On the 4th and 5th September General Wodehouse moved his brigade—now somewhat reconstructed—hurriedly from Uch to Sado, and was only just in time to prevent the seizure of the Panjkora Bridge by the Bajauris and Utman Khels, who had now made up their minds to oppose us. The First Brigade (Meiklejohn) was now left to hold the Swat Valley and our communications up to Sado; the Second (Jeffreys) marched from Chakdara, via Sarai, the Panjkora and Kotkai to Ghosam, where it arrived on the 9th; while by the 11th the Third Brigade (Wodehouse) was concentrated at Shakrata, equidistant from Mundah and Barwa, cavalry reconnaissances being pushed forward to the Batai and Shinai passes. On the 12th the Second Brigade was at Khar,[[76]] and the Third at Shamshak in the Watelai Valley, where the camp was fired into during the night.
Sir Bindon Blood had now intended to co-operate with General Elles, and for this purpose he himself moved on the 14th with the Third Brigade to Nawagai, while General Jeffreys seized the Rambat Pass, bivouacking on the Chaharmung stream near Inayat Kila, an Utman Khel village. Here a determined attack was made upon the Second Brigade camp at night by Mamunds and Utman Khels, who were unusually well armed and, creeping along the broken ground, were able to gain positions near the camp from which they maintained a very galling fire for nearly six hours, almost without intermission. Our casualties were seven killed (three British officers) and ten wounded, and the losses among the transport were serious, amounting to nearly a hundred. When daylight appeared the cavalry were sent after the retreating enemy and accounted for many of them.
The Mamund Country
The idea of joining the Third Brigade at Nawagai had now to be given up in favour of punitive operations in the Mamund country, and co-operation with General Elles was for the present impossible; the First Brigade was therefore ordered to move up to the Panjkora, the Third remaining entrenched at Nawagai. Here, on the night of the 19th and 20th determined attacks were made upon the camp, chiefly by the Hadda Mullah’s men from the Bedmanai Pass; they were beaten off without much difficulty, but some of them were shot down within ten yards of the entrenchment; we had one man killed and thirty-one wounded, among the latter being General Wodehouse. On the 22nd Sir Bindon Blood proceeded to the Mamund Valley to rejoin General Jeffreys; the Third Brigade on the same date being attached to the force under General Elles for completion of the operations against the Mohmands.
In the Watelai Valley
In the meantime the Second Brigade under General Jeffreys had been engaged in further fighting. On the 16th the troops marched up the Watelai Valley in three small columns, directed respectively on Badalai, Badan and Agra, and experienced in the operations which resulted the heaviest loss which British troops have suffered in frontier warfare, in a single day’s fighting, since the Ambela campaign. The right column destroyed some villages and then, finding a considerable force of the enemy occupying a strong position from which it seemed impossible to dislodge them without guns, returned to camp. The remaining two columns moved up the valley, the enemy retiring before them; when, however, it became necessary for the troops to halt to await the return of a party which had been detached, the enemy began to press forward in considerable numbers, inflicting some loss upon two companies of the 35th Sikhs, which were falling back upon their supports. The pressure was, however, temporarily relieved by an opportune charge of a squadron of the 11th Bengal Lancers under Captain Cole. The two columns commenced their withdrawal to camp at Inayat Kila about 3 p.m. A flanking party of two companies of the 35th Sikhs had not received the order to retire, but when the party commenced to do so, it withdrew in a direction rather diverging from the general line of retreat. These companies were assailed by the enemy on all sides, and did not extricate themselves, assisted finally by the Guides, until they had suffered over forty casualties. As the whole force continued its retirement darkness came on, accompanied by a heavy thunderstorm, and the General, considering it would be difficult to reach camp that night and anxious about his flanking parties, decided to occupy some villages till morning. The orders failed, however, to reach all the units; some pushed on to camp; but about dusk General Jeffreys found himself with no troops at his immediate disposal, except four guns of No. 8 Bengal Mountain Battery, a small party of Sappers, and a few men of the Buffs and 35th Sikhs, who had become separated from their companies in the dark. With these the General decided to occupy a hamlet called Bilot, about 3½ miles from camp. Part of this village was burning and half was in possession of the enemy, who had been following up closely, and the party with the General was only able to occupy and entrench one angle of the hamlet. Fighting was kept up at the closest possible quarters, and with heavy losses on both sides, until the arrival, about midnight, of four companies of the 35th Sikhs, with whose assistance the enemy were easily driven off, the rest of the night passing quietly.
The casualties during this day’s fighting amounted to 38 killed and 116 wounded, including three followers.
During the next few days the Second Brigade was busily employed in destroying villages and removing grain stores—always under fire, while the retirement to camp was invariably closely pressed. On the 23rd the Mamunds professed to be disheartened at their losses and anxious to make terms; but it seems probable that all they wished was to gain breathing time, for the negotiations came to nothing, and operations were accordingly resumed on the 29th September when many towers were demolished. The wounded were sent down to the Panjkora, and the heavy casualties in transport animals were made good.
On the 30th September the brigade attacked the villages of Agra and Gat, and severe fighting ensued, the enemy in great numbers occupying a position of considerable strength. More than once the Mamunds had to be driven from their sangars at the point of the bayonet, and, although the object of the operations was effected and the retirement was satisfactorily carried out, the want of more troops—for the brigade was by now greatly weakened—was much felt; on this day the casualties numbered twelve killed and forty-nine wounded, while throughout the losses in officers had been out of all proportion. Sir Bindon Blood now reinforced the troops in the Mamund country by bringing up another squadron of the Guides Cavalry, the 10th Field Battery, No. 8 Bengal Mountain Battery, the 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry, four companies of the 24th Punjab Infantry, and No. 5 Company Madras Sappers and Miners.
Close of the Operations