This week in history: 12th June 1944
On 12 June 1944, near Ningthoukhong in Burma, ‘B’ Company of the 1st Battalion, 7th Gurkha Rifles was ordered to halt the enemy’s advance when it came under heavy machine-gun fire from infantry and tanks. Rifleman Ganju Lama, “on his own initiative with great coolness and complete disregard for his own safety”, took his PIAT anti-tank weapon and crawled forward. Despite a broken wrist and serious wounds to his right hands and legs he succeeded in approaching to within 30 yards of the enemy tanks, knocking out two of them. He continued forward and used grenades on the tank crews who were trying to escape. “Not until he had killed or wounded them all… did he allow himself to be taken back to the Regimental Aid Post to have his wounds dressed.”
See more: Two tanks destroyed by Rifleman Ganju Lama (National Army Museum)
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Added: 20th June 2023
