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Gurkas deploy to Sudan
New Delhi: 1/5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), an elite infantry battalion of the Indian Army, earmarked for the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) on Tuesday.

India is contributing two Infantry Battalions to this mission in addition to certain support elements. The Force Commander in the Mission is also an Indian General, Lieutenant General J.S. Lidder.

It is for the first time in any UN Mission that an entire battalion has been earmarked as the Force Reserve Air Mobile Battalion.

Incidentally, this is the third foray of the battalion info the African continent, the first two having been during World War I and World War II. This highly decorated battalion has been awarded 23 Battle Honours and four Victoria Crosses in the pre- dependence period and the Battle Honours of Zojila, Kargil and Sehjra and Theatre Honours of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab in the post independence period amongst many other awards and decorations.

It is also a recipient of the coveted Chief of the Army Staff’s Unit Citation three times for outstanding achievements while serving in the North East during ‘Operation Bagrang’, in Jammu and Kashmir in ‘Operation Rakshak’ and on the Siachen Glacier during ‘Operation Meghdoot’.
Posted by: john 2006-02-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=143392