Left Hook
Having received mistaken intelligence that the Afghans were retreating through the Peiwar Kotal, Roberts ordered a quick advance in order to catch them while they were in disarray. As the British approached, however, the waiting Afghan 6-pounders brought down a heavy fusillade of solid shot. The British hastily retreated, setting up camp beyond gun range.To gain the upper hand, the British and Indian troops needed to face the enemy along a small front, preferably where they could use their superior discipline and firepower. Roberts realized that a flank attack up and across the precipitous heights offered the best chance for success. To that end, he had sent out a number of reconnaissance patrols, and they discovered a mountain pass on the extreme left of the Afghan lines. Roberts quickly formulated a brilliant but simple plan. He left a skeleton force at the bottom of the valley, to make glaringly obvious preparations for a frontal assault. While Afghan attentions were preoccupied with their center, he would take just over 2,200 troops along the pass at night and deliver a knockout left hook in the early hours of morning.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Military History magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

At 11 p.m. on December 1, Roberts’ troops began the flanking march in bitterly cold weather, under strict orders to advance in total silence. Roberts remembered the occasion in his memoirs: ‘Onwards and upwards we slowly toiled, stumbling over great boulders of rock, dropping into old water-channels, splashing through icy streams, and halting frequently to allow troops in the rear to close up.’ The pace was not to Roberts’ liking–in fact, it seemed that the lead battalion of the 29th Punjabis (made up of many Muslims) was deliberately delaying the column’s progress. As if to confirm his suspicions, some Pathan sepoys in the 29th let off a number of warning shots before being overpowered. Two men were arrested and later tried for treason. The elder man was sentenced to death, but the younger was given a reprieve. With bated breath, Roberts braced for an enemy response, but nothing happened. Amazingly, although Karim Khan’s sentries had reported the shots to him, he dismissed it as a minor disturbance. It would prove a fatal lapse in judgment.

Roberts removed the 29th Punjabis from the vanguard and replaced them with Gurkhas and a company of Highlanders. Despite the delays, the British were in position by the early dawn hours. Roberts gave the order, and his elite Nepalese and Scottish troops led the attack. Totally surprised, Afghan resistance collapsed, and while his troops began rolling up the enemy’s broken flank Roberts heliographed an order for his soldiers at the bottom of the valley to begin a frontal assault. By midday the Afghans had been driven off the Peiwar Kotal and Roberts was preparing to strike Karim Khan’s camp, but the Afghans withdrew before he had the chance.

Gunners from the Royal Horse Artillery had dragged a number of cannons up to commanding positions on the Peiwar Kotal. Their bombardment set some Afghan tents on fire, causing a panic among those manning the defenses and the baggage train. The panic soon spread–even Afghan units that had yet to engage joined in the flight. British casualties totaled two officers and 18 men killed, and 75 wounded. For his outstanding victory over superior numbers, Roberts received thanks from both Queen Victoria and Parliament.

Peace?
The road to Kabul was now open and Kandahar had fallen to Stewart’s men, while General Browne had secured the Khyber Pass and was making good headway on Jalalabad. Left with no other option but to flee to Russian-controlled Turkmenistan, Sher Ali asked for assistance, but the tsar, with no further need of the Afghan leader, rebuffed him. Alone, ashamed and heartbroken, Sher Ali starved himself to death–yet another victim of the vicious, deadly Great Game.

Once Sher Ali had left, his son and successor, Yakub Khan, sued for peace, and at the end of lengthy negotiations the Treaty of Gandamuk was signed on May 29, 1879. Yakub Khan agreed to cede the Kurram Valley, the Khyber Pass and several other frontier districts. Britain controlled Afghanistan’s foreign policy. A permanent embassy was to be established in Kabul and linked with a telegraph line to Delhi. In return for those concessions, the British would withdraw their troops from Kandahar and Jalalabad and pay Yakub Khan an annual pension of 60,000 pounds sterling–a fortune for those days. Many Afghans from across the social spectrum felt that Yakub Khan had sold his country’s honor and lands purely for personal aggrandizement. Those who knew the ways of Afghanistan predicted further trouble.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to