Divisional Troops.—Guides' Infantry, 11th Bengal Lancers, 13th Bengal Infantry, 23rd Pioneers, Bengal Sappers, East Lancashire Regiment, 29th and 30th Punjabis, Field Hospital.
Colonel Kelly's force consisted of two parties:—
(1) 200 Pioneers, 2 mountain guns, 40 Kashmir sappers, with 100 Hunzanagur levies.
(2) 100 Kashmir troops, under Lieut. Gough.
Low forced Malakand Pass. The enemy's strength was on the left side of the pass. Low brought his artillery to bear on this position, while the 4th Sikhs and Guides were thrown forward to scale the hills and carry the breastworks of loose stones; after which they were to work along the ridges and turn the enemy's flank.
No sooner had they come within range than the hillmen poured a fierce fire into their ranks; but our men could not reply, as their stern business was to climb, and climb as quickly as possible. And a most desperate ascent it was, for they had to contend against not only a hail of bullets, but an avalanche of boulders as well. The officers suffered heavily, from the simple fact that they could easily be distinguished by their helmets among the turbaned troops.
It was a long and tragic climb, but at last it came to the point of the bayonet on the crest of the hill, and after more than three hours' fighting the defenders abandoned the position. The Sikhs and Guides, who carried this important point, had been nineteen hours under arms.
During this time the Scottish Borderers and the Gordons had forced their way up the centre of the pass until they now came to the last climb, which was the steepest of all. But it was their own native task that was before them, and, point by point, they scrambled upwards, helping each other up, and never flinching under the constant storm of lead. Seeing the desperate nature of their situation, Low despatched Kinloch's infantry to their support: the King's Royal Rifles on the left and the Bedfordshires and Dogras on the right; the 15th Sikhs being held in reserve. The Borderers and the Gordons not only held, but gained ground, and the Bedfordshires, when they came up, pushed right through the fighting line, and, supported by the Dogras, finished the fight the Borderers and the Gordons had so long contested. Clear over the ridge they drove the hillmen, and the Dogras never ceased pursuit of the routed foe until the survivors were dispersed in the Swat valley.
Kelly encountered much severe fighting on his difficult journey, and his daring and successful mission of relief can never be forgotten. The principal engagement, however, was at Malakand Pass, where, though victorious, Sir Robert Low's small force lost seventy killed and wounded.
Besides the many native regiments which took part in the relief of Chitral, special honour is due to the 14th (King George's Own) Ferozepore Sikhs, who were prominent in its defence. Their bravery of despair and their heroic patience in that defence have bequeathed to them a heritage of glory in the annals of Britain; and