Hi all, I recently obtained a book by Maxwell (Lt.-Col W.E) 3rd Battalion Queen Mary's Own. Its in a tidy condition, & i paid a fare price for it... I cant find them in the Troop list of the Fifth Army, or the Order of Battle of the 10th Indian Infantry Division. Any info on this regiment would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.. Stu.
Sure its not Baluch Regiment ???? Baluch Regiment - Wikipedia -- or --- Baloch Regiment - Wikipedia TD
Should be 4th Indian Div. The blurb for the NMP reprint mentions they were in Greece at the end of the war.
'3rd Battalion Queen Mary's Own' is 3/10th Baluch. They moved across from 8th Indian Division (who were in Iraq) to 4th Indian Division in May 1942. Their most notable action at this stage was fighting at Ruweisat Ridge with 5th Indian Infantry Brigade in July-Aug and taking an absurd number of Italian prisoners. They left the division to in February 1943 and were replaced by 1/9th Gurkha Rifles. After a period of rest 3/10th Baluch arrived in Taranto in Sept 1943, served as garrison troops and re-joined 4th Indian Division as part of 7th Indian Infantry Brigade in April 1944 (following their withdrawal from Cassino). They transferred to 5th Indian Infantry Brigade in June 1944, replacing 1/6th Rajputana Rifles, who had suffered very heavy casualties. That's a very nice book, Stu.
Here is the summary of the service of the 3rd (Queen Mary's Own) Battalion, The 10th Baluch Regiment: 3rd (Queen Mary’s Own) Battalion 10th Baluch Regiment Razmak Brigade – 3 September 1939 to September 1940 The battalion was organized with ‘A’ Company (Sikh), ‘B’ Company (Pathan), ‘C’ Company (Brahman Dogra), ‘D’ Company (Punjabi Mussalmen). The battalion had moved to Razmak on December 20th, 1938 and was located under the Razmak Brigade at the start of the war. 18th Indian Infantry Brigade – September 1940 to 29 November 1941 In September 1940 it moved to Meerut for mechanising for service overseas and joined the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade. In January 1941 the Pathan strength was altered in ‘B’ Company from 1/3 Yusfzais and 2/3 Khattacks to 2/3 Yusufzais and 1/3 Khattacks. The battalion left India on August 2nd, 1941 and arrived in Basra, Iraq on August 9th, 1941. It served in the Persian Campaign from the 25th to the 28th of August 1941. It was then selected to join desert campaign at end of September 1941. It moved to Baghdad for twelve days and then to Mosul for one month while waiting for the 2/5th Essex Regiment to relieve them. The battalion left the brigade for Egypt on November 29th, 1941. 38th Indian Infantry Brigade – 3 December 1941 to 18 April 1942 It joined the 38th Indian Infantry Brigade at Mersa Matruh on December 3rd, 1941. This brigade was a line of communication formation and was located between Mersa Matruh and El Alamein. It moved into position at El Alamein on December 5th under the brigade, but returned to Mersa Matruh by rail on December 11th. The Brigade HQ and the battalion left Mersa Matruh on December 21st by train and arrived at the railhead on December 25th. It moved into Tobruk on January 1st, 1942. The battalion took over all guard duties at Tobruk under the brigade on January 26th. The brigade was ordered to leave Tobruk at the end of March and assembled east of El Adem on March 27th. It reached the railhead at Capuzzo on March 30th and Tahag Camp in Egypt, its destination, on 4 April. It left the brigade on 18 April 1942. 5th Indian Infantry Brigade – 18 April 1942 to 8 February 1943 On leaving the brigade the battalion moved to Kabrit where it joined the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade. It moved to Palestine on April 29th, 1942 but was ordered back to the desert on June 3rd, 1942 leaving on June 8th, 1942. On June 13th, it was located at El Mushiffa and on June 20th, 1942 it moved to Sollum where it remained until June 21st. It moved on June 25th to Mersa Matruh and on June 30th to El Alamein and then Mena to refit. It was back to the front on July 4th, 1942 and remained in the line until November 15th, 1942, when it left to refit. The brigade moved to Tobruk on December 9th, 1942, Agedabia on January 3rd, 1943 and Bengazi on January 10th, 1943. Two platoons of ‘A’ (Sikh) Company were used as the 8th Army HQ guard. It returned to the Delta on February 8th, 1943 leaving the brigade to relieve the 1/9th Gurkha Rifles and took over its garrison duties at Cairo. British Troops in Egypt (BTE) – 8 February 1943 to 15 April 1943 It was selected as a Beach Brick Battalion on April 15th, 1943 and joined the 8th Army to prepare for the upcoming invasion of Sicily. 8th Army – 15 April 1943 to 23 April 1944 It began reorganizing with five self-contained companies numbered 60 to 64 (‘A’-’D’, HQ Companies). Nos. 60 to 62 Companies joined the No. 31 (Marine) Brick at Kabrit and Nos. 63-64 joined the No. 34 (Welch) Brick at Gaza, Palestine. These companies landed at Sicily on July 9th and served there until August 17th, 1943 with Nos. 60-63 under the command of the 231st Malta Brigade and No. 64 under the command of the 50th British Division. On August 26th, 1943 the battalion moved to Syracuse and reformed. It landed at Taranto on September 8th, 1943 and on the 18th of November 1943 it moved to Bari for five months. 7th Indian Infantry Brigade – 23 April 1944 to 14 June 1944 It next joined the 7th Indian Infantry Brigade on April 23rd in the Orsagna sector and remained there with the brigade until June 14th. 5th Indian Infantry Brigade – 14 June 1944 to 31 August 1945 The battalion joined the5th Indian Infantry Brigade on June 14th, 1944, relieving the 1/6th Rajputana Rifles in the Campobasso area. It trained there through the end of the month in mountain warfare. On July 8th, the 4th Indian Infantry Division assumed command of the 10th Indian Division’s sector west of the Tiber. The battalion took Cagnano from July 14th-15th and then the 5th Brigade took over the road from Monte S. Maria to Montevechi. By July 18th, the division had completed all tasks and 5th Brigade was directed on M. Castiglione from July 15th-26th and Falcaiano from August 1st-5th. The division was withdrawn to Lake Trasimene on August 10th to refit and train from the Gothic Line battles. The 4th Indian Division returned to the line on August 25th and was given the task of taking the high ground at M. Della Cesana and then taking Tavoleto. The 3/10th Baluchs attacked M. Pietralata from August 25th-28th then took M. della Croce and Monte Calvo from August 29th-30th. The battalion was the first unit of 8th Army to breach the Gothic Line. The 5th Indian Brigade relieved the 11th Indian Brigade on September 2nd and concentrated east of M. della Croce. On the night of September 12th/13th, 5th Brigade attacked M.S. Columba but failed to take it. The 11th Brigade then took over from the 5th Brigade on September 14th and the rest of the 5th Brigade joined the battalion in the Montesoudo area near Monte Colomba on September 17th. The brigade was to cut the roads to San Marino and the battalion established a bridgehead over the River Marano on September 18th. The rest of the brigade took San Marino on September 20th. The division was then withdrawn to rest and refit after being relieved by the 10th Indian Division on October 3rd. It reassembled in the Lake Trasimene area but was ordered to prepare for operations in Greece instead. The 5th Indian Brigade was first directed to go to Crete but the battalion landed in Athens instead on December 11th, 1944. From December 11th-15th it cleared the approaches to Lofus Costetlu. The brigade was ferried to the northern dock area on December 21st and secured the area. The brigade fought at Piraeus until December 30th/31st. It then did recovery work until January 15th when the brigade moved to Volos. The battalion in turn was located at Kozani with one company at Nauosa. It returned to India in January 1946.
Hello chaps, a wiser man would have first had a butchers at the orders of battle in Stevens (Lt.- Col. G.R; OBE) The Fourth Indian Division 39-45 book, but like a T**, one did not! Its OK, one will laugh at myself for being a complete fool. Having said that, the posts have been top notch has of the norm. I should have posted the photo below last night. Not a bad price for a rare book at £75 thats in good condition. Tricky, it pays to put your bins on when you are taking note of the title of any book. I was going to ask what the 10th meant in the 3/10th (Baluch) that Charley posted in his post 4, but dryan67 has provided the answer! 3rd battalion of the 10th regiment. Charley, thanks for your e-mail.. One last thing, is it same for all of the Indian infantry batttalions when it comes to describing the above? Cheers chaps, a red faced Stu.
