“If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha,” said Indian Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw once.
The British Army invaded Nepal in 1815, but the fierce Gurkhas quickly defeated them. British officers reasoned that if they couldn’t win a battle against the Gurkhas, they might as well enlist their help.
The Gurkhas accepted enlistment in the British army. After the British decided to end all conquest in Nepal as part of a peace agreement.
The Gurkhas served in numerous conflicts, including the World Wars and the Falklands War.
The Gurkhas’ reputation as some of the world’s most skilled and fierce warriors always has impressed and frightened people. The most courageous soldiers and tales ever to emerge from the Gurkha ranks are here.
10 . Rambahadur Limbu
Ram bahadur Limbu, a captain, made three incursions into enemy territory during the Borneo conflict of 1965. Limbu lost a man; another was fatally injured from gunfire during the first expedition.
Limbu repelled the attackers with grenades before they could advance. A hundred yards later, he was back in Gurkha territory, crawling across the battlefield to inform his comrades of the situation.
As the enemy fire continued, Limbu returned to the wounded soldier and carried him back across the same 100 yards. Limbu made a third trip back into the fray to recover his fallen friend while the fighting was still intense.
Limbu was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery. Out of many, Limbu is the only Gurkha Victoria Cross recipient still alive.
9. Bishnu Shrestha
In 2011, Bishnu Shrestha, a 35-year-old retired Gurkha, was traveling in a train in India when 40 robbers stopped and started robbing the passenger.
At the time, Bishnu had his kukri knife with him; he confronted the robbers armed with guns, knives, and other weapons.
In the fight, Bishnu killed 3 of the Robbers and managed to injure eight others. The rest of them fled, seeing the fierce fighter. Warrior Bishnu also saved another passenger from being raped.
8. Peter Jones
A number of the British men in charge of the Gurkhas displayed remarkable bravery. Colonel Peter Jones commanded a Gurkha battalion at the Battle of Enfidaville in Tunisia in 1943.
Jones used a Bren gun to take out the German machine gun posts as the Gurkhas charged them with kukri knives.
Jones continued to fight after being struck in the neck and was later hit in the eye and thighs. After the war was over, he finally agreed to get help. For his efforts, he received the Award for Distinguished Service.
7. Gaje Ghale
When the Japanese invaded Burma in 1943, Sergeant Gaje Ghale was among the troops sent there to fight them. His mission was to seize a position the Gurkhas had previously failed to take.
He was the platoon leader and took the brunt of the gunfire, injuring his leg, arm, and core. Despite the pain, Ghale fought his way to the top by using his bare hands to defeat his rivals.
Before having his wounds treated, he and his men repelled a counterattack. Ghale was later awarded the Victoria Cross.
6. Ganju Lama
Rifleman Ganju Lama took on three Japanese tanks in Burma during World War II despite sustaining a broken wrist, wounds to his right hand and leg, and the hail of bullets raining down on him.
Crawling through the middle of the battlefield, he used anti-tank guns to take out the tanks one by one and then defeated the men trying to escape the tanks.
Finally, Lama was taken to the hospital on a stretcher, where he would be treated and eventually be awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery.
5. Agansing Rai
Agansing Rai and his platoon of Gurkhas advanced in 1944 across an open field ridge in Burma. They were up against heavy fire from the machine guns and the two 37mm anti-tank guns.
Despite heavy casualties, Rai and his men defeated every enemy at each 37-millimeter gun position. Rai received the Victoria Cross.
4. Bhanubhakta Gurung
During World War II, Bhanubhakta Gurung fought the Japanese in Burma and was awarded the Victoria Cross for almost single-handedly seizing a bunker.
With only ten men in the platoon, Gurung faced a rain of fire from machine guns, grenades, mortars, and snipers.
Gurung took out the sniper by shooting him out of a tree, and then he led the charge alone up the hill. He took three more foxholes with his bayonet while throwing grenades into one used as a shooting position by the enemy.
Gurung led the charge on the bunker, accompanied by two smoke grenades and his kukri, the traditional curved blade of the Gurkhas.
He used the knife to kill two Japanese soldiers and the rock to kill another. Gurung then used a rifle to fend off a counterattack by three more men inside the bunker.
3. Lachhiman Gurung
1n 1945, Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung, with his two men, were positioned in a trench when more than 200 Japanese soldiers attacked them.
Gurung’s allies were gravely injured. Gurung attempted to return each incoming grenade as they were launched.
The first two attempts worked, but the third exploded in his right hand. His right arm and leg were severely injured, and several fingers were blown off.
Using only his left hand, Gurung fought off 31 Japanese attackers and stopped their advance as they stormed the trench. The following year, Gurung was awarded the Victoria Cross for his survival.
2. Gajendera Angdembe, Dhan Gurung, and Manju Gurung
In 2008, Militants ambushed a group of soldiers in the open in Afghanistan, and one of them, Yubraj Rai, was fatally wounded.
Rai was carried under heavy fire by Riflemen Dhan Gurung and Manju Gurung for a distance of 325 feet across open ground. At one point, a soldier fired back at the enemy with both his own rifle and Rai’s.
1 . Dipprasad Pun
In 2010, Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun fought off 30 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. A group of assailants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons stormed the checkpoint while Pun stood guard atop its rooftop.
Pun was able to wipe them out in under an hour. He had to use every one of his 400 bullets, 17 grenades, and one detonated mine to ward off the attackers. A Taliban soldier who ran out of ammunition climbed onto the roof, where Pun killed him with the tripod.
The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, the second-highest British military decoration, was given to Pun for his bravery.
