Second World War
Machine Gun Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment
Formed 15 April 1942 at Fategarh.
Central Command – 15 April 1942 to 1 August 1942
The Machine-Gun Battalion was raised at Fategarh on April 15th, 1942 and organised in this role until July 7th, 1942 when it received orders to convert to a Light Armoured Regiment. It then moved to Lahore on July 25th, 1942.
Service as 52nd Regiment, Indian Armoured Corps
The Machine-Gun Battalion was converted to 52nd Regiment, Indian Armoured Corps on August 1st, 1942 at Lahore. It came under command of the 267th Indian Armoured Brigade and had two Carden Lloyd Light Tanks. It remained with the brigade until September 15th.
43rd Indian Armoured Division – 15 September 1942 to 1 October 1942
The 52nd Armoured Regiment, IAC was redesignated as the 17th Battalion 7th Rajput Regiment on September 15th, 1942 and served under 43rd Indian Armoured Division as a motor battalion.
268th Indian Infantry Brigade – 1 October 1942 to 31 August 1944
It came under command of the 268th Indian Infantry Brigade at Secunderabad on October 21st, 1942. After two months at Secunderabad, it moved to Jangaon and in July 1943 it moved to Calcutta with the brigade and to Kulna on arrival. It served in Burma from April 1944 to August 1944 with the brigade.
17th Indian Infantry Division – Attached – 31 August 1944 to January 1945
On August 31st, 1944, it moved to Ranchi to come under 17th Indian Infantry Division. It did not leave Ranchi when the division returned to Burma in January 1945 but remained there. It was to have been employed under the division in a special role to operate with tanks.
151st Sub-Area – January 1945 to 22 June 1945
When the division left for Burma, the battalion remained in Ranchi. It then returned to its role as a machine-gun battalion but retained the designation of 17th Battalion. It finally left Ranchi in June 1945 and moved to Visapur. There it came under the 36th British Infantry Division from June 22nd, 1945 until the end of the war as its Machine-Gun Battalion.
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.
