Second World War
3rd Battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment
The Battalion had been decimated during the battles around Mersa Matruh and in August 1942 the remnants were collected at Mena and the battalion was reinforced. It then began to convert to a Machine-Gun Battalion as it reformed. It remained in Egypt under British Troops in Egypt (BTE) through December 1942 and then moved to Iraq. It joined the 5th Indian Infantry Division as its M-G Battalion in Iraq in March 1943. Its life as an M-G Battalion was short-lived since it left Iraq with the Division in May 1943, arriving back in Bombay on June 6th. After leave in Meerut, it reconverted to an infantry battalion and served with the Division in the Arakan as the Divisional HQ Defence Battalion through April 1944.
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.
