Says the Gazette: "Advancing with two companies of his regiment, he came upon a body of the enemy, strongly posted, and outnumbering his force by eighteen to one. His men being exhausted, and immediate action necessary, Major White took a rifle, and, going on by himself, shot dead the leader of the enemy."
And this was where the Afghans were at a disadvantage. The loss of their leader meant everything to them, for they were not as our soldiers—every man a leader if emergency requires. They began to fall back on the further slope of the hill, fearing the onslaught of the Highlanders, who were on top of it, victorious. It is extraordinary that in this important engagement our losses up to this point were nothing more than three Highlanders killed and six wounded, one cavalry soldier killed and three wounded.
While this engagement was proceeding, General Baker was leading his 72nd Highlanders across the hills, with a following of No. 2 Mounted Battery, some Gatling guns, and the wings of the 5th Gurkhas, 5th Punjab Infantry, and 23rd Pioneers. They fought their way over precipitous ground, and through 4,000 of the enemy. The resistance they met with remains to this day as a proof of the fighting powers of our then enemy. After two hours' stubborn fighting, regulated by the able generalship of Baker, the hill was at last taken in the rear by a flanking movement of the Gordons. It was a scene to live in the memory, when the gallant 92nd, cheered on by Cameron's pipes, stormed the hill. The dash and vigour of the assault no doubt carried the position, but the moral effect of Cameron and his pipes, to say nothing of brave colours flying, had to be reckoned with.
From this point the march on Kabul was unimpeded. When General Roberts arrived he found the place abandoned by the enemy. But there still remained some Afghans entrenched on a high hill to the rear of Bala Hissar, in such a position that it was necessary to dislodge them before entering the city, especially as behind them the enemy was in great force on the Ridge of Asmai. There was very severe fighting over the dislodgment of these Afghans, but on the fourth day General Roberts had removed every obstruction to his entry into Kabul. It was a great moment when he hoisted our Standard on the walls of Kabul.
(1882)
The British campaign arose out of the rebellious ambition of Arabi Pasha. The culminating point of the campaign was the battle of Tel-el-Kebir—the word signifying "A large village." Arabi Pasha was of common origin, having risen from the ranks of the Viceroy's army to the position of a somewhat famous colonel. His motto was "Egypt for the Egyptians." In this he left out of account the fact that Britain had tremendous interests in Egypt, including £4,000,000 of Suez Canal stock. Blinding himself also to the fact that Britain could not afford to lose the direct route to India, Arabi Pasha continued to oppose the growth of British influence even up to the point that he wished to rule Egypt himself.
The free expression of this ambition led to the bombardment of Alexandria and the destruction of Arabi's forts. Being defeated, his hatred of British influence grew stronger than ever. He retired into the interior and began mobilising his countrymen. As soon as this was known, it became necessary to send out a British army to hunt out the rebellious Arabi and put an end to his ambitions for ever. This army, under the command of Sir Garnet (afterwards Viscount) Wolseley, comprised 40,000 men, and was derived from India, Malta, Cyprus and Gibraltar.
This force landed at a port on the Canal and pressed on towards Kassassin. The rebels attempted to check its progress at Mahuta, but they were easily driven off. Very soon afterwards General Graham, with his vanguard, arrived at Kassassin, where he entrenched himself in obedience to a strict order to hold it at all costs. Many attacks were made, but they were all successfully foiled. There were two considerable engagements contested here, but they were merely preliminaries to that at Tel-el-Kebir, which was of the greatest moment. The 13th Bengal Lancers were engaged on the occasion when the Egyptians made a second attack at Kassassin. Then they were moved up to Tel-el-Kebir.