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From: military@cbnews
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Gurkhas
Message-ID: <1991Jun27.013943.28703@cbnews.cb.att.com>
Date: 27 Jun 91 01:39:43 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnews.1991Jun27.013943.28703
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From: att!bcr!mruxb!patter < $1

The Gurkha battalions were formed to fight. Period. The first use in
WW II of which I'm aware was in North Africa while Britain and Japan were
still at peace. I've been told that they also fought in the "great war",
but I haven't read much about the ground campaigns in WW I.

The Gurkha troops did *very* well in North Africa. They were frequently
used as commando troops, being paid bonuses for each pair of ears brought
back, and they used to wear piano wire loops around their necks on which
to string the ears. For accounts of this, check into books about David
Stirling and the "SAS".

They did much more poorly later, in Burma, but then, so did everybody.

Bill Mauldin, in his book "Up Front", says they used to have a trick of
hunting at night. If they found two Germans sleeping together for warmth,
they'd cut the throat of one of them and leave the other to wake up with
the body in the morning. Mauldin knew one GI who thought this was a neat
idea and started doing the same thing.