War Medals and Their HistorySteward, William Augustus
History
War Medals and Their History
Steward, William Augustus
Great Britain. Army -- Medals, badges, decorations, etc.; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Medals, badges, decorations, etc.
=Ferozeshuhur.=--The Sikhs strengthened their position at "Ferushahr"
and entrenched themselves with 120 guns; meanwhile the British army
had been reinforced with heavy guns and a number of troops, while
Major-General Sir John Littler had brought his division of 5,000 men
from Ferozepore, making a total of about 5,674 Europeans and 12,053
native troops, with 65 guns, to be ranged against 25,000 Regulars and
10,000 Irregular Sikhs, with 83 guns, strengthened by an army of about
23,000, with 67 guns, under Tej Singh, encamped only ten miles away.
The battle of Ferushahr, or Ferozeshuhur, as it is officially spelt,
opened on December 21st, with a terrific cannonade by the Sikhs, under
which the British infantry advanced, stormed the entrenchments, and
took a number of the enemy's guns. So hardly did the Sikhs fight that
they could not be forced from the whole of their entrenchments; indeed,
so stubborn was the battle of Ferozeshuhur that it lasted for two days,
while the intervening night was also kept lively by the Sikh artillery
playing on to the ground gained by the British. The 80th Regiment was
sent with the 1st European Light Infantry to silence the guns, and the
80th was successful in capturing three. "A more wonderful battle never
was. Within 150 yards of one another were 8,000 British troops against
an unknown number of enemies yet unbroken." All the Governor-General's
staff were killed or wounded before the day of retribution arrived.
The Commander-in-Chief and the Governor-General of India, Sir Henry
Hardinge, placed themselves in front of the two wings of the army
"to prevent the troops from firing" until they closed! Unchecked by
the enemy's fire, the line advanced, dislodged the enemy and swept
everything before it. Halting, as on the parade ground, the army
vociferously cheered its leaders, for they were masters of the field.
Sirdar Tej Singh, however, brought up his army of over 30,000 men, with
a large field of artillery, and endeavoured to retrieve the day; but
despite the fact that the British artillery had already expended its
ammunition, he was compelled to retire, and the day was won. On the
field, however, were 2,415 dead or wounded soldiers, and 115 officers,
which the victorious army had lost. The men who fought and won this
protracted and sanguinary battle had mostly been without food or water
for forty-eight hours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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