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Does anyone know of any other Battalions that served with the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade in 1942, other than......................

2/5 Essex
4/11 Sikh
2/3 Gurkha

Ta.

Hi David,

Are you sure that there were others? If I remember rightly, one British to two Indian infantry battalions was the right ratio.

Cheers,

Sid.

Sid.

No, I'm not sure.

But units did seem to drift in & out of some Indian Infantry Brigades with alarming regularity!

Also if Battalions were destroyed or captured, they were replaced.

Hi David,

Yup. The practice was to rotate battalions through combat divisions from garrison divisions in the Middle East. Other armies tended to replace individual casualties to keep divisions up to strength, but the Indian Army had few reserves and so tended to replace entire units when they had suffered heavy losses.

Chers,

Sid.

1/2 Gurkha until 7th April 1942
2/11 Sikh in August 1942

Thanks Steen.

I've got 2/11 Sikh in 25th Ind Inf Brig, but no dates.

I, or rather Chris Kempton, also has 2/11 Sikh with 25th Bde until March 1942 and then again from 16th June until August.

Thanks again.

Joslen

2/5 Essex
24 Dec 41 - arr Iraq under comd 18 Ind Inf Bde, 8 Ind Div
10 Jun 42 - to Palestine with 18 Ind Inf Bde, tfr to 10 Ind Div
15 Jul 42 - bn reduced to cadre

No other refs to 18 Ind Inf Bde

Did any men survive their defeat of the first of July 1942 in the deir shien box?

Eduard

Greetings,

I understand this is a 3 year old thread, but these are specifically the battalions I have been researching. I can provide some information if others would like to help me out on info I'm lacking.

For the 2nd Royal battalion/11th Sikh Regiment (Ludhiana Sikhs), they were with the 25th Indian Brigade from 16 June 1942 to 14 August 1942. Thereafter, they were with the 20th Indian Brigade from 15 August 1942 and left for Cyprus on 17 August from Port Said (where the HMT Princess Marguerite carrying the 1st King's Own from the 20th Brigade were torpedoed by U-83 with the survivors picked up by the HMS Hero and brought back to Port Said, and the 20th Brigade finally reembarked the next day for Cyprus). The 2/11 Sikhs I have until 4 October 1943 with the 20th Brigade but no clue about unit history, locations, or actions from then until they leave Haifa, Palestine to join the 7th Indian Brigade of the 4th Indian Division in Italy on 9 June 1944.

Anyone have any information to fill in the gap between 4 Oct 1943 to 9 June 1944 for the 2/11 Sikh?

As for the 18th Brigade at Deir el Shein, the 4/11th Sikhs were on the NW of the box, the 2/5 Essex on the NE, the 2/3 Gurkhas on the E in a semi circle, and the 66th Field Company of Sappers & Miners on the SW. They were supported by 7 Matildas of the 42nd Royal Tank Regiment, 4 medium machine guns of the Cheshire Regiment, 2-pounders and 6 pounders manned by South African and Welsh units. Oh, and the 32nd Field Ambulance had an Advanced Dressing Station too. Sorry, I don't really remember all the other units outside of the main battalions of the 18th Brigade since there was a huge mess in setting up the box, the 18th Brigade had no signal equipment, very little ammunition, and the supporting artillery came in too late and because the area of Deir el Shein was bedrock, there was not enough time to dig the guns in. As for the result of the battle, the Sikhs were overrun at 1730 hours, the Gurkhas at 1900 hours and Essex by 1930 hours. The Sikhs lost 3 officers and 370 other ranks with 7 officers and 500 other ranks missing. The Gurkhas lost 12 officers and 580 men, not sure of how many missing, but their commanding officer was captured.

Having said all that, does anyone know the unit history of the 4/11 Sikhs from April 1942 to June 1942? I know that the 4th Indian Division was going through some reorganization in Cyprus, switching from the British 8th Army to the 9th Army, but when did they transfer to the 18th Brigade from the 7th Brigade?

Thanks for any assistance anyone can provide,
DocAmerica

Thanks for the info. Docamerica.

Was any indian armoured car unit around. I've read somewhere the "guides" did inform 18th brigade they were about to beign attacked.

Eduard

Eduardo,

I am not too sure, sorry. I hadn't done too much research yet on the order of battle. I did want to mention that the 4/11 Sikhs spent Feb-June 1942 in Iraq for desert warfare training (one battalion each from the 4th and 5th Indian Divisions were sent).

Does anyone have any information whatsoever on the 2/11 Sikhs from July 1942 all the way through Italy until Greece in Feb 1946? It seems as if no former officer wrote a battalion history like others have for the 1st and 4th battalions of the Sikh Regiment. I thank anyone in advance for any assistance they could provide.

well this is what i have about 2/11 sikh regiment.

until August 1942 it was with 18th Indian Brigade. (possibly remants of the battalion)
from August 1942-until October 1943 with 20th infantry brigade
form October 1943 until 9th june 1944 as an independent unit at Haifa.
then moved to Italy via Egypt.
9th June on to 7th Brigade.

from "Loyalty & Honour" The indian Army part III
author: Chris Kempton

The book just describes information

Does anyone know detailed information about the 2/11 Sikh in Haifa from October 1943 to June 1944? Would appreciate the info. Thanks.