20th Burma Rifles at Maymo

The accompanying photograph shows what appears to be a machine gun team belonging to one of the battalions of the 20th Burma Rifles.  The Subadar and his men are posing proudly with a cup, presumably one they have won in relation to their skills with machine guns.  It was taken at Maymyo (today: Pyin Oo Lwin) sometime between 1922 and before April 1937.

A precise identification of the unit and date is not possible, however it may be surmised that the Subadar and his men belonged to one of the battalions of the 20th Burma Rifles, of which there three plus a training battalion.  The Subadar (centre) is wearing Burma Rifles collar badges and appears to have the “20BR” shoulder badge of the regiment on his left shoulder.  The 20th Burma Rifles, a regiment of the Indian Army, came into existence in 1922 as part of the great reorganisation of Indian Army infantry regiments.  From 1st April 1937, upon transfer to the new colonial Government of Burma, the regiment no longer formed part of the Indian Army and the number “20” was dropped from the title.  Thus, The Burma Rifles came into being.

The reverse of the photograph identifies the photographer/photographic studio which took the photo and which was located in Maymyo.  Interestingly, the name of the studio appears to be Japanese – “FuyoStudio”.  From the Indian Army List, it is possible to track the movements of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 20th Burma Rifles and when the units were present at Maymyo (unfortunately there are a few gaps in my collection).  From this it can be seen that at least one battalion of the 20th Burma Rifles was present at or near Maymyo between 1922 and 1937:

1st Battalion:
- 1st April 1928 – arrived at Mandalay from Maymyo
- 1st November 1928 – left Maymyo and arrived in the Federated Malay States
- 2nd December 1932 – arrived at Maymyo from the Federated Malay States.

2nd Battalion:
- 23rd November 1925 – arrived at Maymyo from Taiping, Federated Malay States
- 5th March 1928 – arrived at Lansdowne (near Maymyo) from Maymyo
- 1st November 1930 – arrived at Mandalay from Lansdowne.

3rd Battalion:
- 13th September 1923 – arrived at Maymyo from Meiktila
- 8th November 1925 – arrived in the Federated Malay States from Maymyo
- 21st November 1928 – arrived at Maymyo from the Federated Malay States
- 16th November 1930 – arrived at Mandalay from Maymyo.

The Indian Army List recorded the qualifications obtained by officers using a code system.  Several codes were used to identify those qualified in machine gun skills.  Of the Subadars listed, the following codes relating to machine gun qualifications have been noted:

- 52: Qualified in Machine Gun
- 55: Qualified in Vickers Gun.

The Subadars with these qualifications were:

It is possible that the Subadar in the photograph is one of these men.

 

Thank you to Simon Jervis for sharing the photograph.

 01 December 2018