The Afghan War of 1879-80: Being a Complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the Brilliant March to Candahar, and the Defeat of Ayub Khan, with the Operations on the Helmund, and the Settlement with Abdur Rahman KhanHensman, Howard
History
The Afghan War of 1879-80: Being a Complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the Brilliant March to Candahar, and the Defeat of Ayub Khan, with the Operations on the Helmund, and the Settlement with Abdur Rahman Khan
however, but little attention paid by the rank and file to the commands
of their leaders; and though when a ghazi rushes upon his death, a
handful of desperate men will follow him, the great majority hang back
when they see the task before them.
The firing into cantonments to-day was of the usual desultory kind, and
our mountain guns pitched a few shells into such gardens as contained
fairly large bodies of men. Two Highlanders were wounded while on
picquet duty at the line of entrenchment from the commissariat godowns
to the Bemaru gorge. Kila Mahomed Sharif, so well known during the
disastrous winter of 1841, still stands near the site of our old
cantonments between Sherpur and the Cabul river, overlooking the road
from the Bala Hissar. From this fort, which is only 700 yards from the
72nd Gateway, men fired at the southern wall all day, while others could
be seen, with rifles slung across their backs, superintending the
carrying away of the _bhoosa_ stored by the 5th Punjab Cavalry in a
village near for winter consumption. Hazara coolies were made to do this
work, and also to dismantle the cavalry quarters in the “King’s Garden,”
which, as before stated, we have abandoned. This morning three
18-pounders and an 8-inch howitzer, part of the siege train given to
Shere Ali by the Indian Government, were got into position on the
bastions east and west of the 72nd Gateway, and to-morrow these will
open upon Kila Mahomed Sharif and the villages in rear. We want
40-pounders at least to batter down the thick walls of the fort; but
still the heavy guns now ready to be fired will probably have a good
effect upon the enemy. Round shot will be used for these 18-pounders,
and bits of iron, bullets, &c., have been sewn up in canvas to serve as
canister if the enemy make any demonstration in force. There was no
difficulty in getting the guns and howitzer up the bastions, twenty or
thirty men at the drag-ropes moving them easily into position. It is
strange that guns which were given to Shere Ali as a reward for his
fidelity to the British should now be turned against the Afghans, who
have shown themselves unable to appreciate the value of an alliance with
India. Now that the siege train has returned to our possession we shall,
perhaps, be less confiding in handing over munitions of war to a nation
which has treated us so treacherously.
Beyond throwing out our usual cavalry videttes, we have done nothing
to-day to show the enemy we are on the alert. The cavalry have been
terribly hard worked since the 10th, and horses and men have suffered in
consequence. At one period the saddles were never taken off the horses
of the 5th Punjab Cavalry for sixty hours, and the other regiments have
been nearly in the same condition. Lieutenant Montenaro died this
evening from the effect of the wound received yesterday. This makes the
tenth officer we have lost in as many days, and there are still eleven
others under treatment for wounds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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