User:Dumelow/Mauritius Regiment
Origins in the Mauritius Territorial Force, established on 25 April 1934 to replace the Mauritius Volunteer Force. The VF had two companies which were mobilised in 1939, before being stood down almost immediately. Remobilised by the end of 1941 for service on Mauritius with an additional company, raised in December 1940 for service on Rodrigues. After the Japanese entry into the war two additional companies and a harbour defence unit were raised by March 1942. The territorial force was renamed the Mauritius Regiment on 22 April 1943. Embarked for overseas duty 17 December 1943.[1]
When renamed it ceased to be a local force for service only in the colony to an imperial regiment under the control of the British Army Council. THis change was resented by some in the unit. Had expanded by a mix of conscription and volunteers. Change to imperial status led to further recruitment and division into two battalions, with a total of around 2,000 men. Formed part of the Islands Area Command of General Sir WIlliam Platt's East Africa Command. The Islands Area Command was responsible for hte defence of Madagasar, Seychelles and Maurituis. 1st bn posted to Madagascar in late 1943 to relieve a battalion of the King's African Rifles, intended to rpovide the unit some overseas experience in anticipation of future combat deployments, possible to Burma. In their abesence the garrison of Mauritius, an omportant outpost for the Royal Navy, RAF and intelligence services, was supplemented by an experienced unit of the King's African Rifles. Platt and Mauritius' governor Sir Donald Mackenzie Kennedy had had doubts about the MR's ability to defence the islands in case of Japanese invasion and wanted more experienced troops there. There were also some concerns over possible Vichy sympathies among the troops, many of whom had French heritage. The KAR remained on the island until 1960.[2]
The colony's Mauritius Regiment Ordinance removed the previous prohibition against deploying the unit abroad.[3]
The majority of troops were Creoles, despite the majority of the population being Indian. Officers were white and mainly English.[4]
The men were angered about their deployment and worried about their replacement with African troops, who they feared would cause trouble in Mauritius. On arrival in Madagscar they mutinied, burning down some huts in protest at their poor quality and refusing to work. The entire battalion was disarmed and 343 were arrested for leaving camp. Came after a 12 mile march to camp during which discipline had "virtually collapsed". The accommodation was a mixture of brick-built barracks and grass huts, the latter of which the men objected to. The GOC the Islands Area, Major-General Gerald Smallwood placed 500 men on minor charges and court martialled the ring leaders.[5]
Disarmed by two battalions of the KAR and an armoured battalion. The day after the mutiny more than 400 absent from a physical training parade. After disarmmanet the men, who numbered around 1,000, were put to work rebuilding roads. 10-15 men were prosecuted and sentenced to imprisonment terms of between 3 and 15 years. Resentment had built on the troop ship during which the small number of white NCOs were given cabins but the Creole NCOs slept alongside the troops.[6]
After the mutiny the army attempred to reform the unit under new officers, but it suffiered from low fitness levels and high ill health. Some men were transferred to the Mauritian Pioneer Corps and officers of the KAR brought in. The 2nd battalion was redefined as a training unit and depot but the 1st bn was to remain combat infantry. The reforms failed to achieve their aims and the regiment was disbanded in August 1944 and its remn redployed to other British Army units and to.[7]
Manpower was used form an artisan works company for service in the Middle East and two Independent Garrison Companies for service in Kenya. Disbanded 8 August. 2nd bn changed to training unit in February 1944.[8]
Landed 20 December 12943 after a week-long voyage in heavy seas which left most of the men badly seasick. Theofficers were a mix of Anglophone and Francophone white upper class men. All attempts by non-white men to receive a commission had failed.[9]
2 men sentenced to death, later commuted to 15 years imprisonment, 24 to dsentences of 7-14 years. By 1946 all bar six men convicted had been released from prison after a petition by Mauritian veterans.[10]
Sir Harold Walter a Creole man who became a post-independence foreign minister of Mauritius served in the regiment but was frustrated in his ambitions to become an officer.[11]
More than 4,000 Mauritians were served in the British amred forces by 1944, largely in the Pioneer Corps but also in logistics, engineering, signals and ordnance roles.[12]
One company of the regiment, numbering 100 men, was formed entirely of soldiers of Chinese origin.[13]
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781403919540_6
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44230830
References
[edit]- ^ The Infantry of East Africa Command, 1890-1944. East Africa Command. 1944. p. 14.
- ^ Jackson, Ashley (3 December 2009). Distant Drums: The Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare. Liverpool University Press. pp. 205–206. ISBN 978-1-83764-204-5.
- ^ Jackson, Ashley (3 December 2009). Distant Drums: The Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare. Liverpool University Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-1-83764-204-5.
- ^ Jackson, Ashley (3 December 2009). Distant Drums: The Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare. Liverpool University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-83764-204-5.
- ^ Jackson, Ashley (3 December 2009). Distant Drums: The Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare. Liverpool University Press. pp. 214–215. ISBN 978-1-83764-204-5.
- ^ Jackson, Ashley (3 December 2009). Distant Drums: The Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare. Liverpool University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-83764-204-5.
- ^ Jackson, Ashley (3 December 2009). Distant Drums: The Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare. Liverpool University Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-1-83764-204-5.
- ^ Jackson, Ashley (3 December 2009). Distant Drums: The Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare. Liverpool University Press. pp. 221–222. ISBN 978-1-83764-204-5.
- ^ Killingray, David; Plaut, Martin (April 2012). Fighting for Britain: African Soldiers in the Second World War. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-84701-047-6.
- ^ Killingray, David; Plaut, Martin (April 2012). Fighting for Britain: African Soldiers in the Second World War. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-84701-047-6.
- ^ Simmons, Adele (1982). Modern Mauritius: The Politics of Decolonization. Indiana University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-253-38658-8.
- ^ Ministry of Information (1946). The War in the Far East. p. 41.
- ^ Pineo, Huguette Ly-Tio-Fane; Fat, Edouard Lim (2008). From Alien to Citizen: The Integration of the Chinese in Mauritius. Éditions de l'océan Indien. p. 199. ISBN 978-99903-0-569-2.