Scenes and Adventures in Affghanistan

by William Taylor

GEO. THOMSON, Capt. Engrs.
Chief Engineer Army of the Indus.

The following report by Captain Peat, of the Bombay Civil Engineers, gives a more detailed account of the operations for blowing up the gate, which, it will be seen, were attended with difficulties of no ordinary nature.

"During the reconnaissance the wall pieces were particularly troublesome. This weapon is almost unknown in our service, but it is a very efficient one, especially in the defence of works, and its use should not be neglected. Every fortified post should be supplied with a proportion of them, and a certain number of men in every regiment practised in firing them.

The charge recommended by Colonel Pasley, for blowing open gates is from sixty to one hundred and twenty pounds, and this is, doubtless, sufficient in ordinary cases; but in this instance we were apprehensive that the enemy might have taken alarm at our being so much on that side of the place, and in consequence, partially or wholly, built up the gateway. It was afterwards found that some attempts of the kind had been made by propping up the gate with beams.

The charge was so heavy, that it not only destroyed the gate, but brought down a considerable portion of the roof of the square building in which it was placed, which proved a very considerable obstacle to the assaulting column, and the concussion acted as far as the tower, under which an officer's party of her Majesty's 13th regiment were standing at the time, but without occasioning any casualties. In cases of this nature it is of course the first object to guard against any chance of failure; and it is impossible, even now, to say how much the charge might have been reduced with safety.

The enemy appeared so much on the alert, and the faussebraye was so much in advance of the gate that we never contemplated being able to effect our object by surprise. The only question was, whether it ought to be done by day or night. It was argued in favor of the former, that the Artillery would be able to make so much more correct practice that the defences would be in a considerable degree destroyed, and the fire so completely kept under as to enable the explosion party to advance with but little loss, and with the advantage of being able to see exactly what they were about. Captain Thompson, however, adhered to the latter, and we were afterwards convinced it was the most judicious plan; for although the fire of the Artillery was necessarily more general than it would have been in daylight, still it was so well directed as to take up a good deal of the attention of the besieged, and draw upon their batteries a portion of the fire, which in daylight would have been thrown down upon the explosion party and assaulting columns. It would also, even in daylight, have been difficult, with our Light Artillery, to have kept down the fire so completely but that a few matchlock men might have kept their position near the gateway; and in that narrow space a smart fire from a few pieces might have obliged the party to retire. The obscurity of the night, to say nothing of the confusion which it must occasion among undisciplined troops, is certainly the best protection to a body of men engaged in an enterprise of this nature. Blue lights certainly render objects distinctly visible, but their light is glaring and uncertain, especially to men firing through loopholes.

The party consisted of eighteen officers, twenty-eight sergeants, seven buglers, and two hundred and seventy-six rank and file.

It was made of this strength, not only to keep up a heavy fire upon the parapets, and thereby divert attention from the party at the gateway, but also because we were not aware whether the faussebraye was occupied or not, and as it extends so much in advance as to take the gate completely in reverse, it would have been necessary, had a fire opened from it, to have carried it by assault before the party with the bags could have advanced. The party with Lieutenant Durand was accompanied by six men of the 13th, without their belts, the better to secure them from observation, to protect them from any sortie that might be made from the postern of the faussebraye on the right, or even from the gate itself, while another party under an officer, Lieutenant Jennings, accompanied me as far as the tower so as to check any attempts that might have been made from the faussebraye on the left, and at the same time keeping up a fire on such of the enemy as showed their heads above the parapet; of this party one man was killed and a few wounded.

Nothing could have been more gallant than the conduct of Lieutenants Durand and McLeod, and the men under their command; or more efficient than the manner in which they executed their duty.