About the product

IGS 1908 Malabar 39th Garwhal Rifles

India General Service Medal 1908, GV, bar Malabar 1921-22, 2125 Sepoy Gulzar, 1st Battalion, 39th Royal Garwhal Rifles.

Out of stock

SKU: J7405 Category:
Origin: United Kingdom
Good Very Fine

Description

India General Service Medal 1908, GV, bar Malabar 1921-22, 2125 Sepoy Gulzar, 1st Battalion, 39th Royal Garwhal Rifles.

 

Officially impressed: “2125 Sepoy Gulzar 1st Btn 39 R.G.R.”

 

During this campaign the Garwhalis took part in the operations across the Malabar coast against the Moploh rebels.

 

Recently transferred to the 39th Garwhalis was a young Officer, later Brigadier R.W.G. “Tin-Eye” Stephens, of MI5 and Chief of Camp 020.

 

An excerpt of the campaign from the Biography of “Tin-Eye” Stephens:

 

“Early in 1922 the Garhwalis took part in the campaign on the Malabar coast against the Moploh rebels.

 

The Malabar District lies on the south-west coast of India just to the north of Cochin, between the Western Ghat mountains and the Arabian Sea, and has been described as 'well off the beaten track' for the army in India.

 

It is inhabited by the Moplohs, Moslems descended from Arab traders, who were vehemently anti-Hindu.
After their leaders openly defied the Government in August 1921, police were sent to arrest the ring-leaders but were ambushed; a guerrilla war then broke out, in which up to 10,000 Moplohs were in the field.
They concentrated on destroying railway facilities, forestry and tea plantation buildings, and attacking both civilians and the security forces. The Army responded by aggressive patrolling and succeeded in inflicting heavy casualties on the Moploh gangs.
The larger gangs were broken up and, by the end of December, increasing numbers of rebels surrendered. By the end of February 1922 the civil authorities resumed charge and martial law was withdrawn.

 


In 1922 the British decided to occupy the Razmak plateau and establish a considerable base there. The plateau lay near the boundary of the Mahsud and Wazir tribes and was thus well-sited as a base for expeditions against either. The Razmak Force, assembled along the Tochi River and slowly advanced southwards as the road progressed. The final advance, in January 1923, took place in a blinding snowstorm. In order to punish the Mahsuds for their numerous outrages, it was decided to destroy Makin, a series of villages in a large basin of cultivated land. In February columns marched out of Razmak, set fire to the buildings and blew up stone watch-towers, the retaining walls of fields and water channels. The Mahsuds resisted vigorously.

 

On the 10th the 39th Garhwalis were engaged in an operation near two villages on the south side of the basin. The broken hills round the villages were covered in thick scrub and ravines full of dense undergrowth led down to the villages. This enabled parties of Mahsuds to infiltrate through the piquets and approach the destruction parties unseen. At around 1.30 p.m. a party of Mahsuds charged the Garhwalis from the scrub at a very short distance. The covering fire detachments were alert and cut them down with light machineguns. Shortly afterwards, another party armed with swords charged the flank and inflicted a few casualties. The withdrawal started at 2 p.m. and was completed before dark. Total casualties for the Makin column that day were four killed, thirteen wounded. Over the following days, the more inaccessible enemy villages were attacked by artillery fire and one was bombed. The column then returned to Razmak having suffered total casualties of forty-two killed and ninety-five wounded. The Mahsuds sued for peace and agreed to keep the peace at a jirga