1/8th Gurkha Rifles War Diary - November 1943 to January 1944

I am looking to confirm the date that the 1/8th Gurkha Rifles joined the 36th Indian Brigade as well as the date that the 14/12th Frontier Force Regiment left the brigade. The war diaries for the 14/12th Frontier Force Regiment are missing for November and December 1943.

Here is what I have and what I am looking for. Any help is appreciated, particularly the war diaries for the 1/8th Gurkha Rifles from November 1943 to January 1944.

I have come across another one of those order of battle conflicts that I am having difficulty in resolving. This came up when I was working with the summary history for the 8/13th Frontier Force Rifles, a unit of the 36th Indian Infantry Brigade.
The 36th Indian Infantry Brigade was withdrawn from the monsoon line in the Arakan on July 27th, 1943 to Shalimar Camp, Cox’s Bazaar for a period of rest and training. At that time the order of battle was:
36th Indian Infantry Brigade
8/13th Frontier Force Rifles
5/16th Punjab Regiment
1st North Staffordshire Regiment
On September 6th, 1943, the 1st North Staffordshire Regiment left for garrison duty in Dinapore and was replaced on the same date by the 14/12th Frontier Force Regiment, withdrawn from operating with the 4th Indian Brigade on the monsoon line. (War Diary confirmation in both cases)

Everything fits nicely up to this point. It is the next change of order of battle that gets confusing.
According to the regimental history of the 8th Gurkha Rifles, the 1/8th Gurkha Rifles embarked at Calcutta on November 4th, 1943 and arrived at Chittagong on November 7th, 1943 to join the 36th Indian Brigade, which was still in Cox’s Bazaar. The 1/8th Gurkhas did not move to Cox’s Bazaar but remained at Chittagong. According to the history, it spent the first few weeks doing VP duty and made moves to Hathazari and Rangamatti, both north of Chittagong. In November 1943, it moved out of Chittagong to prevent Japanese infiltration down the Karnaphuli River. After a brief stay, it arrived back in Chittagong. The history then jumps to February 1944, when the 1/8th Gurkhas were definitely under command of the 36th Brigade. [Note: the 36th Brigade did not arrive in Chittagong until between 10-13 January 1944]

The 12th Frontier Force Regiment war diary has it replacing the 1st North Staffordshire Regiment at Shalimar Camp in Cox’s Bazaar on September 6th, 1943 and the battalion was still there under command on October 29th, 1943. Unfortunately the war diary for November and December 1943 is missing. Going to the regimental history, it states that the Battalion was withdrawn to Cox’s Bazaar in October 1943 (actually September 6th, 1943) and spent the next three months there. This brings it up the end of December according to arriving in October. It then states that it left on January 5th, 1944 for Lahore, which it reached a week later.

I now went to the Indian Official History volume on the Arakan, which has an order of battle for December 17th, 1943. It had 36th Brigade as follows:
36th Indian Infantry Brigade - Shalimar Camp, Cox’s Bazaar
14/12th Frontier Force Regiment
8/13th Frontier Force Rifles
5/16th Punjab Regiment
1/8th Gurkha Rifles is not in this order of battle at all.

My next check was with the India Command Orders of Battle. I looked at the 6 Oct. 1943, 19 Oct. 1943 addendum, 7 Nov. 1943, and 28 Jan. 1944:

6 October 1943
36th Indian Brigade
1st Wiltshire Regiment (NOTE: I have the war diary for this battalion and it never served with 36th Brigade, only 4th Brigade)
8/13th Frontier Force Rifles
5/16th Punjab Regiment
14/12th Frontier Force Regiment - Eastern Army unbrigaded (19/10/43 - Army Troops)
1/8th Gurkha Rifles - 4th Brigade (19/10/43 - 36th Brigade)

7 November 1943 and 28 January 1944
36th Brigade
8/13th Frontier Force Rifles
5/16th Punjab Regiment
1/8th Gurkha Rifles
14/12th Frontier Force Regiment - IS - Central Command

So getting to the point, when did the 1/8th Gurkha Rifles replace the 14/12th Frontier Force Regiment in 36th Brigade?

Since I do not totally trust in the Indian Command Orders of Battle, my hypothesis is that the 14/12th Frontier Force Regiment actually left the 36th Brigade at Cox’s Bazaar on January 5th, 1944. The 36th Brigade then moved to Feni (Fenua) Camp, Chittagong from 10-13th January 1944, where the 1/8th Gurkha Rifles came under command.

Regarding the 1/8th Gurkha Rifles’ command from November 7th, 1943 to January 13th, 1944, it was not the 4th Brigade (since it was at Comilla). It may have been attached to the 71st Brigade, which was at Chittagong, or directly under the 26th Indian Division. Also, it may have been under the XV Corps (not likely since it did not appear in the December 17th, 1943 order of battle) or under the 354th Sub-Area. My best guess is the 26th Indian Division since it did some operations in the area.

Any other ideas or data that may help?

 

This Fourteenth Army operation order seems to fit, somewhat, with my theory on 1/8th Gurkha Rifles.