Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare ‘Dunkirk’ I.D.S.M. awarded to Jemadar Maula Dad Khan, 32 Animal Transport Company, Royal Indian Army Service Corps, for services with the B.E.F. in 1940

Indian Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (Jemdr. Maula Dad Khan, R.I.A.S.C.) edge bruise, otherwise good very fine
£600-700

I.D.S.M. London Gazette 19 November 1940: ‘In recognition of distinguished services in the field.’

The official recommendation states: ‘On 24 May 1940 when approaching Dunkerque, Jemadar Maula Dad Khan showed magnificent courage, coolness and decision. When his troop was shelled from the ground and bombed from the air by the enemy he promptly reorganised his men and animals, got them off the road and under cover under extremely difficult conditions. It was due to this initiative and the confidence he inspired that it was possible to extricate his troop without loss in men or animals.’

One of only three awards of the I.D.S.M. for services with the British Expeditionary Force in 1940. Jemadar Maula Dad Khan was serving with 32 Animal Transport Company, R.I.A.S.C., as part of a little known Indian Contingent that arrived in France in December 1939. The following brief details of this contingent have been extracted from an article published in Chowkidar, the Journal of the British Society for Cemeteries in South Asia (Volume 19, No. 4, Autumn 2004).

At the beginning of the Second World War a request was made by the Royal Army Service Corps for animal transport units. Within weeks Force K6, a contingent of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps, was on its way to France with four mule units (one each from Rawalpindi, Kohat, Peshawar and Landi Kotal), together with a Supply Depot, a Reinforcement Unit, part of an Indian General Hospital and a Remount Department, with Lieutenant-Colonel R. W. W. Hills, M.C., as Commander. The whole contingent comprised some 1,800 personnel and 2,000 animals. On 26 December 1939, the troops and mules disembarked at Marseilles into the most severe winter for over a century.

The Animal Transport Units were soon in great demand for moving engineering stores, ammunition and supplies around, and were stationed at Le Havre, Dieppe, Le Mans and Arras. But at the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940, all the mules had to be abandoned, together with supplies and equipment. Force K6 arrived in Britain but it was some time before they were re-employed in caring for animals belonging to the French Army which had previously been shipped across the Channel. It was feared that if the K6 men were returned home to India, so soon after Dunkirk, it might be seized upon as anti-British propaganda. By the end of 1941, the value of the animal transport units had been fully appreciated and the K6 men were now equipped with pack horses and were employed with British units training for mountain warfare. Much of the training was carried out in the Brecon Beacons before the Force was moved to Invernesshire, where they remained until 1944. The Force was eventually repatriated and disbanded in Jullundur on its return, sadly leaving nine members buried in the cemetery at Kingussie.