Sepoy SHUNA RAM 12000, 4th Bn., 10th Baluch Regiment who died age 28 on 17 March 1941 Son of Gangoo, of Sanetar, Udhampur, Jammu, Kashmir; husband of Kirtu, of Sanetar. Remembered with honour KHARTOUM MEMORIAL CWGC :: Cemetery Details
I wonder if he died of wounds in the action the day before. Anthony Brett-James. Ball of Fire. Fifth Indian Division in the Second World War. 1951. Chapters 4-5. On the morning of March 16 the Kaid rang up General Heath and informed him that Savory's Eleven Brigade had reported the existence of a gap in the enemy front near Brigs Peak. The Kaid understood that through this gap there was an opportunity of passing a brigade to exploit towards Keren. As all Savory's battalions had been committed, it was suggested that Ten Brigade be used for this passage. Heath had no reason to doubt the truth of this report, and as exploitation through such a gap was likely to crumble the Italian resistance on the Fourth Indian Division's front, he readily assented to the Kaid's placing his Ten Brigade at General Beresford-Peirse's disposal. But no such gap existed. Information was lacking. For proper reconnaissance there was no opportunity. And this fruitless attempt against the enemy's strongest defensive position on the left of the Dongolaas Gorge was perhaps our one great error of the Keren battle. At first it was proposed that a thrust be made over the col between Sanchil and Brigs Peak. But at a conference this plan was vetoed as suicidal, for the Italians were in great strength and held all the commanding ground. Instead, the 3/18th Royal Garhwal Rifles were to assault Sanchil, while the 4/10th Baluch would attack up Brigs Peak, at ten o'clock that night. The Baluch suffered fifty-three casualties when two mortar bombs landed among the waiting Pathan company while Colonel Sundius-Smith was giving out his orders. This company was detailed to carry supplies, and the Dogra company led the attack instead.. The battalion moved off up Brigs Peak. A shell landed and Sundius-Smith thought his men had been spotted. But nothing followed. The rock of Sanchil is almost unclimbable, so steep are the slopes on every side. Below the rocky summit was a score of yards of loose shale, guarded by barbed wire that ran round to the saddle between Brigs Peak and Sanchil. It was to the right of the rock that the Dogra company climbed. Suddenly the Italians came to life; mortars were fired rapidly and little red bombs hurled down in profusion. To climb such a hill in shirts and shorts, in peaceful conditions, was a tremendous effort. How much greater was the strain of clambering up the mountain side, heavily laden and under intense fire from above! It was too much. Sundius-Smith tried his Punjabi Mussulman company farther to the left, and these men reached the barbed wire, only to be forced back down the slope. They were almost on the summit, but to remain there was beyond human possibility. At dawn Colonel Fletcher, temporarily commanding Ten Brigade, arrived up, discussed the situation, and decided that to send the H.L.I. through the alleged gap would be hopeless. Nor could the Baluch stay where they were on the slopes of Sanchil
