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Old 02-06-12, 04:22 PM
revdougal revdougal is offline
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S/T "SMB":This is a very long shot.
I wonder if this belongs to the Sohan Mountain Battery of the Indian Mountain Artillery. Originally raised as 38 (Reserve) Mtn Bty RA in 1918, it became 18 (Sohan) Mtn Bty in 1928, and as such was swept up for the campaign in East Africa in Aug 1940; there it formed a close friendship with 1 Bty SAFA, while together in Fowcol: there were in fact lots of SA participant Units in this campaign. The Sohan Bty remained until about Jun 41, when it went to Haifa, joining 26 Mtn Regt.
I have NO proof for this suggestion, but a s/t such as this is no innovation; for c.1905 the IMA Btys wore such initials as s/ts, e.g. "DMB" for "Derajat Mtn Bty". Only between the Wars the more familiar Pagri type badges came in.
I cannot prove all this - just a hunch as nothing else seems to fit, way out though this conjecture may be!
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