Lachhiman Gurung: The One-Handed Gurkha Who Held His Position Against a Japanese Assault

Lachhiman Gurung: The One-Handed Gurkha Who Held His Position Against a Japanese Assault

In May 1945, near the end of the Second World War, one wounded Gurkha soldier found himself alone in a forward position as a massive Japanese assault swept toward his platoon. His right hand had been shattered by a grenade. His comrades were badly wounded. Yet he refused to retreat.

His name was Lachhiman Gurung, a rifleman of the 6th Gurkha Rifles, and the stand he made in Burma became one of the most extraordinary acts of courage associated with the Gurkhas during the Second World War.

From Nepal to the British Army

Lachhiman Gurung was born on 30 December 1917 in the village of Dahakhani, in the Chitwan district of Nepal.

Like generations of Nepali men before him, Gurung joined the British Indian Army and became a member of the renowned Gurkha Rifles.

The Gurkhas had served the British Crown for more than a century by the time the Second World War began, developing a reputation for discipline, endurance and battlefield courage.

When Gurung enlisted, he could not have known that his name would eventually become associated with one of the most remarkable individual stands of the Burma campaign.

The Burma Campaign

During the Second World War, Japanese forces had advanced across Southeast Asia, occupying large parts of Burma—today known as Myanmar.

The Burma campaign became one of the most difficult theatres of the war. Allied troops had to fight through dense jungle, mountainous terrain, extreme weather, disease and difficult supply conditions while facing determined Japanese forces.

Gurung was serving with the 4th Battalion, 8th Gurkha Rifles, during the campaign.

By 1945, Allied forces were pushing Japanese troops back through Burma.

It was during this period that Gurung’s defining battle took place.

The Attack at Taungdaw

On 12–13 May 1945, Gurung’s unit was holding a position near Taungdaw, in Burma.

Gurung was positioned in a forward trench with two other soldiers.

The position was vulnerable.

Then the Japanese attacked.

A large force of Japanese soldiers advanced toward the Gurkha position in an attempt to overrun it.

Gurung found himself at the centre of the assault.

Grenades began landing in his trench.

He picked up the first grenade and threw it back.

Then another grenade landed.

Again, he threw it back toward the attackers.

But a third grenade was different.

Before he could get rid of it, it exploded in his hand.

The Explosion

The blast tore through Gurung’s body.

His right hand was catastrophically injured, and he suffered serious wounds to his face, body and leg. The explosion also caused severe damage to his right eye.

His two comrades in the trench were also seriously wounded.

Gurung was effectively left alone.

For most soldiers, the logical response would have been to withdraw or seek medical assistance.

Gurung did neither.

He Continued Fighting

Despite his injuries, Gurung picked up his rifle.

His right hand was no longer usable.

So he continued fighting with his left hand.

He loaded and fired his rifle repeatedly as Japanese soldiers attacked his position.

Wave after wave of attackers attempted to break through.

Gurung refused to surrender the trench.

He kept firing.

He kept reloading.

And he kept his position.

According to accounts of the battle, the Japanese assault continued for hours.

By the time the fighting ended, the scale of the attack became clear.

Eighty-seven Japanese soldiers were found dead in the immediate area around Gurung’s position, with 31 lying directly in front of his trench.

His extraordinary resistance had helped prevent the Japanese from overrunning the position.

The Victoria Cross

Gurung survived the battle, but his injuries changed his life permanently.

He lost the use of his right hand and suffered the loss of his right eye.

For his extraordinary bravery, he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest military decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy available to British and Commonwealth forces.

The award recognised his refusal to abandon his position despite suffering devastating injuries and fighting alone against repeated enemy attacks.

In December 1945, Gurung received the Victoria Cross at the Red Fort in Delhi.

The war in Europe had already ended, and Japan had surrendered in August, but Gurung’s actions in Burma had earned him one of the most prestigious military honours in the world.

He Did Not Leave the Army Immediately

The Victoria Cross did not mark the end of Gurung’s military career.

Despite the permanent injuries he had suffered, he continued serving in the Gurkhas.

He eventually rose to the rank of Havildar, equivalent to a senior non-commissioned officer.

His military service reflected the determination that had already defined his actions on the battlefield.

Eventually, he retired from the army and returned to Nepal.

Life After the Army

Gurung later moved to the United Kingdom, where he spent part of his later life.

He became one of the best-known surviving Gurkha recipients of the Victoria Cross, and his story was frequently cited as an example of the extraordinary courage associated with Gurkha soldiers.

His physical injuries remained with him throughout his life.

But the man who had once fought through a Japanese assault with one functioning hand continued to represent the resilience of thousands of Gurkha soldiers who served during the Second World War.

The Final Years

Lachhiman Gurung lived to the age of 92.

He died in London on 12 December 2010.

His death marked the passing of one of the most remarkable veterans of the Burma campaign.

But the story of the wounded rifleman from Nepal who refused to surrender his position remains deeply embedded in the history of the Gurkhas.

More Than a Story of Bravery

Lachhiman Gurung’s story is extraordinary not simply because he fought while severely wounded.

It is extraordinary because of the decision he made at the moment when survival seemed to demand retreat.

His right hand had been destroyed.

His comrades were incapacitated.

His position was under sustained attack.

Yet he continued to load and fire his rifle with his remaining hand.

His stand helped hold the position until the attack was defeated.

The battlefield eventually fell silent.

The Japanese attackers had withdrawn or been killed.

And the wounded Gurkha who had refused to give way survived.

For his actions, he received the Victoria Cross.

But the medal tells only part of the story.

The greater story is that of a young Nepali soldier who, when almost everything had been taken from him—his hand, his eye, his comrades and his physical strength—still had the determination to hold the line.

Lachhiman Gurung died in London in 2010, but his name remains part of the enduring history of the Gurkha soldiers of the Second World War: men remembered not only for the battles they fought, but for the extraordinary courage with which they faced them.

Lachhiman Gurung: The One-Handed Gurkha Who Held His Position Against a Japanese Assault