Campaign of the Indus: In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay DivisionHoldsworth, T. W. E.
History
Campaign of the Indus: In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay Division
Holdsworth, T. W. E.
Afghan Wars
At one o'clock we turned out; I took a cup of tea and a couple of ginger
biscuits, and joined my company: in a quarter of an hour we were on our
march to the pillar, where we were to be formed. Here we found Col. Sale
and the Engineer officers, &c. Col. Sale called out the officers, and
told them the plan of the attack, which was to be the same as mentioned
before, except that the 13th Light Infantry were to line the ditch
outside the town, and fire on the ramparts, while we advanced. The
storming party, Queen's and Bengal European regiments, were, after
entering the gate, to move along a street to the left, clearing the
houses, &c., and on arriving at the end to mount the ramparts, and to
return by them. Our object in doing this was to drive as many men as
possible into the citadel, and having obtained this object, a signal was
to be given, and the artillery were to fire shells into the citadel,
which, particularly as their powder magazine was there, it was expected
would soon make them cut and run. The 17th and 13th regiments being
nearest, were then to rush up and take possession of the citadel, and
the Native regiments, being in reserve, were to assist them. Col. Sale
then said a few words of encouragement, and concluded by hoping "we
should all have luck"--on the whole a very neat and appropriate speech.
We then piled arms, and officers fell out. I never saw fellows more
merry than most of us were while we were waiting there; in fact, if we
had been going to the most delightful place in the world, we could not
have appeared in better spirits; and this put me strongly in mind of a
scene I had read in a book called "The Subaltern," where the feelings of
the officers, waiting for an attack, are described as being just the
same. At length, "bang" went a gun from our batteries. Col. Sale said,
"Ah, there goes the signal; we had better be starting:" just as if one
was to get ready to take a ride to Brixham or elsewhere. Well; we fell
in, and in about a quarter of an hour off we went. The enemy returned
the fire from our batteries in good style, and there was a regular row.
They pointed their "Long Tom," a fifty-two pounder, towards us, and sent
the shot over our heads and a little to our left. The ball made a
terrific row rushing over us. Whilst we were marching down to the attack
the fire on both sides was at its height. The noise was fearful, and the
whole scene the grandest and, at the same time, the most awful I ever
witnessed. I caught myself, once or twice, trying to make myself as
small as I could. As we got nearer the gate it grew worse, and the
enemy, from their loop-holes, began to pepper us with matchlocks and
arrows. The scene now was splendid. The enemy, at the commencement of
the firing, threw out blue lights in several places, which looked
beautiful, and the flames of their and our artillery, together with the
smaller flashes from the matchlock men, added to the roar of their big
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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