The garrison,
two companies of the 45th Sikhs and twenty men of the 11th Bengal
Lancers, hurried to their posts, and after a short delay the assault
began, and never ceased for the best part of a week!
The fort was badly situated for defence, being indeed more a bridge-head
guard than a fort. The rock on which it stood was commanded by a great
spur running down to it from the west; and the only obstacle that
prevented that spur being occupied in full by the enemy was a small
tower, used for signalling purposes and occupied by a few Sikhs. The
story of that little post is an epic in itself; surrounded on all sides,
isolated from all help, with scanty food, and at the end no water, for
six days and nights it gallantly held its own.
As for the fort itself, it was so completely commanded by the fire from
the spurs that to move about in it was to court death. Yet thus glued to
the walls, and assailed night and day by brave warriors whose numbers
rose rapidly from fifteen hundred to over ten thousand, a few young
British officers with a couple of hundred Sikhs again and again rolled
back the tide of war. The history of that week was as the history of the
Malakand, continuous attacks by night and day; but the execution done
on the enemy, considering the smallness of the garrison, was
comparatively higher; statistics are difficult to gather, but a fairly
accurate estimate puts their loss at two thousand.
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