Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare and outstanding Third Afghan War M.C. group of nine awarded to Colonel G. G. Rogers, 1st Gurkha Rifles: gallant service in the Field aside, he was widely recognized as an expert in Gurkha customs and dialects, published Colloquial Nepali and acted as an adviser and interpreter to the film “Johnny Gurkha”

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lt. G. G. Rogers, 2/1 Gurkha Rfls.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. G. G. Rogers); India General Service 1908-35, 3 clasps, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, Waziristan 1919-21, Waziristan 1921-24 (Capt. G. G. Rogers, 2-1 Grks.); War Medal 1939-45; India Service Medal 1939-45; Jubilee 1935; Nepal, Order of the Star, 2nd Class breast star, silver-gilt and enamel, generally good very fine (9) £3000-3500

M.C. London Gazette 3 August 1920.

George Gordon Rogers was born at Dharmsala, India in April 1893, a true son of the Gurkha family. His father, Colonel G. W. Rogers, D.S.O. of the 4th Gurkha Rifles, had raised the 2nd Battalion, 1st Gurkha Rifles in 1886 and both his paternal and maternal grandfathers were Major-Generals in the Indian Army - the latter, J.S. Rawlins, had commanded the 1st Battalion: the portraits of the two Commanding Officers hang on the wall of the Mess dining room in Dharmsala.

George - or “Georgie” as he was known to his friends and colleagues - was educated at Bedford College and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in January 1912. He joined the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Gurkha Rifles in Chitral early in the following year and served with his regiment in the operations against rebellious tribesmen in the Swat Valley in August 1915. At the end of that year he was transferred to the Nepalese Contingent, soldiers of the independent Kingdom of Nepal sent to help maintain order in India whilst most of the Indian Army was in France and Mesopotamia. Rogers was probably selected on the basis of his language ability. During this period he also served as Staff Officer at the Mountain Warfare School at Kakul, near Abbottabad, services that were recognised by his appointment to the 2nd Class of Order of the Star of Nepal.

Third Afghan War - M.C.

Rogers rejoined his regiment at Nowshera early in 1919, when, having been advanced to Captain, he was given command of ‘D’ Company. Three days after war had been declared against Afghanistan in May 1919, his battalion left Nowshera by train to join the Third Infantry Brigade in the Khyber Pass area. They arrived at Ali Masjid on the 10th and in the early morning hours of the 11th marched to Landi Kotal where they formed the reserve for an attack on the Afghan positions at Bagh.

In response to the sound of heavy firing, the Battalion made a forced march to Loe Dakka on the 17th and found that a Sikh regiment had just captured Sikh Hill. ‘B’ and ‘D’ Companies were sent to occupy it and had a rough time. They had no food, water was scarce, and they were heavily laden with ammunition and entrenching tools. All this on a stiff climb on a very hot day. That night an Afghan infantry battalion attacked the hill, attempting to recover some captured guns, but was driven off by Lewis-gun fire. The next day the two companies returned to camp, which was now established a little to the south of Fort Robat, near Sherabad Cantonment. Over the next couple of weeks there was little fighting but the battalion had to supply numerous piquets, and also sent out foraging expeditions.

On the 14th June, Rogers provided the piquets and advanced guard for a force sent out to intercept a “lashkar” (tribal raiding party). No opposition was encountered, and two Afghan envoys presented themselves under a white flag, carrying sealed letters from the Amir. They were escorted to Headquarters.

On the evening of the 16th Rogers was in command of No. 5 piquet when, at about 9.30 p.m., it came under attack from about 80 of the enemy. The attack was driven off with Lewis-gun fire. On the 27th, Rogers and ‘D’ Company established two new piquets on Conical Hill and West Ridge to protect the Kabul Road, which passed between the two features and was frequently used by the cavalry on reconnaissance patrols.

On the morning of the 13th July, ‘D’ Company under Rogers went to furnish the piquets on the Khurd Khyber Pass for the cavalry reconnaissance and was so strongly opposed by about 2000 tribesmen that another company had to be called up before the piquets could be set up. Fortunately, Rogers had taken the initiative to set up piquets on two hills about 1,000 yards south-west of the pass which had never before been occupied. The tribesmen had evidently relied on finding the hills again unoccupied and intended to use them to harass the reconnaissance from the flank, and then enfilade the retiring piquets. Fierce fighting ensued, with the Gurkhas holding one side of the hill and the enemy the other; at times the fighting was hand-to-hand. The withdrawal of the piquets was closely followed up but their retirement was covered by machine guns and howitzers which inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. The battalion suffered casualties of three killed and seven wounded. It was for this operation that Rogers was awarded the M.C.

During the campaign Rogers was also instrumental in forming the ‘Gurkhas Scouts’ to operate against snipers and raiders at night. A detachment of selected men from all the Gurkha regiments in the area was formed, and their tactics were to lie up after dark in likely approaches and deal with intruders with hand grenades or kukris. There were several successful ambushes.

Ongoing operations in Waziristan 1920-24 - and beyond

At the end of 1920 Rogers was attached to the 2nd Battalion of 6th Gurkha Rifles, then deployed in southern Waziristan. According to the regimental history, ‘The men were fresh from the rigours of the Great War and were in no mood to adopt kid-glove methods with the Mahsud tribesmen. This did not fit in with the policy envisaged by the political authorities and so the Battalion was moved (from Kotkai camp) to a quieter area to Manzai where it was thought “incidents” were less likely to occur.’

However, in April 1921, the Mahsuds sprang a devastating ambush on two Punjabi regiments, annihilating a convoy, and thereafter the Battalion spent a great deal more time on road-protection duties. During this period Rogers was a Temporary Major and held the posts of Brigade Major and D.A.A.G.

After returning to his own regiment, Rogers was then attached to the 1st Battalion, 4th Gurkha Rifles, from May 1923 to March 1924. He served with them during the disturbances in the Sikh state of Mabha, where the Maharajah was deposed for misrule.

Rogers became a master of Nepalese languages: he knew both the Gurung and Magar dialects, as well as the court language of Kathmandu. He was an expert in Gurkha songs and dances and, as one colleague reported, ‘He was usually found in the centre of a fascinated group of men who hung on his word ... it was in these inter-war years in Dharmsala and the N.W. Frontier that we got to know Georgie well, accompanied him on shooting trips, attended his nautches, and learnt something of our men and their language.’

In January 1929, Rogers was promoted Major and from 1934 he was senior Major, in effect the second-in-command. He was placed on the Supplementary Unemployed List in 1936, having by then become widely recognised as an expert on the Gurkhas. He was variously described as ‘a unique personality’ and a ‘courteous, kind, and a thorough gentleman - though rather an oddity.’

The Second World War

Having settled in South Africa in the interim, Rogers was recalled to service in June 1940, promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Temporary) and, in November 1940, appointed to be Commandant of the Regimental Centre at Dharmsala.

The decision had been taken to double the size of the Gurkha regiments by increasing their establishment from two battalions to four: the 1st Gurkha Rifles also had to raise an extra battalion to replace its 2nd Battalion, which had been lost when Malaya was over-run. The Regimental Centre was responsible for both recruit and specialist training: Rogers presided over an enormous expansion of the Centre and at one time had 5000 men under command. He was promoted to full Colonel in May 1943.

An officer who trained at the Centre late in 1942 described Rogers at this time as ‘a tall, remote and austere figure. To junior officers he appeared to be somewhat out of touch with the developments of modern warfare but his knowledge of Gurkhas, their languages and dialects was legendary ... the depth and width of his linguistic knowledge was thought to be unmatched among his contemporaries either in the 1st or other Gurkha regiments.’

Rogers handed over command of the Centre in July 1943 and started a language school for young British officers in Dehra Dun, as part of the 14th Training Division. He later wrote a book Colloquial Nepali, which was published in 1949 and remained in use for many years and also joined a film unit as adviser and interpreter for the making of the film “Johnny Gurkha”. In 1946 he retired once more.

In 1946-47 he taught Urdu and Punjabi to officer cadets at Caterham and in 1947-48 taught English to Polish refugees in Essex and Sussex. He lived in a former lighthouse in Norfolk but loved travelling and took his family to Eire, Brazil, then back to the English countryside. He revisited India with a missionary group and toured Malta, Spain, Italy and France. His hobbies continued to be the languages, songs and customs of mountain people the world over. He gave up his gun for a camera and made a study of birds.

In his final years he lived in a succession of nursing homes, at one of which, in Maidenhead, he died in May 1966. He was buried at Hampton Cemetery, Middlesex; sold with a large file of copied research, including several picture post cards.