Naik Naurasab Khan MM
An account of exceptional battlefield bravery, written by Christopher Jary
Christopher Jary sent me this yesterday, telling the story of the professional military competence under fire in Malaya, 1942 of Naik Naurasab Khan, 4th (Hazara) Mountain Battery, 22nd Mountain Regiment, Royal Indian Artillery. I thought the story so exceptional that you would enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you Christopher!
I am taking a group to Malaya in early March 2025 and the battle of Jitra is on the itinerary.
In the summer of 1939, the 4th (Hazara) Battery left Dehra Dun 110 strong (7 officers, 103 Indian NCOs and soldiers plus 15 followers – saddlers, a smith, water carriers, a tailor, carpenters, cooks and sweepers). Docking in Singapore, they joined the 22nd Mountain Regiment, trained in Johore for jungle warfare and then mechanised, exchanging their mules for lorries.
At the same time as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7th December 1941 Japanese forces invaded Thailand and then Northern Malaya. The first Indian Artillery unit to see action in the war against the Japanese was 22 Mountain Regiment, which had sailed from India for Malaya in August 1939, and was mechanised. On arrival 21 Mountain Battery of this Regiment was deployed in support of 8 Infantry Brigade on 6 December 1941, (in the Kota Baru area) and shelled the Japanese ships within range on the day of the invasion, 8 December. 22 Mountain Regiment fought all down the Peninsula in small detachments. The batteries were employed in a secondary anti-tank role. The men of 4 (Hazara) Mountain Battery, in particular, did some good work as anti- tank gunners.[1]
Indian Mountain Gunners training in Malaya
By December 1941 the 4th Battery was commanded by Maj E L Sawyer. Its officers were Capt A Chevenix-Trench[2], Lts R M Hare[3], E R V Knox, 2/Lt Davindar Singh Bedi, Sub Khan Gul and Jems Mir Zarman, Sardar Ali, Jogindar Singh and Khuman Singh. The Battery Havildar-Major was Nur Khan. At the time of the Japanese invasion, they were on the Thai/Malay frontier astride the Alor Star - Singora road. On rain sodden soil, British and Indian forces were hurriedly disposed along and in advance of the Jitra Line. The 15th Indian Infantry Brigade under Brig K A Garrett MC was assigned the right sector, extending 6,000 yards to a road branching through Kodiang to the railway line at Kangar. Garrett’s Brigade included the 1st Leicesters, 1/14th Punjabis and 2/9th Jats and were supported by the 4th (Hazara) Mountain Battery of the 22nd Mountain Regiment. The 22nd Regiment was commanded by Lt-Col G L Hughes and the 2/9th Jats, on the right of the Brigade, by Lt-Col C K Tester MC. They were defending a sector of boggy soil covered by padi (rice crop), bisected by a creek with jungle growth within fifty yards of each bank. Company and platoon posts were so widely dispersed that they gave the young and untried troops a feeling of isolation.[4]
Up with the Jats was the 4th Battery’s troop of two Italian Breda anti-tank guns manned by Indian gunners and commanded by 2/Lt Davindar Singh Bedi, who was the Battery’s only Indian King’s Commissioned Officer. Captured during O’Connor’s spectacular advance into Libya in February 1941, these Breda guns had been shipped out to bolster Malaya’s pitiful defences; four of them had been issued to the Indian mountain gunners – two to the 4th Battery and two to the 10th. Naik Naurasab Khan, a Punjabi Muslim, was commanding one of the 4th Battery’s guns.
Breda 47mm anti-tank gun
On the Jats’ left, separated from them by 2,000 yards of swamp and trees, were the Leicesters. First to encounter the Japanese advance guard were the 1/14th Punjabis, who on 10th December fought a minor action to delay the enemy’s advance south. The 4th Battery provided supporting fire for the Punjabis in this action. The commander of the 11th Indian Division, Maj Gen David Murray-Lyon, ordered Garrett’s Brigade to hold the line north of Jitra until 12th December, assigning three companies of the 2/1st Gurkha Rifles to reinforce the 15th Brigade.
Murray-Lyon[5] sent the Gurkhas to Asun and concentrated the Punjabis forward round Changlun. Troops withdrawing to Kodiang blew up the railway as they retreated. On the morning of the 11th the Japanese attacked the Punjabis at Changlun (north of Asun) and forced their withdrawal to a position two miles north of Asun. At 1630, while the Punjabis were withdrawing in heavy rain, Japanese medium tanks and motorised infantry broke through the retreating column, overran two anti-tank and two mountain guns and reached the bridge above Asun, which was held by the 2/1st Gurkhas. Although the demolition charges on the bridge failed to explode, the Gurkhas fired on the leading tank with their anti-tank rifles and knocked it out, blocking the road. But the Japanese were able to attack the Gurkha’s forward positions and to clear the road, allowing their tanks to continue towards Jitra. Both the Punjabis and the Gurkhas had been scattered and overwhelmed, although small groups of both managed to make their way south and rejoin their Brigades.
By 2030 on 11th December the Japanese tanks had overrun a forward patrol of the Leicesters, although again their leading tanks were disabled, forming a temporary roadblock and enabling the Leicesters to create a further obstacle of tree trunks, wire and mines. The Brigade Commander, Brig Garrett, was missing and command passed to Brig Carpendale. Meanwhile the much-depleted 15th Brigade was reinforced by the 1/2nd Gurkhas from the 28th Brigade to act as brigade reserve.
On the road the Japanese reached the right forward company of the 1st Leicesters before dawn and started to attack the 2/9th Jats on the Leicesters’ right. The attacks continued throughout the morning and the Japanese made some progress, forcing their way through between the two Battalions. At noon Maj Gen Kawamura came forward and directed his 41st Infantry Regiment to take over as advance guard while also attacking the Jats on the eastern side of the main road; the 11th Infantry Regiment, which so far had made the running, were to attack the Leicesters to the west of the road. By now, however, the 11th had already attacked the Jats in battalion strength, driving a wedge between the Leicesters and the Jats and overwhelming the Jats’ left-hand company. The gap of about a mile and a half between the two Battalions was now held by the Japanese, who were advancing south down the road. The Jats’ position was becoming untenable and soon a withdrawal began south through Jitra. It was in the Japanese attacks on the 2/9th Jats that Naik Naurasab’s anti-tank troop came into action. Their troop commander, 2/Lt Davindar Singh Bedi, was severely wounded and his fate was never recorded; L/Naik Sher Singh and Gnr Muhammad Sharif were both killed. All three are remembered on the Singapore Memorial.
Lt-Gen Sir Lewis Heath
Naurasab’s MM citation, submitted by his Corps Commander, Lt-Gen Sir Lewis Heath, describes Naurasab’s part in the action. Naik Narasab Khan was in charge of a Breda gun of an anti-tank troop of 4 Mountain Battery. On 12th December 1941 he was with his gun in 2/9 Jats’ area in the main Jitra position. His position came under intense small arms fire, a number of the detachment were wounded and he alone dragged the gun back over two hundred yards, across open country and under fire, to safety at Infantry HQ. Having done this, he took a rifle from a disabled sepoy and, having rallied others around him, he continued the fight. His bravery in saving the gun unaided and determination to carry on was a fine example to all in a very difficult situation. He later fought with the Headquarters Company of the Battalion as far as Gurun, where he handed in his rifle and returned to his unit.
A Breda anti-tank gun being manhandled into position, Malaya 1941
The 15th Brigade emerged from the battle at Jitra barely 600 strong. All three battalions – the Leicesters, Punjabis and Jats – had lost very heavily in killed, wounded and captured. Some escaped and, reaching the coast, commandeered small boats to sail south to safety. Meanwhile, the survivors faced a hard fighting withdrawal pursued by a victorious and aggressive enemy. Thirty miles south, at Gurun, the 4th Battery rejoined 22nd Mountain Regiment’s Headquarters but the retreat continued and, by 22nd December, they were holding a line twenty miles further south at Kampar. The 6th and 15th Brigades, both severely depleted, amalgamated and the 4th Battery found themselves supporting the East Surreys and Leicesters. On 23rd December Lt Gen Percival replaced Maj Gen Murray-Lyon in command of 11th Division with Maj Gen Billy Key. When, early in January, Kampar was outflanked by a Japanese landing on the coast, the 4th Hazara Battery formed part of the rearguard to allow the infantry to withdraw. After the unsuccessful and costly defence of the Slim River, the mountain batteries withdrew into Corps Reserve at Kuala Lumpur. The helter-skelter retreat had become a rout.
Pulled back into Singapore, the 4th Battery was tasked with supporting the 28th Infantry Brigade from a position near Bukit Timah. As the Japanese bombed their way into Singapore, the three mountain batteries found themselves north of the Serangoon road supporting the 53rd Infantry Brigade.
On 15th February, short of water and running out of ammunition, the garrison surrendered. The surviving Indian gunners paraded at the Polo Ground, where they marched past their new Divisional Commander, Maj-Gen Key, who congratulated them on their high morale and discipline. That day they surrendered themselves and their weapons to the Japanese while their officers – British and Indian – were taken to Changi Prison.
The 4th Battery had lost 37 of their 107 men killed and twice that number wounded. The 37 killed included 19 who died on the day of surrender. Capture by the Japanese meant cruelty, neglect, savage beatings and often murder. In captivity some Indian troops – mainly Sikhs – were persuaded to join the Japanese Indian National Army. Despite brutal treatment and appalling conditions, more than 75% of Indian prisoners of war refused. Among them was Havildar-Major Nur Khan of the 4th Hazara Battery. Nur Khan was the leader of a loyal body of Punjabi Mussalmans numbering 350. These VCOs and NCOs who retained their loyalty were a constant source of inspiration and encouragement to the men.[6] The Havildar-Major and 4th Battery’s Commandant, Major Edward Sawyer, were both decorated for their gallantry and distinguished service while prisoners of war. Sawyer was appointed MBE while Nur Khan received a British Empire Medal; both were also mentioned in Despatches for their bravery in the retreat to Singapore.
On his release after three and a half years’ imprisonment in savage conditions, Naurasab Khan was recommended for the Military Medal by his Corps Commander, Lt-Gen Sir Lewis Heath. Captured at Singapore, Heath had been imprisoned in Changi Jail until November 1942, then on Formosa until October 1944, and finally in Manchuria until his release in August 1945. Only General Heath’s name appears on the form W3121 recommending Naurasab’s award. Because Indian troops became eligible for the MM only in 1944 (the first awards were gazetted on 18th May 1944) and because India was granted Independence in 1947, Naurasab’s must be both one of the very first MMs won by an Indian soldier and one of the last to be gazetted (on 19th December 1946). Sixteen late awards were gazetted to Indian troops in the course of 1947.
Lt-Gen Sir Lewis Heath sketched in Changi Jail
Naurasab’s was the only award – other than a mention in Despatches – given to any of the officers and men of the 4th Hazara Battery. It was one of only 48 awarded for the campaign in Malaya, 27 of which went to British soldiers and 11 to Indian. Eleven gunners received MMs – nine from the Royal Artillery, one from the Hong Kong Straits Royal Artillery and one – Naurasab – from the Royal Indian Artillery. After four years and a long period of captivity in which so many had died, medals were awarded parsimoniously and chaotically. Many acts of heroism must have been forgotten, many of those who performed or witnessed them must have died either in the battle for Singapore or in their subsequent brutal imprisonment. Instead, a long list was published of those mentioned in Despatches, recognition which could be given either posthumously or to the living. Naurasab was doubly lucky: he somehow survived the ordeal of Japanese imprisonment and was one of the few whose gallantry was remembered – by his Corps Commander – and rewarded five years after the event.
After the war the 4th Hazara Battery was reformed and awarded the honour Jitra. In today’s Indian Army the Battery is part of 56th Field Regiment (Jitra), which still bears the Jitra honour in its title.
MILITARY MEDALS AWARDED FOR MALAYA (8 DECEMBER 1941 – 15 FEBRUARY 1945)
Source – London Gazette
Royal Artillery 9 (8 in LG 13 Dec 45 and 1 in LG 1 Aug 46)
Royal Engineers 1 (LG 1 Aug 46)
Royal Corps of Signals 1 (LG 1 Aug 46)
Border Regt 1 (LG 13 Dec 45)
Cambridgeshire Regt 1 (LG 13 Dec 45)
East Surrey Regt 2 (LG 13 Dec 45 and LG 1 Aug 46)
Gordon Highlanders 1 (LG 13 Dec 45)
Leicestershire Regt 1 (LG 1 Aug 46)
Loyal Regt 2 (LG 13 Dec 45)
Manchester Regt 1 (LG 13 Dec 45)
Royal Norfolk Regt 2 (LG 13 Dec 45)
Sherwood Foresters 1 (LG 13 Dec 45)
Suffolk Regt 2 (LG 13 Dec 45 and LG 1 Aug 46)
Royal Army Medical Corps 2 (LG 1 Aug 46)
Australian Military Forces 3 (LG 10 Jan 46 and two in LG 1 Aug 46)
Royal Indian Artillery 1 (LG 19 Dec 46)
Royal Indian Engineers 1 (LG 19 Dec 46)
1st Punjab Regt 1 (LG 19 Dec 46)
13th Frontier Force Rifles 1 (LG 19 Dec 46)
14th Punjab Regiment 2 LG 19 Dec 46)
18th Royal Garwhal Rifles 1 (LG 19 Dec 46)
1st King George V Gurkha Rifles 1 (LG 19 Dec 46)
2nd Kind Edward VII Gurkha Rifles 2 (LG 19 Dec 46)
9th Gurkha Rifles 1 (LG 19 Dec 46)
Malay Regt 2 (LG 1 Aug 46)
Straits Settlement Volunteer Force 1 (LG 13 Dec 45)
Hong Kong Straits Royal Artillery 1 (LG 1 Aug 46)
Royal Air Force 3 (LG 1 Oct 46)
Total 48 (British Army 27, Indian Army 11, Australian M F 3, RAF 3, Malay units 3, Hong Kong unit 1)
[1] Indian Army website – The History of Indian Artillery
[2] Later Headmaster of Eton
[3] Later a moral philosopher
[4] This account of the campaign draws heavily on both the Australian War Memorial Media Collection website – Invasion of Malaya – and on Brigadier C A L Graham’s Indian Mountain Artillery.
[5] A Highland Light Infantry officer, David Murray-Lyon appears in David Niven’s book The Moon’s a Balloon.
[6] Indian Mountain Artillery by Brigadier C A L Graham
Thank you for some great history, especially noting the connection to the unit in today's Indian Army - such a heritage is worth preserving and noting.