The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier WarChurchill, Winston
History
The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War
Churchill, Winston
Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965; North-west Frontier Province (Pakistan) -- History; Prime ministers -- Great Britain -- Biography
Then the Mamunds solemnly tendered their submission. They expressed
their deep regret at their action, and deplored the disasters that had
befallen them. They declared, they had only fought because they feared
annexation. They agreed to expel the followers of Umra Khan from
the valley. They gave security for the rifles that had not yet been
surrendered. They were then informed that as they had suffered severe
punishment and had submitted, the Sirkar would exact no fine or further
penalty from them. At this they showed signs of gratification. The
durbar, which had lasted fifteen minutes, was ended by the whole of the
tribesmen swearing with uplifted hands to adhere to the terms and keep
the peace. They were then dismissed.
The losses sustained by the Mamunds in the fighting were ascertained to
be 350 killed, besides the wounded, with whom the hill villages were all
crowded, and who probably amounted to 700 or 800. This estimate takes no
account of the casualties among the transfrontier tribesmen, which were
presumably considerable, but regarding which no reliable information
could be obtained. Sir Bindon Blood offered them medical aid for their
wounded, but this they declined. They could not understand the motive,
and feared a stratagem. What the sufferings of these wretched men must
have been, without antiseptics or anaesthetics, is terrible to think
of. Perhaps, however, vigorous constitutions and the keen air of the
mountains were Nature's substitutes.
Thus the episode of the Mamund Valley came to an end. On the morning of
the 12th, the troops moved out of the camp at Inayat Kila for the last
time, and the long line of men, guns and transport animals, trailed
slowly away across the plain of Khar. The tribesmen gathered on the
hills to watch the departure of their enemies, but whatever feelings of
satisfaction they may have felt at the spectacle, were dissipated when
they turned their eyes towards their valley. Not a tower, not a fort
was to be seen. The villages were destroyed. The crops had been trampled
down. They had lost heavily in killed and wounded, and the winter was
at hand. No defiant shots pursued the retiring column. The ferocious
Mamunds were weary of war.
And as the soldiers marched away, their reflections could not have been
wholly triumphant. For a month they had held Inayat Kila, and during
that month they had been constantly fighting. The Mamunds were crushed.
The Imperial power had been asserted, but the cost was heavy. Thirty-one
officers and 251 men had been killed and wounded out of a fighting force
that had on no occasion exceeded 1200 men.
The casualties of General Jeffrey's brigade in the Mamund Valley were as
follows:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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