General Gatacre Part 8

[Sidenote: Battye killed]

A sufficient occasion was all that was needed to bring about open hostility, and this was afforded by the tribesmen themselves on June 18, 1888. On that day Colonel Battye and Captain Urmston conducted a route-march with some three score Goorkhas from the frontier post at Oghi; they had gone perhaps a little nearer to the frontier than was quite expedient, but it was afterwards shown that they had never actually left British territory. When about ten miles from Oghi, they were fired at from two points simultaneously. Colonel Battye ordered the Goorkhas to rush a ridge just ahead on which they could make a stand. The ridge was secured, but, unfortunately, the two British officers turned back to help a wounded man, and, while they were thus separated from the troops, both were cut down with swords. The Subadar (native officer) at once took command, though one arm had been disabled by a blow from a stone, and a bullet had gone through his thigh, and his head was streaming with blood. He collected the party, and marched back to the spot where the two officers had fallen. Keeping up a spirited fire to drive back the tribesmen, he succeeded in recovering both bodies, and brought the whole party back into camp at 8.30 that night. This man, Subadar Kishnbir Nagar Koti, had already gained the Order of Merit three times in the Kabul Campaign.[3]

[3] See _Civil and Military Gazette_, June 1888.

As the Headman of the tribe refused to hand over the offenders, the Government was driven {74} to avenge this outrage by sending an armed force into the country of the Ha.s.senzais and Akazais, who were held responsible.

[Sidenote: Hazara Field Force]

This force, which numbered about 8,000 men, was organised in four columns, each formed of one British and two native regiments. A peculiar feature of this force was that no regiment was allowed to send more than six hundred men, which was a device to ensure the selection of a picked body of men. The late Sir John McQueen, who was then commanding the Punjab Frontier Force, was given command of the expedition, and Colonel W. F. Gatacre was appointed his Chief Staff Officer. This was naturally a moment of the liveliest satisfaction and antic.i.p.ation for him. At last he found himself on active service; at last he was to face the ordeal for which he had been training for twenty-six years.

Three of the columns marched out of Oghi on October 2, twenty-four hours' grace having been allowed beyond the time named in the ultimatum sent to the Maliks of the tribes. No. 4 Column, under Brigadier-General Galbraith,[4] had a.s.sembled at Derband on the River Indus, and was known throughout the campaign as the River Column; its function was to prevent any trans-Indus tribes moving eastwards across the river to join their neighbours, and it was hoped that the area of hostilities could thus be confined to those spurs of the Black Mountain where lay the heart of the disaffection.

[4] The late Sir William Galbraith, K.C.B.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: COLONEL W. F. GATACRE, D.S.O., 1888.]

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The main ma.s.s of the Black Mountain lies in a curve of the River Indus between Thakot and Arab. To the north and west its slopes are cut into ridges which descend precipitously into the deep gorge of the river; to the east the eye rests on a bewildering succession of pine-clad mountain ranges, till, stretching over the vale of Kashmir, it reaches the line of eternal snows.

The three mountain columns met with little opposition as they made their way up the spurs overlooking the Agror Valley. The Headquarter Camp was established at Khaim Gali, near the summit of the range, and from that point General McQueen directed the movements against the various villages. After about a fortnight General Channer, commanding No. 1 Column, was able to open up communication with General Galbraith in the valley below, at Kunhar. The latter at the outset had met with some slight opposition at Kotkai, resulting in the loss of two officers and five men, but had since made considerable progress up the river, and had moreover come to an understanding with the tribes in his immediate neighbourhood. The mountainous nature of the country made it extremely difficult to secure unity of action in the two regions. It became imperative that General McQueen should know what General Galbraith had done and had promised. To effect this purpose Gatacre offered to make his way down on foot to Kunhar, where the River Column had its headquarters.

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[Sidenote: Visits Galbraith]

By this time he was fairly well acquainted with the lie of the country, for he had been out daily with the columns, and, according to his colleague, Major Elles,[5] "had worked harder than any man in the force." He must have known that the direct descent from the ridge on which the Headquarter Camp at Khaim Gali was situated was a series of precipices. Taking the figures given on a map compiled for the expedition of 1891, the elevation of Khaim Gali is 8,680 ft., while the camp at Kunhar in the Indus valley is 1,560 ft., which means a clear descent of 7,120 ft. in a horizontal distance of less than five miles, though the distance actually marched worked out at fourteen miles.

Major Elles accompanied Colonel Gatacre, and they took an escort of fifty Khybari Rifles. The party left camp at 6 a.m., and reached Kunhar at noon. Although it was then October, the sun had great power in the middle of the day; the narrow valleys down which they crept were very stuffy, and as they approached the end of the journey the air became very close and oppressive. Major Elles confesses that he felt the sun very much, was tired out, and "could not have attempted the climb back again that day. But nothing," he says, "seemed to tire Gatacre, who was the hardest man I ever met. He neither drank nor smoked, and ate very little."

[5] Now Lieut.-General Sir Edmond Elles, G.C.I.E., K.C.B.

After settling the business that was the motif of the journey, and partaking of the hospitality of the River Column headquarter mess, Gatacre {77} announced his intention of starting back at 2 o'clock.

The men who acted as escort were dismayed at the Colonel Sahib's startling decision; indeed, only half of them were capable of setting off at once, but these insisted on being allowed to do so. Half-way up the mountain they were dead-beat; and as a small party able to take their place had been accidentally met with, the services of the newcomers were impressed, and Gatacre proceeded. It is a question for mountaineers whether the descent or the ascent was the more trying to a man's muscular system, and a question for Anglo-Indians whether the sun is hotter in the forenoon or the afternoon; anyhow, it must have been fairly fierce at 2 p.m. in the deep gorge of the Indus, and to have reached Khaim Gali again the same evening was an achievement worthy of mention in despatches. We are told that the first part of the ascent was very precipitous for about 2,500 ft., and impracticable even for mule carriage; the next 1,500 ft. was nothing but a succession of steps. Farther on, the line lay across terraced cultivation, which involved climbing up the walls supporting the fields, and walking across the soft plough which they enclosed, while throughout the march there were "pa.s.sages which were impossible for anything but a goat."

At 11 p.m. that same night Gatacre marched into the Headquarter Camp at Khaim Gali, the only man who had completed the double journey. The two marches had occupied six hours and nine hours respectively, and two hours only had {78} been spent in the triple business of negotiation, refreshment, and repose.

This feat did not pa.s.s unnoticed at the time. The editor of the _Broad Arrow_ of October 20, 1888, says:

"The story is suggestive of physical endurance and courage, and may be read with profit by fireside warriors and cynical philosophers upon the decline of the British officer."

[Sidenote: Active service]

Such an exchange of views between a confidential messenger from Headquarters and the officer commanding a column operating independently must always have great military value to the commander of an expedition, and it is evident that the consultation in this case was not without result, for in despatches we read that the first phase of the operations reached its conclusion on October 20. The Akazais and Ha.s.sanzais made complete submission, and by the end of the month had paid their fines in full. The object of the second phase was the coercion on similar lines of the Parari Saiads and Tikariwals. In the same way this involved much marching and counter-marching over the same "exigeant" cla.s.s of country. Although there was scarcely any fighting, doubtless all those who took part in these operations learned many of the supplementary lessons of war which no manoeuvres can ever teach. A British officer in a Goorkha regiment tells us how he learned one of these lessons from Gatacre himself.

The Brigade had just reached its {79} camping-ground: there had been a very arduous and hot march, finishing with a stiff climb up-hill. The Goorkha officer had flung himself on the ground, feeling dead-beat, when Gatacre rode up, and began making inquiry as to the water supply of the camp.

"Who is the Quarter-Master of this regiment?" he asked.

"I am, sir," said the officer, struggling to his feet.

"What has been done to secure the water supply from contamination?"

"Nothing, sir."

"I must have a guard put over it at once. Where is the spring?"

The spring was a thousand feet below. The commanding officer of the regiment, coming upon the scene, protested that his officer had only just come up.

"Never mind," said Gatacre. "It is of the utmost importance. I order you as Quarter-Master to go down and see that a sufficient guard is put round the spring, and that the animals are kept at a proper distance."

Much against his inclination the officer set about carrying out this injunction. On his arrival at the spring he saw the urgency of the order he was sent down to execute, and confessed the justice of the call upon his further exertions. Soldiers, bheesties, and animals were crowding round the pool, which, fed by a small spring, was the only water supply for the Brigade. He quickly restored order, made arrangements for {80} the watering of the different units, and, by thus securing the purity of the head-water, eliminated the chance of fever to thousands of men.

[Sidenote: 1888-9]

On October 28 General Channer occupied Thakot without resistance; on November 7 a deputation from the Parari Saiads came in and made full submission, as the Tikariwals had done already. On November 12 the Hazara Field Force began to disperse, having been under arms for six weeks. The casualties to the whole force amounted to twenty-seven men killed, fifty-nine wounded, and eight who had died of disease, showing that, from a military point of view, it was essentially a minor campaign. Moreover, politically, the results were inconclusive, but to Gatacre it was the field on which he had won his spurs: "the loyal support and valuable aid" that he had afforded his Chief were now for ever recorded; his initiative, energy, and physical powers had been proved in the field; his possession of military ability and soldierly qualities in a marked degree was now established.

It is difficult to understand why he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, which had been newly created as a recognition of the services of junior officers in the field, while his rank as substantive colonel in the army fully qualified him for a Companionship of the Bath; but so it was. Seven years had yet to run before the latter decoration was awarded, after the Chitral Campaign.

[Sidenote: Safe home]

Colonel Gatacre and Major Elles did not return {81} direct to Headquarters on the disbanding of the force, but made an extended march down the Indus, and reached Calcutta early in December. When writing his Christmas greeting to his father, Gatacre says:

"We are all returned safely from the Black Mountain, and I must say I for one thoroughly enjoyed myself; it was rough going, of course, but the climate was good, and there was plenty of outdoor exercise--such a pleasant change after the office life."

After another summer spent at Simla, Gatacre was sent in October 1889 to act for Sir George Wolseley, who was then commanding the Mandalay Brigade. Throughout the three and a half years that he had served with the Headquarter Staff, much of the work in the Quarter-Master-General's office had had reference to the welfare of the troops which since November 1885 had been operating in Upper Burma. Gatacre had taken moreover a personal interest in the success and well-being of the Army of Occupation, for his brother John had been serving there in command of his regiment, the 23rd Bombay Infantry.

The events which had occurred since Gatacre first visited Mandalay in 1883 will be dealt with in the next chapter.

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CHAPTER VI

1889-1890