THE FIGHT AT NISA GOL
Next morning, 13th April, we were all having a good square breakfast by
6 A.M., and punctually at seven o'clock the column moved off, headed by
the Levies.
Our force consisted of--
400 Pioneers,
100 Kashmir Infantry,
40 Kashmir Sappers,
2 Mountain guns,
100 Hunza and Punyal Levies;
rather less than a single battalion, and not much with which to force
our way through seventy miles of bad country, but still we were
determined to get to Chitral before the Peshawur force.
It was a perfect morning, nice bright sunshine, and a jolly fresh
feeling in the air, sort of day that makes you want to take a gun and go
shooting; in fact, just the very day for a fight.
The Levies were across Oldham's bridge in no time, but the Pioneers had
to cross it slowly, as it was very jumpy, and only four men could be
allowed on it at a time. The guns were sent up to a ford some three
hundred yards up the stream. After crossing the main stream there was
still a creek to be forded, but this was not much above the men's knees.
This gave the Levies time to get ahead and send some scouts up the hills
to the right, in order to give timely warning if the enemy should try on
the rolling stone dodge, but the hills just here did not lend themselves
very readily to this mode of warfare. When our little army got across
the river, the advance guard was halted and the column formed up, and
then on we went. Peterson was in command of the advance guard, with
orders to halt when he reached the edge of the plain to allow the column
to close up for the attack. On the order to advance he was to hug the
hill on his right.
Just before the maidan the road drops down on to the river bed, and then
runs up on to the maidan itself, which gradually slopes up to the
centre, where it is divided by a deep nullah that I think they call in
America a cañon. The sides of this nullah are in most places
perpendicular, varying from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet
in depth, with a small stream running along the bottom, the amount of
water depending on the melting of the snow in the hills above. There are
two places to cross it, one the regular road to Chitral, which zig-zags
down the nullah near the mouth, and the other a goat track about
half-way between the road and the hills. Both of these had sangars
covering their approach on the enemy's side of the nullah, and any
attempt to rush them would have led to great loss of life.
To the casual observer the plain looks perfectly flat, but as a matter
of fact the slope is rather more pronounced at the foot than at the top
near the hills, with the result that from the sangar covering the main
road, the upper end of the plain is partially hidden from fire.
The plain also is really a succession of what may be described as waves
running parallel with the nullah, which afford very excellent shelter to
any attacking force. In fact, the only obstacle is the nullah; but,
as you may see from the photos, this obstacle is no small one, and could
only be crossed by two paths as far as we knew. Our object was to find
another path, and to get to close quarters with the enemy.
[Illustration: Looking up the Nisa Gol Nullah.]
So much for the ground: now for the fight. Peterson and the Levies got
on to the maidan and extended, while the main body formed up for attack.
Then the order to advance was given, and off we went.
Peterson and the Levies were in the firing line and extended, the Levies
on the right.
As the remaining companies reached the level plain, they first formed
into line and went forward in the regular everyday style. The ground was
very nice for parade movements, a gentle, grassy slope with plenty of
room. The Levies, however, were not keeping close enough to the
hillside, and were gradually pushing Peterson's company off to the left,
where they would have been exposed to the fire of the big sangar plus
the flanking fire from the sangars up the spur on the left bank of the
river.
Colonel Kelly accordingly sent me off to change their direction more to
the right, and to close the Levies until they were wanted. I found
Humayun's pony taking shelter under a rock, so, mounting it, I galloped
after Peterson, gave him the order, and then closed the Levies on their
right. This made a gap into which we of the supporting companies pushed,
so now we had two companies in the firing line, two in support, and the
Kashmir Company in reserve. In this formation we pushed on till we came
under fire of the sangars, and had reached the valley running up into
the hills, about four hundred yards from the nullah, thus again giving
room for the Levies to form line on the right of the Pioneers.
The fun now began as the enemy started plugging away at us from the
sangars on the spur, but not much at present from the lower ones, as
only the flank of Peterson's company could be seen.
Stewart had got his guns into action and was shelling sangar No. 16.
After a time Peterson engaged the sangars on the maidan, and they gave
him a pretty warm time of it.
The Levies opened fire at three hundred yards, rather close range to
begin an action, and it was very amusing watching them; their
instruction in volley-firing had only just been begun, but they had
entire faith in its efficiency.
The section commanders used to give the word to load in their own
language, but the order to fire was "fira vollee," and they were
supposed to fire on the word "vollee." If any man fired before the
order,--and they frequently did,--the section commander used to rush at
the culprit and slap him severely on the nearest part of him. As the
Levies were lying down, the slaps were--on the usual place.
After a time the fire from the sangar slackened, and as things seemed to
be going all right, I stopped the Levies firing, and, taking two of
them, went forward up to the edge of the nullah to see if there was any
sign of a road. We followed the edge upwards for some two hundred yards,
and then I told the two levies to go on until they found a place, and
then went back.
The fire from the sangar had recommenced, as Stewart's attention had
been turned towards others, so Colonel Kelly sent orders to Stewart to
send in one or two more shells, which had the desired effect.
I now sent Gammer Sing to get a fresh supply of ammunition for the
Levies, which he brought, and I then followed Colonel Kelly down the
line to the Pioneers. In the meantime the guns had changed their
position, and were engaged with the lower sangars, as was also Peterson,
who, I think, was under the hottest fire the whole time, as he had the
attention of two big sangars entirely paid to him. The guns also got hit
a bit, and among others two of the drivers were killed; they were the
owners of the gun ponies, and remained with the ponies under a guard of
four Kashmir sepoys, who had commands to shoot any man trying to bolt.
They and their ponies of course made a large target, but the ponies also
acted as a protection. One more of the Pioneer companies now came into
the firing line, and these three companies devoted their entire
attention to one sangar, whose fire was now very intermittent.
I now got Colonel Kelly's leave to go and look for a path, and hailed
Oldham to come and help me work forward therefore in front of the firing
line, to do which we had to ask Borradaile to stop one company firing,
which he very kindly did. We struck the nullah close opposite the
empty sangar No. 15, and from there followed the edge till we were well
within sight of the sangars in the middle of the maidan, without having
found a place where we could get down, but we noticed a track which led
up the opposite bank. We therefore turned back and retraced our steps
till we came to a spot which we had examined before, but had thought
impossible. Where we stood the drop was sheer for some seventy feet, but
then there came a ledge, from which we thought we could scramble down on
to the bed of the stream and up the opposite side, where we had noticed
the track. We therefore hurried back; Oldham for his Sappers, and I to
report to Colonel Kelly. I likewise asked for the reserve company of
Kashmir troops to cross over as soon as a path could be made under cover
of the fire of the already extended companies of the Pioneers. Colonel
Kelly assented, and I sent off a note to Moberly to bring up his
company. When I got back to the nullah, I found the Pioneers extended
along the edge, and Oldham's Sappers already at work.
[Illustration: Reconnaissance Sketch of the position at Nisa Gol.]
The Levies in the meantime had heard of a path higher up in the hills,
and were sent off to cross as best they could. Having nothing more to
do, I sat down where Oldham's men were at work, and watched the
proceedings. The men in No. 16 sangar had evidently had enough of it,
their sangar having been pretty well knocked about their ears, and when
any of the survivors tried a shot, it called down a volley on him.
Presently they began to bolt, and then the laugh was on our side.
That sangar was a death-trap to its garrison--their only line of escape
was across some open, shaley slopes within four hundred yards of our
firing line, and the Levies were now working along the hill, and would
catch them in the sangar if they didn't clear out. The result was like
rabbit shooting You'd see a man jump from the sangar and bolt across the
shale slope, slipping and scrambling as he went; then there would be a
volley, and you'd see the dust fly all round him--perhaps he'd drop,
perhaps he wouldn't; then there would be another volley, and you'd see
him chuck forward amid a laugh from the sepoys, and he'd roll over and
over till he'd fetch up against a rock and lie still. Sometimes two or
three would bolt at once; one or two would drop at each volley, and go
rolling, limp and shapeless down the slope, until they were all down,
and there would be a wait for the next lot. An old sepoy lying near me
declared as each man dropped that it was his particular rifle whose aim
had been so accurate, until Borradaile called him sharply to order, and
told him to attend to business. Presently a crowd of men appeared higher
up on the same spur, and someone called out that they were Levies. Just
then one of them dropped on his knee and fired in our direction, there
was a volley back, and the men disappeared again.
Oldham had now managed, with ropes and the scaling ladders, to get down
on to the ledge below, so calling to Moberly to bring along his company,
I dived down, followed by Gammer Sing and then Moberly, and one or two
men of the Sappers followed him, and we, thinking the whole company was
coming, went scrambling down to the bottom. We slid down the ropes on to
the ladders, and from them on to the ledge, followed it a bit along the
cliff, and then down a shale and débris slope to the stream, across that
and up the other side. Scrambling on all fours up the opposite side, I
heard Oldham, who was ahead of me, shout back that the company wasn't
following. I yelled, "Run up a sangar, and we can hold on till they
come," and finished my scramble up to the top.
Then we took a look round to see how things stood.
Devil a sign of the company coming down the rope was there, and the
Pioneers seemed to have disappeared too.
Then we numbered our party--three British officers, my orderly, and
eleven Sappers, the latter armed with Snider carbines only; my orderly
was the only one with a bayonet. There was a low ridge in front of us
hiding the enemy's sangars, so we lined this with the Sappers, till we
could see what the game was. We now saw the Pioneers moving down the
nullah towards the river, while at the same time the Levies showed on
the ridge and took possession of the sangar. We were all right, I saw,
so I gave the order to advance--keeping along the edge of the nullah so
as to get at the sangars. Of course just my luck that as we started to
advance, the buckle of my chuplie broke; there was no time to mend it,
so I shoved it into my haversack, and went along with one bare foot;
luckily the ground was not very stony.
As soon as we topped the swell of the ground, we saw the enemy bolting
in twos and threes from the nearest sangar, now about two hundred yards
off, and presently there came a rush right across our front. We opened
fire, trying volleys at first, but the Sappers were useless at that,
never having had any training, so independent firing was ordered. During
the halt Moberly had a narrow shave, a bullet passing between his left
hand and thigh, as he was standing superintending the firing. His hand
was almost touching his thigh, and the bullet raised the skin of the
palm just below the little finger.
The nearest sangar was now pretty well empty, and the Pioneers from the
other side of the nullah were firing obliquely across our front, rather
too close to be pleasant; so we altered our advance half right, so as to
cut into the line of retreat of the enemy, and made for a jumble of
stones out in the open; by the time we reached it, there was a stream of
men flying right across our front, horse and foot, at about five hundred
yards, so again we opened fire. Moberly and I both took carbines from
the men, as they were firing wildly; the sepoy whose carbine I took
invariably managed to jam the cartridge, partly his fault, and partly
the fault of the worn state of the extractor. Gammer Sing was plugging
in bullets quietly on my right, and gave me the distance as five hundred
yards. I knew he was pretty correct, as I watched his bullets pitch. I
sang out the distance, and we got merrily to work. Oh, if I had only had
a company of my regiment, I think even Stewart would have been
satisfied. Precious soon the rush had passed us, and we had to begin
putting up our sights, and of course then the cream of the business was
over.
About this time Shah Mirza came along, and, seeing me with only one
chuplie, offered me his, which I accepted, as it was a matter of
indifference to him whether he went barefooted or not. I sent him off to
bring up the Levies, who were looting the arms and securing the
prisoners from the sangars.
Cobbe now appeared with some few Pioneers, and shortly after, a whole
company, but the enemy were now quite out of sight; however, a company
was sent in pursuit. Colonel Kelly came up, and we congratulated him,
and there was a general demand for cigarettes, Moberly, I believe, being
the happy possessor of some. As we were grouped round Colonel Kelly,
"whit" came a bullet over us, some idiot up the hill leaving his P.P.C.
card, I presume.
One of the first questions I asked was, what had become of the Kashmir
Company, and then first heard the following curious incident.
It appears that after the first few of us had gone down the cliff, and
the rest were preparing to follow, a bullet struck some cakes of
gun-cotton lying on the ground by the head of the path, where they had
been placed while the Sappers were at work. The bullet, striking these
cakes, ignited them, and they blazed up, and Borradaile, fearing an
explosion, ordered a retirement of those troops nearest it to cover some
thirty yards in rear, where they were protected by a wave of the ground.
The enemy, seeing our men bolting, as they thought, rushed out of their
sangars, but were promptly fired into by the Pioneers. Just then the
Levies on the ridge and our small party showed across the nullah,
threatening their line of retreat; this was apparently more than they
had bargained for, so they began to bolt, as I have said. Then the
Pioneers moved down the nullah and crossed by the goat track.
Peterson's company had found a box full of Snider ammunition in one of
the sangars, so the Kashmir Company was sent back to look for any more,
and also to demolish the sangars. I took the opportunity to have a look
at them too. I was surprised at the magnificent way in which they were
built, partly sunk into the ground, and made of huge boulders that
required many men to move, and with head cover constructed of logs in
the most approved fashion, evidently made by men who had been properly
instructed. As I neared the largest sangar, I saw a native clothed in a
red dressing-gown, sitting on the ground with a long native jezail.
Rather surprised at seeing one of the enemy thus armed, I went up to
him, and as I did so, he picked up his gun. I had my revolver on him in
a second, and told him to drop the gun, which he did. I then asked him
who he was, and found he was our long-lost child--I mean levy--who had
been captured at Laspur. The enemy had not treated him badly, but had
taken his carbine and his choga, hence the dressing-gown; in return he
had sneaked a gun when the enemy were flying. I set the Kashmir troops
to work, and then went back, meeting Humayun and his captives on the
way.
"Humayun," I said, "your levy is over there."
"Is he alive?" said Humayun, looking in a most bloodthirsty way at his
prisoners.
I assured him he was. Thereupon Humayun gave a jump, caught hold of both
my hands, and kissed them violently. I was afraid he was going to kiss
my ruby lips, but he didn't. He and Akbar Khan then went scuttling
across country to the sangar, followed by a crowd of his men, whooping
and yelling with joy.
The guns were now coming across the nullah, and the column was being
formed up with the intention of crossing the river to Sanoghar, where it
was proposed to camp for the night. Part of the Levies and a company of
the Pioneers were sent ahead to clear the village of any evilly disposed
persons; arrangements were made for bringing up the sick and wounded;
and a signal message was flashed back to Mastuj for the baggage to come
out.
The fight was over by 12.30 P.M., so we had only been about two hours
from start to finish. Our losses were six killed and sixteen wounded,
two of whom died next day. Three of the battery ponies were also killed.
The path down to the river was so steep and the rickety bridge over it
so unsafe that it was determined to camp on the side of the river on
which we were, especially as we should have to recross the next day.
A camping ground was soon found, pickets thrown out, and the wounded
brought in.
A deputation from Sanoghar village was now seen coming across from the
opposite bank. Most of the deputation on arrival seemed half naked; we
thought this was a sign of humility on their part, but I heard
afterwards that the Levies had come across them, and taken their chogas
in exchange for that of their man in the red dressing-gown.
This deputation gave the usual yarn about being compelled to fight
against us, and how glad they were that we had won.
We made our usual reply, that they could and must show their gladness
by providing coolies and supplies, all of which would be paid for. We
also made them send over charpoys (beds) for the wounded.
We had taken some twelve prisoners, who came in useful as transport; in
fact, until we got to Chitral every man we caught was turned into a
beast of burden and given a load; and if he was an Adamzada, or
nobleman, he was given the heaviest load that we could find for him,
oftentimes much to the delight of the poorer coolies, as an Adamzada is
exempt from coolie labour in ordinary times.
The coolies used to bolt at every opportunity, which was only natural,
and there was not much difficulty in doing so. As often as not, we got
into camp after dark, when the coolie simply put down his load and
walked off; but as our supplies diminished, we naturally required fewer
coolies--at any rate, we managed to get all our baggage into Chitral.
Moberly now handed over the company of Kashmir troops to my tender
charge and departed back to Mastuj, so now I had the command of the
Levies and one company added to my numerous other duties, so generally
I was pretty well on the hop.
By dark the baggage had come in, the dead either buried or burnt
according to their religion, and the wounded attended to and made as
comfortable as we could make them under the circumstances.
Oldham and some fifty Levies who had been reconnoitring down the left
bank of the river had returned, and by nine we got some dinner.
Just as we were turning in, the picket on the road over the nullah first
let drive a volley, and Oldham, who was on duty, took some men and
doubled out to see what was the matter. On his return, he reported the
picket had heard someone moving in the nullah, and as the sentry's
challenge had not been answered, they had let drive at it.