BATTLE HONOURS FOR OPERATIONS ON THE NORTH-WEST INDIAN FRONTIER,
1895-1897
Defence of Chitral--Chitral--Malakand--Samana--Punjab
Frontier--Tirah.
DEFENCE OF CHITRAL, 1895.
This battle honour is borne by one regiment--the 14th Prince of
Wales's Own Ferozepore Sikhs.
It commemorates one of those gallant but little-remembered
occurrences where a handful of British officers, at the head of
sepoys no less brave than themselves, have upheld the honour of our
flag against overwhelming odds, and thus belied the oft-repeated
cry of the decadence of the present generation of Englishmen. There
are few episodes in our military history which can vie with the
defence of Chitral, none which excel it in sublime heroism.
A few words are necessary in retrospect. Chitral is a small State
perched up in the almost inaccessible Himalayas, on the main route
between Hindustan and the Pamirs. In the year 1876 the ruler of
this State, which hitherto had been independent, placed himself
under the protection of the Maharajah of Kashmir, and so became one
of our vassals.
Matters marched smoothly for some years, but in the early part of
1895 intertribal disputes arose, the ruler was murdered, and his
throne seized by a usurper, who possessed the support of all the
neighbouring clans, and was, it was shrewdly suspected, receiving
the moral, if not the material, support of the Amir of Afghanistan.
The Chief Political Agent in those regions was Surgeon-Major
George Robertson, a medical officer who had studied the languages
and customs of the Upper Himalayan tribes, and who was trusted
as implicitly by them as by our own Government. He hurried from
his headquarters at Gilgit to Chitral in the hope of allaying
the excitement, but he found himself in the face of a determined
effort on the part of the usurper and his supporters--all fanatical
Moslems--to free themselves from the yoke of the Kafir. All that
Robertson could do was to throw himself into the little native fort
of Chitral, and there to hold out until help arrived from India.
The few scattered garrisons in the Upper Himalayas were isolated,
and all were in equal danger. In one case a detachment of Sikhs
was practically annihilated, its surviving officers being taken
prisoners.
Robertson had with him in Chitral five young officers, a company of
the 14th Sikhs, numbering 88 men, and 300 Kashmiri levies--these
last all untrained in the use of the rifle with which they were
armed. The story of the defence of Chitral has been told in all too
modest language by one of the principal actors, and I can cordially
recommend "The Story of a Minor Siege," by Sir George Robertson, to
the attention of those who talk of the deterioration of our race.
For seven long weeks did that heroic garrison hold out, and when at
last relieved, the relief was effected by a force entirely composed
of native soldiers--the 32nd Pioneers--who, under their indomitable
Colonel, had traversed the gigantic passes of the Himalayas,
swept aside all opposition, and shown the world that the Indian
army contains in its midst, men who are not to be equalled by any
soldiers in the world.
The losses sustained by that one company of the 14th Sikhs during
the defence of Chitral were 1 officer and 17 men killed, 1 officer
and 53 men wounded.
CHITRAL, 1895.
This distinction, which was granted to commemorate the services of
the troops which relieved the beleaguered garrison of Chitral, is
borne by the following regiments:
Buffs.
Bedfords.
K.O. Scottish Borderers.
East Lancashire.
King's Royal Rifles.
Gordon Highlanders.
Seaforth Highlanders.
Q.O. Corps of Guides.
9th Hodson's Horse.
11th Probyn's Lancers.
1st P.W.O. Sappers and Miners.
13th Rajputs.
15th Sikhs.
23rd Pioneers.
25th Punjabis.
29th Punjabis.
30th Punjabis.
32nd Pioneers.
34th Pioneers.
37th Dogras.
54th Sikhs.
4th Gurkhas.
The General in command was General Sir Robert Low, K.C.B., and his
force was distributed as under:
First Brigade--Brigadier-General A. A. A. Kinloch, C.B.: 1st
Battalion Bedfords, 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifles, 15th
Sikhs, and 37th Dogras.
Second Brigade--Brigadier-General Waterfield: 2nd Battalion
King's Own Scottish Borderers, 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders,
54th Sikhs, and the infantry of the Corps of Guides.
Third Infantry Brigade--Brigadier-General Gatacre: 1st Battalion
Buffs, 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders, 25th Punjabis, and 4th
Gurkhas.
On the line of communication and in reserve were the 1st Battalion
East Lancashires, the Guides Cavalry, the 11th (Probyn's) Lancers,
the 13th Rajputs, the 23rd Pioneers, and the 30th Punjabis.
Whilst this force was being hastily mobilized, messages had
been despatched to Colonel Kelly, commanding the 32nd Pioneers
at Gilgit, far away to the west of Chitral, advising him of the
critical position of the garrison. Kelly was one of the few
officers in the Indian army who had attained the command of a
regiment without having participated in any great campaign. He was
known to be a good and a keen soldier, but luck had been against
him. Now his turn had come. In the depth of winter, the passes
covered with snow, often waist deep, mountain torrents unbridged,
paths over which even the mules picked their way with difficulty,
every ounce of food to be carried for the whole long march of 200
miles, and a formidable rising of all the fanatical Moslem tribes
in his front--these were some of the difficulties that Kelly had to
face. The story of that march vies with the story of the defence.
It was a war against Nature, and the British-led force won.
Sir Robert Low, with the main army pushing up over the Malakand
Pass, easily dispersed the gathering of the tribes which
endeavoured to bar his advance on Chitral, and so relieved the
pressure which otherwise might have militated against Kelly's
success. In these engagements the relieving force suffered the
following casualties:
+-------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| | _Officers._ | |
| +-----------+-----------+ _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ | _British._| _Native._ | |
| +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+-------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|16th (Bedford) | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 |
|25th (K.O. Scottish Borderers) | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | 15 |
|60th (King's Royal Rifles) | - | - | - | - | - | 4 |
|78th (Seaforth Highlanders) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|75th (Gordon Highlanders) | - | 3 | - | - | 3 | 9 |
|11th (Probyn's) Lancers | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 10 |
|37th Dogras | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | 16 |
|54th Sikhs | - | 2 | - | 2 | 3 | 7 |
|4th Gurkhas | - | - | - | - | - | 3 |
+-------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
PUNJAB FRONTIER.
This honour, which was sanctioned by the Viceroy of India, is borne
by the following regiments of the Indian army:
3rd Skinner's Horse.
6th K.E. Cavalry.
9th Hodson's Horse.
11th Probyn's Lancers.
13th Watson's Horse.
18th Tiwana Lancers.
38th Central India Horse.
39th Central India Horse.
Q.O. Corps of Guides.
1st P.W.O. Sappers and Miners.
12th Khelat-i-Ghilzai.
15th Ludhiana Sikhs.
20th Brownlow's Punjabis.
22nd Punjabis.
24th Punjabis.
30th Punjabis.
31st Punjabis.
34th Pioneers.
35th Sikhs.
36th Sikhs.
37th Dogras.
38th Dogras.
39th Gharwal Rifles.
45th Rattray's Sikhs.
53rd Sikhs.
56th Punjabi Rifles.
81st Pioneers.
128th Pioneers.
1st Gurkhas.
2nd Gurkhas.
3rd Gurkhas.
4th Gurkhas.
5th Gurkhas.
9th Gurkhas.
In the year 1897 Greece, in defiance of the warnings of the Great
Powers, threw down the gauntlet to Turkey, and at the end of a
brief fortnight's campaign was compelled to sue for peace. Through
the good offices of the same Powers she was permitted to escape
the just punishment she had incurred. The victory of the Turks was
greatly exaggerated throughout the Moslem world, and there is no
doubt that emissaries of the Sultan were sent through all Moslem
countries to expatiate on the greatness of the Ottoman Power and
the invincibility of her armies.
About this time the Amir of Afghanistan published a work appealing
to the faithful, and a fanatical priest perambulated the mountains
along our frontier preaching a war against the infidel. All these
causes tended to a great feeling of restlessness--a restlessness
not confined to one clan, but showing clearly all down the
frontier, from the Black Mountain to the Waziri Hills.
A brief explanation of the condition of affairs on our Punjab
frontier is here necessary. That frontier extends up to and
impinges on that great mountain-range which interposes between
the Indian Empire and the kingdom of Afghanistan. This range is
peopled by wild warlike tribes, who own allegiance to no man. Their
names are more or less familiar to the British public by reason of
the many punitory expeditions we have been compelled to undertake
into their hills. Intertribal jealousies have generally been our
strongest ally, and never until the year 1897 have we found such a
serious combination of tribes against us.
The campaign commemorated by this battle honour--"Punjab
Frontier"--commenced by a most treacherous attack on a detachment
of troops in the Tochi Valley. It was followed up by a most
determined attack on our garrison at Malakand by the Swatis--a
tribe who for many years had given us no trouble. Then came an
incursion of the Mohmands into the Peshawar Valley, and finally
came the attack on the garrisons in the Khyber Pass by the Afridis,
that great clan which furnishes some of the very best soldiers to
the Indian army. For the operations against the Afridis a separate
battle honour--"Tirah"--was granted.
The casualties suffered by our troops in the various expeditions
for which the battle honour "Punjab Frontier" was awarded to native
regiments are tabulated on p. 402. It must be remembered that this
distinction has not been conferred on the British regiments engaged.
MALAKAND, 1897.
This battle honour has been awarded to the undermentioned regiments
of the Indian army by the Viceroy in Council, in recognition of the
gallant services rendered in the defence of the Malakand Pass on
the North-West Frontier of India at the outset of the great rising
of the tribes in 1897:
11th K.E.O. Lancers (Probyn's Horse).
Q.O. Corps of Guides.
24th Punjabis.
31st Punjabis.
35th Sikhs.
38th Dogras.
The Chitral campaign of 1895 had taught us the necessity, not
merely of constructing good gun-roads from our Punjab frontier
stations to the remoter garrisons in the Upper Himalayas, but
also of keeping garrisons on those roads in order to overawe
the frontier tribes. The Malakand Pass lies some thirty miles
beyond Hoti Mardan, the cantonment which for more than half a
century has been the home of the Guides, the most famous of
all our frontier regiments. The pass was held in strength. Its
commander, Brigadier-General W. Meiklejohn, was a soldier who had
a considerable experience of Frontier Wars, and who had received
his early training under one of the most accomplished masters
of the art of mountain warfare that the Indian army has ever
produced--Field-Marshal Sir Charles Brownlow. Meiklejohn had with
him some of the pick of the Indian army--a squadron of the 11th
(Probyn's) Horse, the 24th and 31st Regiments of Punjab Infantry,
and the 45th Sikhs. Within thirty-two miles were the Guides, and
twenty-six miles farther south, at Nowshera, lay a brigade which
comprised a battalion of British troops.
There had been ominous murmurings in the mountains to the north of
Peshawar. As I have shown on p. 397, a fanatical Moslem priest had
been preaching a religious war, and this spirit of fanaticism had
been fanned into a flame by exaggerated accounts of the success
of the Turks over the Greeks in Thessaly. Although nominally at
peace with his neighbours, Meiklejohn was not a man to take any
risks. On more than one occasion frontier camps had been rushed by
fanatics, and when on the evening of July 26, 1897, the Swatis of
Malakand endeavoured to rush the camp on the Malakand Pass, they
were met by men who had studied hill warfare in the best of all
schools--that of the Punjab frontier. When dawn broke the little
garrison had lost 50 killed and wounded, but this they knew was but
the commencement of their troubles. A telegram had been got through
to Hoti Mardan before sundown. It reached that place at half-past
eight in the evening. It must be here remembered that this was the
month of July, the leave season, and that the cry of "Wolf, wolf!"
has so often been heard on the Punjab frontier that its repetition
is never considered sufficient to stop leave. At that moment the
temporary command of the Guides was in the hands of a Lieutenant,
Lockhart. As I have said, he received the message at 8.30 p.m.;
five hours later--at 1.30 a.m.--the Guides were on the march for
Malakand; at half-past six the following evening they swung up the
Pass, having covered thirty-two miles in the hottest season of the
year in just seventeen hours, thus rivalling the marvellous march
they made in the Mutiny from Mardan to Delhi. It is related by an
officer who was present that so little affected were the Guides by
this trying march that company after company, as it swung by the
main guard of the Malakand Force, came to the shoulder with all the
accuracy of a battalion of the Guards.
That night the garrison had to meet a second attack, in which
the Guides fought with all their accustomed _élan_. The same
day the Brigadier at Nowshera, in response to the messages from
Malakand, despatched the headquarters and two squadrons of the 11th
(Probyn's) Horse, two mountain batteries, and two battalions (the
35th Sikhs and 38th Dogras), to the relief of Malakand. Some idea
of the severity of the weather may be gathered from the fact that
the 35th Sikhs lost 21 men from heat apoplexy in that march from
Nowshera to the foot of the Pass.
With the arrival of these reinforcements all danger had passed, but
the attitude of the tribes made it abundantly clear that we were
face to face with the greatest frontier upheaval since Sir Walter
Gilbert had driven the Afghans through the Khyber Pass in the
spring of 1849.
The first step was to chastise the tribes in the immediate vicinity
of Malakand, and orders were at once issued for the mobilization of
the following force, under the command of a distinguished officer
of the Royal Engineers, Major-General Sir Bindon Blood, K.C.B., who
had acted as Chief of the Staff to Sir Robert Low in the Chitral
Expedition in 1895. This force was brigaded as follows:
First Brigade--Brigadier-General W. Meiklejohn, C.B., C.M.G.: 1st
Battalion Royal West Kent, 24th Punjabis, 31st Punjabis, and 45th
Sikhs.
Second Brigade--Brigadier-General P. de Jeffreys: 1st Battalion
Buffs, the 35th and 36th Sikhs, and the Infantry of the Guides.
Third Brigade--Brigadier-General J. H. Wodehouse, C.B., C.M.G.:
1st Battalion Highland Light Infantry, 1st Battalion Gordon
Highlanders, 21st Punjabis, and the 2nd Battalion 1st Gurkhas.
The divisional troops consisted of the 10th Hodson's Horse, 11th
Probyn's Horse, four mountain batteries, and the 22nd Punjabis.
The losses sustained in the defence of the position prior to the
operations of the army acting under Sir Bindon Blood amounted to--
+--------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+--------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|Q.O. Guides | - | 3 | 3 | 27 |
|24th Punjabis | 1 | 2 | 8 | 24 |
|31st Punjabis | - | 2 | 12 | 32 |
|45th Sikhs | 1 | - | 4 | 28 |
+--------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
No account of the defence of Malakand would be complete without
an allusion to the gallant action of a company of the 45th Sikhs,
under a subaltern, in holding on to the outpost of Chakdarra, a
few miles farther up the pass. So sudden was the outburst that
Lieutenant Rattray, the officer in command, was actually playing
polo with the officers at Malakand when he heard of the threatened
attack. He at once galloped back to the outpost, passing _en route_
groups of the tribesmen, who made no attempt to hinder him. He
arrived to find that his brother subaltern had commenced to prepare
for the fray. That night they were attacked, and from July 25 until
August 2 were continuously under fire. When they were relieved by
the advance of a force from Malakand, the casualties in the company
of the 45th Sikhs at Chakdarra amounted to 5 killed and 18 wounded,
whilst the sergeant's party of the 11th Bengal Lancers lost 3 men.
While yet the force was being mobilized for the punishment of
the Swatis for the attack on Malakand, the Mohmands raided some
villages in the Peshawar Valley. The raiders were promptly punished
by the Peshawar Division, under General Elles; but this was not
deemed sufficient, and in the month of September Sir Bindon Blood,
having dealt with the Swatis, advanced against the Mohmands from
the north, the while that General Elles, with a well-equipped
brigade, moved up from Peshawar.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOHMAND FIELD FORCE.
First Division: Major-General Sir Bindon Blood, K.C.B.
First Brigade--Brigadier-General Jeffreys, C.B.: The Buffs, 35th
Sikhs, and 38th Dogras.
Second Brigade--Brigadier-General Wodehouse, C.B.: The Queen's,
22nd Punjabis, and the 39th Punjabis.
Second Division: Major-General Edmond Elles, C.B.
Third Brigade: Somerset Light Infantry, 20th Brownlow's Punjabis,
and 2nd Battalion 1st Gurkhas.
Fourth Brigade: 2nd Battalion Oxford Light Infantry, 37th Dogras,
and the 9th Gurkhas.
After inflicting considerable punishment on the clans in the lower
valleys, the Peshawar Division was withdrawn to take part in the
Tirah Expedition (p. 404), whilst Sir Bindon Blood remained in
occupation of the country. The Mohmand Expedition was productive of
some sharp fighting, as the subjoined list of casualties prove:
CASUALTIES IN THE SWAT, MOHMAND, AND KURAM VALLEY EXPEDITIONS IN
1897.
+-----------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| | _Officers._ | |
| +-----------+-----------+ _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ | _British._| _Native._ | |
| +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+-----------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|2nd (Queen's) | - | - | - | - | 3 | 6 |
|3rd (Buffs) | - | - | - | - | 7 | 19 |
|11th (Devons) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|52nd (Oxford Light Infantry) | - | 3 | - | - | 3 | 11 |
|50th (Royal West Kent) | 1 | 5 | - | - | 3 | 24 |
|107th (Royal Sussex) | - | 1 | - | - | 4 | 7 |
|6th K.E.O. Cavalry | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 5 |
|9th Hodson's Horse | - | - | 1 | - | 3 | 4 |
|18th Lancers | - | 1 | - | - | - | 2 |
|12th Pioneers | - | - | - | - | 3 | 3 |
|20th Brownlow's Punjabis | - | - | - | - | 7 | 47 |
|22nd Punjabis | - | - | - | - | - | 3 |
|34th Pioneers | 1 | - | - | - | - | 2 |
|51st Sikhs | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 13 | 15 |
|55th Coke's Rifles | 1 | 2 | - | - | 7 | 4 |
|9th Gurkhas | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 |
+-----------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
SAMANA, SEPTEMBER 12-14, 1897.
This distinction was conferred on the 36th Sikhs by the Viceroy
of India as a recognition of the gallant conduct of a detachment
of that regiment at the defence of Fort Gulistan against a very
superior force.
The attack on Fort Gulistan was one of the incidents which led
to the expedition against the Afridis, and which is commemorated
on the colours of our army under the title "Tirah." This fort,
which is situated on the Samana Range, to the west of the frontier
station of Kohat, dominates one of the main roads into the Afridi
Hills, and is held by a detachment of native troops furnished from
the garrison of Kohat. Almost simultaneously with the attack on
the garrison of Malakand (see p. 398) symptoms of unrest displayed
themselves amongst all the tribes along our North-West Frontier.
The forts on the Khyber Road were attacked, the Mohmands made their
descent into the Peshawar Valley, and the Afridis, not content with
the attacks on the Khyber line, endeavoured to turn us out of the
position on the Samana Ridge.
The garrison of Fort Gulistan consisted of two companies of the
36th Sikhs, under Major Des Vœux, and hard by was a little detached
work, with a garrison of but twenty men, under a native officer.
The conduct of this detachment must for ever remain one of the
brightest pages in the history of our Indian army, and yet the
history of that army abounds with instances of the self-devotion
and heroism of our native soldiery.
Cut off from all communication with any senior officer, the
Subadar[29] in command of the Saragai post was left entirely to his
own devices. Gallantly did he carry out his orders. Surrounded by
10,000 Afridis, he not only repelled all attacks for three days,
but when offered terms and a safe conduct to Kohat, his reply was
that until he received instructions from his Colonel he could not
abandon the post committed to his care; and so the brave old Sikh
and his gallant men stayed on and died, true to the last to their
trust. When the Fort Gulistan was relieved, on September 14, it
was found that Saragai was in the hands of the Afridis, and that
every man of the garrison had died at his post. To commemorate the
heroism of its garrison the Government of India erected a monument,
on which the names of that heroic band are inscribed, within the
walls of the great Sikh cathedral, the Golden Temple at Umritsar.
The losses sustained by the two companies of the 36th Sikhs in the
defence of the Samana Ridge were 22 killed and 48 wounded out of a
total of 166 combatants.
TIRAH, 1897-98
This battle honour, sanctioned by Army Order No. 23 of 1900, is
borne by the following regiments:
Queen's.
Devons.
Yorkshire.
Royal Scots Fusiliers.
K.O. Scottish Borderers.
Sherwood Foresters.
Northamptons.
Gordon Highlanders.
18th Tiwana Lancers.
1st P.W.O. Sappers and Miners.
15th Sikhs.
30th Punjabis.
36th Sikhs.
53rd Sikhs.
56th Rifles.
128th Pioneers.
1st Gurkhas.
2nd Gurkhas.
3rd Gurkhas.
4th Gurkhas.
It was granted in recognition of one of the most arduous campaigns
we have been called upon to wage on the Indian frontier. Our
opponents were the great tribe of Afridis, who people the mountains
to the west of the cantonment of Peshawar, and who furnish some
of the best soldiers in our Punjab regiments. The Afridis are
subdivided into a number of clans, all antagonistic to each other.
Intertribal wars are of frequent occurrence, and although on many
occasions we have been compelled to undertake punitory expeditions
against certain of these, it has never been our lot to find such a
unanimity of feeling against us as on this occasion.
It was thoroughly realized that we had a foe well worthy of our
steel. The Afridis were well armed, and they counted some thousands
of men who had been through the mill of discipline in our own
regiments. Many of the very best regiments of the Indian army
contained a large number of Afridis, and though these men have
never hesitated to fight bravely against their own co-religionists
in our border wars and in Afghanistan, there was more than a
possibility that their loyalty would be too severely tried were we
to employ them against their own fellow-tribesmen.
The chief command was entrusted to General Sir William Lockhart,
an officer well versed in frontier warfare, one who understood
the Afridi character thoroughly, and who was well known and well
respected by the tribesmen. His army was the most powerful that we
had ever mobilized for frontier war. It numbered close on 35,000
men, of whom 10,900 were British, and was distributed as under:
First Division: Major-General W. Penn Symons, C.B.
First Infantry Brigade--Brigadier-General R. C. Hart, V.C., C.B.:
1st Battalion Devonshires, 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters, 2nd
Battalion 1st Gurkhas, and the 30th Punjabis.
Second Infantry Brigade--Brigadier-General Alfred Gaselee, C.B.:
1st Battalion Queen's, 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, 2nd
Battalion 4th Gurkhas, and the 53rd Sikhs.
Second Division: Major-General Yeatman Biggs.
Third Brigade--Brigadier-General F. J. Kempster, D.S.O.: 1st
Battalion Dorsets, 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders, 1st
Battalion 2nd Gurkhas, and the 15th Sikhs.
Fourth Brigade--Brigadier-General R. Westmacott, C.B., D.S.O.:
2nd Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers, 1st Battalion
Northamptons, 1st Battalion 3rd Gurkhas, and the 36th Sikhs.
The divisional troops at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief
comprised the 18th Tiwana Lancers, three mountain batteries, and
the 128th Pioneers.
A second column was organized to act from Peshawar, and was placed
under the command of Brigadier-General A. G. Hammond, V.C., an
officer who had served in the famous Corps of Guides for twenty
years, and who was a master in the art of mountain warfare, having
won the Victoria Cross during the Afghan War of 1879, under the
eyes of Lord Roberts. His force comprised the 2nd Battalion Royal
Inniskilling Fusiliers, the 2nd Battalion Oxford Light Infantry,
the 9th Gurkhas, the 32nd Pioneers, and the 45th Sikhs, with the
9th Hodson's Horse, one field and one mounted battery.
A third column, under Colonel Hill, of the Indian army, was
assembled in the Kuram Valley. It consisted of the 6th King
Edward's Own Cavalry, the 38th and 39th Central India Horse, the
12th Pioneers, and the 1st Battalion of the 5th Gurkhas, the total
force amounting to 34,880 fighting men, British and native, with no
less than 20,000 followers.
No white man had ever penetrated the upper valleys of Tirah, and
our knowledge was based on the information of the Afridi officers
and men, who for forty years had formed the backbone of so many
of our Punjab regiments. The frontier town of Kohat formed the
base of operations, which had of necessity, owing to the absence
of roads, to be carried on in one single line. The advance took
place on October 18, and two days later the Dargai Heights, which
commanded the entrance to the valley, were stormed, with a loss of
200 killed and wounded. The Afridis were too wise to risk a general
engagement. They had been trained in our own school, had studied
under our officers, and had well learned their lesson. Instead
of wasting life in futile attacks on our troops when in mass,
they waged a ceaseless war against convoys or survey parties. Sir
William Lockhart remained in occupation of the Afridi country until
the middle of December, when negotiations for peace were opened;
but it was not until the commencement of April, 1898, that the
Afridis consented to pay the fines imposed or to give up the rifles
demanded.
[Illustration: Battlefields in NORTHERN INDIA]
Our casualties, which are set out in detail in the subjoined
return, amounted to 23 British officers, 4 native officers, and
287 other ranks killed; 56 British officers, 16 native officers,
and 853 of all ranks wounded--a tribute to the gallantry of our foe
and to the musketry training of the British officers who had taught
them how to shoot.
CASUALTIES IN THE TIRAH EXPEDITION.
+-----------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+-----------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|Royal Artillery | 1 | 2 | 4 | 21 |
|2nd Queen's | - | 2 | 10 | 29 |
|11th Devons | - | - | - | 9 |
|19th Yorkshire | 1 | 3 | 6 | 33 |
|21st Roy. Scots Fusiliers | - | 1 | 2 | 13 |
|25th K.O. Scottish Borderers | - | 3 | 7 | 34 |
|39th Dorsets | 4 | 4 | 19 | 65 |
|48th N'amptons | 3 | 1 | 23 | 41 |
|75th Gordon H. | 2 | 8 | 9 | 63 |
|95th Derbyshire | 1 | 1 | 8 | 33 |
|Roy. Engineers | 1 | 1 | 3 | 14 |
|18th Bengal Lancers | - | 1 | 2 | 6 |
|15th Sikhs | 2 | 7 | 11 | 35 |
|30th Punjabis | - | - | 3 | 8 |
|36th Sikhs | - | 5 | 15 | 50 |
|53rd Sikhs | - | 4 | 8 | 28 |
|56th Punjab R. | 2 | - | 5 | 27 |
|121st Pioneers | - | 1 | 2 | 13 |
|128th Pioneers | - | 1 | 9 | 24 |
|2nd Gurkhas | 4 | 4 | 23 | 75 |
|3rd Gurkhas | 1 | 3 | 13 | 43 |
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