CHAPTER IX
1895
CHITRAL
The annual inspections in the Bombay District for the season 1894-5 had all been carried out, confidential reports were rapidly being filled in, and got ready to forward to Headquarters, the arrangements for the sailing of the last transport were all settled, and all work was beginning to slacken in Bombay with the approach of the hot weather. Gatacre was making a push to conclude the season's work with a view to taking eight months' leave to England. In theory this long leave can be secured once in every five-year command; but Gatacre had now completed two such appointments without availing himself of this privilege, having been content with the sixty days' leave allowed each year.
But whatever might be the special reasons which drew him homewards in 1895, a better thing still was in prospect for him: in whole-hearted joy he writes on March 15:
"I am so pleased: have got a telegram from Sir George White saying, 'Have nominated you to command Third Brigade in Division to be mobilised for possible service Chitral.' This is a first-class business, for though it will prevent my coming home so soon, still it is a step onwards, and that is what we want, isn't it, dear? I am so pleased at getting this chance, and will do my best for your sake and my own."
The Third Brigade
The Chitral Relief Force was under the command of Sir Robert Low; the expedition was organised to effect the relief of Surgeon-Major Robertson, I.C.S., and some half-dozen officers who were shut up with a small garrison in the fort at Chitral. We are not concerned here with the internal events which had culminated in the siege of the fort by a hostile faction; suffice it to say that the Government of India regarded the matter as very urgent, and were sending a strong division of both British and Native troops to their assistance.
Sir Robert Low's force was to approach from the south over the Malakand Pass, and to make its way up the valley of the Chitral River. This was a route which had not hitherto been used by the Indian Government, and covered about 185 miles. Communications with Chitral had previously been maintained from the north-east, via Gilgit. During the winter months this latter route was closed, as the road lay over snow-covered passes; the distance was about 160 miles from Gilgit, and this was the recognised access and the base of supplies for the little garrison. And so it came about that, in response to messages from Major Robertson, Colonel Kelly was endeavouring to reach him from Gilgit, undismayed by almost impassable winter snows, at the same time that the Indian Relief Force was advancing with similar intention from Peshawur.
In a letter from Mian Mir, March 24, 1895, Gatacre writes:
"I leave to-morrow to take command of my Brigade at Hoti Mardan, about twenty-five miles north-east of Peshawur, and we shall march from there on April 1, right away for Chitral; but without doubt we shall have some rough work and some fighting. Umra Khan knows he will have no mercy after destroying Captain Ross's detachment, and will do his best to raise the whole border against us.
"I have four first-class regiments—the Seaforth Highlanders, the Buffs, the 25th Punjab Infantry, the Second 4th Ghoorkas, and we are all sound and prepared to go anywhere, so I hope we shall all come well out of it.
*****
"I think myself we shall have to drop our tents, small as they are, and march without them. Our difficulty will be crossing deep rivers; we shall have no boats, and must trust to making rafts of skins and floating the men across; but it is always a shaky business when there are bullets flying about."
On March 30, in drenching rain, the first troops marched out of Hoti Mardan; on April 2 they met the enemy, who were lying in wait for them on the slopes of the Malakand Pass. But in this and the subsequent engagements on the banks of the Swat and the Panjkora Rivers, the Third Brigade took no part, being held in reserve. A stirring account of the fighting is given by Colonel Younghusband in his Story of the Guides.
A bridge of rafts was thrown across the Panjkora River; the Guides Cavalry and Infantry were passed over on the afternoon of April 15, with orders to reconnoitre certain villages early the next morning. But in the night a flood arose, huge trees crashed down on the swollen stream, completely wrecking the bridge. Two miles below this point, the Sappers were rigging up a suspension bridge; and in the meantime an attempt was made to float the men across on rafts supported by mussocks, or inflated goat-skins, and navigated by native boatmen.
A rescue
Gatacre, whose brigade was still in the rear, had pushed forward to see what was going on, and stood by the river's edge watching this "shaky business." Suddenly a raft on which four men were seated got out of control, broke away from the guiding rope, and was immediately caught by the current, and swirled down the turbulent stream. In an instant Gatacre jumped on his pony, and dashed at full gallop over the rocky ground in the wild hope of reaching the spot where the bridge was being made in time to warn the Sappers, and attempt a rescue. The bend of the river gave him time; with equal promptitude Major Aylmer got into a sling-cradle, and was lowered in mid-stream just as the raft came in sight. Two men only were still on it, one of whom saw his chance and grasped the extended hand. As the river had narrowed from 200 yards to ninety feet, the raft was travelling at a tremendous pace. There was a moment of thrilling strain on the ropes; the cradle was submerged by the sudden pull; but all held on heroically, and Aylmer had the satisfaction of bringing Private Hall safely to land. The other man, together with the two comrades who had been thrown off in the wild descent, were hopelessly lost.[[1]]
[[1]] See Sir Robert Low's Despatch, April 18, 1895, par. 18.
Early on April 17, the bridge being completed, the advance was resumed. It was here that the Third Brigade got its chance. An officer writes:
"I can well recall our intense joy when we found ourselves going over the Panjkora Bridge in front of the Second Brigade, which had been leading since we left the Malakand. With feverish haste we packed our mules, having moved our camp the night before, so as to be as close as possible to the bridge."
By 10.45 the Third Brigade, accompanied by the Guides Cavalry and the 11th Bengal Lancers, were all across, and orders were received for a general advance on Miankalai, which was being held against us. Sir Robert Low's despatch runs:
"I pushed on to Ghobani with the Third Brigade, arriving there soon after noon. The enemy had then collected on a bluff in two villages west of Mamugai. The battery came into action about 12.30 p.m., and the enemy soon fell back under cover. The Seaforth Highlanders and 4th Goorkhas moved up to the south side of the valley, and then advanced against the enemy in a westerly direction, driving them back from spur to spur, and eventually arrived at the bluff mentioned about 4 p.m., which they occupied for the night.
"The enemy on this occasion did not show the bold front of previous days, but retired as the infantry advanced; and though the guns were sent forward about 1,000 yards to hasten their retreat, the loss of the enemy was not great. Throughout the action the troops were well handled by Brigadier-General Gatacre, D.S.O.
*****
"The same afternoon Brigadier-General Gatacre with the Buffs, the 4th Goorkhas, half of No. 4 Company Bengal Sappers and Miners, No. 2 Derajat Mountain Battery, and the Maxim guns of the Devonshire Regiment pushed on to Barwa, en route for Dir and Chitral, with twenty days' supplies.
*****
"On the afternoon of April 20 Brigadier-General Gatacre sent a message back to me that Major Deane, chief political officer, had received news that the garrison of Chitral was reduced to great straits, and that the mines of the enemy had reached to within ten yards of the fort, and he suggested that he should advance rapidly with a small body of five hundred men.
"To this I consented, as being the only way of passing quickly through the intricate country we were now traversing, and the only chance of rescuing the garrison."[[2]]
[[2]] See Sir Robert Low's Despatch, April 19, 1895.
The Flying Column
The excitement and joyful anticipation amongst those who were to compose the Flying Column were intense. One of them writes:
"We had intended pushing on over the Lowari Pass without baggage animals, the paths being unfit for even mules without much tedious and lengthy preparation. Every officer and man was to have carried ten days' supplies on his back, and I had already broken up the General's mess stores into suitable 40-lb. loads for hillmen to carry for us. In order to do this I only got to bed at our Janbatai camp at 1 a.m. and had to be up at 3 a.m.; so you can imagine it was impressed on my mind.
"The dear General was, I fancy, awake all night, partly on account of the painful abscess that had been lanced that evening; but in spite of this he marched with us all next day, standing in his stirrups, because of the pain of sitting; and indefatigably urged on our bridging and road-making parties. After our arrival at Dir, having marched twenty miles and made the road and bridged the streams en route, the General would not rest or dine till the last of the transport mules had been piloted with lamps over a very difficult and rocky part of the path, just outside Dir. I fancy we dined at about 9.30 p.m.; but this was no unusual thing, for the General always insisted on seeing to the comfort of his brigade before his own, and I hardly ever managed to induce him to sit down to dinner till some time between 9 and 10 p.m."
But much to the chagrin of the five hundred they were a flying column for twenty-four hours only, for on the 22nd news was received that the siege, which had lasted forty-six days, had been raised. It was afterwards ascertained that Colonel Kelly had reached the fort at 2 p.m. on the 20th, and that Sher Afzul and his supporters had fled the previous day. The General says nothing of his personal disappointment in the letters of this date, but when he was in the fort a month later, he writes:
"I wish they had let me loose as I wished, when we reached the Swat River. I should have been in Chitral before Kelly, though he had only half the distance to go that I had. But G.O.C. wanted to move with a united force. Of course we all hold different views regarding the best way of doing these things, but had I had the doing of it, I would have moved by separate lines, one brigade in advance; one would have got on quicker, and more effectively. But this is only between you and me."
Goorkhas crossing the Lowari Pass
The campaign now entered into the second phase; the fighting was over, but not so the work. The Government decided that the Third Brigade should proceed to Chitral. Having already reached Dir, they had covered nearly two-thirds of the distance according to the map, but the most difficult part of the journey was ahead of them. The Lowari Pass, 10,450 ft. high, was covered with deep snow, and the valleys leading up to it on both sides were known to present almost insurmountable obstacles to the passage of a large body of men and animals.
The following extract from Trans-frontier Wars (vol. i. p. 544) gives a good idea of the physical features of the country to be traversed.
"Throughout its entire length from Dir to Ashreth, the road was a mere goat-track, offering extraordinary difficulties to the passage of troops, and requiring extensive improvements before laden animals could follow it.
"The route to Gujar, at the foot of the pass, lay for eleven miles up the Dir Valley beside the tumbling snow-fed torrent that streams from the south side of the pass. The track was in general extremely difficult, frequently losing itself among the boulders that choked the bed of the stream, and rising steeply to traverse the face of a rocky bluff, only to fall again with equal abruptness on the other side. This portion of the road had to be realigned and reconstructed throughout, the river had to be bridged in three or four places, and stone staircase ramps had to be built in the water at more than one point, to enable laden animals to pass where the stream washed the foot of a precipitous cliff. From Gujar, 8,450 ft., to the summit of the pass, a distance of three miles, the track lay over frozen and often treacherous snow, at first at a fairly easy gradient, but growing steeper and more slippery as the pass was approached. Beyond the crest a great snow cornice, 15 ft. in height, overhung the head of the glen, down which the track descended for about 1,000 yards at a gradient of one in three or four, over vast drifts of avalanche snow, in which great rocks and the uprooted trunks of gigantic trees lay deeply embedded. From the foot of this descent the route lay down a steep and rocky gorge, now following the tangled bed of the torrent, now winding through fine forests of pine and cedar, or traversing open grassy glades clogged with the drainage of melting snows."
The advance
In such a struggle with the forces of nature Gatacre was at his best. No difficulty dismayed him; his own passionate belief in the power of goodwill and hard work to overcome every obstacle inspired the whole force. The men learnt to work hard because he expected it of them and seemed always present to appreciate their efforts. They learnt to endure every hardship because he endured physical discomforts as great as theirs. Some few men were attacked with frost-bite, and the General was amongst the number; it caught him across the knuckles, and put him to great inconvenience. They saw him daily riding up and down the road, ministering to their comfort and their safety; and they realised that as a master he was one whom all good workmen delight to serve, because he made himself their servant.
An officer who is now a Brevet-Colonel and has since served in Egypt, in East Africa, and in Natal, writes thus:
"I have seen a good deal of active service, but nowhere have I met any officer, either of high or low rank, who more completely gave himself up to ensure the comfort of the troops under his command than the dear General. Nothing escaped his eagle eye: at one moment we were arranging that some picket should protect itself better against the wind and rain; at the next the General was showing how a shelter should be run up over the tent of some sick officer, to protect him from the heat of the or describing how better troughs could be for watering horses or mules.
"As to road-making, the General was unsurpassed. From the very commencement of the expedition he realised that good communications must be ensured; and made our brigade work as I have never seen any troops work, except Egyptian troops on the railway in the Soudan. Morning, noon, and night did every available man slave away at bettering the wild mountain paths which were our only link with our supplies and civilisation. The country supplied absolutely nothing but a little hill grass obtainable in some districts, which meant that every grain of food had to be laboriously carried up."
It is evident that the care of 3,000 men in such a country was no light work; and Gatacre, who never took his work lightly even at home, certainly did not spare himself on service. His own letters give such a good idea of the routine of camp life, and of the spirit of genuine pleasure in it all that was so characteristic of him, that they shall tell their own tale.
"We are marching all day over the most impossible ground. Our food comes up at about 10 o'clock at night. Last night, owing to the badness of the track, it never came in at all, and this morning I hear it is still four miles off, the other side of the pass: this means another eight hours! Talk about roads, you never saw such a country! You approach a range of hills 10,000 ft. high, you have to cut a road for the animals before you attempt to bring them up, and this means time. Every now and then they have to stop and clear away these creatures who stalk us and shoot from behind rocks. We have been very fortunate in losing no men, though we have knocked over a good many of them."
*****
"Yesterday we were soaked with rain twice, had difficulty about wood for cooking, all green and soaked with wet; but everybody got in by 10 p.m. except about fifty mules and a company of Goorkhas who were stopped by the road falling away and some mules falling through about 300 yards down the khud. This of course stopped the remainder there for the night, but we got them some food, and they had to bivouac the night there without fire or blankets. We got them on this morning.
"Is it not marvellous? Out of my whole force of four regiments, a battery, and a company of Sappers, I have no sick men; they march all day, making roads, constantly get wet through, often have to sleep at great elevations. We were 8,700 ft. the night before last, without blankets, and yet they are all quite fit: no sick officer or man. Of course we take all the care we can of them.
"Yesterday after passing over the pass we found on the hills along which the road ran all English flowers—narcissus, iris, lilies (they plant them on their graves), may, hawthorn, hyacinths, tulips, in great profusion. The country is magnificent, soil very rich, would grow anything; we must take the country and improve it. It is another Kashmir."
*****
"We had a thunderstorm with lightning last night, a grand sight. I was coming back from Ashreth after nightfall, and stopped several times to watch the lightning light the snow peaks—quite beautiful!
On the road to Chitral.
"I had a hard day the day before yesterday. My orderly officer and I had to go from Dir to Janbatai and back, about fifty-six miles over a difficult road; we started at 5 a.m. and did not get back till 1 a.m. yesterday. For we were delayed on the road so long inspecting that night overtook us, and we had to walk along a most impossible track leading our ponies; we literally had to feel our way with our feet. We all got falls over rocks and stones, but beyond breaking our skin and clothes we were none the worse. The river was running under us nearly all the way about 300 ft. straight down, so you may imagine we had to be careful. I lost my helmet, but fortunately it rolled down the track instead of over the khudside."
*****
"Though I get up at daybreak and go to bed at 11 p.m. daily, I assure you that I never have a moment; it seems strange, but if you saw the country you would understand it. I have a long line of troops scattered over some forty miles of country connected by a single road along which only one man and one animal can pass at a time; sixteen bridges which may be washed away at any moment, causing many hours' delay in replacement; a snow pass, in the centre exactly, over which every ounce of food has to come; a terrific road along river-beds at one moment, running nearly up to the sky the next; 4,000 mules and donkeys working in stages from place to place, with supplies, guards, escorts, regiments, all of which have to be carefully watched to see that they have food and that nothing goes wrong. All this takes time, for it is a country one cannot gallop in, hardly go off a walk, but we are improving the roads and cutting new ones."
*****
"Then the snow pass stops us; we have to carry all our loads and supplies over the pass by hand. This makes us slow, but it is very sure; now the snow is melting and avalanches falling in every direction. Such an interesting country, and so beautiful! I have never seen such scenery, such mountains, trees, and rivers—simply magnificent! The spot I am now encamped in is about 2,000 ft. below the top of the pass, covered with gigantic cedars and pine-trees, eight and nine feet in diameter; I have never seen such trees. It is impossible to imagine anything more beautiful. There are high snow mountains all around us, a snow torrent from the avalanches rushing some hundreds of feet below us, carrying trees, rocks, etc., along with it; one can hardly hear oneself speak. Below in the valley one finds every English flower almost, chiefly in blossom, white peonies, honeysuckle—all sorts.
"Well, we are getting on all right. I have been halted here for seven days owing to want of supplies; one of our bridges broke and stopped them. But we are moving on to-day; this refers to the troops only—of course I move up and down the line every day.
"One of my officers was shot at yesterday, but up to date I have been unable to discover the man. I always have a duffedar (Native Cavalry N.C.O.) with a carbine behind me whenever I ride, and two Goorkhas whenever I walk; but I am out all day and most of the night, and I wonder they have not had a shot at me yet, for it is a wild country, full of trees, stones, and jungle.
"Yesterday I caught thirty drivers stealing stores from their loads. There has been a great deal of this all along the road, causing us much loss; so I had them all thrashed. There was much howling, but I do not think there will be any more thieving; we have to be summary here."
The fort
On May 15 the Third Brigade marched into Chitral. Sir Robert Low and the Headquarter Staff followed a few days later; their arrival was made the occasion for a political durbar, and a grand review of all the troops, including the garrison of the fort, and Colonel Kelly's triumphant little band. Sir Robert Low made a speech in which he complimented all ranks on the good work that each contingent had performed, and more particularly thanked the Third Brigade and their Brigadier for their share in the success of his expedition.
At the first opportunity Gatacre himself read the Funeral Service over the grave where Captain Baird, who fell in the sortie of March 3, had been hastily buried during the siege. He gave orders for the erection of a wooden cross, and had photographs taken of this and the country round, which he sent with a sympathetic letter to the young officer's mother. On his arrival in England in the autumn he regarded it as one of his first duties to fulfil his promise to call on Mrs. Baird, a widow lamenting her only son.
On the approach of the hot weather, the troops were withdrawn from the fort, and disposed in suitable camps along the road, pending the decision of Government on the question of occupation. The long line of communications was divided into sections, the most advanced, from Dir northwards to Chitral, being held by the Third Brigade, the section from Dir southwards to Janbatai by the Second, and the Swat Valley by the First. Road-making and mending was still the principal occupation, for the General was never satisfied with his roads; and all through the summer months the men were kept, happy, and well by improving the roadway which is still used by the column of troops which every two years relieves the garrison of Chitral.
It was probably at this time that the following incident took place. The General one day passed a supply convoy on the road, in charge of a transport officer with whose appearance he was dissatisfied, though he said nothing at the time. Next day he sent for the senior officer, and after a short talk with him told him to smarten up his subaltern.
"Certainly, sir, certainly," said the officer, and a look of pride and relief stole over his face that he had himself escaped unfriendly criticism. The General, reading the man's expression, added, "And smarten yourself up, too."
The officer who supplies this tale concludes: "I can see and hear the General's chuckle after administering this little pill."
Snipers
Colonel Ronald Brooke,[[3]] who proved himself an orderly officer after his General's own heart, tells us how the Ashreth Valley became infested by a band of hillmen who cut up stragglers from the convoys, and finally one night attacked a band of Chitrali traders (under the impression that they were our transport followers) who had incautiously spent the night at the foot of the pass. Twelve out of thirteen were killed; one only escaped, badly wounded, to carry the news to the nearest military post. The story goes on:
[[3]] Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel R. G. Brooke, D.S.O.
"The General and I at once hurried to the spot, which looked just like a shambles, and he immediately ordered a beat on a huge scale. Troops silently surrounded the Ashreth Valley from every side; and on August 12, instead of a grouse drive, we indulged in the far more exciting experience of a Kafristan robber drive. A band of fifteen were flushed on the hillside, of whom five were captured, the others escaping, never to return to so dangerous a spot. Of the five prisoners, three were sentenced to death, and the other two were set free on account of their youth."
General Gatacre and his favourite pony.
Having thus cleared his own valley of snipers, Gatacre longed to do the same on the Dir-Janbatai section, where the troops on escort-duty had been constantly fired on, several soldiers having been mortally wounded. At last he secured from the Major-General Commanding permission to take over this dangerous section as well as his own. A picked lot of Pathan Sepoys were sent down under an excellent native non-commissioned officer, with instructions to patrol the hillsides far above the position that snipers might take up, just when convoys were on the move, and thus literally to stalk the stalkers. This idea was crowned with success. In a few days' time the Pathans spotted a party of three hillmen lying up for the convoy. With extraordinary skill they succeeded in capturing two of the party; the third man escaped, although so severely wounded that he was tracked by his blood-marks for nine miles. The two prisoners turned out to be Afghans who had come over the frontier bent on doing as much harm as possible. Both were hanged, and thenceforward there was no more sniping on that section.
The General's interest in the scenery and flowers was very genuine. During the three months that the troops were scattered in various camps in these beautiful valleys, he found time to make a large collection of flowers and ferns, and himself attended to the drying and packing of the specimens. When these were eventually handed over to the Forest Department at Calcutta, the botanists found one fern which was pronounced a new variety, and named it after the General in the records of the Department.
In due course orders arrived for the withdrawal of the Relief Force. Early in September Gatacre conducted his Brigade over the frontier, and bade them farewell amidst the heartiest expressions of affection and goodwill on the part of all ranks, British and Native.