The Relief of Chitral

by G. J. Younghusband; Sir Francis Edward Younghusband

This splendid offer, which showed so clearly the noble spirit which animated the troops, was eagerly accepted by the British officer, and on the 3rd of April Captain Borrodaile set out from Teeru to cross the pass with his spirited little body of native troops. The snow was very deep and the work of marching through it excessively heavy. A more arduous task than the men had voluntarily set themselves to do, it would be hard to imagine; but hard though it was, to their everlasting credit, the feat was successfully accomplished. Sledges were at first tried, but they had to be given up as useless. Narrow as these sledges were, a single man track was still narrower and extremely uneven with great holes every few steps, so that they could not be hauled easily and were abandoned. All day long the men struggled through the snow with the guns, till between nine and ten o'clock in the evening it was so dark that the track could scarcely be seen, and it was then decided that if the men were to get in at all, those behind would have to drop their loads. This was accordingly done, ammunition boxes, etc., were stacked in the snow, and the troops marched on to Langar, the camping spot at the foot of the pass.

There was only one small hut in which the more exhausted men were placed, and the remainder being without tents had to remain in the open for the whole night. The men with Captain Borrodaile were Sikhs from the plains of the Punjab, brought up for generations in one of the hottest climates in the world, and they were now called upon, after the severe struggles of this and previous days, to spend a night on the snow at nearly 12,000 feet above sea-level, and with the thermometer somewhere about zero (Fahrenheit). Sleep for most of them was out of the question; the men as far as possible gathered round small fires which had been made up from the brushwood to be obtained near the camping spot, and wearily awaited the dawn and final struggle of the coming day.

On the following morning Captain Borrodaile set off for the pass; but as it had now become clear to him that if his men were to attempt to carry over the guns as well as their own kit, they would inevitably break down altogether, he decided to leave Lieutenants Stewart and Gough behind, and directed these two officers to employ that day in bringing the remaining loads into camp and storing them there till either Captain Borrodaile could send back assistance from the opposite side of the pass, or until aid could come from Ghizr. Captain Borrodaile's men found the task of crossing the pass just heart-breaking; every few steps they would sink in through the snow, although some sort of a track had been beaten out by the levies going on in front. At times they would fall in almost up to their armpits, so that they had to be pulled out by their comrades. This was fearfully trying to men loaded as they were, to men too who had passed an almost sleepless night and started for this, the crisis of the enterprise, thoroughly exhausted.

By the time the party had reached the middle of the pass men were falling out in twos and threes, sitting down in the snow as if they were on the point of giving up the struggle. The heavy loads which they had to carry, rifles, ammunition, haversacks, greatcoats, etc., were weighing them down and utterly exhausting them. The snow was from three to five feet deep and quite eighteen inches of it was soft and fresh. At the same time the sun was pouring down upon the men, and adding to their discomfort by the glare which it produced from the white surface of the snow. Although all the men were provided with blue spectacles, many cases of snow-blindness occurred. The absence of water too caused the men additional suffering. Little relief was afforded them from sucking snow, and many were afraid to do that, thinking it might produce some bad influence. So exhausted were the men that it seemed at one time to the British officers that it would be necessary to spend another night on the snow, but at about 5.30 the advance guard came to the end of the flat part of the top of the pass, and the descent was at last commenced. News was at once passed along the line and fresh spirit came into the men. They pulled themselves together for a final effort, and when a little further on some water was obtained, they began to step out briskly. A critical time had now been reached; the party were descending the western side of the pass into the part of the country which had for a month now been up in open arms against the British. It was known that there was a village at the foot of the pass, and it was quite possible that Captain Borrodaile's exhausted troops might find resistance offered them here at the very culminating point of their troubles. Captain Borrodaile had therefore to send on his few levies to scout and discover if the enemy were in any force in the village of Laspur, at the foot of the pass, and to report on the state of affairs there. Fortunately no opposition was met with, for the Chitralis had scarcely expected that the troops would be able to cross the pass in its then condition, and at about 7.30, nearly twelve hours after the first start had been made from Langar, Laspur was reached.

In this straggling village a few inhabitants were found, who immediately came in to pay their respects, as, 200 men in their midst, even though they were so exhausted, were to be propitiated. Captain Borrodaile's party then made themselves snug for the night in the various buildings and outhouses, improvised a few rough defences against a night attack, and then prayed that for this night at least, after all their terrible exertions, they might be left in peace.

On the next morning (April 5th) Captain Borrodaile, having seized a number of inhabitants of the village, sent them back over the pass to Langar to help Lieutenant Stewart and Lieutenant Gough to carry over the guns and the remaining loads, which had been left on the near side of the pass. These two officers, with the small detachment of Kashmir Infantry, succeeded in their task, and to them is due the credit of performing this splendid feat of carrying guns over a high pass in, perhaps, its worst condition, and bringing them down into Chitral territory to give so important a help to Colonel Kelly's force. On the 4th, Surgeon-Captain Browning-Smith made an examination of the men who had crossed the pass, and found twenty-five cases of frost-bite and thirty of snow-blindness. These were fortunately not severe, but it was evident that even one more day's work such as these troops had had to undergo would have quite incapacitated the force.

We must now try and realise what was the position of this small detachment which Captain Borrodaile had with such resolution brought over the Shandur Pass. They were now in the presence of an enemy elated with success, and behind them this terrible pass, practically cutting off their retreat. The village of Laspur had to a certain extent been surprised, though two spies stationed on the pass had been observed by Captain Borrodaile's party, but a considerable number of Chitralis were known to be in the valley lower down, and an attack on Captain Borrodaile might be made at any moment. Colonel Kelly's instructions to Captain Borrodaile were to entrench himself on arrival, return his coolies, and endeavour to open up communication with the garrison of Mastuj, two marches below Laspur, who were besieged by the Chitralis.

On the evening of April 5th a short reconnaissance was made below the camp, as the levies had brought back information that a small body of the enemy had been seen.

On April 6th a reconnaissance in force was made by Captain Borrodaile to Gasht, twelve miles distant; the two guns and one hundred and twenty of the pioneers taking part in the movement. Gasht was reached without opposition, and the villages on the route were found almost deserted, but Captain Borrodaile's troops were able to seize some thirty inhabitants and twelve ponies to serve for transport purposes. Captain Borrodaile returned to Laspur the same night, and he then found Colonel Kelly with Lieutenant Beynon, his staff-officer, and about fifty levies had crossed the pass and arrived in Laspur.

On the 7th the troops rested and prepared for an advance on the following day.