At 3 a.m. the force, under the Commander-in-Chief, struck its camp, and four hours later Littler also left his cantonments. It was the intention of the Commander-in-Chief to attack the enemy without waiting for the junction of Littler's force, but the Governor-General vetoed the plan, so that it was nearly dusk before the Sikh entrenchments were attacked. The Sikhs fought even more stubbornly than at Moodkee. Littler's attack on the left was checked, the 62nd (Wiltshires) losing 20 officers and 281 non-commissioned officers and men in twenty minutes. The fault was not theirs; they were not properly supported by the Bengal regiments. As one eyewitness put it: "Jack Sepoy fights well enough on occasions, but this was not one of his fighting-days." The 12th and 14th Bengal Infantry, however, did show much courage and determination. It was the purely native brigade, under Ashburnham, which hung back, and this was attributed to the fact that it contained no British battalion to stiffen the sepoy corps. Littler's check took place before the Commander-in-Chief had delivered his attack. The Sikhs, triumphant in having driven back one British column, fought with more than usual determination. The main assault took place by echelon from the right, Sir Hugh Gough leading that column in person, whilst the Governor-General cheered on the centre, he having placed his services at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief. Night fell on a scene of great confusion. On the extreme right Gilbert's division had carried the Sikh entrenchments, on the left Littler had been repulsed, and in the centre Sir Harry Smith's division had borne away to the left, and was cut off from the main army. Men and officers were worn out with fatigue and chilled with the bitter cold of a Punjab night. It was impossible to light fires without drawing down the fire of the enemy, who were much elated at the result of the engagement, and who throughout the night kept up an incessant artillery fire on our bivouac. One heavy gun in particular caused especial annoyance, and Sir Henry Hardinge called upon the 80th to silence it. The men nobly responded to the call. In perfect silence they advanced to the edge of the Sikh entrenchments, and then, headed by their Colonel, Bunbury, and supported by the "Dirty Shirts" (Royal Munsters), they dashed over the parapet with a cheer, bayoneting the gunners, spiking the gun, and driving off all the Sikhs in the vicinity. This little episode showed the Sikhs that the fight was not yet won. The Commander-in-Chief determined to renew it on the morrow, and the Governor-General, who felt that the fate of India hung in the balance, was equally firm in his resolve to support the Chief. "Better that our bones should bleach honourably on the field of battle than retire," was the response to a suggestion to fall back.