Description
Pre War Palestine and Burma group – 2nd Battalion Berkshire Regiment.
General Service medal, clasp, Palestine, 5334338 Pte. J. Nicholl. R. Berks. R.
The 2nd Battalion had been in Palestine in 1934, and was ordered to Palestine again in May 1936 when it was stationed in Egypt , the order was then cancelled although a detachment then did go to Haifa in May 1936. One history talks of a brief emergency return when the regiment was based in Egypt in 1936-37. It is known one officer Tony Simmons was in Palestine during the revolt as regimental intelligence officer.
During WW2 the 2nd Battalion was stationed in India at the outbreak of war and remained there for the duration. From the outbreak of war until August 1940, the battalion served with the 6th Indian Infantry Brigade. In January 1943 the battalion was assigned to 98th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of 19th Indian Infantry Division and, like the 1st Battalion, also served in the Burma Campaign under the command of Fourteenth Army. A memorial plaque stands at the entrance to a pagoda near the top of Mandalay Hill. It was erected in honour of the men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment who fought and died there and reads;
Erected to commemorate the fierce fighting in the clearance and final capture of Mandalay Hill by the 2nd Bn. The Royal Berkshire Regiment, March 10th to 12th 1945.
The battalion continued to fight the Japanese until the war against Japan ended on Victory over Japan Day.
