Winston Churchill
The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664115928
Table of Contents
CHAPTER II: THE MALAKAND CAMPS
CHAPTER IV: THE ATTACK ON THE MALAKAND
CHAPTER V: THE RELIEF OF CHAKDARA
CHAPTER VI: THE DEFENCE OF CHAKDARA
CHAPTER VIII: THE ADVANCE AGAINST THE MOHMANDS
CHAPTER X: THE MARCH TO NAWAGAI
CHAPTER XI: THE ACTION OF THE MAMUND VALLEY, 16TH SEPTEMBER
CHAPTER XIV: BACK TO THE MAMUND VALLEY
CHAPTER XV: THE WORK OF THE CAVALRY
CHAPTER XVII: MILITARY OBSERVATIONS
CHAPTER XVIII. AND LAST.: THE RIDDLE OF THE FRONTIER
THIS BOOK
IS INSCRIBED TO
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD, K.C.B.
UNDER WHOSE COMMAND THE OPERATIONS THEREIN
RECORDED WERE CARRIED OUT; BY WHOSE GENERALSHIP
THEY WERE BROUGHT TO A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION;
AND TO WHOSE KINDNESS THE AUTHOR IS INDEBTED
FOR THE MOST VALUABLE AND FASCINATING EXPERIENCE
OF HIS LIFE.
PREFACE
"According to the fair play of the world,
Let me have an audience."
"King John," Act v., Sc. 2.
On general grounds I deprecate prefaces. I have always thought that if an author cannot make friends with the reader, and explain his objects, in two or three hundred pages, he is not likely to do so in fifty lines. And yet the temptation of speaking a few words behind the scenes, as it were, is so strong that few writers are able to resist it. I shall not try.
While I was attached to the Malakand Field Force I wrote a series of letters for the London Daily Telegraph. The favourable manner in which these letters were received, encouraged me to attempt a more substantial work. This volume is the result.
The original letters have been broken up, and I have freely availed myself of all passages, phrases, and facts, that seemed appropriate. The views they contained have not been altered, though several opinions and expressions, which seemed mild in the invigorating atmosphere of a camp, have been modified, to suit the more temperate climate of peace.
I have to thank many gallant officers for the assistance they have given me in the collection of material. They have all asked me not to mention their names, but to accede to this request would be to rob the story of the Malakand Field Force of all its bravest deeds and finest characters.
The book does not pretend to deal with the complications of the frontier question, nor to present a complete summary of its phases and features. In the opening chapter I have tried to describe the general character of the numerous and powerful tribes of the Indian Frontier. In the last chapter I have attempted to apply the intelligence of a plain man to the vast mass of expert evidence, which on this subject is so great that it baffles memory and exhausts patience. The rest is narrative, and in it I have only desired to show the reader what it looked like.
As I have not been able to describe in the text all the instances of conduct and courage which occurred, I have included in an appendix the official despatches.
The impartial critic will at least admit that I have not insulted the British public by writing a party pamphlet on a great Imperial question. I have recorded the facts as they occurred, and the impressions as they arose, without attempting to make a case against any person or any policy. Indeed, I fear that assailing none, I may have offended all. Neutrality may degenerate into an ignominious isolation. An honest and unprejudiced attempt to discern the truth is my sole defence, as the good opinion of the reader has been throughout my chief aspiration, and can be in the end my only support.
Winston S. Churchill
Cavalry Barracks,
Bangalore, 30th December, 1897
CHAPTER I: THE THEATRE OF WAR
The Ghilzaie chief wrote answer: "Our paths are narrow and
steep.
The sun burns fierce in the valleys, and the snow-fed streams run
deep;
… … . …
So a stranger needs safe escort, and the oath of a valiant friend."
"The Amir's Message," SIR A. LYALL.
All along the north and north-west frontiers of India lie the Himalayas, the greatest disturbance of the earth's surface that the convulsions of chaotic periods have produced. Nearly four hundred miles