Page 11 - Wish Stream Year of 2013 Digital Edition

Ex Purkha Haruko Birata:

Gurkha Company Sittang’s

Battleield Study 2013

Between 22 to 24 February 2013, Gurkha Company (Sittang) casualties. During the Second battle of Ypres in April 1915, in the
and members of the Sandhurst Support Unit supported by an area now containing the Vancouver Corner Canadian Memorial,

academic from the War Studies Department took part in Exer- the Germans used poison gas for the irst time. There we saw
cise Purka Haruko Birata (Ancestors’ Bravery), a battleield study where the Lahore Division attempted to retake some of the lost
to Neuve Chappelle in France and the Ypres Salient in Belgium. ground. The group also visited sites related to the general conduct
Organised by Captain Dillikumar Rai with inancial support from of the ighting in the area such as Hill 60, the Essex Farm Dressing

the Senior Padre, the CO of the SSU and Sittang Company’s own Station, Langamarck German Cemetery, Tyne Cot Cemetery and
funds, the intention was to give the participants a wider under- the small Indian Cemetary at Zelobes. This enabled the discus-
standing of the nature of war and military history through the visit- sion of issues such as courage, maintenance of morale and disci-
ing a number of battleields, memorials and cemeteries from the pline and technological innovation. The undoubted high points of

First World War in France and Belgium. Given the exercise’s title, trip were the moving wreath laying undertaken by Major Khamcha
the main emphasis was on the actions of the I Indian Corps which and Captain Rai at the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate and
served in France in 1914-1915. The group visited Neuve Chapelle the wonderful welcome Sittang Company received at the Talbot
where the Indian Corps, which contained a number of Gurkha House Museum in Poperinghe. The exercise truly gave us the

Battalions, played a key role in irst British offensive of the war. opportunity to honour and to appreciate our ancestors’ bravery.
Over two days in March 1915 the Corps took more than 4,000

Inside the Indian Memorial at Neuve Chappelle At Tyne Cott
Capt Rai at Hill 60

Langemarck Cemetery
The GCS and RMAS wreaths

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