Excerpt
The British soldiers are doing some very fine work on the Indian frontier.
During the past week an engagement has taken place in which some of the hardest fighting of the war occurred.
According to the despatches, the Afridis occupied some rising ground which was known by the name of the Dargai Ridge. It was necessary for the British troops in their advance to pass across this ridge, and so the Afridis had to be dislodged from it.
A detachment of soldiers was sent forward to perform this task, and accomplished it so easily that in a very short space of time the enemy had all been driven off, and the village of Dargai was in flames.
The tribesmen seemed to have been completely routed, and to have left the country, so no particular pains was taken to fortify and hold the conquered ridge; instead the preparations for the advance were hurried forward.
The routing of the Afridis occurred on Monday; the British troops were ready to start early on Wednesday morning, but just as all was in readiness for the move, the tribesmen suddenly reappeared in greatly increased numbers, and swarming in on every side reoccupied the ridge.
This was a severe blow to the British, because the work of dislodging the enemy had to be done all over again. The Afridis lay right in the path of the British, and must be made to move.
This time the task was more difficult.
The Afridis had taken up a much stronger position than the one they had occupied on Monday, and had established their main body on an exceedingly steep hill, about a thousand feet high, which commanded the route the advancing army was obliged to take.
The height and the steepness of the hill were, however, but a small part of the difficulty with which the British forces had to contend. The real serious point lay in the fact that there was but one path by which the summit of the hill could be reached, and this was only wide enough for one man to pass at a time. It was therefore impossible to send large bodies of troops against the enemy, and there was the terrible danger that sharpshooters might pick off the men one by one as they tried to ascend the path.
The work had, however, to be done, and an English regiment and two troops of native soldiers were sent forward to storm the hill.
Between the position occupied by the English and that held by their foes lay an open space of rough and rocky ground, which was within rifle range of the Afridis.
Stationing some of their best shots half-way down the hill, the tribesmen waited patiently while the English made their way across the open space.
The advance was extremely difficult owing to the rough nature of the ground, the soldiers having actually to climb from rock to rock.
As soon as the English were well within rifle range, the tribesmen, who had not fired a shot until the troops were in the bad ground, opened such a deadly fire on them that the on-coming troops were checked. All this time the British artillerymen were assailing the sharpshooters with shot and shell, trying their best to drive them off the side of the hill. In spite of their best efforts the enemy never wavered, but held their position....