On 5 March 1945 at Snowdon-East, near Tamandu, Burma, Havildar Bhanbhagta Gurung and the men 3rd BN 2nd Gurkha Rifle (BIA) were tasked with taking out Japanese positions. Immediately, they came under heavy machine-gun, grenade and mortar fire. In this vulnerable position, the Gurkhas became sitting ducks for one well-concealed sniper. Seeing this, Bhanbhagta simply stood up under the barrage of fire and calmly took out the sniper with his rifle.
Without waiting for orders, Bhanbhagta dashed forward alone and ran from foxhole to foxhole killing a scores of soldiers with hand grenades and his bayonet. Throughout these attacks, Bhanbhagta was fired on continuously from a machine-gun situated on the tip of the objective. Realising this, he ran towards the position, climbing on top of the bunker only to find he had run out of hand grenades, so he flung two No 72 smoke grenades into the bunker slit. Two of the Japanese ran out, blinded, with their clothes aflame. Bhanbhagta chased them down and killed them with his kukri. One foolishly brave Japanese remained inside, still firing the machine gun. Bhanbhagta simply crawled inside the bunker and, prevented by the cramped space from using his bayonet or kukri, beat the gunner to death with a rock.
With most objectives now taken and the enemy driven off, he ordered a Bren gunner and two riflemen to hold the captured bunker with him.
For his actions, Bhanbhagta was awarded the Victoria Cross. #hardfuck #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #ww2 #badass #gurkha #runhomie