Lieutenant-Colonel R. C. Low, 13th Bengal Lancers, taking with him 400 infantry, 100 cavalry and two mountain guns, passed round the foot of the Drabzai Mountain, through Tindoh, as far as the entrance to the Krumb defile.
400 infantry, 50 cavalry and two mountain guns under Lieutenant-Colonel R. G. Rogers, C.B., 20th Punjab Infantry, explored the Tatang defile and the Abasikor Pass, the latter about thirteen miles from camp and 7700 feet in height. A mile beyond Tatang village, the road enters the Tatang defile, narrow, about forty or fifty yards long, and with precipitous, rocky sides overhanging the roadway. The road was rough and difficult for any but lightly laden baggage animals. From the crest of the pass a good view was obtained of the Massuzai (Orakzai) Valley.
A small party of the 13th Bengal Lancers, under Major C. R. Pennington, reconnoitred the country in the direction of the old Kafila road from Durani to Gawakki, which was found to be fairly good, and was consequently selected as that by which the main force should advance. The party under Colonel Rogers was the only one of the four which experienced any, and that but an altogether insignificant, opposition.
General Tytler’s Operations
On the 8th December, Brigadier-General Tytler moved to Gawakki, in the Zaimukht country, with the undermentioned force:
| Total strength. | |
|---|---|
| 1–8th Royal Artillery, four guns (screw), | 195 |
| No. 1 Kohat Mountain Battery, two guns, | 78 |
| 2nd Battalion 8th Regiment, | 41 |
| 85th Regiment, | 733 |
| 1st Bengal Cavalry, | 57 |
| 13th Bengal Cavalry, | 155 |
| 18th Bengal Cavalry, | 55 |
| 8th Company Sappers and Miners, | 57 |
| 13th Native Infantry, | 323 |
| 4th Punjab Infantry, | 557 |
| 20th Punjab Native Infantry, | 399 |
| 29th Punjab Native Infantry, | 568 |
During the next ten days the country was thoroughly explored, and every village of any importance was visited. On the 9th, Manatu was reached without opposition, and from here three columns were despatched into the Wattizai Valley, the inhabitants of which had been largely implicated in the offences on the Thal-Kurram road, and there, in spite of some opposition, the villages of Kandali and Katokomela were burnt to the ground; at the same time some other villages in this valley were attacked from Kurram by a party of Turi levies and were also destroyed. The Wattizai Valley is about six miles long, well cultivated and watered. On the 12th the column marched five miles to Chinarak, distant about eight miles from the stronghold of Zawo, the objective of the expedition. Chinarak is situated on a fairly open and level plateau, surrounded by terraced fields, through which ran numerous water channels, and was almost at the foot of the defile leading to Zawo. At Chinarak the three main routes into the Zaimukht country converge, viz. from Balish Khel, from Torawari, and from Thal by the Sangroba defile, and it may therefore be looked upon as the most important strategical point of the whole valley.
Advance on Zawo
On the 13th, the force, less a small party remaining to guard the camp at Chinarak, moved out to attack Zawo; to this fastness there are three approaches—one by a difficult ravine about seven miles long and ten feet wide, one to the left over a steep spur on the west of the ravine, one to the right over high hills west of the valley of Surmai. The plan adopted was to hold the commanding ground on the right, while the main advance was made by the ravine. There was a certain amount of opposition—the enemy at one place fighting hand-to-hand with the 29th—the advance was much delayed by the ground, and the bed of the defile was found to be excessively difficult; so that when by 4 p.m. the Brigadier-General found himself in possession of the village of Bagh, three and a half miles from Chinarak and four and a half from Zawo, he decided to postpone any further advance till the following day and bivouac at Bagh for the night. Early on the 14th, while Colonel Gordon, with three companies of the 85th, three companies of his own regiment, and two guns, occupied the high ground to the north, flanking the approach to Zawo from Bagh, the main force under General Tytler advanced up the gorge, over increasing difficulties for about a mile, and gained, under a heavy fire, the summit of the pass overlooking the village, or cluster of eight or ten villages, of Zawo, situated amongst terraced fields in a horse-shoe shaped valley. The villages were destroyed, and the force returned that night to Bagh, and thence on the 15th to Chinarak, the retirement having been entirely unmolested.
In these operations the loss of the enemy was estimated at over forty killed and one hundred wounded, the British casualties being one officer and one sepoy killed, one native officer and one noncommissioned officer wounded. The result of the Zawo expedition was the complete destruction of the settlements of the Khudu Khel sub-division. The Zaimukhts had for this occasion been aided by from 2000 to 3000 of the Lashkarzai Orakzais, and so confident were they of the natural strength of the position and of their capability to defend it with the numbers at their disposal, that they hardly commenced to desert the village until the ridge above Zawo had been taken by our troops. Their losses in retirement were consequently unusually heavy, and may account for the unmolested withdrawal of Brigadier-General Tytler’s force.