Drummer James Roddick of the 92nd Highlanders defending Lieutenant Menzies during hand-to-hand fighting in the Battle of Kandahar on 1st September 1880
Drummer James Roddick of the 92nd Highlanders defending Lieutenant Menzies during hand-to-hand fighting in the Battle of Kandahar on 1st September 1880. The Battle of Kandahar was the turning point of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. General Frederick Roberts led a British relief force that successfully broke the siege of Kandahar and defeated Ayub Khan's Afghan army, securing British control over the city and dealing a major blow to the Afghan forces.
On 27 July 1880, around 2,500 British and Indian troops under Brigadier-General George Burrows were overwhelmed by an Afghan force which was 10 times its size at Maiwand. Following the Battle of Maiwand, the remaining British troops retreated and were besieged in Kandahar. The defeat at Maiwand caused an outcry in Victorian Britain.
General Roberts, a seasoned British commander, was appointed to lead the relief force. Roberts began his famous 300 miles (483 km) march from Kabul toward Kandahar with a force of approximately 10,000 men. On September 1, 1880, Roberts' forces encountered Ayub Khan's Afghan army near Kandahar. The Afghan army consisted of an estimated 13,000 men, including tribal warriors and regular soldiers.
Despite being outnumbered, the disciplined British troops, supported by their superior firepower, inflicted heavy casualties on the Afghan forces. The battle was fierce and lasted for several hours. Roberts' forces displayed their military prowess by executing well-coordinated maneuvers and maintaining discipline under intense Afghan fire. Eventually, the Afghan lines collapsed, and Ayub Khan's army retreated in disarray.
The routed Afghans suffered around 3,000 casualties, while British losses were 100 killed 218 wounded. The British victory at the Battle of Kandahar was the last major battle of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. It dealt a severe blow to Ayub Khan's aspirations of becoming the Amir of Afghanistan. A new Amir, Abdur Rahman Khan, was selected by the British, who ratified and confirmed the Treaty of Gandamak. Having achieved their objectives, the British withdrew from Afghanistan in 1881
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