The Third Afghan War
(1880)
When Yakoub Khan learned that Sir Louis Cavagnari had been sent on a mission to Kabul, his grief and repentance over his terrible outrages seemed beyond expression. He protested too much, and nobody believed him; indeed, before the mission had set out, there had been quite sufficient incentive for the British Government to teach the native authorities at Kabul a severe lesson. When the truth of the matter was felt, rather than known, three columns were despatched to the seat of trouble. The most important of these, which proceeded by the Kurram Road, was led by General Roberts. Its composition was as follows:—Two batteries Horse and Field Artillery; one Mountain Train battery; one squadron 9th Lancers; 67th South Hampshire Regiment; 72nd (Duke of Albany’s Own) Highlanders; 92nd (Gordon) Highlanders; 12th and 14th Bengal Cavalry; 5th Gurkhas and a wing of the 5th Punjab; 23rd Pioneers; 5th and 28th Punjab Infantry; 3rd Sikhs, and one company of sappers and miners, making a total of barely 8,000 men.
So determined was the spirit of these men that, as battle followed battle on the way to the capital, Yakoub Khan, with twenty-five principal citizens of Kabul, eventually surrendered. It was probably a subterfuge on the part of the Amir to say that he no longer had any power over his people. At all events, he was kept in durance vile, and next day General Roberts advanced on Kabul. Then followed the battle of Charasiah.
Charasiah is twelve miles distant from Kabul, and its name signifies “Four Water-mills.” Here the tired troops camped, while cavalry patrols were sent out to scour the vicinity. Like the Saxons on the eve of the Battle of Hastings, our men little thought that the dawn would bring a decisive battle; but, unlike the Saxons on that occasion, though exhausted, they were always ready for any emergency that the morrow might bring. In evidence of this, two cavalry patrols pushed forward along the ways that led to Kabul before the first light of dawn. The northern road was taken by a party of twenty men of the 14th Bengal Lancers, under Captain Neville, while twenty of the 9th Lancers, under Captain Apperley, took the southern road. Three hours later, as Captain Neville’s party was passing through a village, one of his men had his horse shot under him. At the same time, Apperley, in another village, was being hard pressed by the enemy. Major Mitford, with twenty Lancers, was immediately sent to his relief, while a band of native infantry was despatched in all haste to succour Neville. Following immediately on these operations came news that the enemy was advancing in great force from Kabul. They were focussing on the passes of the northern hills. It then became an immediate matter of British tactics to forestall or dislodge them. The event proved that they had to be dislodged, and in this matter there was severe and prolonged fighting before they were driven back. Ultimately the enemy fled incontinently towards Kabul.
Some incidents of this battle are worth recording. It was here that Major (afterwards Field-Marshal Sir George) Stuart White won his Victoria Cross, while commanding the 92nd Highlanders. For a long time he pounded the enemy with artillery, and raked him with rifle fire, but all in vain; he could not dislodge the obstinate foe. The most decisive method was to storm the hill, with a view to the ultimate efficiency of cold steel.
Says the Gazette: “Advancing with two companies of his regiment, he came upon a body of the enemy, strongly posted, and outnumbering his force by eighteen to one. His men being exhausted, and immediate action necessary, Major White took a rifle, and, going on by himself, shot dead the leader of the enemy.”
And this was where the Afghans were at a disadvantage. The loss of their leader meant everything to them, for they were not as our soldiers—every man a leader if emergency requires. They began to fall back on the further slope of the hill, fearing the onslaught of the Highlanders, who were on top of it, victorious. It is extraordinary that in this important engagement our losses up to this point were nothing more than three Highlanders killed and six wounded, one cavalry soldier killed and three wounded.
While this engagement was proceeding, General Baker was leading his 72nd Highlanders across the hills, with a following of No. 2 Mounted Battery, some Gatling guns, and the wings of the 5th Gurkhas, 5th Punjab Infantry, and 23rd Pioneers. They fought their way over precipitous ground, and through 4,000 of the enemy. The resistance they met with remains to this day as a proof of the fighting powers of our then enemy. After two hours’ stubborn fighting, regulated by the able generalship of Baker, the hill was at last taken in the rear by a flanking movement of the Gordons. It was a scene to live in the memory, when the gallant 92nd, cheered on by Cameron’s pipes, stormed the hill. The dash and vigour of the assault no doubt carried the position, but the moral effect of Cameron and his pipes, to say nothing of brave colours flying, had to be reckoned with.
From this point the march on Kabul was unimpeded. When General Roberts arrived he found the place abandoned by the enemy. But there still remained some Afghans entrenched on a high hill to the rear of Bala Hissar, in such a position that it was necessary to dislodge them before entering the city, especially as behind them the enemy was in great force on the Ridge of Asmai. There was very severe fighting over the dislodgment of these Afghans, but on the fourth day General Roberts had removed every obstruction to his entry into Kabul. It was a great moment when he hoisted our Standard on the walls of Kabul.