were surging upon the 66th. The Grenadiers fought bravely and tried to form square but could only get into a V shape with the apex towards the enemy: in the mêlée they were cut down literally "in hundreds." The Sapper detachment under Lieutenant Henn, with the guns, stood bravely to their post, but so small a party could not hope to save the guns without immediate help. Lieutenant Henn was killed after behaving most gallantly. The enemy saw their advantage, and a rush of irregulars led by ghazis was made from the right front. The guns fired canister into the mass; but it was useless, and Slade limbered up and retired. Maclaine remained with two guns firing, until the ghazis were actually at the muzzles, and these two guns had to be left behind. The 66th were broken by the rush of sepoys upon them. The confusion was hopeless, many of the sepoys being so cowed that they allowed the Afghans to pull them backwards from among their comrades and cut them down. No attempt to use the bayonet was made by the recruits among Jacob's Rifles, who scarcely seemed to know that they carried arms wherewith to defend themselves. A cavalry charge was ordered; but the men were out of hand, and though two squadrons rode out, they never really charged. One of their officers had his horse shot, and the sowars would not go on, but veered round and came back to add to the disorganization of the infantry.* The 66th and the Grenadiers rallied twice in walled enclosures and sold their lives dearly, but they were outnumbered, and could not help to check the Afghan advance.

Colonel Galbraith was killed outside the first

Brigadier Nuttall commanding the cavalry says in his despatch: "I ordered the cavalry to form line, and by a charge stem the rush of ghazis on the infantry; but I bitterly regret to have to record that although I was most ably seconded by the officers, only portions of the 3rd Light Cavalry and 3rd Scind Horse formed up, and we charged, but the men bearing away to the right and rear, the charge was not delivered home, and was but of little effect. All subsequent attempts made at this time by myself and the officers to induce the men to rally and face the enemy failed. The men seemed totally demoralized by the combined effects of the very heavy artillery fire which had, during the action, killed and wounded 149 of the horses, and about fourteen per cent. of the men engaged in the front. There was now nothing left but to fall back on the rearguard, which had advanced a short way towards us, but it was not till we reached the four guns Royal Horse Artillery, brought out of action by Captain Slade, that the men, through the exertions of the officers, staff and myself, were formed up facing the enemy."

The Retreat to Candahar.

557

Major

enclosure, and the 66th lost nine other officers killed. Blackwood, commanding E-B Battery, was also shot down, one of his subalterns (Lieutenant Osborne) having been killed in the rush. By three o'clock the brigade had been routed, and the enemy were in hot pursuit. Fortunately that pursuit lasted only two or three miles, the enemy returning to Maiwand to loot General Burrows' camp.

The following extract from a letter from an officer who was engaged in the action may well close this sad record:

"When I realized that we were defeated, and had to retreat some 50 miles to Candahar, my heart sank within me, and never shall I forget the agonies of that fearful night march without water, hundreds of poor wretches lying strewn about the road calling aloud for a drop of water. It was agonizing, but one was obliged to steel his heart, as nothing could be done, we all being in the same box. The order to march on Maiwand from Khusk-iNakhud was only given at 10 P.M., on the 26th July, and the march commenced at 6.30 A.M. (on the 27th). We had no idea that Ayub's army was at Maiwand till we had marched half-way there, and then we only half believed it: however, after going a few miles further we sighted the enemy moving towards Maiwand. Our troops seemed to consider that they would have it all their own way, and advanced very boldly; but the demoralizing effect of thirty odd guns and the being outnumbered, obliged them to retreat, and the retreat became a rout. From prisoners lately taken we hear that we inflicted a fearful loss on the enemy, and that if we could only have brought a fresh regiment we could have won the day. Our heaviest losses were during the retreat, as all the villagers on the line of route turned against us. I was among the last to leave the field, and walked half the way, having given up my pony to a wounded soldier. I was not fired on by the villagers till within six miles of Candahar, when I, with two sepoys and the wounded soldier, had to ascend a hill, and take refuge behind a rock, where we remained a good while, till the country was cleared by the cavalry under General Brooke, who had come out from Candahar to meet us. I then continued my journey, and when arriving at the village near the cantonments

*

some 10 European and 15 native soldiers had joined me. The native soldiers were utterly demoralized, and I could not get them to obey me. Some 100 or 150 Afghans were congregated on a little hillock commanding the road to Candahar, and seeing the hesitation of my party they streamed down the hill, yelling, and I was obliged to fall back and take up a position on another hillock. Then the native soldiers came to me and expressed their opinion that we ought to run for it. However, I abused

them, and made them lie down and point their guns towards the enemy, who at once retreated to their former position. I felt perfect confidence in the European portion of my party, and if I could have felt the same in the native I would not have minded an attack from 150 half-armed Afghans. When General Brooke returned with the rear-guard of the Girishk column, he shelled the hills where the Afghans were collected, and we marched peaceably into cantonments."

CONCLUSION.

I HAVE not gone into the details of the movements of the CabulCandahar force after the Battle of Candahar, as there was no further opposition, and the military programme carried out was only of local importance. The brigades were marched back to India as quickly as possible, with the exception of the 9th Lancers and 6-8 R.A., which were left at Candahar. The following letter, written in Candahar, will throw some light on the strategy of the action on September 1st :

CANDAHAR, 20th September.

There is but one opinion here as to the unsoundness of the criticisms upon General Roberts's action of the 1st; it is that the critics have jumped to conclusions on imperfect reports, having taken the first meagre telegrams as their guide. By an incessant study of small-scale maps they gained a superficial

* The 3rd Scind Horse only lost fourteen men killed and five wounded out of 260 men : they had forty-nine horses killed and wounded. There were thus always over 200 sabres available for a charge in this regiment alone, but the men were out of hand.

knowledge of the Argandab Valley, and were fully convinced that the proper mode of directing the attack would have been to throw an intercepting force 30 or 40 miles in rear of Mazra, and then to have attacked Ayub from Candahar-no doubt by way of the Pir Paimal village. They point their arguments by adding that our cavalry pursuit was really inoperative, as only 400 of the fugitives were killed, while the great mass escaped. Admitted that after we had rolled them back from Pir Paimal the great majority got off scot-free, this by no means proves that a weak brigade could have cut off their retreat; for it seems to be forgotten that not one, but many, roads were open to them, while the mountainous nature of the country on the higher reaches of the Argandab was all in favour of trained hill-men such as Afghans always are. Their cavalry and many thousands of footmen made straight for the Khakrez Valley, knowing well that once the range of hills, eight miles west and north-west of the Argandab, was reached, they were quite safe. There was no necessity at all for their retirement northwards up the Argandab-or rather north-eastwards-and it is quite an open question if any brigade we could have spared would have even seen many of the fugitives. General Roberts's first and greatest duty was to induce Ayub Khan to give him battle, and not to cause a scare in his camp by premature strategical movements, 30 or 40 miles up the Argandab Valley. It may not be known, also, that when the infantry was encamped near Shar-i-Safa, one march from Robat, on August 27th the news from Candahar led us to believe that Ayub might possibly forsake Mazra and try to escape in the Ghazni direction by way of the Argandab stream. General Roberts at once recognized the necessity of barring any movement in force in this direction, and a column of about 2,000 men was told off to march by way of Bori, and Dala, and block the road up the Argandab. But when heliographic communication with Candahar was opened up later in the day, and Colonel St. John's reports showed that Ayub was busy strengthening his position at Mazra, the order given for the column to move out was at once countermanded. It was known that the Afghan force was mainly composed of men from Zamindawar, Candahar, and Herat the Cabuli element being very small, and the Kizil

bashes and Kohistanis being already in treaty with Colonel St. John to desert at short notice. The main body of real fighting men, therefore, would seek safety in flight, after defeat, not northwards towards Khelat-i-Ghilzai, but to the west and northwest, where the hills offered them shelter until they could regain their homes. This line of flight was really taken; but as our cavalry brigade under General Hugh Gough could not reach the Kokaran Ford until Gundigan and the orchards about had been cleared by General Baker's Infantry Brigade, Ayub Khan and his cavalry escort-leaving Mazra, it should be remembered, at 11.30 A.M.--had easily covered the seven or eight miles of ground between the river and the slopes of the hills bounding the Khakrez Valley on the south. Besides, the tactics of the fugitives were such as to neutralize any pursuit or the action of any intercepting force: hundreds took refuge in the villages, buried their arms, or hid them securely away, and came out to greet our troops in the guise of harmless peasants. If these had been slaughtered in cold blood the cavalry would have returned with the report that not 300 or 400, but 1,300 or 1.400 of the enemy had been killed. I do not make this statement on my own unsupported authority, but on the direct testimony of cavalry officers engaged in the pursuit. Thus the 9th Lancers gave chase to a large number of men evidently in full flight. On coming up with them, the Lancers found these fugitives without arms, and though there could be no reasonable doubt that they had hidden their weapons some little time before, Lieutenant Colonel Bushman ordered his men to spare their lives. The Lancers rode among them, and if any man had been detected with a knife or pistol he would probably have paid the forfeit of his life. In other instances small bands were hunted into villages, and when the cavalry rode up men appeared holding little children in their arms, and prayed for mercy. What was to be done to an enemy resorting. to such manoeuvres ? Our cavalry could not take prisoners as they had to continue the pursuit: and these units of the Mazra army were shown that mercy which they refused to our men retreating from Maiwand!

Again, any intercepting force thrown into the Argandab Valley could not hope to co-operate with the force attacking from Can