Battle Honours of the British Army: From Tangier, 1662, to the Commencement of the Reign of King Edward VIINorman, Charles Boswell
History
Battle Honours of the British Army: From Tangier, 1662, to the Commencement of the Reign of King Edward VII
Norman, Charles Boswell
Great Britain -- History, Military; Great Britain. Army -- History
CASUALTIES AT THE STORMING OF GHUZNEE, JULY 28, 1839.
+-------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+-------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|4th Hussars | - | - | - | - |
|16th Lancers | - | - | - | - |
|2nd Queen's | - | 6 | 4 | 27 |
|17th Leicester | - | - | - | - |
|13th Somerset L.I. | - | 1 | 1 | 30 |
|Munster Fus. | - | 9 | 1 | 51 |
|Bengal Artillery | - | - | - | - |
|Bombay Artlly. | - | - | - | - |
|Bombay Engrs. | - | 1 | - | - |
|3rd Skinner's H. | ? | ? | ? | ? |
|31st Lancers | ? | ? | ? | ? |
|34th Poona H. | - | - | - | - |
|119th Mult. R. | - | - | - | - |
+-------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
On August 8 the army reached Kabul, and the puppet Shah Sujah was
installed on the throne, the brave Dost Mohammed flying before
our arms, only to rally for a fresh desperate venture for the
kingdom. The Bombay column was now ordered back by way of Ghuznee
and Kandahar, and the Commander-in-Chief, with the 16th Lancers
and some details of the 13th Light Infantry and of the Bengal
regiments, returned to India by the Khyber.
KHELAT, NOVEMBER 13, 1839.
This battle honour is borne by the
Queen's (Royal West Surrey).
Leicesters.
3rd Skinner's Horse.
3rd Sappers and Miners.
2nd Q.O. Rajput L.I.
It commemorates a scarcely remembered, but very successful, affair
carried out by a column of the invading army of Afghanistan. On
the capture of Ghuznee (p. 254) and the flight of Dost Mohammed,
it was erroneously anticipated that the people of the country were
willing to accept Shah Sujah as their Sovereign. Sir John Keane,
misled by the political officers, determined to send back a large
portion of his army to India, and whilst one column was to return
by the Khyber Pass, in the north, another was told off to return by
the Bolan, in the south. This column was placed under the command
of Major-General Willshire, and comprised the regiments above
named, with a company of Bombay Artillery and one of Sappers. All
were much under their proper strength, and this I touch upon in
passing, as it brings out into stronger relief the nature of the
task achieved by General Willshire's force.
STRENGTH OF BRITISH TROOPS.
The Queen's 13 officers, 331 other ranks.
Leicesters 24 " 374 " "
Artillery 2 " 38 " "
STRENGTH OF NATIVE TROOPS.
2nd Q.O. Light Inf. 11 officers, 373 other ranks.
Sappers 3 " 127 " "
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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