Captain Ram Bahadur Limbu VC, Gurkha who received the Victoria Cross for his bravery in Borneo – obituary

Ram Bahadur Limbu VC, who has died aged 83, won the Victoria Cross on November 21 1965 serving with 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles in Borneo.

Cross-border incursions of Gurkha troops over the ill-defined mountainous frontier between western Sarawak and Indonesia became known as the “secret war”. The strategy, not even hinted at in official press releases for fear of drawing worldwide condemnation, was to keep the Indonesians off-balance and frustrate any offensive move on their part by taking the fight to them.

In an operation code-named Time Keeper, C Company of the 2nd Battalion, 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles, was ordered to cross the border and establish the layout of the enemy’s positions. Intelligence reports indicated that there were some 30 to 40 of the enemy on Gunong Tepoi, an isolated hill about 500 feet high at the western tip of the Jagoi mountain range.

On November 21 the company made a dawn start. Their plan was to grab a prisoner, interrogate him for information on which an ambush could be based and get out without causing a disturbance.

The leading soldiers, using garden secateurs to avoid making unnecessary noise, cut a tunnel through the giant fern that led to the base of the hill, the rest of the column creeping warily behind them. Lance-Corporal Limbu, with his Bren group, was close to the front as they reached a narrow, knife-edge ridge that barely allowed room for three abreast. With the enemy no more than 300 feet away shots rang out. They had been spotted.

With the enemy now fully alerted, an immediate assault was ordered, the uphill frontal charge drawing intense rifle and machine-gun fire from the hilltop. Limbu, leading his support group in the van of the attack, killed the sentry in the nearest trench who was manning a machine-gun, and gained the first foothold on the objective.

Realising that he could not support the platoon efficiently from there, Limbu left the comparative safety of the trench through a hail of bullets and led his group to an improved position. Unable to indicate his intentions to his platoon commander by hand-signals, or shouting against the deafening noise of exploding grenades and automatic fire, he moved into the open again to report in person.

At that moment he saw two men of his group fall, both seriously wounded. He crawled forward in full view of at least two machine-gun posts but when within touching distance of the nearest casualty he was driven back by the sheer weight of fire. Speed was his only hope. Jumping up and calling for covering fire, he dashed forward, snatched up one of his injured gunners and half ran, half staggered across the 180 feet of bullet-swept ground that lay between them and the safety of a captured hut.

Despite the enemy laying down murderous fire in an effort to prevent any further attempt at rescue, Limbu moved out of cover again, and in a series of short, forward rushes reached the second man and carried him back to the hut.

Learning that his two gunners were dead, he then returned across the same ground to retrieve the Bren gun and led a furious revenge attack on the enemy position that had killed his comrades, personally killing four more of the enemy in the close-quarter combat that ensued. The hour-long battle, fought throughout with the utmost ferocity, was finally won.

The VC citation declared: “For all but a few seconds this young Non-Commissioned Officer had been moving alone in full view of the enemy and under the continuous aimed fire of their automatic weapons. His actions on this day reached a zenith of determined, premeditated valour which must count among the most notable on record.”

Ram Bahadur Limbu was invested with the Victoria Cross by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on July 12 1966. On a visit to the London Stock Exchange trading was halted as cheering members formed an avenue for him to walk across the floor.

Ram Bahadur Limbu was born on July 8 1939 at Chyangthapu village, Yangrop Thum, Nepal, one of eight children. His father had seen action in the British Army in the Second World War but died when Limbu was eight, and within two years sickness had reduced the family of 10 to him and his two brothers. The prospect of spending his life toiling in the fields appalled him and he ran away from his village and joined the Army.

Lonely and homesick, disillusioned by the poor training given, he returned home for two years, but his heart was never in it. Growing restless again, in November 1957 he enlisted into the Brigade of Gurkhas, and after basic training joined the 2nd/10th Gurkha Rifles in Malaya in October 1958.

In 1964 he was promoted to lance-corporal and his battalion moved to Singapore. In November that year he left his family in Singapore to join his unit in Borneo. Two months later, after the unit returned to their Singapore base, Ram Bahadur’s wife became ill and died in the British Military Hospital.

Limbu served for more than 27 years in the Army, reaching the rank of captain. In 1985 he was Queen’s Gurkha Orderly Officer, for which service he received the MVO.

After leaving the Army in March 1985 he served with the Sultan of Brunei’s Gurkha Reserve Unit, which acted as bodyguard to the Sultan. In 1992 he returned to his farm in Chyangthapu. For several years he acted as a guide to tourists trekking through the Himalayas.

To his commanding officer, Limbu – polite, quiet and unassuming – epitomised the archetypal Gurkha. “But,” he added, “there is this tremendous pride. The Gurkha doesn’t often get angry but when he does it’s very dangerous.”

Ram Bahadur Limbu married, first, in 1960, Tikamaya. She died in 1966. They had two sons, both of whom served with the British Army. He married, secondly, in 1967, Punimaya, known as Puni. They had two sons.

Captain Ram Bahadur Limbu VC, born July 8 1939, died April 22 2023