Kohat was made the base of operations, with an advanced base at Shinawari, thirty miles from Maidan. This route was on the whole considered an easier and shorter one into Tirah than those from Peshawar by the Bara and Mastura valleys, or from Kohat via the Khanki, despite, too, the fact that the nearest railway terminus was at Khushalgarh on the left bank of the Indus, and thirty miles to the east of Kohat.
The troops were divided into a main column of two divisions, each of two brigades of infantry with divisional troops; two subsidiary columns; line of communication troops; and a reserve mixed brigade at Rawal Pindi.
Transport Requirements
The main column, operating from Kohat and Shinawari, was to move on Tirah via the Chagru Kotal, Sampagha and Arhanga Passes; while of the two subsidiary columns one was to operate from Peshawar, and the other from the Miranzai and Kurram Valleys, as circumstances might require. From railhead at Khushalgarh to Shinawari, the advanced base, the road was practicable for carts, thence onwards the troops could only be served by pack animals, and of these some 60,000 were required for the use of the Tirah Expeditionary Force alone, not counting those already engaged with other frontier expeditions still in progress.[[118]] The collection of so vast an amount of transport naturally caused delay, and it was not until the 20th October that any forward movement could take place.
With the arrival of troops at Shinawari a commencement had been made at improving the road from thence over the Chagru Kotal to Kharappa, and by the 15th October it was fit for transport animals as far as the top of the pass. In order, however, to work on the north side of the kotal, and so complete the road construction in readiness for the advance on the 20th, it was necessary to drive the enemy from the vicinity so as to prevent them from disturbing our working parties.
On the 18th, then, Lieutenant-General Sir A. P. Palmer, temporarily commanding at Shinawari, moved out with troops of the 2nd Division, distributed in two columns. The main column was composed of Brigadier-General Kempster’s 1st Brigade of the 2nd Division:
1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders. 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment. 1st Battalion 2nd Gurkhas. 15th Sikhs.
To which were added
No. 4 Company Madras Sappers and Miners. No. 8 Mountain Battery. Machine Gun Detachment, 16th Lancers. Scouts, 5th Gurkhas.
The second column was under Brigadier-General Westmacott, who had either with him, or was joined by on reaching the Chagru Kotal, three of the battalions of his own, the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division, viz.: