Help needed re.12th Frontier Force Regiment research.

Hello all, i have recently come into possession of a medal group conatining a Pakistan independence medal awarded to a member of 12th Frontier Force Rifles. I would like to find out more about this soldier, particularly which battalion he was with. Can anyone give me any pointers as i'm new to researching the British Indian army.

The soldier in question is;

3435189 Sepoy Alam Zeb.

Many thanks,

Mac.

 

I am afraid that there was no such regiment as the 12th Frontier Force Rifles!
12th Frontier Force Regiment or 13th Frontier Force Rifles.

 

Thanks Charpoy Chindit, that was a good demonstration of my ignorance !

The hand written card provided by the owner says 'Rifles' but the medal is actually stamped '12 FFR'. So any suggestions ?

My research so far has only found quite generic information. i'd like to start narrowing it down a bit.

Thanks,

Mac.

 

According to my list of abbreviations from the MOD - FFR is Frontier Force Regiment (India)

Don't know if this helps but this is from Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Force_Regiment

and here about the 12th
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Frontier_Force_Regiment



Lesley

 

Yes, the official abbreviations were FFR and FF RIF.
Yours is clearly 12 Frontier Force Regiment, but I know of no way of identifying the battalion from just the number.
Most of the numbers I have seen for 12 FFR IORs have been 4 or 5 digit.

 

There are a couple of seven digit numbered medals for 12 FFR on this old listing on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pakistan-Army-WWII-Post-1947-Independence-medal-lot-23-medals-/200954337847

ie 3437506 SEPOY MOHD NIWAZ of 12 Frontier Force Regiment abbrev: F. F. R.
3437304 SEPOY FAZAL DIN of 12 Frontier Force Regiment abbrev: F.F.R.

Still doesn't tell you the battalion though

 

Mac

try the diaries of 4th Indian Division as they fought in the Desert - Abbysinia - Syria - Tunisia - Italy - and finished up in Greece...

Cheers

 

I would presume that the answer is in the question - a photo of the group with a listing of which other awards he received would let us know which possible battalions to narrow it down to.

If he has a Burma Star then it could possibly be 4/12

If he has an Italy Star then 1/12 & 3/12 appear to be possibilities.

 

Thanks Owen - the full set narrows it down somewhat.


Personally I am sticking with If he has a Burma Star then it could possibly be 4/12


4/12th served as the Divisional reconnaissance unit of 17th Infantry Division (India) (The Black Cats)


I don't know much of the wartime uses of the newly raised Battalions - there could be other contenders for Burma Star eligibility.

 

Another possible candidate could be:

The 9/12 FFR were a very green battalion when they joined the 1st Devons and 3/1 Gurkha Rilfes as part of 80th Brigade from the 20th Indian Division in April 1944. This Brigade fought along the Tamu/Palel Road in Assam.

 

There is the added complication that he could have been a muslim soldier swapped-in from an 'Indian' regiment after Partition, so his wartime medals may have been earned with a different unit. For example, a company of PMs from 7 Rajput Regiment was passed to 4/12 FFR to make up for the Sikh and Dogra troops that had gone to India.

9/12 FFR were redesignated 2/12 FFR in 1946 (the original 2/12 FFR having been lost in Malaya). In late 1948, Pakistan formed a new 9 FFR, though only a handful of the original 9/12 FFR ended up in the new battalion.

The service number looks to be very late war. GSE has only two 12 FFR casualties out of four with similar numbers. As one of them died in Sep 1945 it is possible that our man could have squeaked in for a Burma Star:


004

MOTI CHAND

-

3428641

-

29/09/1945




005

NAR SINGH

-

3429505

-

15/08/1947

 

There is a medal collectors website which deals specifically with South Asia medallic awards and entitlements. They may well have some information that could help with this investigation.

Here is the address:

sagongs.ipbhost.com

 

Sorry. I tried to post a Word table of the battalions service for the 12th FFR in WWII, but it failed. I will add it as an attachment in the next message.

 

See the attached Word document for the service of the battalions of the 12th Frontier Force Regiment. This table is from one of my books.

 

Yes, five battalions of the FFR served in Burma, plus at least one Infantry Company of the regiment. That, plus the added complication mentioned above by idler, doesn't bode well for your search.

 

Thank you very much all of you for your replies. I will follow up on your suggestions however i agree, it looks like a bit of a lost cause. But hey you never know. I find it surprising though that some more specific documentation or information has not survived somewhere in some form or another ?

I'm guessing that the FFR would have had British officers ?

Mac.

 

Thanks, i've just registered. There is a wealth of info on there about independence medals.

However one of the first entries that i read said ...

"the researching of sepoys and able seaman is nearly impossible"....but you never know !

 

Hi Mac,

I was thinking that maybe the service number sequence might give a clue, at least with the likely date of enlistment.

Good luck

Steve

 

Hi Mac

12 FFR were part of 11th Indian Infantry Brigade, which was part of 4th Indian Infantry Division.

I have already attached the official history of 4th Indian Infantry Division in Greece, 1944-45 at http://ww2talk.com/f...irs-etc-please/

Just scroll halfway down and you'll find it.

Happy reading.

Gus