2nd King Edward VII ' s Own Gurkha Rifles ( The Sirmoor Rifles ) The 2nd King Edward VII ' s Own Gurkha Rifles ( The Sirmoor Rifles ) was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army before being transferred to the British Army on India ' s independence in 1947 . The 4th Battalion joined the Indian Army as the 5th Battalion , 8th Gurkha Rifles ( Sirmoor Rifles ) , where it exists to this day . As part of the British Army , the regiment served in Malaya , Hong Kong and Brunei until 1994 when it was amalgamated with the other three British Army Gurkha regiments to form the Royal Gurkha Rifles . It is the only Gurkha regiment which did not have Khukuri on its cap badge . Formation and early service . The regiment was first raised in 1815 as The Sirmoor Battalion . This was the first Gurkha unit in the service of the East India Company to see action , during the 3rd Mahratta War in 1817 . The regiment , by now named the 8th ( Sirmoor ) Local Battalion , gained its first battle honour at Bhurtpore in 1825 . During the First Sikh War , the regiment fought at Bhudaiwal and Sobraon , as well as the Battle of Aliwal . Personnel carried colours at the time , and the flagpole was broken by cannon fire . The colour itself was seized by the Sikhs but reclaimed by a small party of Gurkhas led by a Havildar who chopped their way into the densely packed enemy lines . During the Indian Mutiny , the Sirmoor Battalion was one of the Indian regiments that remained loyal to Britain . It was during this that the regiment took part in the defence of Hindu Rao ' s House , near Delhi . For their part in the action , the Sirmoor Battalion was presented with the Queen ' s Truncheon , which became a replacement for the colours that they relinquished when the regiment became a rifle regiment in 1858 . With the decision to number the Gurkha regiments in 1861 , the Sirmoor Rifles became the 2nd Gúrkha Regiment . In 1876 , which then acquired a royal patron in the then Prince of Wales , becoming the 2nd ( Prince of Wales ' s Own ) Gúrkha Regiment ( the Sirmoor Rifles ) . First World War . During the First World War , the 2nd Gurkhas ( by now named the 2nd King Edward ' s Own Gurkha Rifles ) , along with the other regiments of the Gurkha Brigade , served initially in Flanders . In 1915 , the 2nd Battalion moved to Egypt , before returning to India in 1916 . The 1st Battalion went to Persia and Mesopotamia in 1916 , assisting in the fall of Baghdad . In 1919 it was assigned to the Norperforce in Iran . Second World War . The Second World War saw the 2nd Gurkhas serving in many different theatres ; the 1st Battalion was initially in Cyprus before moving to North Africa as part of 7th Indian Infantry Brigade , 4th Indian Division , where it fought at El Alamein . Following this it took part in the invasion of Italy , taking part in the battle for Monte Cassino . The 2nd Battalion meanwhile spent much of the war as prisoners of the Japan ese after being captured in Malaya . The 3rd Battalion ( raised during the war ) took part in the Chindit operations in Burma in 1943 . Indian Independence . In 1947 , as part of India ' s independence , it was agreed that the Gurkha regiments would be split between the British and Indian armies — the British Army would take on four regiments ( the 2nd , 6th , 7th and 10th ) , while the Indian Army would retain the rest . While the 2nd Gurkhas became one of the four Gurkha regiments to transfer to the British Army , the regiment ' s 4th Battalion was transferred to the Indian Army as 5th Battalion , 8th Gurkha Rifles ( Sirmoor Rifles ) where it exists to this day . The first Indian commanding officer of this battalion , Lieutenant Colonel ( later Brigadier ) Nisi Kanta Chatterji , requested Army Headquarters , to let the battalion keep the title ' Sirmoor Rifles ' , which was accepted . This battalion saw action in the 1965 Indo - Pakistan War ( as part of the 3rd ( Independent ) Armoured Brigade , 28 and 191 Infantry Brigades ) where it stopped the advance of the Pakistani armour to Akhnur in the Battle of the Fatwal Ridge . In the 1971 war against Pakistan , the battalion now as part of the 68th Mountain Brigade , the corps reserves , once again saw fierce action in the defence of Chamb - Akhnur . It launched five successful counterattacks and recaptured Chamb village and the bridge over the Tawi river . A replica of the bridge exists as a trophy in the officers mess . It also fought in the Indian North east against the Naga insurgents and in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir . Here it distinguished itself by killing the Supreme Commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen , the leading Kashmiri insurgent group . It was awarded the Northern Army Commanders Citation in 1998 . It was deployed in Sierra Leone as part of UNAMSIL and distinguished itself in Operation " Khukri " in which the Revolutionary United Front rebels were decisively defeated . Post Indian Independence . Following this , the 2nd Gurkhas spent several years in the Far East , initially during the Malayan Emergency from 1948 – 1960 . Following this , the regiment ' s two battalions alternated between Malaya , Borneo , Brunei and Hong Kong , before receiving a regimental depot at Church Crookham in Hampshire . In 1992 , while serving in Hong Kong , the 1st and 2nd Battalions amalgamated to form a single 1st Battalion . This was followed in 1994 by the regiment being amalgamated with the 6th Queen Elizabeth ' s Own Gurkha Rifles to form the 1st Battalion , Royal Gurkha Rifles . Battle honours . The regiment was awarded the following battle honour s :