptian Labour and Camel Transport Corps memorial ophthalmic laboratory at Giza, 15th I. S. Cavalry Brigade, Indian memorial at Port Tewfik; exemption of Commission from customs duties; graves in the Sudan; concentration of isolated graves.

Including reports of informal meetings between committee members and F. Ware, II and 13 Nov. 1920.

(my emphasis)

[Eran Tearosh]

Thanks everyone!

 

Phil, one of your comments triggered my memory! Looked up and found a record of the 2/3 Battalion casualties (officer & numbers of other ranks):

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess the numbers will be similar with the 3/3 battalion. I don't have exact numbers at this stage, but note this remark from the British OH (Falls), page 204, referring to Nebi Samuel: "The losses of the four battalions holding Nebi Samuel were 567, of which the Gurkha suffered 226".

 

I assume that the numbers are much smaller for the other battalions. 

 

____________________________________

 

Maureen,

 

As always - you're an angel!!

I'll go through everything tonight and tomorrow!

 

____________________________________

 

Michael,

 

You missed quite a tour on Friday! I'll send you some photos!

 

As to Port Tewfik - I never thought looking in that direction! I'll study that and return to you, but I guess you'll agree that it is quite strange that some Gurkha rifles are commemorated in Ramleh while so many are commemorated in Egypt, while almost all of them were killed or died in Palestine. Anyway, need to study this one

 

Again - Thank you all!!

 

Eran 

 

 

 

 

[phil andrade]

Thinking on my feet, as it were, leads me to suspect that the more far flung the theatre of war, the more likely that commemoration was concentrated in one place in order to save money and time.  Even on the Western Front, it’s surely the case that men who died in Belgium are named on memorials in France.  If the soldiers were Indian, then I imagine that this tendency was more likely than it would have been for British or white Dominon personnel.  To cite an example , a namesake of mine is commemorated on a memorial in the Seychelles. He was in the ( native?)  carrier corps , and died in some god forsaken place and circumstance in the East African campaign.  I reckon I’m stating the bleeding obvious, so forgive me, but it might impinge on the whys and wherefores of Gurkhas killed near Ramleh being commemorated in Egypt.  Those who  died at Neuve Chapelle were  accorded a more geographically appropriate location for this.

 

Phil

Edited 15 July , 2020 by phil andrade

[michaeldr]

This has led to some embarrassing situations

e.g. https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/dhankar-brings-soil-from-cairo-memorial-of-wwi-haryana-soldier-116050301213_1.html

Soil brought home from Heliopolis for the memory of a soldier who died and was cremated in the area of the Jordan Valley

[assafx]

Eran,

 

In the case of Nebi Samwil, there is the use the term casualties, so you cannot tell, dead, wounded missing, pow .

to make matters worse there are three different numbers regarding the 3/3 Gurkha at Nebi Samwil.

The war dairy claims 2 GO killed and 2 wounded and 320 GOR casualties. Falls, if i remember correctly, claims 216 casualties and that only 16 came out unharmed from NS, which is untrue. A personal diary of an officer claims 380.

 

I think that this will be the case even in other dates in the War diary of the 3/3rd.

 

I was able to find a British officer that was killed at NS and the place was mentioned on his headstone:

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/648051/russell,-/

 

Assaf

 

[Eran Tearosh]

6 hours ago, assafx said:

In the case of Nebi Samwil, there is the use the term casualties, so you cannot tell, dead, wounded missing, pow .

 

Hi Assaf, 

 

Good to hear from you. I hope you're fully recovered!!

 

Of course I'm aware of that! All I was trying to say is that the amount of Gurkha KIA must be higher then those commemorated in Ramleh. Michael gave the answer to that - Heliopolis. 

 

By the way, the quote I mentioned as an example from Fall's OH referred only to November 21-22, 1917. The following day (The 75th Div. attack on El-Jib) was as terrible.  

 

Thank you for that link to the details of the fallen British Officer - That's one I didn't know about! I guess that the unique mentioning of Nebi Samuel is due to the importance of this place in English heritage. 

 

Eran   

[Eran Tearosh]

All,

 

Michael solved most of the mystery from my point of view, pointing to the HELIOPOLIS (PORT TEWFIK) MEMORIAL . Phil, I agree with your comments as to the concentration of commemoration, especially in the case of Hindu Indians, because of the cremation of the fallen. As to the memorial, it's so sad that the original one was destroyed, and I guess that politics are behind the humble appearance of the replacement, and it's location.  

 

I wrote that most of the mystery is solved from my point of view, but not all. There are still two 'active' Indian War Cemeteries in Israel (Jerusalem-Talpiot & Haifa) and there are at least two more 'abounded' burial plots were Indians were 'buried' (My apologies - what would be the right term to use to describe the place where the ashes of the fallen were put?). I was involved in the restoration of these two plots (Junction Station and Limber Hill) over the last years. Further more - there were two more Indian burial plots that were given up by the CWGC (Over 50 years ago) and those who were buried there were commemorated on the old 1914-1918 Memorial in Ramleh, replaced a few years ago by the new Memorial, with many more names added, all Indians & Egyptians. All these burial plots are connected to the location of  Indians & Egyptian military hospitals, so we are talking mostly of those who died in hospital from wounds or disease . But....

 

As the Hindu Indians (Including Gurkha) are cremated, why are these people commemorated in Ramleh, and not in Heliopolis (I didn't check yet if there is a double commemoration case here - Ramleh and Heliopolis)? I don't know enough about the Hindu burial rituals (Actually, I almost don't know a thing about that), but with my 'western' logic, I assume that these cremated fallen should be commemorated at Heliopolis as well. can anyone help me understand this issue? 

 

Eran

 

  

[assafx]

17 hours ago, Eran Tearosh said:

 

Hi Assaf, 

 

Good to hear from you. I hope you're fully recovered!!

 

Of course I'm aware of that! All I was trying to say is that the amount of Gurkha KIA must be higher then those commemorated in Ramleh. Michael gave the answer to that - Heliopolis. 

 

By the way, the quote I mentioned as an example from Fall's OH referred only to November 21-22, 1917. The following day (The 75th Div. attack on El-Jib) was as terrible.  

 

Thank you for that link to the details of the fallen British Officer - That's one I didn't know about! I guess that the unique mentioning of Nebi Samuel is due to the importance of this place in English heritage. 

 

Eran   

I'm back at work for two weeks now. the doctor ordered a rest every hour and i try to obey.

it is challenging but i'm managing so far, trying to strengthen the leg without causing more damage.

In this case, Falls data is only regarding the 22'nd (page 204).

I can't understand where he got this number or the claim that only one Gurkha officer and 16 soldiers were unhurt.

In fact, most of his numbers are low in comparison to the war dairies. 

in this case, when you add up the war dairies the numbers are much higher than 567.

 

There is only one more British soldier that have Mitzpah, the biblical name of Nebi Samwil, on his headstone.

In this case, I can't tell if its heritage, wanting to say where their loved one lost his life or any other reason.

I wish there was a family to ask, that would have been interesting.

 

Assaf

Edited 16 July , 2020 by assafx