Evening all, Does anyone know anything about Belgaum training camp? The area was taken by the British in 1818, and land leased to the military, but when? I don't need a great deal as it is only for a footnote, but I can't seem to find much on this. Apparently SOE / Force 136 did some jungle training there, and it was quite good. Did it therefore have a Military Establishment number? It is not on my ME list. I have not come across it in the SOE files, only in this one post op. report. Thanks in advance, Rich
Hi There Rich,Bit of a late reply to your query but have only just found your post. I have a reference to Belgaum in Chapter 1 of my soon to be published book "Not Forgetting The 9th"-essentially secret diaries kept by an NCO called Cyril Grimes throughout 1944 and 1945. He served with the 9th Battalion Royal Sussex and prior to going into the Arakan, went on an exped into the jungle as preparation for Burma.On Saturday 15th January 1944 he says " Left our jungle home at 1430hrs.Reached Belgaum where we shall spend the night" . This seems to fit in with SOE jungle training. The diary describes what they did in the jungle.The 9th Battalion were,at the time based at "KV" Kharakvasla near Poona. Hope this helps. Shiny 9th (Sylvia )
Belgaum is where the regimental centre of the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry was located during World War II. You might try and located the following regimental histories to find out more about Belgaum: Abhyankar, Lt. Col M.G. Valour Enshrined: A History of the Maratha Light Infantry 1768-1947. Bombay: Orient Longman, 1971. Barr, Major J.S. A Brief History of the Mahratta Light Infantry. Bombay: G Claridge & Co., 1945.
The FIBIS Fibiwiki has a page called Belgaum which has some general information. http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Belgaum Cheers Maureen
