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Post by Nilfgaardian on Jan 15, 2013 16:11:29 GMT
I have been wondering if there are any accounts of gurkhas fighting japanese soldiers with kukris against the japanese Gunto sword. I certainly believe that it could have happened, since the japanese often employed infantry charges, in which their officers might have been carrying swords. Is it possible that a gurkha could have been forced to use his kukri to fight a sword wielding japanese officer?
The kukris used during the second world war were pretty big, as far as I understand, and in trained hands I believe that it could indeed stand a chance in close combat, even against a much longer sword...
Anyone ever heard of such an encounter taking place?
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jan 15, 2013 22:58:29 GMT
Supposed to have happened during the attack on Gibraltar Hill (in the breakout from the Imphal plain). See stickgrappler.tripod.com/bando/c16.html for an account. Lots of hand-to-hand fighting when the Japanese were pushed of Scraggy Hill as well. No Gurkha sword-related VCs from the CBI theatre AFAIK. The only two sword-related ones are Lt George Cairns, who had his arm cut off by a Japanese officer, killed the officer and grabbed the sword with his remaining arm, and used it to kill and wound several Japanese soldiers, and Fazal Din, and Indian NCO, who did a simialr feat, although he'd been run through by the sword rather than losing an arm; see www.burmastar.org.uk/vcs.htm for details.
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Post by Nilfgaardian on Jan 16, 2013 19:28:18 GMT
Very interesting tale you found. I am probably going to buy my first kukri pretty soon, currently i am looking at the Tora blades Havildar. It seems like a very good kukri, and Tora blades are sold from the UK so I don't have to pay the 25% import tax you usually get here in Sweden.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jan 16, 2013 23:39:27 GMT
The Tora kukri look very good. I like the look of their military sirupate. Avoiding a 25% import duty makes them look less expensive; these might be a good choice for you.
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Post by Lord Cobol on Jan 17, 2013 3:30:38 GMT
George MacDonald Fraser in his memoirs "Quartered Safe Out Here" describes seeing Gurkhas attacking a Japanese position in some woods in Burma. He says they dropped their rifles and went in with knives only. But he didn't see the Japanese and didn't know what weapons they had.
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