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*A Great War and Third Afghan War M.C. Group of Eight awarded to Colonel G.G. ‘Georgie’ Rogers,
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*A Great War and Third Afghan War M.C. Group of Eight awarded to Colonel G.G. ‘Georgie’ Rogers, 1st Gurkha Rifles, awarded the M.C. for his command of the reconnaissance piquets at Khurd Kyber Pass, where his company met and repelled some 2,000 Afghan tribesmen from two hillside positions with rifle, grenade and kukri. A renowned expert in Gurkha dialects and customs and the scion of an established family of Gurkha Officers, he later became an expert advisor for the 1945 film ‘Johnny Gurkha’, comprising: Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lt. G. G. Rogers, 2/1 Gurkha Rfls.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. G. G. Rogers); India General Service 1908-35, 3 clasps, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, Waziristan 1919-21, Waziristan 1921-24 (Capt. G. G. Rogers, 2-1 Grks.); War Medal 1939-45; India Service Medal 1939-45; Jubilee 1935, court-mounted on board for display, toned, generally good very fine or better (8). M.C.: London Gazette, 3 August 1920: ‘For distinguished service in the Field in the Afghan War, 1919.’ George Gordon Rogers was born on 9 April 1893, at Dharamsala, India. His father, Colonel G. W. Rogers, D.S.O. of the 4th Gurkha Rifles, had originally raised the 2nd Battalion, 1st Gurkha Rifles in 1886 and both his paternal and maternal grandfathers were Major-Generals in the Indian Army (The latter, J.S. Rawlins, had commanded the 1st Battalion). George (or “Georgie”) was educated at Bedford College and at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, being commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in January 1912. He joined the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Gurkha Rifles in Chitral in early 1913 and served during the operations against rebellious tribesmen in the Swat Valley in August 1915. Soon after he was transferred to the Nepalese Contingent, whose soldiers were sent to help maintain order in India, whilst most of the Indian Army was in France and Mesopotamia. During this period he also served as Staff Officer at the Mountain Warfare School at Kakul, near Abbottabad, for which he was rewarded with an appointment to the Order of the Star of Nepal (this order not present with group). Rogers rejoined his regiment in early 1919, when, having been promoted to Captain, he was given command of ‘D’ Company. Three days after war was declared against Afghanistan in May 1919, his battalion left by train from Nowshera for the Khyber Pass area. They arrived at Ali Masjid on the 10th, and marched the following morning to Landi Kotal where they formed the reserve for an attack on the Afghan positions at Bagh. Hearing the sound of heavy gunfire, the Battalion made a forced march to Loe Dakka on the 17th and found that a Sikh regiment had just captured Sikh Hill. ‘B’ and ‘D’ Companies were sent to occupy it but lacking adequate food or water, and being laden with ammunition and entrenching tools on a very hot day, the had a very tough time of it. That night an Afghan battalion attacked their position on the hill, but was successfully driven off. On 14 June, Rogers provided the piquets and advanced guard for a force sent out to intercept a tribal raiding party (“lashkar”). Surprisingly no opposition was encountered, but two Afghan envoys presented themselves under a white flag, carrying sealed letters from the Amir, and they were duly escorted to Headquarters. On the evening of the 16th Rogers was in command of No. 5 piquet when, at roughly 9.30 p.m., it came under attack from about 80 tribesmen. The attack was driven off with accurate Lewis-gun fire, and on the 27th, Rogers and ‘D’ Company established two new piquets on Conical Hill and West Ridge to protect the Kabul Road, which passed between the two features. On the morning of 13 July, ‘D’ Company under Rogers went to furnish the piquets on the Khurd Khyber Pass for the cavalry reconnaissance, and was so strongly opposed by some 2000 tribesmen that another company had to be called up before the piquets could be set up. Fortunately, Rogers had taken the initiative to set up piquets on two hills about 1,000 yards south-west of the pass which had never before been occupied. The tribesmen had hoped to find the hills again unoccupied, intending to use them to harass the reconnaissance from the flank, but they were foiled by Rogers’ forward thinking. Fierce combat ensued, with the Gurkhas holding one side of the hill and the enemy the other; at times resorting to hand-to-hand fighting with kukris drawn. The orderly withdrawal of the piquets was covered by machine guns and howitzers which inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. The battalion suffered casualties of just three killed and seven wounded in this action, and it was for this operation that Rogers was awarded the M.C. At this time Rogers also played a key role in forming the ‘Gurkhas Scouts’, formed of picked men from the Gurkha regiments nearby. This detachment would lie up after dark in likely approaches and deal with snipers and intruders with hand grenades or kukris, leading to several successful ambushes and providing a strong deterrent. At the end of 1920 Rogers was attached to the 2nd / 6th Gurkha Rifles and deployed to southern Waziristan. According to the regimental history, ‘The men were fresh from the rigours of the Great War and were in no mood to adopt kid-glove methods with the Mahsud tribesmen. This did not fit in with the policy envisaged by the political authorities and so the Battalion was moved (from Kotkai camp) to a quieter area to Manzai where it was thought “incidents” were less likely to occur.’ However in April 1921, the Mahsuds devastated two Punjabi regiments by ambushing a convoy, and thereafter the Battalion spent more time on road-protection duties. After returning to his own regiment, Rogers was then attached to the 1st / 4th Gurkha Rifles, from May 1923 to March 1924, and served with them during the disturbances in the Sikh state of Mabha. Through his upbringing and service, Rogers became a master of Nepalese dialects, mastering both Gurung and Magar, as well as the court language of Kathmandu. He was an expert in Gurkha songs and dances and, as one colleague reported, ‘He was usually found in the centre of a fascinated group of men who hung on his word ... it was in these inter-war years in Dharmsala and the N.W. Frontier that we got to know Georgie well, accompanied him on shooting trips, attended his nautches, and learnt something of our men and their language.’ In January 1929, Rogers was promoted to Major and from 1934 he was senior Major - in effect the second-in-command. He was placed on the Supplementary Unemployed List in 1936, and settled for a time in South Africa, before being recalled in June 1940. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Temporary) and, in November 1940, appointed to be Commandant of the Regimental Centre at Dharmsala. During this time, when the decision had been taken to double the size of the Gurkha regiments, the 1st Gurkha Rifles faced the challenge of raising an extra battalion to replace the 2nd Battalion, which had been lost when Malaya was over-run. The Regimental Centre was thus responsible for both recruitment and specialist training, and Rogers oversaw the enormous expansion of the Centre - at one time commanding some 5000 men. He was promoted to Colonel in May 1943. An officer who trained at the Centre late in 1942 described Rogers as ‘a tall, remote and austere figure. His knowledge of Gurkhas, their languages and dialects was legendary ... the depth and width of his linguistic knowledge was thought to be unmatched among his contemporaries either in the 1st or other Gurkha regiments.’ He died in Maidenhead in May 1966, and was buried at Hampton Cemetery, Middlesex. Offered with a large file of copied research, including several picture post cards, and a photo of the Officers of the 2nd / 1st Gurkha Rifles, 1933, with Rogers shown wearing his M.C. and group. The foregoing catalogue notes are largely adapted from Rogers’ formal obituary by Pat O’ Ferrall.
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*A Great War and Third Afghan War M.C. Group of Eight awarded to Colonel G.G. ‘Georgie’ Rogers, 1st Gurkha Rifles, awarded the M.C. for his command of the reconnaissance piquets at Khurd Kyber Pass, where his company met and repelled some 2,000 Afghan tribesmen from two hillside positions with rifle, grenade and kukri. A renowned expert in Gurkha dialects and customs and the scion of an established family of Gurkha Officers, he later became an expert advisor for the 1945 film ‘Johnny Gurkha’, comprising: Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lt. G. G. Rogers, 2/1 Gurkha Rfls.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. G. G. Rogers); India General Service 1908-35, 3 clasps, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, Waziristan 1919-21, Waziristan 1921-24 (Capt. G. G. Rogers, 2-1 Grks.); War Medal 1939-45; India Service Medal 1939-45; Jubilee 1935, court-mounted on board for display, toned, generally good very fine or better (8). M.C.: London Gazette, 3 August 1920: ‘For distinguished service in the Field in the Afghan War, 1919.’ George Gordon Rogers was born on 9 April 1893, at Dharamsala, India. His father, Colonel G. W. Rogers, D.S.O. of the 4th Gurkha Rifles, had originally raised the 2nd Battalion, 1st Gurkha Rifles in 1886 and both his paternal and maternal grandfathers were Major-Generals in the Indian Army (The latter, J.S. Rawlins, had commanded the 1st Battalion). George (or “Georgie”) was educated at Bedford College and at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, being commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in January 1912. He joined the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Gurkha Rifles in Chitral in early 1913 and served during the operations against rebellious tribesmen in the Swat Valley in August 1915. Soon after he was transferred to the Nepalese Contingent, whose soldiers were sent to help maintain order in India, whilst most of the Indian Army was in France and Mesopotamia. During this period he also served as Staff Officer at the Mountain Warfare School at Kakul, near Abbottabad, for which he was rewarded with an appointment to the Order of the Star of Nepal (this order not present with group). Rogers rejoined his regiment in early 1919, when, having been promoted to Captain, he was given command of ‘D’ Company. Three days after war was declared against Afghanistan in May 1919, his battalion left by train from Nowshera for the Khyber Pass area. They arrived at Ali Masjid on the 10th, and marched the following morning to Landi Kotal where they formed the reserve for an attack on the Afghan positions at Bagh. Hearing the sound of heavy gunfire, the Battalion made a forced march to Loe Dakka on the 17th and found that a Sikh regiment had just captured Sikh Hill. ‘B’ and ‘D’ Companies were sent to occupy it but lacking adequate food or water, and being laden with ammunition and entrenching tools on a very hot day, the had a very tough time of it. That night an Afghan battalion attacked their position on the hill, but was successfully driven off. On 14 June, Rogers provided the piquets and advanced guard for a force sent out to intercept a tribal raiding party (“lashkar”). Surprisingly no opposition was encountered, but two Afghan envoys presented themselves under a white flag, carrying sealed letters from the Amir, and they were duly escorted to Headquarters. On the evening of the 16th Rogers was in command of No. 5 piquet when, at roughly 9.30 p.m., it came under attack from about 80 tribesmen. The attack was driven off with accurate Lewis-gun fire, and on the 27th, Rogers and ‘D’ Company established two new piquets on Conical Hill and West Ridge to protect the Kabul Road, which passed between the two features. On the morning of 13 July, ‘D’ Company under Rogers went to furnish the piquets on the Khurd Khyber Pass for the cavalry reconnaissance, and was so strongly opposed by some 2000 tribesmen that another company had to be called up before the piquets could be set up. Fortunately, Rogers had taken the initiative to set up piquets on two hills about 1,000 yards south-west of the pass which had never before been occupied. The tribesmen had hoped to find the hills again unoccupied, intending to use them to harass the reconnaissance from the flank, but they were foiled by Rogers’ forward thinking. Fierce combat ensued, with the Gurkhas holding one side of the hill and the enemy the other; at times resorting to hand-to-hand fighting with kukris drawn. The orderly withdrawal of the piquets was covered by machine guns and howitzers which inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. The battalion suffered casualties of just three killed and seven wounded in this action, and it was for this operation that Rogers was awarded the M.C. At this time Rogers also played a key role in forming the ‘Gurkhas Scouts’, formed of picked men from the Gurkha regiments nearby. This detachment would lie up after dark in likely approaches and deal with snipers and intruders with hand grenades or kukris, leading to several successful ambushes and providing a strong deterrent. At the end of 1920 Rogers was attached to the 2nd / 6th Gurkha Rifles and deployed to southern Waziristan. According to the regimental history, ‘The men were fresh from the rigours of the Great War and were in no mood to adopt kid-glove methods with the Mahsud tribesmen. This did not fit in with the policy envisaged by the political authorities and so the Battalion was moved (from Kotkai camp) to a quieter area to Manzai where it was thought “incidents” were less likely to occur.’ However in April 1921, the Mahsuds devastated two Punjabi regiments by ambushing a convoy, and thereafter the Battalion spent more time on road-protection duties. After returning to his own regiment, Rogers was then attached to the 1st / 4th Gurkha Rifles, from May 1923 to March 1924, and served with them during the disturbances in the Sikh state of Mabha. Through his upbringing and service, Rogers became a master of Nepalese dialects, mastering both Gurung and Magar, as well as the court language of Kathmandu. He was an expert in Gurkha songs and dances and, as one colleague reported, ‘He was usually found in the centre of a fascinated group of men who hung on his word ... it was in these inter-war years in Dharmsala and the N.W. Frontier that we got to know Georgie well, accompanied him on shooting trips, attended his nautches, and learnt something of our men and their language.’ In January 1929, Rogers was promoted to Major and from 1934 he was senior Major - in effect the second-in-command. He was placed on the Supplementary Unemployed List in 1936, and settled for a time in South Africa, before being recalled in June 1940. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Temporary) and, in November 1940, appointed to be Commandant of the Regimental Centre at Dharmsala. During this time, when the decision had been taken to double the size of the Gurkha regiments, the 1st Gurkha Rifles faced the challenge of raising an extra battalion to replace the 2nd Battalion, which had been lost when Malaya was over-run. The Regimental Centre was thus responsible for both recruitment and specialist training, and Rogers oversaw the enormous expansion of the Centre - at one time commanding some 5000 men. He was promoted to Colonel in May 1943. An officer who trained at the Centre late in 1942 described Rogers as ‘a tall, remote and austere figure. His knowledge of Gurkhas, their languages and dialects was legendary ... the depth and width of his linguistic knowledge was thought to be unmatched among his contemporaries either in the 1st or other Gurkha regiments.’ He died in Maidenhead in May 1966, and was buried at Hampton Cemetery, Middlesex. Offered with a large file of copied research, including several picture post cards, and a photo of the Officers of the 2nd / 1st Gurkha Rifles, 1933, with Rogers shown wearing his M.C. and group. The foregoing catalogue notes are largely adapted from Rogers’ formal obituary by Pat O’ Ferrall.
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