Second World War
Machine Gun Battalion, 10th Baluch Regiment
Formed 15 April 1942 at Karachi.
Sind Brigade Area – 15 April 1942 to 1 August 1942
The battalion moved to Sialot from Karachi in August 1942.
Service as 53rd Baluch Regiment, Indian Armoured Corps
It moved to Sialkot in August 1942 and was to be converted to a regiment of light tanks. It converted to 53rd Baluch Regiment, Indian Armoured Corps on August 1st, 1942 in Sialkot and was to come 268th Indian Armoured Brigade. It was attached to a tank battalion of the Gordon Highlanders to learn in November 1942. It was renamed 17th Battalion on 15 September 1942.
268th Indian Infantry Brigade – 1 October 1942 to March 1944
Orders were changed and the battalion moved to Secunderabad in November 1942. It was then converted to the 17th Battalion and came under the command of the 268th Indian (Lorried) Infantry Brigade of the 44th Indian Armoured Division. After two months it moved to Jangaon and in July 1943 it moved to Calcutta with the brigade and to Kulna on arrival.
303rd Line of Communications Area – March 1944 to June 1944
It left the brigade in March 1944 and remained in the Calcutta area until June 1944. It left the Calcutta area in June 1944 and embarked at Karachi on July 3rd, 1944.
PAIFORCE – July 1944 to September 1944
It arrived in Basra, Iraq on July 8th, and moved to Tureh on arrival, near the Afridi Battalion.
60th Indian Infantry Brigade – September 1944 to August 1945
It became part of 60th Indian Infantry Brigade in September 1944. It moved to Ahwaz in July 1945 and to Haifa, Palestine in August 1945.
3rd British Infantry Brigade – Attached – August 1945 to 31 August 1945
On arrival in Haifa it came under the 3rd British Infantry Brigade.
Sources
- Ryan, David A. (2016). Machine Gun Battalions [online]. Available from: http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/machine-gun-battalions.60788/page-2#post-704255. Accessed: 3 January 2017.