10 Mind-Blowing Feats Performed By Gurkhas

1. Lachhiman Gurung Fends Off the Japanese For Four Hours

A soldier from the company of Gurkhas that is to fly out to Bosnia shortly, in their first operational deployment since the Falklands conflict, trains at their base of Church Cookham in Hampshire today (Friday). The advance party of the Nepalese troops wi
Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive
We conclude with one final act of immense bravery during the Second World War, this time carried out by a single Gurkha name Lachhiman Gurung.

During the night of 12-13th May 1945, Gurung was manning the forward-most post of his platoon, which came under attack by 200 Japanese soldiers under the cover of nightfall.

Though his entire platoon was attacked, the brunt of the force was directed at Gurung's position, as enemy grenades began flying into his trench. Though he managed to return the first two, the third blew up as he attempted to throw it, destroying the fingers on his hand, shattering his arm and wounding a number of other areas of his body.

Buoyed by the assault, the Japanese soldiers advanced on his position. However, Lachhiman Gurung was not done by any means and he repelled wave after wave of the enemy by using his left hand to fire his rifle. He is reputed to have killed 31 Japanese fighters over the course of four hours, successfully defending his position and inspiring his comrades to win the overall battle.

He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry and later became a pivotal part of the Gurkha Justice Campaigns effort to secure the rights of veteran Gurkha soldiers to claim residence in the UK. He passed away on December 12th 2010 at age 92.

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Lee Price is a writer for 411mania.com and Starburst Magazine, which is published in the UK. He is currently working as a freelance writer. He hopes to one day fund his addiction to video games by writing about video games, and he maintains a sporadically updated blog at leesrandombulls*it.wordpress.com