THE AFGHAN WAR.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1985, 5 July 1880, Page 3

THE AFGHAN WAR.

GBKAT BATTIiB AT &HUZNBB. To that gallant veteran of the Indian army, General Sir Donald Stewart, has fallen the credit of having fought and won certainly the bloodiest and, it may reasonably be hoped, the most important battle in which our troops have ever been engaged with Afghans as their enemies. While marching from Mushaki to Ghuznee the division of General Btewart encountered the enemy in large numbers. From the reports of prisoners the Afghan force is said to have been 15,000 fost and 3000 horse, under Shere Jan Zymud Peer Mahomed. Without waiting for an attack the enemy made a brilliant charge down upon our troops from the mountains, enveloping three sides of our position. They did not wait to fire, but, aword in hand and with streaming _ banners, they oharged upon us, uttering wild yells. Thoro are few more brilliant examples of heroic valor than that exhibited by the Afghana, as under a tremendous musketry and artillery fire they pressed forward unflinchingly to the attack, and never before in encounter with British troops have they exhibited anything like the magnificent bravery which they showed in the at. tack. Our infantry stood firm, and poured a terrific fire into their line, while the artillery literally ploughed them with grape. The cavalry, too, made several splendid charges through their dense ranks. General Stewart personally commanded on the ground, and the Ghuzaees twice nearly penetrated to where he stood. General Hughes, when well in front, was sharply hit with a spent ball, but was able.to remain on horseback and direct operations. At this crisis of the engagement our line was penetrated, and both flanks turned, the artillery having fired away all their case. The infantry stood firm, and made a most gallant stand, mowing down the enemy with musketry fire, but the right of the brigade was shaken by the determined onslaught of the enemy. At this moment the Ghuznee horse oharged desperately down on our left. The cavalry were rolled back before the weight and impetus of the attack, and, mixed together in a struggling throng, the mass of horsemen bore down upon the 3rd Goorkhas. Colonel Gyster saw his opportunity, and called upon his men to form company square, thus leaving space through which the blended mass of friend and foe was able to pass. Then, as the wounded Afghan horse swept on through the interval, the 3rd Goorkhas opened a withering fire, in which the 2nd Sikhs, the 59th and 19ih Punjab Infantry alike joined. The effect of this concentrated fire was terrible, men and horses rolled over in the wildest confusion, and our cavalry, relieved from the pressure, extricated themselves from their foes and fell upon the bead of the column, driving it baok through the square, and the crisis was over. Stubbornly as the Ghuznee infantry fought, they could not withstand the terrible fire opposed to them, and they too fell back, leaving the plain thickly strewn with their dead. Colonel Tillows, with his heavy guns, had meantime successfully dofended the baggage, pouring shell into the enemy, who momentarily threatened to make a serious attack upon it, but the artillery fire, and that poured in by the rifles of Baxter's Brigade, who were in charge of the baggage, prevented them from carrying their intention into effect. As the enemy fell baok, Colonel McLean, with the Ist Punjab Cavalry, dashed off in pursuit, and falling upon a mass who woro gathered on an eminence on our right, soattered them completely. The battle was now won on all sides ; but for a time victory had been doubtful, and had the whole of the enemy's force been thrown upon us at the critical moment the consequences would have been very serious. As it is, the victory was complete and crushing, and a blow has been inflicted upon the Afghans from which they will be long ere they recover. The action lasted just one hour, after wbioh time the enemy retired off the hills ond out on to the plainsTto the left, loiving over 1000 doad bodies on the field, and having removed as many more wounded. Several of our soldiers were after the action severely injured by Ghazis lying wounded on the field. Our casualties number 143—viz., 17 killed and 126 wounded, most by sword and epear wounds. No officers were killed, and all the wounded are doing well. The wounded officers are Lieutenant Young, of the 19th Bengal Lancers, dangerously ; Captain Oorbett, of the Royal Artillery, severely ; Colonel Lawson, of the 59th Regiment, Colonel Yorke, of the 19th Bengal Lancers; Lieutenant Watson, of the 59th Regiment; and Lieutenant Stewart, of the 2nd Punjab Cavalry, slightly. Many more of the enemy's wounded would have been accounted for had it not been for the large number of the cavalry who had to return for the protection of the baggage train, and who could not, therefore, be utilised in pursuit. After the enemy's retreat the troops marched on nine miles further to camp, having accomplished 18 miles since the morning.