Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart), 1809-1898; Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
... Between two and three o'clock the fire of the enemy's guns
slackened, and swarms of Ghazis advanced rapidly towards our
centre. Up to this time the casualties among the infantry had not
been heavy, and as the men were firing steadily, and the guns
were sweeping the ground with case shot, I felt confident as to
the result. But our fire failed to check the Ghazis; they came on
in overwhelming numbers, and, making good their rush, they seized
the two most advanced horse artillery guns. With the exception of
two companies of Jacob's Rifles, which had caused me great anxiety
by their unsteadiness early in the day, the conduct of the troops
had been splendid up to this point; but now, at the critical
moment, when a firm resistance might have achieved a victory, the
infantry gave way, and, commencing from the left, rolled up, like
a wave, to the right. After vainly endeavouring to rally them, I
went for the cavalry.... The 3rd Light Cavalry and the 3rd Sind
Horse were retiring slowly on our left, and I called upon them to
charge across our front and so give the infantry an opportunity
of reforming; but the terrible artillery fire to which they had
been exposed, and from which they had suffered so severely, had so
shaken them that General Nuttall was unable to give effect to my
order. All was now over....
_Extract from Report by Lieutenant-General Primrose, Commanding 1st
Division Southern Afghanistan Field Force (p. 156)._
I would most respectfully wish to bring to the Commander-in-Chief's
notice the gallant and determined stand made by the officers
and men of the 66th Regiment at Maiwand.... 10 officers and 275
non-commissioned officers and men were killed, and 2 officers and
30 non-commissioned officers and men wounded. These officers and
men nearly all fell fighting desperately for the honour of their
Queen and country. I have it on the authority of a Colonel of
Artillery of Ayub Khan's army that a party of the 66th Regiment,
which he estimated at one hundred officers and men, made a most
determined stand in a garden. They were surrounded by the whole
Afghan Army, and fought on until only eleven men were left,
inflicting enormous loss upon the enemy. These eleven charged out
of the garden, and died with their faces to the foe, fighting to
the death. Such was the nature of their charge and the grandeur
of their bearing that, although the whole of the Ghazis were
assembled around them, not one dared approach to cut them down.
Thus standing in the open, back to back, firing steadily and truly,
every shot telling, surrounded by thousands, these eleven officers
and men died; and it was not until the last man had been shot down
that the Ghazis dared advance upon them.
THE BRADLAUGH CASE (1880).
=Source.=--_The Times_, June 25.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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