Awards to the Indian Army from the Collection of AM Shaw

A rare ‘Somaliland 1940’ I.D.S.M. awarded to Havildar Bakhshish Singh, 3/15th Punjab Regiment

Indian Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (10002 Hav. Bakhshish Singh, 3/15 Punjab R.) lacking brooch bar, good very fine £800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Awards to the Indian Army from the Collection of AM Shaw.

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I.D.S.M. London Gazette 7 February 1941. Awarded re G.G.O. 191-H of 1943 for services in Somaliland.

Recommendation reads: ‘Somaliland. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty on Aug. 17th 1940. The enemy were shelling the road to the left sector and the situation as regards the Black Watch withdrawal on the right sector was obscure. Sepoy Bakshish Singh volunteered to take, on his motor-cycle and safely delivered an essential message to the left sector regarding their withdrawal. This involved passing through the rear of the right sector and his own subsequent withdrawal on foot, with an injured leg, over 8 miles of country.’

When hostilities broke out between Britain and Italy, the small colony of Somaliland was in a precarious situation. To face an Italian army of some 25,000 men the British had one battalion of the Black Watch, two Indian battalions (1/2 and 3/15 Punjab), the 2nd K.A.R., one light battery and the Somaliland Camel Corps, in all less than 6,000 men. Surrounded on the landward side, the British forces fell back to the coast at Berbera, inflicting heavy casualties as they went. They were evacuated from Berbera on 16-17 August 1940 by the Royal Navy. It was during this withdrawal, when communication between the various units was vital, that Sepoy Bakhshish won his I.D.S.M. for service as a despatch rider. With copied research.