A Great War ‘Aden’ I.D.S.M. awarded to Sepoy Lal Singh, Malay States Guides

Indian Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (1563 Sepoy, Malay States Guides) very fine £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Brigadier Brian Parritt, C.B.E..

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Only five Indian Distinguished Service Medals were awarded to the Malay States Guides in the Great War; all were for Aden where the unit was involved in very heavy fighting.

The Guides arrived in Aden from Singapore in October 1915 and came ‘under a bit of a cloud’ as there had been incidents of ‘insubordination’ when some of the soldiers expressed their reluctance to serve overseas. However, by April 1916 they had been engaged in two major actions and as their Commander reported ‘In each of them the Malay States Guides have borne the brunt of the day and they are just splendid’.

The first action was on the 13th January 1916 when the Malay States Guides were pushed forward to create a covering force, as daylight broke the Guides saw ‘Not the rays of the sun, but hundreds of the enemy advancing towards them like a swarm of locusts’. Under accurate Turkish shellfire the Guides moved forward but the Turks counter-attacked. There followed a day of fierce fighting and ‘Although the Guides were being badly mauled by the enemy who were attacking in superior strength, they kept on firing their rifles with speed and accuracy and prevented the Turks from coming too close’. By the end of the day they had suffered seven killed including the Guides Battery Commander Captain Leslie, and twenty-one wounded, two of whom subsequently died. The Commanding Officer, Colonel C. H. B. Lees, was very happy after the action. He told his Subadar-Major ‘Subadar Sahib, the black mark on my face has vanished’ - referring to the earlier incidents of insubordination.

The next action was on the 16th March 1916. The Turkish commanders, in an act of bravado, had warned the Aden Field Force General Staff that they were going to attack. At early dawn on the 16th the Turkish batteries opened a heavy fire on the Malay States Guide's trenches. The Turkish strategy was quite plain, to turn the right flank and overrun the entire defence lines of the Aden Field Force. The Guides were expecting an attack but not to be the focal point. The Guides Battery hurried forward, many of the Gunners running along with their mules bringing the guns and shells and came into action in support. The Turks advanced in three lines determined to smash the right flank. The fight went on for several hours and expected reinforcements did not arrive so Colonel Lees gave that old fashioned order ‘Form Square!’ Every wave of the Turkish advance was then met with accurate rifle fire combined with rapid fire from the Guides Battery and the machine guns. The Guides held their position and the Turks failed to break the right flank. At last reinforcements arrived and the 69th Brigade counter-attacked followed by the entire Aden Brigade, the Turks then withdrew leaving quantities of arms and equipment and a field littered with dead and dying. As they retreated a Royal Navy cruiser anchored off Steamer Point found the range of the fleeing Turkish Brigade and fired upon them.

Sold with a letter from the India Office confirming the award; photocopy of the dispatches written by Colonel Lees which were published in The Straits Budget on 10 March and 7 July 1916; extract from the History of the Malay States Guides and other copied research.