Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Heroes of the Korean War: Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith
The Soldiers of Taskforce Smith
It has been 57 years since the Task Force Smith Battle against the communist North Korean forces on July 5, 1950 at the beginning days of the Korean War. The battalion of soldiers called Task Force Smith after their commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith was quickly deployed from occupation duty in Japan to Korea to delay the North Korean advance until more American units could arrive to fight the communist aggressors. History tends to record Task Force Smith as a an example of a military blunder, but the fact of the matter is that Task Force Smith really did fight the best they could with what they had and should not be looked down upon as being an example of poor soldiering. They were great soldiers and Americans that fought well in defense of freedom for a country few had ever heard of. To truly understand Task Force Smith it is important to examine the morale and psychology of the unit at the time.
The soldiers that composed Task Force Smith were from 1st Battalion, 21st Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. The 24ID was located in Japan and were conducting peacekeeping operations. The priority of the military at the time was on occupation and reconstruction duties in Japan and not collective unit training. Plus the soldiers were living a soft life that included personal shoe shine boys and flirting with numerous prostitutes. Even the lowest private felt like a king in 1950 Japan.
Plus many of the soldiers in the Army at the time were not old enough to have fought in World War II. They were young teenagers during World War II and grew up believing the US and especially the military was invincible. However these young soldiers had no idea what real combat was like, but John Wayne had taught them on TV that combat was glorious and you can run around the battle field with out fear of bullets and when somebody does gets hit they just spin around and lie on the ground motionless. There was no movies like Saving Private Ryan that conveyed the real horrors of actual ground combat.
The soldiers of 1-21IN, 24ID were not a lone and unique example of untrained soldiers at the time, as the unit is sometimes referred too. In fact LTC Smith actually instituted a vigorous company level training program to improve the soldiers basic infantry standards beginning in January of 1950. However, the unit would not have time to conduct vigorous battalion level training due to the on set of the Korean War that was launched on June 25, 1950..
LTC Smith’s unit was in fact a microcosm of the entire post-war military in 1950. The army was filled with untrained, but highly patriotic youths brought up to believe America and it’s military were the best in the world without appreciation for the realities of the hard work and training it takes to stay the best. All the John Wayne movies in the world do not make up for tough, realistic training. Unfortunately for them, they would soon learn this reality in the far away hills of Korea. A place many of them had never heard of and would soon give their lives for.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith was first notified of his 1-21 Infantry Battalion’s deployment to Korea on July 1, 1950 when he was called into the office of the 24th Infantry Division’s Commanding General’s office. The commander General Dean notified LTC Smith that his battalion was chosen to lead a delaying action in Korea against the advancing North Korean forces. They would be the speed bump that would slow down the North Koreans until more US forces could arrive to destroy them.
Commander of all US forces General Douglas MacArthur had referred to Task Force Smith as an “arrogant display of American strength.” This sentiment caused many of the soldiers in Task Force Smith to feel that this was just a temporary “Police Action” as the Korean War is sometimes referred to, and they would be back to their comfortable lives in Japan in no time. They believed that once the North Koreans saw the all mighty American Army in front of them, they would turn around and run back to North Korea. The North Koreans had other plans.
LTC Smith’s orders were to deploy the battalion as quickly as possible to Pusan and from there advance as far North as possible along the Taejon to Seoul road to set up a defensive line to delay the North Korean advance until General William Dean could get the rest of the 24ID deployed to Korea. The 24ID was spread throughout Japan on occupation duty and was not configured for rapid deployment. They needed time to get everyone mobilized and prepared for deployment. Task Force Smith’s mission was to give the Division that time.
1-21IN deployed on July 2nd from Camp Wood, Japan with two rifle companies, headquarters, and a two mortar platoons, and a 75mm recoilless rifle platoon. In total the small battalion totaled roughly 430 men. The unit flew by plane to a military airfield near Pusan. By July 3rd 1-21IN had arrived by train to Taejon where they began to move North to meet the advancing North Koreans. On America’s birthday, the 4th of July, 1950, 1-21IN met up in Pyongtaek with part of the 52nd Field Artillery battalion. Field Artillerymen only had six 105mm howitzers, totaled 108 men, and were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Miller Perry. Task Force Smith now totaled roughly 540 men and were on their way to stop two advancing North Korean Divisions totaling upwards of 20,000 men who had days prior routed the ROK Army. But this was a “police action”, and those 20,000 North Koreans are supposed to run in fear when they see the US soldiers in front of them. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Task Force Smith moved North from Pyongtaek and set up a defensive line on some key high ground along Highway 1 just North of modern day Osan. The Task Force dug in and prepared to fight the advancing North Koreans. These soldiers would soon learn that warfare is not a John Wayne movie and the enemy doesn’t always follow the script.
On July 5, 1950 Task Force Smith sat entrenched in a defensive line just North of modern day Osan. A steady rain fell on the defenders as they awaited for the inevitable battle. At 0700 Lieutenant Colonel Smith saw eight North Korean T-34 tanks moving south down the highway from Suwon to Osan heading straight for the ridge line the US soldiers were dug in at.
LTC Smith called on his six supporting howitzers from the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion to pour what artillery men like to call “steel rain” on the enemy. The howitzers fired their 105mm artillery rounds on the enemy tanks but this “steel rain” met even stronger iron as the rounds were unable to penetrate the thick armor of the T-34 tanks.
The T-34 tanks were from the NK 105th Armor Brigade that were screening in front of the advancing NK 4th Infantry Division. Some of you may remember the NK 4ID from when they battled the ROK 7ID in the Battle of Uijongbu. The Americans would be equally frustrated by the superior T-34′s armor as their ROK Army counterparts were.
The eight T-34′s continue to move forward and engage the Americans on the ridge line oblivious to the artillery fire that could not penetrate their armor. Lieutenant Ollie Connor took a bazooka and ran down the hill into a ditch along side the road and fired on the T-34. The bazooka round had no effect. He then fired into the rear of the tank which is supposed to be the T-34′s “soft spot” which that also had no effect. In all Lieutenant Connor fired a total of 22 bazooka rounds which all had no effect on the T-34′s. The tanks would of been easy kills with anti-tank mines but the infantrymen had none at their disposal. Air power could of also hit the tanks hard, but the steady rain caused the US Air Force to not fly sorties in the vicinity of Task Force Smith due to concerns of friendly fire incidents.
The first T-34′s unimpressed by the ambush continued forward looking for the real fight not realizing that was in fact the real fight. The North Koreans felt there had to be a stronger American force awaiting somewhere to ambush them and this was just a road block to occupy them with. This was the legendary American Army they fighting, there had to be more. However, there was no more; it was just Smith and his men.
The tanks continued down the road towards the artillery positions. The artillery men fired one of their total of nine anti-armor rounds at one of the tanks. There was only nine of these rounds in country at the time. The lead tank was hit in the front and burst into flames. The three NK tankers jumped out and fired at an American machine gun position killing an assistant gunner. This assistant gunner would become the first US fatality of the Korean War, he soon would not be alone; many more would follow. The three North Korean tankers were eventually quickly shot down by the other Americans.
The other tanks were not detoured by the destroyed tank and moved forward. The artillery men were practically using their howitzers as direct fire weapons firing at ranges of 150-300 meters at the T-34′s. One more tank was disabled when it was hit in the treads, but the other tanks kept coming. The tanks moved to the rear of the howitzers and destroyed LTC Perry’s headquarters and vehicles but by passed the howitzers and kept moving south. The Americans still had their six howitzers but no means of communicating with LTC Smith’s infantry men because the tanks had cut the communications line in between the infantrymen and the artillery men. Artillery is of no use if there is no one to communicate with them to call in the indirect fires.
Once LTC Smith realized that his communications with LTC Perry had been cut he sent runners to try and restore communications but they twice returned saying they could not run a line due to enemy direct fire on them. The radios between the infantry men and the artillery also would not work due to the rain damaging their equipment. Comms or no comms the tanks just kept coming.
The artillery men continued to fire at the tanks as they passed by. However, some of the young artillery men panicked and ran at the sight of over 40 tanks moving through their area. Officer and sergeants took over the howitzers, continuing the heavy fire on the tanks. They were able to disable another track before all the tanks passed them and continued south. Amazingly the artillerymen took only two wounded including LTC Perry with no dead. The nearby infantry men had sustained 20 dead in the fight against the tanks. The artillery men had only one destroyed howitzer but most of their headquarters and support vehicles had been destroyed. The artillery men from the 52nd FA had fought bravely against the enemy tanks destroying three of them but without communications the artillery men would have no more impact on this fight.
After what must have seemed like an endless column of North Korean tanks, they passed by the ridge defended by LTC Smith’s infantry men with little resistance. The main column of the NK 4th Infantry Division came into sight. The NK column was composed of dismounted infantry, approximately 4,000 of them, walking in congested groups down the road accompanied by more T-34 tanks. Great more tanks, but at least there was finally something Smith and his guys could actually kill.
However, by this point in the battle, the John Wayne movie illusions of combat had been shattered after the unit’s fight with the North Korean tanks. The soldiers couldn’t have been to thrilled to see more tanks and let alone 4,000 enemy infantry on top of it.
Heavy casualties could of been inflicted on the dismounted North Korean infantry if LTC Smith had communications with his howitzers to fire artillery on them. LTC Smith was still not able to restore communications and figured the artillery men had been destroyed by the North Korean tanks that had passed by. Also if the steady rain would of stopped, American air power could of decimated the North Korean column, but Smith had neither and would pay dearly for it.
Smith ordered his mortars to start the attack. The enemy took casualties and began to search for cover. The North Korean soldiers though battle hardened and mentally prepared for combat were not tactically disciplined and did not realize their numerical superiority and initially did not mount an effective dismounted counterattack. The North Koreans did however unload on the ridge line with artillery and tank fire. The volume of fire was ferocious but without an effective infantry counterattack to dislodge Smith’s men, the US soldiers continued to hold the high ground.
However, after the North Koreans began to realize their numerical superiority they began slowly to flank the American forces. Task Force Smith was slowly becoming enveloped by the North Koreans and sustaining heavy casualties, plus many soldiers had simply ran out of ammunition to fire. LTC Smith made the tough decision to withdraw. A withdrawal is difficult to execute even with a well disciplined unit much less soldiers that were scared and poorly trained in withdrawal operations. Once the order was given many of the soldiers simply took off and ran, leaving behind their weapons and equipment.
LTC Smith headed towards LTC Perry’s position to see what had become of the artillery men. He was amazed to see the artillery men were still intact. However, it was to late for them to provide any effective fires in this battle. He gave the order for them to retreat, but not before they effectively disabled their howitzers rendering them useless to the enemy. The artillery men still had a few trucks left and loaded up their men and began retreating.
To make matters worse for Smith, the already chaotic withdrawal was rendered more difficult because the prior enemy tanks had now occupied Osan to the unit’s rear. He had to have the unit withdraw towards the east instead. Nobody wanted to mess with those tanks again. However, the east was filled with slimy rice paddies the soldiers had to navigate through instead. I’m sure the soldiers preferred that then to fight those tanks again. Some of the trucks from 52nd FA stopped and picked up about 100 infantry men along the way.
The North Koreans were happy with just capturing the ridge line and chose not to pursue the Americans. Not because they were exhausted but because there was to much good loot on the hill to plunder. I’m sure the NK soldiers have a great time taking watches, wallets, and equipment from all the dead and wounded American soldiers. This probably slowed the North Korean advance more than the battle itself.
The next morning LTC Smith could only account for half of the unit’s 540 men. Approximately 181 American soldiers were either killed or captured that summer day in July 1950 and inflicted approximately 127 casualties on the North Korean enemy. Those 181 lives had delayed the North Koreans for 7 hours.
Weeks later scattered soldiers from Task Force Smith would trickle into Pusan. Some soldiers had made it all the way to the East Coast and followed the coast line down to Pusan. One soldier reached the Yellow Sea and used a Korean sampan to travel to Pusan.
Other 24th Infantry Division units had arrived over night and set up positions in Choenan and Taejon areas. They to would be routed at a great cost of American lives, but more time had been bought. The 24ID had been piece mealed and trickled into Korea one unit at at time. No general would ever want to fight a battle with piece mealed units, but the 24ID has no choice, but to do so to delay the advancing enemy. The 24ID had actually delayed the enemy long enough for the 1st Cavalry and 25th Infantry Divisions to arrive in strength from Japan. These two units would go on to achieve heroic acts of bravery in saving the country of Korea by holding the Pusan Perimeter. However, the Pusan Perimeter would of never been formed without the precious time payed for in American lives by the units of the 24th Infantry Division and Task Force Smith.
The Lessons Learned from Taskforce Smith
Task Force Smith though poorly trained and ill equipped was still able to put up an effective defense for a limited amount of time. If they had land mines, air support, and more ammunition they probably could of sustained their defense longer and inflicted more casualties. However, with two approaching North Korean divisions they were sure to be over run at some point and the Army commanders in Tokyo knew this. So to blame the defeat of Task Force Smith solely on the unit and LTC Smith, like some people like to believe, for allowing his unit to become so poorly trained and outfitted during peace time, I find to be misguided.
The Army commanders in Tokyo are the ones that allowed the soldiers of 1-21 Infantry and the rest of the occupation forces in Japan to become so poorly trained and ill equipped in the first place, but it really isn’t their fault either. As is so often the case the blame really lies with the politicians.
The US Congress at the time set the Army’s strength at 10 combat Divisions, but they did not provide enough money to sustain these 10 Divisions. At best there was enough money to fund only 6 Divisions. The politicians however are always eager to not be seen as “soft on defense” and mandated that 10 Divisions had to be kept knowing full well they would not be properly funded. After all the US had the atomic bomb, who needs ground forces when you have nukes, right? At least that is what Congress thought.
The Army short on money chose to use their scarce resources to ensure that the front line Divisions in Germany were fully manned and trained due to the increasing Soviet threat than to allocate resources to an occupation force in Japan. Thus the four Army Divisions in Japan received little money for equipment and training and many units were only filled with 50% of their required personnel.
Combine this with the John Wayne attitude of the military’s youth at the time and this is how you end up with a Task Force Smith. It is important to understand that Task Force Smith was not unique. It was just microcosm of the military in the Pacific that was allowed to weaken by the US government due to budgetary reasons that forces the military to focus its scant resources to defend Europe then to train an occupation army.
The politicians apparently thought just like the young soldiers, that enough John Wayne movies and patriotism can make up for rigorous training and good equipment. Past greatness doesn’t sustain the readiness of an Army. If this was the case the French and Italians would still be military powers today. Training and the best equipment are what makes a military strong.
However, as often is the case, the politicians don’t pay for their bone headed errors, the soldiers do and Task Force Smith payed for these mistakes in blood.
Today a memorial to the soldiers of Task Force Smith can be found just off of Highway 1 between Osan and Suwon. It is a fitting memorial with sculptures depicting American soldiers facing off in every direction just like they were that rainy day on July 5, 1950.
It has been 57 years since the Task Force Smith Battle against the communist North Korean forces on July 5, 1950 at the beginning days of the Korean War. The battalion of soldiers called Task Force Smith after their commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith was quickly deployed from occupation duty in Japan to Korea to delay the North Korean advance until more American units could arrive to fight the communist aggressors. History tends to record Task Force Smith as a an example of a military blunder, but the fact of the matter is that Task Force Smith really did fight the best they could with what they had and should not be looked down upon as being an example of poor soldiering. They were great soldiers and Americans that fought well in defense of freedom for a country few had ever heard of. To truly understand Task Force Smith it is important to examine the morale and psychology of the unit at the time.
The soldiers that composed Task Force Smith were from 1st Battalion, 21st Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. The 24ID was located in Japan and were conducting peacekeeping operations. The priority of the military at the time was on occupation and reconstruction duties in Japan and not collective unit training. Plus the soldiers were living a soft life that included personal shoe shine boys and flirting with numerous prostitutes. Even the lowest private felt like a king in 1950 Japan.
Plus many of the soldiers in the Army at the time were not old enough to have fought in World War II. They were young teenagers during World War II and grew up believing the US and especially the military was invincible. However these young soldiers had no idea what real combat was like, but John Wayne had taught them on TV that combat was glorious and you can run around the battle field with out fear of bullets and when somebody does gets hit they just spin around and lie on the ground motionless. There was no movies like Saving Private Ryan that conveyed the real horrors of actual ground combat.
The soldiers of 1-21IN, 24ID were not a lone and unique example of untrained soldiers at the time, as the unit is sometimes referred too. In fact LTC Smith actually instituted a vigorous company level training program to improve the soldiers basic infantry standards beginning in January of 1950. However, the unit would not have time to conduct vigorous battalion level training due to the on set of the Korean War that was launched on June 25, 1950..
LTC Smith’s unit was in fact a microcosm of the entire post-war military in 1950. The army was filled with untrained, but highly patriotic youths brought up to believe America and it’s military were the best in the world without appreciation for the realities of the hard work and training it takes to stay the best. All the John Wayne movies in the world do not make up for tough, realistic training. Unfortunately for them, they would soon learn this reality in the far away hills of Korea. A place many of them had never heard of and would soon give their lives for.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith was first notified of his 1-21 Infantry Battalion’s deployment to Korea on July 1, 1950 when he was called into the office of the 24th Infantry Division’s Commanding General’s office. The commander General Dean notified LTC Smith that his battalion was chosen to lead a delaying action in Korea against the advancing North Korean forces. They would be the speed bump that would slow down the North Koreans until more US forces could arrive to destroy them.
Commander of all US forces General Douglas MacArthur had referred to Task Force Smith as an “arrogant display of American strength.” This sentiment caused many of the soldiers in Task Force Smith to feel that this was just a temporary “Police Action” as the Korean War is sometimes referred to, and they would be back to their comfortable lives in Japan in no time. They believed that once the North Koreans saw the all mighty American Army in front of them, they would turn around and run back to North Korea. The North Koreans had other plans.
LTC Smith’s orders were to deploy the battalion as quickly as possible to Pusan and from there advance as far North as possible along the Taejon to Seoul road to set up a defensive line to delay the North Korean advance until General William Dean could get the rest of the 24ID deployed to Korea. The 24ID was spread throughout Japan on occupation duty and was not configured for rapid deployment. They needed time to get everyone mobilized and prepared for deployment. Task Force Smith’s mission was to give the Division that time.
1-21IN deployed on July 2nd from Camp Wood, Japan with two rifle companies, headquarters, and a two mortar platoons, and a 75mm recoilless rifle platoon. In total the small battalion totaled roughly 430 men. The unit flew by plane to a military airfield near Pusan. By July 3rd 1-21IN had arrived by train to Taejon where they began to move North to meet the advancing North Koreans. On America’s birthday, the 4th of July, 1950, 1-21IN met up in Pyongtaek with part of the 52nd Field Artillery battalion. Field Artillerymen only had six 105mm howitzers, totaled 108 men, and were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Miller Perry. Task Force Smith now totaled roughly 540 men and were on their way to stop two advancing North Korean Divisions totaling upwards of 20,000 men who had days prior routed the ROK Army. But this was a “police action”, and those 20,000 North Koreans are supposed to run in fear when they see the US soldiers in front of them. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Task Force Smith moved North from Pyongtaek and set up a defensive line on some key high ground along Highway 1 just North of modern day Osan. The Task Force dug in and prepared to fight the advancing North Koreans. These soldiers would soon learn that warfare is not a John Wayne movie and the enemy doesn’t always follow the script.
On July 5, 1950 Task Force Smith sat entrenched in a defensive line just North of modern day Osan. A steady rain fell on the defenders as they awaited for the inevitable battle. At 0700 Lieutenant Colonel Smith saw eight North Korean T-34 tanks moving south down the highway from Suwon to Osan heading straight for the ridge line the US soldiers were dug in at.
LTC Smith called on his six supporting howitzers from the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion to pour what artillery men like to call “steel rain” on the enemy. The howitzers fired their 105mm artillery rounds on the enemy tanks but this “steel rain” met even stronger iron as the rounds were unable to penetrate the thick armor of the T-34 tanks.
The T-34 tanks were from the NK 105th Armor Brigade that were screening in front of the advancing NK 4th Infantry Division. Some of you may remember the NK 4ID from when they battled the ROK 7ID in the Battle of Uijongbu. The Americans would be equally frustrated by the superior T-34′s armor as their ROK Army counterparts were.
The eight T-34′s continue to move forward and engage the Americans on the ridge line oblivious to the artillery fire that could not penetrate their armor. Lieutenant Ollie Connor took a bazooka and ran down the hill into a ditch along side the road and fired on the T-34. The bazooka round had no effect. He then fired into the rear of the tank which is supposed to be the T-34′s “soft spot” which that also had no effect. In all Lieutenant Connor fired a total of 22 bazooka rounds which all had no effect on the T-34′s. The tanks would of been easy kills with anti-tank mines but the infantrymen had none at their disposal. Air power could of also hit the tanks hard, but the steady rain caused the US Air Force to not fly sorties in the vicinity of Task Force Smith due to concerns of friendly fire incidents.
The first T-34′s unimpressed by the ambush continued forward looking for the real fight not realizing that was in fact the real fight. The North Koreans felt there had to be a stronger American force awaiting somewhere to ambush them and this was just a road block to occupy them with. This was the legendary American Army they fighting, there had to be more. However, there was no more; it was just Smith and his men.
The tanks continued down the road towards the artillery positions. The artillery men fired one of their total of nine anti-armor rounds at one of the tanks. There was only nine of these rounds in country at the time. The lead tank was hit in the front and burst into flames. The three NK tankers jumped out and fired at an American machine gun position killing an assistant gunner. This assistant gunner would become the first US fatality of the Korean War, he soon would not be alone; many more would follow. The three North Korean tankers were eventually quickly shot down by the other Americans.
The other tanks were not detoured by the destroyed tank and moved forward. The artillery men were practically using their howitzers as direct fire weapons firing at ranges of 150-300 meters at the T-34′s. One more tank was disabled when it was hit in the treads, but the other tanks kept coming. The tanks moved to the rear of the howitzers and destroyed LTC Perry’s headquarters and vehicles but by passed the howitzers and kept moving south. The Americans still had their six howitzers but no means of communicating with LTC Smith’s infantry men because the tanks had cut the communications line in between the infantrymen and the artillery men. Artillery is of no use if there is no one to communicate with them to call in the indirect fires.
Once LTC Smith realized that his communications with LTC Perry had been cut he sent runners to try and restore communications but they twice returned saying they could not run a line due to enemy direct fire on them. The radios between the infantry men and the artillery also would not work due to the rain damaging their equipment. Comms or no comms the tanks just kept coming.
The artillery men continued to fire at the tanks as they passed by. However, some of the young artillery men panicked and ran at the sight of over 40 tanks moving through their area. Officer and sergeants took over the howitzers, continuing the heavy fire on the tanks. They were able to disable another track before all the tanks passed them and continued south. Amazingly the artillerymen took only two wounded including LTC Perry with no dead. The nearby infantry men had sustained 20 dead in the fight against the tanks. The artillery men had only one destroyed howitzer but most of their headquarters and support vehicles had been destroyed. The artillery men from the 52nd FA had fought bravely against the enemy tanks destroying three of them but without communications the artillery men would have no more impact on this fight.
After what must have seemed like an endless column of North Korean tanks, they passed by the ridge defended by LTC Smith’s infantry men with little resistance. The main column of the NK 4th Infantry Division came into sight. The NK column was composed of dismounted infantry, approximately 4,000 of them, walking in congested groups down the road accompanied by more T-34 tanks. Great more tanks, but at least there was finally something Smith and his guys could actually kill.
However, by this point in the battle, the John Wayne movie illusions of combat had been shattered after the unit’s fight with the North Korean tanks. The soldiers couldn’t have been to thrilled to see more tanks and let alone 4,000 enemy infantry on top of it.
Heavy casualties could of been inflicted on the dismounted North Korean infantry if LTC Smith had communications with his howitzers to fire artillery on them. LTC Smith was still not able to restore communications and figured the artillery men had been destroyed by the North Korean tanks that had passed by. Also if the steady rain would of stopped, American air power could of decimated the North Korean column, but Smith had neither and would pay dearly for it.
Smith ordered his mortars to start the attack. The enemy took casualties and began to search for cover. The North Korean soldiers though battle hardened and mentally prepared for combat were not tactically disciplined and did not realize their numerical superiority and initially did not mount an effective dismounted counterattack. The North Koreans did however unload on the ridge line with artillery and tank fire. The volume of fire was ferocious but without an effective infantry counterattack to dislodge Smith’s men, the US soldiers continued to hold the high ground.
However, after the North Koreans began to realize their numerical superiority they began slowly to flank the American forces. Task Force Smith was slowly becoming enveloped by the North Koreans and sustaining heavy casualties, plus many soldiers had simply ran out of ammunition to fire. LTC Smith made the tough decision to withdraw. A withdrawal is difficult to execute even with a well disciplined unit much less soldiers that were scared and poorly trained in withdrawal operations. Once the order was given many of the soldiers simply took off and ran, leaving behind their weapons and equipment.
LTC Smith headed towards LTC Perry’s position to see what had become of the artillery men. He was amazed to see the artillery men were still intact. However, it was to late for them to provide any effective fires in this battle. He gave the order for them to retreat, but not before they effectively disabled their howitzers rendering them useless to the enemy. The artillery men still had a few trucks left and loaded up their men and began retreating.
To make matters worse for Smith, the already chaotic withdrawal was rendered more difficult because the prior enemy tanks had now occupied Osan to the unit’s rear. He had to have the unit withdraw towards the east instead. Nobody wanted to mess with those tanks again. However, the east was filled with slimy rice paddies the soldiers had to navigate through instead. I’m sure the soldiers preferred that then to fight those tanks again. Some of the trucks from 52nd FA stopped and picked up about 100 infantry men along the way.
The North Koreans were happy with just capturing the ridge line and chose not to pursue the Americans. Not because they were exhausted but because there was to much good loot on the hill to plunder. I’m sure the NK soldiers have a great time taking watches, wallets, and equipment from all the dead and wounded American soldiers. This probably slowed the North Korean advance more than the battle itself.
The next morning LTC Smith could only account for half of the unit’s 540 men. Approximately 181 American soldiers were either killed or captured that summer day in July 1950 and inflicted approximately 127 casualties on the North Korean enemy. Those 181 lives had delayed the North Koreans for 7 hours.
Weeks later scattered soldiers from Task Force Smith would trickle into Pusan. Some soldiers had made it all the way to the East Coast and followed the coast line down to Pusan. One soldier reached the Yellow Sea and used a Korean sampan to travel to Pusan.
Other 24th Infantry Division units had arrived over night and set up positions in Choenan and Taejon areas. They to would be routed at a great cost of American lives, but more time had been bought. The 24ID had been piece mealed and trickled into Korea one unit at at time. No general would ever want to fight a battle with piece mealed units, but the 24ID has no choice, but to do so to delay the advancing enemy. The 24ID had actually delayed the enemy long enough for the 1st Cavalry and 25th Infantry Divisions to arrive in strength from Japan. These two units would go on to achieve heroic acts of bravery in saving the country of Korea by holding the Pusan Perimeter. However, the Pusan Perimeter would of never been formed without the precious time payed for in American lives by the units of the 24th Infantry Division and Task Force Smith.
The Lessons Learned from Taskforce Smith
Task Force Smith though poorly trained and ill equipped was still able to put up an effective defense for a limited amount of time. If they had land mines, air support, and more ammunition they probably could of sustained their defense longer and inflicted more casualties. However, with two approaching North Korean divisions they were sure to be over run at some point and the Army commanders in Tokyo knew this. So to blame the defeat of Task Force Smith solely on the unit and LTC Smith, like some people like to believe, for allowing his unit to become so poorly trained and outfitted during peace time, I find to be misguided.
The Army commanders in Tokyo are the ones that allowed the soldiers of 1-21 Infantry and the rest of the occupation forces in Japan to become so poorly trained and ill equipped in the first place, but it really isn’t their fault either. As is so often the case the blame really lies with the politicians.
The US Congress at the time set the Army’s strength at 10 combat Divisions, but they did not provide enough money to sustain these 10 Divisions. At best there was enough money to fund only 6 Divisions. The politicians however are always eager to not be seen as “soft on defense” and mandated that 10 Divisions had to be kept knowing full well they would not be properly funded. After all the US had the atomic bomb, who needs ground forces when you have nukes, right? At least that is what Congress thought.
The Army short on money chose to use their scarce resources to ensure that the front line Divisions in Germany were fully manned and trained due to the increasing Soviet threat than to allocate resources to an occupation force in Japan. Thus the four Army Divisions in Japan received little money for equipment and training and many units were only filled with 50% of their required personnel.
Combine this with the John Wayne attitude of the military’s youth at the time and this is how you end up with a Task Force Smith. It is important to understand that Task Force Smith was not unique. It was just microcosm of the military in the Pacific that was allowed to weaken by the US government due to budgetary reasons that forces the military to focus its scant resources to defend Europe then to train an occupation army.
The politicians apparently thought just like the young soldiers, that enough John Wayne movies and patriotism can make up for rigorous training and good equipment. Past greatness doesn’t sustain the readiness of an Army. If this was the case the French and Italians would still be military powers today. Training and the best equipment are what makes a military strong.
However, as often is the case, the politicians don’t pay for their bone headed errors, the soldiers do and Task Force Smith payed for these mistakes in blood.
Today a memorial to the soldiers of Task Force Smith can be found just off of Highway 1 between Osan and Suwon. It is a fitting memorial with sculptures depicting American soldiers facing off in every direction just like they were that rainy day on July 5, 1950.
Murphy's law
Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequences
In the social sciences, unintended consequences are outcomes that are not (or not limited to) the results originally intended by a particular action. The unintended results, not recognized by the actor, may be positive or negative. The concept has long existed, but was named and popularised in the 20th century by the American sociologist, Robert K. Merton.[1] The law of unintended consequences is an adage or idiom warning that an intervention in a complex system invariably creates unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes.[2][3][4][5] Akin to Murphy's law, it is commonly used as a wry or humorous warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them. Many scientific and sociological fields of study embrace the idea, including economics, history, philosophy, political science, and sociology.
Unintended consequences can be grouped into roughly three types:
* a positive unexpected benefit, usually referred to as serendipity or a windfall.
* a negative unexpected drawback, occurring in addition to the desired effect of the policy - e.g. while irrigation schemes do provide people with water for agriculture, they often increase waterborne disease which can a have a devastating negative health effect, such as schistosomiasis.
* a perverse effect, that may be contrary to what was originally intended (i.e. when an intended solution to a problem only makes the problem worse). This situation can arise when a policy has a perverse incentive and causes actions contrary to what is desired.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History
* 2 Causes
* 3 Examples
o 3.1 Unexpected benefits
o 3.2 Unexpected drawbacks
o 3.3 Perverse results
* 4 See also
* 5 Footnotes
* 6 References
[edit] History
The idea of unintended consequences dates back at least to Adam Smith, the Scottish Enlightenment, and consequentialism (judging by results).[6] However, it was the sociologist Robert K. Merton who popularized this concept in the twentieth century.[7][8][9][10]
In his 1936 paper, "The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action", Merton tried to apply a systematic analysis to the problem of "unanticipated consequences" of "purposive social action". He emphasized that his term "purposive action… [is exclusively] concerned with 'conduct' as distinct from 'behavior.' That is, with action that involves motives and consequently a choice between various alternatives".[10] Merton also stated that "no blanket statement categorically affirming or denying the practical feasibility of all social planning is warranted."[11]
[edit] Causes
Possible causes of unintended consequences include the world's inherent complexity (parts of a system responding to changes in the environment), perverse incentives, human stupidity, self-deception, failure to account for human nature or other cognitive or emotional biases. As a sub-component of complexity (in the scientific sense), the chaotic nature of the universe – and especially its quality of having small, apparently insignificant changes with far-reaching effects (e.g., the butterfly effect) – applies.
Robert K. Merton listed five possible causes of unanticipated consequences:[12]
1. Ignorance (It is impossible to anticipate everything, thereby leading to incomplete analysis)
2. Error (Incorrect analysis of the problem or following habits that worked in the past but may not apply to the current situation)
3. Immediate interest, which may override long-term interests
4. Basic values may require or prohibit certain actions even if the long-term result might be unfavorable (these long-term consequences may eventually cause changes in basic values)
5. Self-defeating prophecy (Fear of some consequence drives people to find solutions before the problem occurs, thus the non-occurrence of the problem is unanticipated.)
The relevance paradox where decision makers think they know their areas of ignorance about an issue, and go and obtain the necessary information to fill that ignorance, but neglect certain other areas of ignorance, because, due to not having the information, its relevance is not obvious, is also cited as a cause.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequences
In the social sciences, unintended consequences are outcomes that are not (or not limited to) the results originally intended by a particular action. The unintended results, not recognized by the actor, may be positive or negative. The concept has long existed, but was named and popularised in the 20th century by the American sociologist, Robert K. Merton.[1] The law of unintended consequences is an adage or idiom warning that an intervention in a complex system invariably creates unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes.[2][3][4][5] Akin to Murphy's law, it is commonly used as a wry or humorous warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them. Many scientific and sociological fields of study embrace the idea, including economics, history, philosophy, political science, and sociology.
Unintended consequences can be grouped into roughly three types:
* a positive unexpected benefit, usually referred to as serendipity or a windfall.
* a negative unexpected drawback, occurring in addition to the desired effect of the policy - e.g. while irrigation schemes do provide people with water for agriculture, they often increase waterborne disease which can a have a devastating negative health effect, such as schistosomiasis.
* a perverse effect, that may be contrary to what was originally intended (i.e. when an intended solution to a problem only makes the problem worse). This situation can arise when a policy has a perverse incentive and causes actions contrary to what is desired.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History
* 2 Causes
* 3 Examples
o 3.1 Unexpected benefits
o 3.2 Unexpected drawbacks
o 3.3 Perverse results
* 4 See also
* 5 Footnotes
* 6 References
[edit] History
The idea of unintended consequences dates back at least to Adam Smith, the Scottish Enlightenment, and consequentialism (judging by results).[6] However, it was the sociologist Robert K. Merton who popularized this concept in the twentieth century.[7][8][9][10]
In his 1936 paper, "The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action", Merton tried to apply a systematic analysis to the problem of "unanticipated consequences" of "purposive social action". He emphasized that his term "purposive action… [is exclusively] concerned with 'conduct' as distinct from 'behavior.' That is, with action that involves motives and consequently a choice between various alternatives".[10] Merton also stated that "no blanket statement categorically affirming or denying the practical feasibility of all social planning is warranted."[11]
[edit] Causes
Possible causes of unintended consequences include the world's inherent complexity (parts of a system responding to changes in the environment), perverse incentives, human stupidity, self-deception, failure to account for human nature or other cognitive or emotional biases. As a sub-component of complexity (in the scientific sense), the chaotic nature of the universe – and especially its quality of having small, apparently insignificant changes with far-reaching effects (e.g., the butterfly effect) – applies.
Robert K. Merton listed five possible causes of unanticipated consequences:[12]
1. Ignorance (It is impossible to anticipate everything, thereby leading to incomplete analysis)
2. Error (Incorrect analysis of the problem or following habits that worked in the past but may not apply to the current situation)
3. Immediate interest, which may override long-term interests
4. Basic values may require or prohibit certain actions even if the long-term result might be unfavorable (these long-term consequences may eventually cause changes in basic values)
5. Self-defeating prophecy (Fear of some consequence drives people to find solutions before the problem occurs, thus the non-occurrence of the problem is unanticipated.)
The relevance paradox where decision makers think they know their areas of ignorance about an issue, and go and obtain the necessary information to fill that ignorance, but neglect certain other areas of ignorance, because, due to not having the information, its relevance is not obvious, is also cited as a cause.
The Khyber Pass Massacre
Author: Russell, A.F.
Akbar Khan, heir to the Afghan Throne, forced by his British conquerors to wander in the wilderness of exile, plotted revenge. Perhaps the Shah of Persia would lend him troops wherewith to eject the accursed Infidel from Kabul, the City of Orchards, his capital-to-be. Perhaps....
A swarthy horseman galloped towards him bringing news. The garrison of Kabul had been depleted, and the Afghan chiefs were in revolt against the British invader. They had sworn to throw him back across the Khyber Mountains into the India from which he had come to capture Dost Mohammed, King of Afghanistan, father of Akbar, and their country. They had written their oath in blood on the leaves of the Koran. And the British Resident, Sir William Macnaghten, utterly incapable of understanding his fellow-men, especially the treacherous inhabitants of these stark regions of the north, had taken no serious measures to frustrate them. This foolish, high-principled, bespectacled British Envoy, surrounded by a spate of desperate men, had even thought it weakness to attempt to discover who had written their names in the Koran. Had he only arrested three or four of the conspirators and sent them to India to join Akbar's father, Dost Mohammed, all would have been well.
Akbar's dark eyes glowed at the good news. His powerful sensual mouth uttered fierce orders, the impetuous prince led his men back at speed to Kabul, there to join the conspirators. They were not so pleased to see him as he would have liked. These wild men of the hills had no great desire to be ruled by any one, King of England or Amir of Afghanistan. The dawning kingship of Akbar must be kept at bay. The Afghan's cunning brain does not go direct to the point. The conspirators first suggested that Akbar was too friendly disposed towards the British, then they hinted that he might be a traitor to the general desire to throw out the accursed Infidel.
And Akbar was furiously angry. He defended himself with great energy. His fiery words, fierce countenance and undisciplined gestures, showed that their captive monarch's favourite son was an awkward prince, one not lightly to be trifled with. This man, with many family wrongs to redress, had the spirit of his fine physique; he was to exert a mighty influence over them all; and they must now understand just where he stood.
"Prove your words."
"That I will. I swear by the Koran before you all that by this time to-morrow I will bring the British Resident from Kabul into our camp either as a hostage or as a corpse."
That vow, spoken with all the force of his wild nature, surprised them all. Hitherto they had contented themselves with a little furtive shooting, a sly murder or two; but if Akbar Khan, son of their deposed Amir, would be so bold as to strike down the British Raj, that would be the end of Infidel rule in Kabul. Some of the lesser chieftains maybe hoped that Akbar would himself be struck down, as some day he would be, but by an enemy as yet unknown. Meanwhile he would become the terrible avenging figure swooping again and again on the ever-dwindling British column struggling vainly to escape from Kabul to the safety of India. From changing positions high up in the blood-stained Khyber he would direct and observe probably the most frightful debacle in the history of the British Army.
Sir William Macnaghten received a request from Akbar Khan for another conference. He was a little surprised, for he had only recently seen Akbar, presented him with a pair of pistols, and made a humiliating treaty for the evacuation of the city. In this new demand he might have seen the shadow of coming evil, but he still professed his confidence in the good faith of the Afghan leader. It was Christmas Day, 1841, when the Resident, taking with him Captains Lawrence, Trevor and Mackenzie, kept the appointed rendezvous at a bridge outside the British cantonments where sixteen Afghan warriors were ambushed.
For the benefit of the hidden tribesmen Akbar began to inveigh against the British official for what he described as his delay and duplicity. Why had his father not been set at liberty? And why, seeing that he was prepared to supply transport for the baggage, had not the British cleared out of Kabul? Further, why had not General Sale, occupying Jellalabad on the other and safe side of the Khyber, not quitted according to the terms of the treaty? "Instead of leaving," shouted Akbar, "your General has fortified himself against us with more energy than ever."
Some of the hidden tribesmen began to draw round and Macnaghten, seeing them, urged Akbar not to speak so loudly. He replied that there could be no secrets on these matters between him and his followers. Then, no longer playing a part, he announced that he considered Sir William and his suite to be his prisoners. The Resident protested that he had not broken the treaty, and that he would rather die than submit himself to Akbar. The Afghan seized the feeble British official in a mighty grip, whereupon his three aides ran to protect him. The encircling Afghans leaped forward and slew Captain Trevor; the other two were captured.
But the Resident was given no mercy. The savage Akbar produced one- of his captive's gift pistols and pulled the trigger. It flashed in the pan, but at the second attempt the Envoy lay dead at his feet. That Christmas morning Akbar had surely demonstrated that he was no friend of the British!
The head of Macnaghten, still wearing his rose-coloured spectacles, was first shown to his two captains in custody, and then carried in triumph through the bazaar on the point of an Afghan spear. Then it was fixed to a pole on the dome of the bazaar, where it remained for three days before being thrown into a disused well. Captains Lawrence and Mackenzie, after hearing the jeers of Akbar and his men, were allowed to return to the British camp.
Such was the treatment received by the head of the British Government in newly-captured Kabul. Yet the man who was responsible for this treachery, Akbar Khan, was the villain with whom Macnaghten's successor must perforce negotiate for the evacuation of Afghanistan. To his tender mercies must be entrusted some 5,000 troops and 12,000 camp-followers, besides women and children, all of whom, if they would reach safety, must trudge through or be carried over, snow a foot deep, in mid-winter, through the narrow defiles of Khyber, alive with enemy snipers, who had proclaimed a holy war against them, and who had determined to plunder their goods and gorge themselves with their blood.
But there was no help for it now. After a series of blunders in the handling of an alien race the colossal blunder had been made of appointing to the command of the soldiery a decrepit gout-ridden old man named General Elphinstone, who had confessed his own inability for the trust confided to him. Macnaghten had hoped that the army would have been able to disperse the investing hordes of Afghans; Elphinstone declared that his troops were incapable of the task. So a treaty had to be made with these Ishmaels of diplomacy whose cold relentlessness of purpose was everywhere evidenced.
Akbar's fellow-chieftains, still unwilling for the concentration of power into the hands of one man, decided to take part in the fresh negotiations now opened by Major Pottinger. They all ratified the terms of the new treaty, which were that General Sale should evacuate Jellalabad, that Dost Mohammed should be liberated, and that the British should take their arms with them upon leaving Kabul.
After a siege lasting sixty-seven days, General Elphinstone, and the army he commanded, prepared to leave under these humiliating conditions. The fatal morning of January 6, 1842, dawned bleak and cold. It was a dreary and dismal prospect for the strongest and stoutest heart; and there were not many of those in that bedraggled procession of nearly 20,000 souls. Every inch of the mountains and the plain was dazzling white snow, and the cold was so penetrating that everybody shivered in the sunshine. The lot of the women and children among the camp-followers was indeed miserable from the start, and became progressively so. The country through which they would travel, presented unparalleled difficulties; the fact that it would soon become peopled with the enemy transformed it into a narrow line of ghostly valleys destined to become the grave of all.
Akbar had promised an escort to protect them on the way, but this escort, like many of his promises, did not materialise. Nor did the fleeing British see any signs of the enemy at the moment when the head of the procession left the camp. They were held in check; the rabbits must not be frightened back into their hole. The Afghan vultures were in no great hurry; the journey was long, Jellalabad was many miles away; at their rate of progress it would be a long time before the Khyber Passes were threaded. In fact, the first day's journey had only covered five miles when nightfall forced the column into camp.
In the morning a cut had been made in the Kabul cantonment to allow of a clear passage out for troops and baggage, gun wagons and platform planks, which would make a temporary bridge over Kabul River. Through this opening lumbered every available camel and Afghan pony laden with camp equipages, stores and things necessary to shelter at least some of the troops from the rigours of the mountain climate.
The advance began at the early hour of 9 a.m., a pathetic cavalcade of victors in retreat. By ten o'clock the Afghans had bestirred themselves and were beginning that devilishly subtle diplomacy which characterised all their dealings with the retreat. A message came suggesting that the departure be postponed for yet another day to enable the escort to be made ready; the real reason was to give the Afghans time to plunder the Kabul camp and to send their human vultures to line the passes.
But the column was now in motion and could not conveniently return. Moreover, from the Afghan villages nearby a crowd of armed tribesmen was already emerging. Soon it was in the mission compound, evacuated too soon, and the work of plunder and destruction had begun. There could be no return!
As was to be expected with a force so badly controlled, there were many delays, and it was noon before the head of the procession had cleared the river, leaving the way open for camp-followers and rearguard to follow.
The presence with the army of two or three times their number of camp-followers made it impossible for the troops to march in proper order. From the very start the camp-followers were a clog on the movements of the soldiers, contributing immensely to the misfortunes of the march. But the civilians could not have been left behind to the mercy of the tribesmen, for men who would triumphantly parade through the Bazaar with the head of the British Resident on the point of a spear were unlikely to show greater mercy to his unprotected people. If only the British Force, small though it was, had refused to leave, and stayed on to fight if necessary, as was done in Jellalabad, all might yet have been well.
The procession moved out, and the women and children, mixing in with the troops, soon threw the column into confusion. As that long train of soldiers, civilians, ponies and heavily-laden camels moved forward it presented an irresistibly tempting sight to the greedy watchers. At last Allah had delivered the accursed Infidel and all his possessions into their hands. Not content would they be with exulting over their parting guests' discomfiture; they must ever and again be interfering with that tempting column. The rearguard did its best to restrain them, but it presently had to take up a position on the plain to protect a large quantity of baggage which had been dumped there.
The Afghans, as the day passed, became satiated with plundering the deserted cantonments, and now began to line the ramparts. Their chief had promised protection to the departing British. His yelling followers produced their long rifles and poured a mischievous fire into the slow-moving procession.
Perhaps it was fortunate that the soldiers had spiked the cannon which they were unable to bring away with them, or the tribesmen would have turned those heavy guns as well on to the column.
The confusion and the babble, the shouts of command, the wrangling of the women, the rampaging of the camels, and the general disorder, would have discouraged the most patient of strong commanders. Elphinstone's patience and that of his lieutenants were soon exhausted. Away in the distance were the treacherous defiles, destined to become the glens of slaughter. When the request had come to wait another day for the escort Elphinstone had looked back ruefully at the devastated encampment, at the army of plunderers who were already harrying the baggage columns and straggling civilians and had said pathetically, "It's too late now!" The cantonments had been fired, and the scene was one of fearful sublimity. If death lay ahead there was certainly no chance of life in that plundered and burning encampment. The Residency was the first to go, after which every other building was set alight; even if the Infidel changed his mind, he could now find no shelter in his old cantonments.
Though a day of unclouded glory over the whole valley of Kabul, it had been a terrible first day for the luckless marchers. A bridge of gun-carriages, overlaid with planks, had been built across Kabul River, but even with this the river had not been fordable for much of their goods. Pottinger advised Elphinstone to push on as far as Khurd Kabul before calling a first halt, but it was found impossible to move that imponderable conglomeration of soldiers, civilians and cattle any farther that night. Looking back over the five miles that had been traversed, the outcasts could see the plain dotted with the baggage which had been first abandoned and then plundered. There lay also the dead bodies of some fifty British soldiers. But that was not the worst, for scores of old Sepoys whose fighting days were over and other camp-followers, unfitted to battle with the cold or to endure a tramp of even a few miles, were already sitting down in the snow, ready for death by cold or by the knives of the holy warriors of Afghanistan.
Tongues of fire played about the sky, making a vast funeral pyre of the home of the British Forces for the past three years, and illuminating the wretched sleepless crowd that lay freezing in the snow of the new camp. The officers' wives and some of the troops had a few provisions, but for the majority there was little or no food, and for these starving wretches a shelterless night in the open was a poor preparation for the grim to-morrow. Some were fortunate; they became so benumbed that they were incapable of feeling. And when the bugle sounded in the morning these lucky ones were left behind, frozen to death.
General Elphinstone had a small tent for his sick body; there was another for Lady Sale, who was to write her experiences of this retreat, and her daughter. The soldiers' tents were flimsy, and offered but poor protection from the cold. They had been pitched without any regard to regularity or regiment and the various sections were mixed with the camp-followers, the camels and the horses, in one hopeless intimate mass.
It was fortunate for Captain Mackenzie that his native riflemen were still loyal, for they had a system of camping which, had it been practised by everybody before the departure, would have saved much of the misery of that horrible night. These riflemen cleared a small space of the snow and then lay down in a closely-packed circle with their feet meeting in the centre, all the warm clothing available spread equally over each. In this way sufficient animal warmth was generated to preserve each person from frost-bite. There was no distinction between officer and men in that homely circle. Captain Mackenzie lay gratefully with the rest, and in the morning he declared that though he had lain in the open without a tent, with snow on the ground a foot thick, he had felt no cold. But who could sleep on a night like that? The hours of darkness were disturbed by the yells from without and the cries and whimperings from within the camp. And still the bonfires, lit by the holy warriors, played freakishly over all.
The sun rose next morning in unveiled splendour, shone on the smouldering embers of the old cantonments, and on the heavings and stirrings of the camp in the snow. No bugle call for breakfast. All who could, scrambled to their feet, shook the snow from their benumbed bodies, many cursing their fate as they stamped about to restore circulation. Captain Lawrence, who had done his utmost all through the previous day to rally the troops, the terrified women and children, joking with them, and shepherding them into the line of route, struggled out of his little tent to find an elderly artilleryman lying frozen to death at his feet. He still grasped his sword.
An effort was made to sort out the troops. Bugle calls sounded and resounded without evoking a response from the native sappers and miners, who had deserted to the enemy in the night. Better the opportunity of imprisonment and possible death with the Afghans, than certain death in the Khyber Pass. The order was given to resume the journey from this nightmare of snow to the warmer lands of the South; but it was an undisciplined mob, almost a rabble, that took up the march the second day. How could a hungry, frost-bitten army march in step with any semblance of order? How could frost-bitten hands carry their rifles? The Indian soldiers - unused to cold climates - had already-suffered so much that they were beginning to throw away their arms, leaving them for the enemy, who would soon turn them on their owners.
Away in the distance rose the rocky ranges with their vertical cliffs which guarded the gateway to the south. Once those were gained there was a sixty-mile trudge through valley after dangerous valley until they emerged at Jellalabad, on the farther side. Progress was again frightfully slow, the order of march becoming more and more disorganised. Again the Afghans showed that they were not early risers, but soon, from a small fort above the road, there debouched a horde of fanatical warriors, brandishing their weapons, and yelling their fury. It was a bad day for the guns, some of which, making a detour, were surrounded before they could be got back into the road. Though the British troops seemed incapable or unwilling to defend their guns, the officers dashed in and spiked them. Captain Lawrence returned gloomily from the scene, declaring that the disgrace was too humiliating to speak about. He was just in time to rescue Lady Macnaghten from the snow, where she had been dumped by her scared and frost-bitten coolies. Unable to induce them to resume their load, Lawrence took Lady Macnaghten with him on to his Arab charger. But at that moment some Afghan horsemen swooped down on the baggage column, slashing at everybody with their swords. Lawrence caught the rope trailed by a passing camel and transferred his charge.
The cavalcade, their casualities increasing with every furlong they traversed, plodded towards that yawning gap in the mountain, the first of the four Passes to be negotiated before they could reach safety. Again a messenger came urging them to wait until provisions, firewood, and an escort could arrive to help them through the Pass.
Brigadier Shelton, generally unpopular, furiously objected to the order to halt, even though that meant a re-organisation of the column. His advice was wise; their only chance now was to press forward with all possible speed. It was dusk before the order to resume the march was given, by which time a large body of Afghans had been observed riding after them through the snow. But they were not the expected escort, though their leader was Akbar Khan, murderer of Sir William Nacnaghten and the self-appointed instrument of vengeance on those who had conquered and misruled his father's country. He claimed to have come to protect the column from the fanatics who were beginning to people the hills through which they were to pass. Akbar sternly charged them with planning to effect a junction with General Sale at Jellalabad; if they did so their two forces would unite against him. He now demanded that they halt at one of the villages en route, until news came that Jellalabad had been evacuated. They must also supply him with hostages as guarantees that his demands would be carried out; and in return he would supply them with all the necessaries they required, and would clear the Passes of the savage tribes. The pusillanimous Elphinstone weakly agreed to the demand and halted the procession for the night, thus giving the human vultures still more time to prepare for their coming.
If the first night had been bitter, it had been but the beginning of sorrows. That second night the snow was deeper, the frost more keen, with the temperature 12 degrees below zero. Yet most of that column, still numbering over 15,000 souls, somehow lived through that awful night. The grip of the frost was so pitiless that some went almost insane with the cold. The state of the hungry, half-frozen children was terrible to witness. It may have been possible even at that stage to have charged the encircling enemy, and have made for the Bala Hissar, a citadel which they had passed on their first day's journey. Here they might have held out until a relief force arrived. It was not to be. On the third morning the fanatical warriors were again swarming about the camp, and still Elphinstone had no intention of attacking. But Captain Lawrence, seeing that the enemy were massing for a charge, led the cavalry towards them, scattering them like chaff. While this engagement was taking place, Akbar had sent in another ultimatum, a demand for six hostages, including the doughty Lawrence, and Shelton the Brigadier. Lawrence objected to surrender himself, and Pottinger, who had been wounded, volunteered to take his place. Meanwhile the sunless hours were passing, and noon was drawing on. Back came the message from Akbar saying that he would not press his demand for more than three hostages, but they must include Captain Lawrence, whose value as a fighting officer he had long recognised. The hostages departed, and that conglomerate mass moved forward into the valley of slaughter.
The Pass of Khurd Kabul, soon to become a Golgotha, was a broken track of rock and loose stones whose sides towered steeply upwards to end in jagged peaks. A gloomy, echoing, sinister gorge it was. At the start there was an attempt at order, with the native Infantry and Anderson's Force as the advance guard, and the light cavalry, with the two remaining guns in the rear. The general and his staff, the ladies in their camel panniers, the Government treasure, and what little baggage there was left, provided the main column. It was found impossible to round up all the cattle, and most of these, with perhaps half the ammunition, was left scattered about the camp, a prey to the avengers. The camp-followers still mixed themselves with the military, to everybody's confusion. Half blinded by snow-glares, benumbed by cold - there were icicles on the ponies' manes and the men's beards - the procession stumbled forward into the trap. The torrent that ran through the Pass had to be constantly recrossed, and soon the legs of men and animals became encrusted with ice. The Pass grew narrower, and as darkness came the men on the heights began to add to the woes of the British by incessant sniping. There was no escape either from the snow and ice, or from the fusillade of bullets. Whichever side of the valley was hugged, that side was exposed to the rifles of the tribesmen opposite. It seemed impossible that anybody could pass through that defile alive. Mingling with triumphal yells from above, as the snipers observed a successful shot, were the roar of the mountain cataracts, the smashing of ice, the groans and shrieks of dying men, women, children and animals. But on the whole the shooting from above was indifferent.
One of many odd incidents to attract the attention of the few was the sudden bolting of a horse on which rode the wife of Lieutenant Eyre. The horse, galloping ahead of the whole column, soon left it far behind, and presently its rider reached the top of the cliffs, the first to escape from the bloody Pass. As the advance guard followed her, some of the savage warriors, rushing down from the lateral gorges, fell upon the main column and rearguard with upraised swords. In the middle of that column were the other English women and children struggling to escape over the dead bodies of their relatives and friends. Mothers lost their children, wives their husbands, in that terrible struggle for life. Mrs. Mainwaring told little Mary Anderson to cling to her while she, carrying her own child in her shawl, strove to scramble up to safety. The child at her side was wrenched away and became lost, never to be found again. A savage horseman rode up to Mrs. Mainwaring and demanded the shawl in which her child was wrapped, but a Sepoy, seeing her shrink back, fired a shot and the savage fell from his saddle, dead. Yet a further shot struck the Sepoy and he, too, fell, begging Memsahib and her child to hurry up the rocks and boulders away from the carnage. Still the bloody hand-to-hand battle continued to rage in the centre of the glen.
And now one of the remaining two guns was lost and had to be spiked into uselessness. The gunners dragged the other up the slope, waited for the camp-followers to pass, then fired round after round of grape-shot into the teeth of the pursuing tribesmen. Through bad leadership and overwhelming odds the column had suffered frightfully in this gorge, at least three thousand dead and wounded having to be left behind. None of the wounded had an earthly hope of escape from the knives of the holy warriors. Yet the solitary remaining gun had done considerable devastation in the ranks of the enemy.
Following in the wake of the demoralised British came the inescapable Akbar. With him were the hostages. They had been allowed to keep their swords, and even told that they could use them against any fanatic who molested them in the Pass. Pottinger, who understood Persian, riding with Mackenzie, recognised the duplicity of Akbar from his own words. He heard Akbar shout to his followers in their own language to slay all the Infidels, whereupon, speaking the language only the British understood, he changed the order to "Cease fire." As the hostages rode through the glen the Afghans leapt up from the dead and dying to taunt them. Pointing their blood-stained knives at the corpses, they shouted that those who had sought fruit in Kabul had found it too sharp for their stomachs. Yet Pottinger and Mackenzie each contrived to rescue from that glen of slaughter a frightened child whom they took along with them.
Next morning it was found that Elphinstone's fighting men had been reduced from about five thousand to less than a thousand, of whom no more than three hundred might still be fit to fight. Again the depleted column stirred itself and prepared to start off at sunrise. But now another and still more startling proposition was received from Akbar. Professing himself to be greatly distressed by the plight of the English ladies and their children, and that his own troops were unable to protect them so long as they remained with the column, he invited them into his camp for safety. Up to this time they had scarcely eaten a meal since leaving Kabul. Some of the ladies had infants a few days old at the breast. "Others were far advanced in pregnancy.... Yet most had been without shelter, and with the exception of Lady Macnaghten and Mrs. Trevor, had nothing in the world left but the clothes on their backs." Akbar's offer seemed to be their only chance of salvation.
Could a man who had murdered their Envoy be trusted not to murder the ladies of his entourage? Elphinstone was in a mood to trust the untrustworthy. But already the column was on the move. It had to be halted and brought back to the camp, a proceeding which caused open mutiny among the Indian troops, who saw only too plainly how things were going and that they had no conceivable opportunity of struggling through the remaining fifty miles to safety.
Ten Englishwomen, twenty-two children and five husbands made up the new hostage party that set out for Akbar's camp, each of them feeling a haunting prescience of impending evil. Yet at first the little cavalcade were gallantly received and assured by Akbar that they would be safely escorted to Jellalabad. Nevertheless, it was plain that Akbar was playing a double game; because his father and family were in British hands, he must be openly friendly; secretly he would do his utmost to requite the invaders for stealing the throne of his fathers.
He promised Elphinstone that now the cavalcade were through the Khurd Kabul Gorge, there would be no further attacks by the tribes, and consequently the British, incredibly trustful, were ordered not to fire on the pursuers. The column moved on again, but as the rearguard began to follow the stragglers along the high ground towards the Seven Hills, the enemy suddenly attacked once more. After a wholesale butchery of the unprotected wounded, they bore down on the troops. The native cavalry, ordered to counter-charge, did so with such zest that the harried Britishers began to cheer. Their elation was short-lived, for the cavalry, after four demoralising days, had decided to throw in their lot with the enemy, whose victory was assured. Finding that their own native cavalry had turned against them, the deserted rearguard hurriedly followed the main column towards the next gorge, with Akbar still clinging close behind. This next Pass, barely one hundred yards in length, provided the enemy with another opportunity. The advance guard passed through without much difficulty and pushed on to Kabar-i-Jabar, where they awaited the rest of the column. But it was only a remnant that came on to join them. For in that tiny gorge, the main column, encumbered by camp-followers, panic-stricken men, women and animals, had been assailed by the holy cut-throats from above, behind and before, and cut to pieces. The little gorge seemed to be almost choked with slaughtered bodies. By now all that was left was the advance guard, some four hundred British soldiers, their solitary gun, and about three thousand camp-followers. One-third of the journey had been covered, and four-fifths of the cavalcade had been murdered.
Again an emissary approached the little force. Despite all his previous treacheries, Akbar was still posing as the treaty-keeping friend of the British. Elphinstone sent one of his officers to where Akbar stood surveying the many times decimated force, to ask the Afghan chief why this butchery was continuing. Akbar expressed deep concern over the tremendous losses of his enemy, and proposed a safe escort of the remainder to Peshawar, if they would only surrender their arms. For once Elphinstone refused, and his force moved down to the valley of Tazin, harried all the way by knives and bullets.
Many camp-followers were slain during that descent of 2,000 feet, and the whole force would have perished there but for the determined resistance of the little rearguard. When presently they encamped on the plain, Akbar occupied a fort above them and closely observed the movements of the doomed force, quietly chuckling at the achievements of his troops and the havoc caused among the enemy ranks. But here at Tazin there was no shelter. They decided to remain but a few hours, to spike their remaining twelve-pounder, and hurry off at nightfall in the hope of forcing the Jagdalak Pass before morning.
A few odds and ends of food were discovered among the regimental stores together with a few frozen bottles of wine. This time the troops decided to move off quickly before the camp followers could stir and interrupt their progress, but this was not to be. The civilians hurried after them through the fierce country until the still fiercer heights of Jagdalak drew near. Here again they saw what they had all dreaded to see - the ubiquitous enemy.
Akbar, from his elevated fort, had seen them folding their tents and stealing away. Instead of following upon their heels, he had taken a short-cut across the mountains and was investing the Jagdalak Heights by the time they arrived. Some of the Afghans had established themselves on a little hillock by the roadside and Elphinstone ordered his men to charge. They did valiantly and suffered heavily. The remaining few, tormented by hunger and thirst, exhausted with incessant fighting, now sought refuge behind some ruined walls where they were still overlooked by the insatiable tribesmen. By now most of the rank and file had been killed or had given up the effort; and the surviving officers were almost as numerous as the men. They made a little meal from a few handfuls of flour during which one of them dropped their last piece of rock salt.
Some one said, "It is a bad omen to spill the salt." The others laughed, forced laughter, to hide their misery.
Once more they saw approaching horsemen - another envoy from the remorseless Akbar. Thinking that a parley meant respite from attack, the troops threw down their arms and slept. They were observed from the heights and attacked once more. The exhausted British scrambled back to the semi-shelter of the ruin from which twenty of them made a desperate effort to dislodge the Afghans, and would have done so had not the general, fearful of losing them, recalled them to camp. And now Akbar, again pleading that General Sale was refusing to evacuate Jellalabad, demanded more hostages. General Elphinstone, Brigadier Shelton and another officer rode off for a further parley.
But why argue further with this clever and audacious villain whose plan of campaign had been working out so diabolically as they marched? By a series of messages Akbar had created a false optimism in the ranks of his enemy as they passed through the stark regions and yawning gorges of Afghanistan. Specious promises of an escort, had kept them dawdling for two days at the start while his troops plundered the capital; and for five nights he had kept the demoralised rabble in altitudes where frost and snow would assist his butchers to do their work of destruction. By parley after parley, always accompanied by some new impudent demand, supported by offers of help which never matured, he kept delaying the advance until every fresh height they reached had been lined by his fanatical snipers. And now he had induced the British General to leave his command and trust himself to his tender mercies.
The fragment of the retreating column awaited his return until nightfall, by which time there were barely two hundred and fifty soldiers left. Two officers rode out hoping to meet the returning General, but met only a lone horseman who, riding up to one of the officers thrust a pistol in his face, pulled the trigger and galloped off.
Elphistone did not return; but the sniping continued; it could only be checked by charges up the heights; and these were continued from dawn the following day until noon. Although the holy warriors always fled before the British bayonets, the ranks of the little force became more and more depleted. Still no news of Elphistone, and the company decided to march at dusk. Only a few wounded could be taken. Amid pitiful entreaties from the rest, who knew they would be butchered at dawn, this handful of survivors tore themselves away. Before a real start could be made the enemy discovered they were on the move, and swooped down again. Dr. Brydon was pulled off his horse and felled by a blow on the head; but rising on one knee, he guarded himself against the second blow. Whilst his assailant went one way Dr. Brydon, hatless, shoeless and horseless went the other. He proceeded alone up through the Jagdalak Pass and then became aware that some of the advance guard were being driven backwards, completely demoralised. The holy warriors had drawn a barrier of prickly holly-oak across the mouth of the gorge against which the troops had charged in vain. Those who attempted to scramble over it fell back with hands and faces torn and bleeding. At the moment the tribesmen were not there to greet them, for they had not expected the advance to begin until dawn. But they soon swarmed to the barrier, yelling their war cries and raining bullets upon the discomfited British. In that nightmare of carnage no one knew how long the battle raged, but presently one horse and man broke through the barrier. As the gap widened others fought through; until nearly one hundred units of a column that originally totalled nearly 20,000 souls, had escaped. On went this tiny company, their progress signalled by watch-fires from hill to hill. A further barrier, and another terrible struggle ensued. Presently the survivors struck the open country, now aflush with dawn. They had passed such a night that if they now succeeded in reaching safety they were certain of being lionised by England when their epic story became known.
The snow had gone and the morning air was fresh and sweet. But again the tribesmen were in evidence still athirst for blood and plunder. Further progress was impossible. The stragglers came in, all that was left of the column, about seventy of them. Through that terrible night they had made tremendous progress, the best since Kabul was evacuated. They had travelled no less than twenty-five miles, but a similar distance still separated them from Jellalabad. Their armament now consisted of twenty swords, twenty rifles, and forty cartridges. But they took a height and held it for a while, threatening all comers with death. The Afghans drew round, jested with the men they intended to murder, and attempted to snatch away their rifies. The fight was on again. Charge after charge was made by the holy warriors and time and again they were beaten back, cursing the enemy who had taken toll of so many of their braves. But the end came at last, and every one of that gallant remnant lay dead on the height where they had defended themselves so gallantly. The Kabul garrison was no more.
But a few of the advance guard might yet have escaped. Four of them, taken alive that day, were sent to join the hostages still safe in Akbar's keeping. Seven others, however, were at liberty, waiting in a little glen ten miles ahead, and wondering why the main body did not join them. They decided to resume the advance, and came to a village where they were promised bread; but the village chief sent out a signal, and soon the vultures again put in an appearance. The villagers followed and invited them to return, still declaring that they were friendly. One officer named Bellew, tormented for rest and food, turned back to ask them further questions. He and another were hacked to pieces. The other five resumed their journey, counting themselves lucky to have escaped the perfidious villagers. Of these, the three who had the best horses drew farther ahead, and Dr. Brydon found himself riding with a young wounded officer named Steer, whose horse was bleeding at the mouth and nostrils. Brydon urged the boy forward saying that they would win through yet. But Steer declared that he could do no more. He would lie in one of the caves till nightfall, and then resume his journey. Brydon protested that he was mad to linger, yet Steer would not listen. The doctor rode on alone, still hatless, one unshod foot resting in the only stirrup of his wooden saddle. His poor horse was even more exhausted and desperate than he.
He scanned the horizon for his goal - -Jellalabad - securely held by General Sale and his British troops. He saw only twenty horsemen picking up stones with which to greet him. The desperate Brydon made one more determined fight for safety. He galloped his pony at his tormentors, slashing at them right and left, and so prevented then-knives from doing their bloody work. He was through and away, followed by a volley of stones. Somewhere in the distance lay Jellalabad but again between it and Brydon appeared yet another body of horsemen. One more lone charge, his lagging pony spurred forward with the point of his sword. Though he broke through again, his sword was now broken at the hilt by a large stone. Then a shot fired by a man hiding behind a mound wounded his pony which lurched but struggled bravely on. Still more men ahead of him, leading one of the horses of his three better mounted companions. They too must have gone the way of the great majority. But he contrived to pass before it was realised that he was an Englishman. Then one man turned and gave chase. Brydon flung the hilt of his sword in the Afghan's face, but the tribesman dodged cleverly. Having dropped his reins, Brydon now stooped to gather them, and the gesture saved his life. Thinking that the enemy had reached for a pistol, the Afghan galloped away. With the disappearance of the last of his enemies the nerve of Dr. Brydon broke. He continued his journey startled by every shadow.
At Jellalabad news had been received that the army of Kabul had set out to cross the Khyber. Colonel Dennie, one of the officers serving under General Sale, heard the news, and uttered a prophecy. This is what he said:
"You will see that not more than one man will reach this city alive. And he will come in to say that all the rest are destroyed."
The watchers on the walls of Jellalabad saw a lone figure riding a stumbling pony, rolling towards the gates of the city.
The one Englishman to escape from that long-drawn-out massacre had arrived to tell the appalling story.
Colonel Dennie turned to his brother officers.
"Didn't I tell you," he said quietly, "Here comes the survivor!"
Dr. Brydon swayed into the city.
Having achieved his relentless purpose with the army of Kabul, Akbar Khan decided to keep his hostages until he should hear that Jellalabad had been evacuated. General Sale knew better than to follow the example of General Elphinstone. And it was well that he did for it became known afterwards that Akbar had planned to exterminate his army to the last man.
Akbar, now that his forces had been augmented by deserters from the Kabul garrison, laid seige to Jellalabad, but Sale's army sallied out, attacked the Afghans and completely routed them. Akbar himself had a lucky escape from capture. He was also fortunate in not being shot by a rival chief whose gun went off accidentally. Akbar, alleging that the shot had been fired purposely, had the chief executed.
But Britain was not content to let Afghanistan off with one defeat. Kabul must be reoccupied and Akbar and his chiefs taught that they could not massacre semi-defenceless British troops and their wives and children without suffering for their devilry. Two armies set out for Kabul, one commanded by General Nott, which had to cover ninety miles, and the other by General Pollock, who had only two-thirds the distance to traverse. These two capable generals were each determined to Leat the other in being first in Kabul. Pollock had to march his army through those four blood-stained Passes where Elphinstone's cavalcade had made their grave. At that dreaded Jagdalak Pass, where the remnant had been stopped by the holly barricade, the standards of the holy warriors fluttered everywhere. Pollock ordered Sale to take his brigade up those heights and revenge the lost garrison, and gallantly they did so. The Afghans fled in terror from that advancing forest of steel, fled to the topmost peak which they thought inaccessible; and there they planted their standard. Under cover of the guns the British troops scaled that dizzy height and wiped out the disgrace of the massacre. On they went to the ruined enclosure, passing the bodies of their dead comrades, preserved by the frost - and still recognisable.
In that other terrible Pass of Khurd Kabul, Akbar awaited them again with a larger force, totalling 16,000 men. Again the Afghans had all the advantage of position; but they had not the discipline, the courage, nor the determination to be revenged, which stimulated the British troops. Again the heights were stormed; but this time the Afghans, fighting under the eye of their chief, made a firmer stand. No quarter was asked or given and in the end the peaks were carried. The Gurkhas, described as "the finest sight of the day," looked like terriers attacking mastiffs, when compared with the brawny Afghans. But in the end all the passes were carried, and Akbar and his followers were in flight. As they passed through the last defile the British saw the bodies of Elphinstone's army lying in heaps of fifties and hundreds. It was a veritable Golgotha. The British gun-wheels literally rumbled over the skulls of their former comrades.
Pollock won the race to Kabul by a short head. Had not General Nott been compelled to waste a couple of days trying to save a pair of historic gates, Pollock would have come in second. Even so there was some little feeling between the two generals over the coveted honour.
In revenge for the treatment of Macnaghten the British troops destroyed the bazaar where his severed head had been publicly displayed, also a citadel and a Mohammedan Mosque.
But what of Elphinstone and the other hostages? Did Akbar keep his word? For a time. He first sent them far into the mountains and had them interned in an Afghan fortress. The journey there was almost as perilous as the passage through the Khyber. Some of the gorges that the ladies had to climb were so steep that they clung to their horses' necks to keep themselves and their saddles from rolling down the mountain side. One of the rivers they crossed was so difficult to ford that they even availed themselves of the offer of Akbar to seat themselves behind the Afghans on their horses. When they had reached the comparative safety of the fortress they found that it was not so safe after all. One day they felt the building swaying and all rushed into the courtyard which was now undulating like waves of the sea. As they stood there the earth opened in a tremendous quake and the hut in which their goods were stored was suddenly engulfed. Lady Macnaghten had brought some of her pet animals through those terrible passes to the safety of the fort. At sight of the earthquake she raised her voice in lamentation: one of her cats had been swallowed up. Her fellow hostages seized spades and began to dig. Her cat leaped out alive!
Akbar continued his practice of sending messengers to the British Forces. When it became evident that the British Raj was getting the whip hand, his tone changed. Affirming that he had all along been Britain's only friend among the savage tribesmen he asked the British General to state how much of the country he would make over to him in return for helping in its reconquest. General Pollock disdained to offer terms to this wily villain. Akbar expressed astonishment when two of his hostages, sent to the British camp with messages from him voluntarily returned to captivity, bringing with them an unfavourable answer. He asked his chiefs if they would have done so. They replied "Praise be to Allah; we're not such fools."
Meanwhile Elphinstone had died in the enemy camp. Akbar had his body placed in a coffin and sent down towards Jellalabad for internment by the British. But on the way the cortege was met by some of the savage tribesmen who had distinguished themselves in the retreat from Kabul. Suspecting that it contained treasure, they knocked off the lid. Disappointed at what they found, they expressed their wrath by taking out the body of the Infidel General and hacking it to pieces. Like Long John Silver, Akbar played his double game to the end. He had the coffin fastened down again and taken safely into Jellalabad.
Angry at the persistent refusal of General Pollock to come to suitable terms, Akbar now threatened to send his hostages over the border into Turkestan where they would be sold into slavery. The ladies of the party looked gloomily at each other. The horrors of such a future they well understood. Suddenly deliverance came. One of the chieftains, seeing that the British had returned to power, offered to escort them back through Akbar's lines to their friends - for a reasonable ransom. On the way they met a rescue party, led by General Sale, whose reunion with Lady Sale was one of the most touching scenes in the whole series of campaigns.
The British now released Dost Mohammed, Akbar's father and permitted him to resume his position as Amir of Afghanistan. As such he found in his son Akbar the same monster of treachery under a veneer of urbanity as the British had found. The two quarrelled and Akbar, always revengeful when frustrated, might have again distinguished himself by another savage murder had not fate intervened. Feeling run down, and needing a stimulant, he ordered an Indian medicine man to prepare him some physic. Cautious as ever, he told the Indian to take the first two pills from the box, and to swallow them. Presumably the Indian knew which were the right ones to swallow, for he suffered no harm from his concoctions. But the brutal Akbar was taken suddenly ill, and died in convulsions. So ended the life of the man who had given the British Army the most humiliating experience in its history.
Akbar Khan, heir to the Afghan Throne, forced by his British conquerors to wander in the wilderness of exile, plotted revenge. Perhaps the Shah of Persia would lend him troops wherewith to eject the accursed Infidel from Kabul, the City of Orchards, his capital-to-be. Perhaps....
A swarthy horseman galloped towards him bringing news. The garrison of Kabul had been depleted, and the Afghan chiefs were in revolt against the British invader. They had sworn to throw him back across the Khyber Mountains into the India from which he had come to capture Dost Mohammed, King of Afghanistan, father of Akbar, and their country. They had written their oath in blood on the leaves of the Koran. And the British Resident, Sir William Macnaghten, utterly incapable of understanding his fellow-men, especially the treacherous inhabitants of these stark regions of the north, had taken no serious measures to frustrate them. This foolish, high-principled, bespectacled British Envoy, surrounded by a spate of desperate men, had even thought it weakness to attempt to discover who had written their names in the Koran. Had he only arrested three or four of the conspirators and sent them to India to join Akbar's father, Dost Mohammed, all would have been well.
Akbar's dark eyes glowed at the good news. His powerful sensual mouth uttered fierce orders, the impetuous prince led his men back at speed to Kabul, there to join the conspirators. They were not so pleased to see him as he would have liked. These wild men of the hills had no great desire to be ruled by any one, King of England or Amir of Afghanistan. The dawning kingship of Akbar must be kept at bay. The Afghan's cunning brain does not go direct to the point. The conspirators first suggested that Akbar was too friendly disposed towards the British, then they hinted that he might be a traitor to the general desire to throw out the accursed Infidel.
And Akbar was furiously angry. He defended himself with great energy. His fiery words, fierce countenance and undisciplined gestures, showed that their captive monarch's favourite son was an awkward prince, one not lightly to be trifled with. This man, with many family wrongs to redress, had the spirit of his fine physique; he was to exert a mighty influence over them all; and they must now understand just where he stood.
"Prove your words."
"That I will. I swear by the Koran before you all that by this time to-morrow I will bring the British Resident from Kabul into our camp either as a hostage or as a corpse."
That vow, spoken with all the force of his wild nature, surprised them all. Hitherto they had contented themselves with a little furtive shooting, a sly murder or two; but if Akbar Khan, son of their deposed Amir, would be so bold as to strike down the British Raj, that would be the end of Infidel rule in Kabul. Some of the lesser chieftains maybe hoped that Akbar would himself be struck down, as some day he would be, but by an enemy as yet unknown. Meanwhile he would become the terrible avenging figure swooping again and again on the ever-dwindling British column struggling vainly to escape from Kabul to the safety of India. From changing positions high up in the blood-stained Khyber he would direct and observe probably the most frightful debacle in the history of the British Army.
Sir William Macnaghten received a request from Akbar Khan for another conference. He was a little surprised, for he had only recently seen Akbar, presented him with a pair of pistols, and made a humiliating treaty for the evacuation of the city. In this new demand he might have seen the shadow of coming evil, but he still professed his confidence in the good faith of the Afghan leader. It was Christmas Day, 1841, when the Resident, taking with him Captains Lawrence, Trevor and Mackenzie, kept the appointed rendezvous at a bridge outside the British cantonments where sixteen Afghan warriors were ambushed.
For the benefit of the hidden tribesmen Akbar began to inveigh against the British official for what he described as his delay and duplicity. Why had his father not been set at liberty? And why, seeing that he was prepared to supply transport for the baggage, had not the British cleared out of Kabul? Further, why had not General Sale, occupying Jellalabad on the other and safe side of the Khyber, not quitted according to the terms of the treaty? "Instead of leaving," shouted Akbar, "your General has fortified himself against us with more energy than ever."
Some of the hidden tribesmen began to draw round and Macnaghten, seeing them, urged Akbar not to speak so loudly. He replied that there could be no secrets on these matters between him and his followers. Then, no longer playing a part, he announced that he considered Sir William and his suite to be his prisoners. The Resident protested that he had not broken the treaty, and that he would rather die than submit himself to Akbar. The Afghan seized the feeble British official in a mighty grip, whereupon his three aides ran to protect him. The encircling Afghans leaped forward and slew Captain Trevor; the other two were captured.
But the Resident was given no mercy. The savage Akbar produced one- of his captive's gift pistols and pulled the trigger. It flashed in the pan, but at the second attempt the Envoy lay dead at his feet. That Christmas morning Akbar had surely demonstrated that he was no friend of the British!
The head of Macnaghten, still wearing his rose-coloured spectacles, was first shown to his two captains in custody, and then carried in triumph through the bazaar on the point of an Afghan spear. Then it was fixed to a pole on the dome of the bazaar, where it remained for three days before being thrown into a disused well. Captains Lawrence and Mackenzie, after hearing the jeers of Akbar and his men, were allowed to return to the British camp.
Such was the treatment received by the head of the British Government in newly-captured Kabul. Yet the man who was responsible for this treachery, Akbar Khan, was the villain with whom Macnaghten's successor must perforce negotiate for the evacuation of Afghanistan. To his tender mercies must be entrusted some 5,000 troops and 12,000 camp-followers, besides women and children, all of whom, if they would reach safety, must trudge through or be carried over, snow a foot deep, in mid-winter, through the narrow defiles of Khyber, alive with enemy snipers, who had proclaimed a holy war against them, and who had determined to plunder their goods and gorge themselves with their blood.
But there was no help for it now. After a series of blunders in the handling of an alien race the colossal blunder had been made of appointing to the command of the soldiery a decrepit gout-ridden old man named General Elphinstone, who had confessed his own inability for the trust confided to him. Macnaghten had hoped that the army would have been able to disperse the investing hordes of Afghans; Elphinstone declared that his troops were incapable of the task. So a treaty had to be made with these Ishmaels of diplomacy whose cold relentlessness of purpose was everywhere evidenced.
Akbar's fellow-chieftains, still unwilling for the concentration of power into the hands of one man, decided to take part in the fresh negotiations now opened by Major Pottinger. They all ratified the terms of the new treaty, which were that General Sale should evacuate Jellalabad, that Dost Mohammed should be liberated, and that the British should take their arms with them upon leaving Kabul.
After a siege lasting sixty-seven days, General Elphinstone, and the army he commanded, prepared to leave under these humiliating conditions. The fatal morning of January 6, 1842, dawned bleak and cold. It was a dreary and dismal prospect for the strongest and stoutest heart; and there were not many of those in that bedraggled procession of nearly 20,000 souls. Every inch of the mountains and the plain was dazzling white snow, and the cold was so penetrating that everybody shivered in the sunshine. The lot of the women and children among the camp-followers was indeed miserable from the start, and became progressively so. The country through which they would travel, presented unparalleled difficulties; the fact that it would soon become peopled with the enemy transformed it into a narrow line of ghostly valleys destined to become the grave of all.
Akbar had promised an escort to protect them on the way, but this escort, like many of his promises, did not materialise. Nor did the fleeing British see any signs of the enemy at the moment when the head of the procession left the camp. They were held in check; the rabbits must not be frightened back into their hole. The Afghan vultures were in no great hurry; the journey was long, Jellalabad was many miles away; at their rate of progress it would be a long time before the Khyber Passes were threaded. In fact, the first day's journey had only covered five miles when nightfall forced the column into camp.
In the morning a cut had been made in the Kabul cantonment to allow of a clear passage out for troops and baggage, gun wagons and platform planks, which would make a temporary bridge over Kabul River. Through this opening lumbered every available camel and Afghan pony laden with camp equipages, stores and things necessary to shelter at least some of the troops from the rigours of the mountain climate.
The advance began at the early hour of 9 a.m., a pathetic cavalcade of victors in retreat. By ten o'clock the Afghans had bestirred themselves and were beginning that devilishly subtle diplomacy which characterised all their dealings with the retreat. A message came suggesting that the departure be postponed for yet another day to enable the escort to be made ready; the real reason was to give the Afghans time to plunder the Kabul camp and to send their human vultures to line the passes.
But the column was now in motion and could not conveniently return. Moreover, from the Afghan villages nearby a crowd of armed tribesmen was already emerging. Soon it was in the mission compound, evacuated too soon, and the work of plunder and destruction had begun. There could be no return!
As was to be expected with a force so badly controlled, there were many delays, and it was noon before the head of the procession had cleared the river, leaving the way open for camp-followers and rearguard to follow.
The presence with the army of two or three times their number of camp-followers made it impossible for the troops to march in proper order. From the very start the camp-followers were a clog on the movements of the soldiers, contributing immensely to the misfortunes of the march. But the civilians could not have been left behind to the mercy of the tribesmen, for men who would triumphantly parade through the Bazaar with the head of the British Resident on the point of a spear were unlikely to show greater mercy to his unprotected people. If only the British Force, small though it was, had refused to leave, and stayed on to fight if necessary, as was done in Jellalabad, all might yet have been well.
The procession moved out, and the women and children, mixing in with the troops, soon threw the column into confusion. As that long train of soldiers, civilians, ponies and heavily-laden camels moved forward it presented an irresistibly tempting sight to the greedy watchers. At last Allah had delivered the accursed Infidel and all his possessions into their hands. Not content would they be with exulting over their parting guests' discomfiture; they must ever and again be interfering with that tempting column. The rearguard did its best to restrain them, but it presently had to take up a position on the plain to protect a large quantity of baggage which had been dumped there.
The Afghans, as the day passed, became satiated with plundering the deserted cantonments, and now began to line the ramparts. Their chief had promised protection to the departing British. His yelling followers produced their long rifles and poured a mischievous fire into the slow-moving procession.
Perhaps it was fortunate that the soldiers had spiked the cannon which they were unable to bring away with them, or the tribesmen would have turned those heavy guns as well on to the column.
The confusion and the babble, the shouts of command, the wrangling of the women, the rampaging of the camels, and the general disorder, would have discouraged the most patient of strong commanders. Elphinstone's patience and that of his lieutenants were soon exhausted. Away in the distance were the treacherous defiles, destined to become the glens of slaughter. When the request had come to wait another day for the escort Elphinstone had looked back ruefully at the devastated encampment, at the army of plunderers who were already harrying the baggage columns and straggling civilians and had said pathetically, "It's too late now!" The cantonments had been fired, and the scene was one of fearful sublimity. If death lay ahead there was certainly no chance of life in that plundered and burning encampment. The Residency was the first to go, after which every other building was set alight; even if the Infidel changed his mind, he could now find no shelter in his old cantonments.
Though a day of unclouded glory over the whole valley of Kabul, it had been a terrible first day for the luckless marchers. A bridge of gun-carriages, overlaid with planks, had been built across Kabul River, but even with this the river had not been fordable for much of their goods. Pottinger advised Elphinstone to push on as far as Khurd Kabul before calling a first halt, but it was found impossible to move that imponderable conglomeration of soldiers, civilians and cattle any farther that night. Looking back over the five miles that had been traversed, the outcasts could see the plain dotted with the baggage which had been first abandoned and then plundered. There lay also the dead bodies of some fifty British soldiers. But that was not the worst, for scores of old Sepoys whose fighting days were over and other camp-followers, unfitted to battle with the cold or to endure a tramp of even a few miles, were already sitting down in the snow, ready for death by cold or by the knives of the holy warriors of Afghanistan.
Tongues of fire played about the sky, making a vast funeral pyre of the home of the British Forces for the past three years, and illuminating the wretched sleepless crowd that lay freezing in the snow of the new camp. The officers' wives and some of the troops had a few provisions, but for the majority there was little or no food, and for these starving wretches a shelterless night in the open was a poor preparation for the grim to-morrow. Some were fortunate; they became so benumbed that they were incapable of feeling. And when the bugle sounded in the morning these lucky ones were left behind, frozen to death.
General Elphinstone had a small tent for his sick body; there was another for Lady Sale, who was to write her experiences of this retreat, and her daughter. The soldiers' tents were flimsy, and offered but poor protection from the cold. They had been pitched without any regard to regularity or regiment and the various sections were mixed with the camp-followers, the camels and the horses, in one hopeless intimate mass.
It was fortunate for Captain Mackenzie that his native riflemen were still loyal, for they had a system of camping which, had it been practised by everybody before the departure, would have saved much of the misery of that horrible night. These riflemen cleared a small space of the snow and then lay down in a closely-packed circle with their feet meeting in the centre, all the warm clothing available spread equally over each. In this way sufficient animal warmth was generated to preserve each person from frost-bite. There was no distinction between officer and men in that homely circle. Captain Mackenzie lay gratefully with the rest, and in the morning he declared that though he had lain in the open without a tent, with snow on the ground a foot thick, he had felt no cold. But who could sleep on a night like that? The hours of darkness were disturbed by the yells from without and the cries and whimperings from within the camp. And still the bonfires, lit by the holy warriors, played freakishly over all.
The sun rose next morning in unveiled splendour, shone on the smouldering embers of the old cantonments, and on the heavings and stirrings of the camp in the snow. No bugle call for breakfast. All who could, scrambled to their feet, shook the snow from their benumbed bodies, many cursing their fate as they stamped about to restore circulation. Captain Lawrence, who had done his utmost all through the previous day to rally the troops, the terrified women and children, joking with them, and shepherding them into the line of route, struggled out of his little tent to find an elderly artilleryman lying frozen to death at his feet. He still grasped his sword.
An effort was made to sort out the troops. Bugle calls sounded and resounded without evoking a response from the native sappers and miners, who had deserted to the enemy in the night. Better the opportunity of imprisonment and possible death with the Afghans, than certain death in the Khyber Pass. The order was given to resume the journey from this nightmare of snow to the warmer lands of the South; but it was an undisciplined mob, almost a rabble, that took up the march the second day. How could a hungry, frost-bitten army march in step with any semblance of order? How could frost-bitten hands carry their rifles? The Indian soldiers - unused to cold climates - had already-suffered so much that they were beginning to throw away their arms, leaving them for the enemy, who would soon turn them on their owners.
Away in the distance rose the rocky ranges with their vertical cliffs which guarded the gateway to the south. Once those were gained there was a sixty-mile trudge through valley after dangerous valley until they emerged at Jellalabad, on the farther side. Progress was again frightfully slow, the order of march becoming more and more disorganised. Again the Afghans showed that they were not early risers, but soon, from a small fort above the road, there debouched a horde of fanatical warriors, brandishing their weapons, and yelling their fury. It was a bad day for the guns, some of which, making a detour, were surrounded before they could be got back into the road. Though the British troops seemed incapable or unwilling to defend their guns, the officers dashed in and spiked them. Captain Lawrence returned gloomily from the scene, declaring that the disgrace was too humiliating to speak about. He was just in time to rescue Lady Macnaghten from the snow, where she had been dumped by her scared and frost-bitten coolies. Unable to induce them to resume their load, Lawrence took Lady Macnaghten with him on to his Arab charger. But at that moment some Afghan horsemen swooped down on the baggage column, slashing at everybody with their swords. Lawrence caught the rope trailed by a passing camel and transferred his charge.
The cavalcade, their casualities increasing with every furlong they traversed, plodded towards that yawning gap in the mountain, the first of the four Passes to be negotiated before they could reach safety. Again a messenger came urging them to wait until provisions, firewood, and an escort could arrive to help them through the Pass.
Brigadier Shelton, generally unpopular, furiously objected to the order to halt, even though that meant a re-organisation of the column. His advice was wise; their only chance now was to press forward with all possible speed. It was dusk before the order to resume the march was given, by which time a large body of Afghans had been observed riding after them through the snow. But they were not the expected escort, though their leader was Akbar Khan, murderer of Sir William Nacnaghten and the self-appointed instrument of vengeance on those who had conquered and misruled his father's country. He claimed to have come to protect the column from the fanatics who were beginning to people the hills through which they were to pass. Akbar sternly charged them with planning to effect a junction with General Sale at Jellalabad; if they did so their two forces would unite against him. He now demanded that they halt at one of the villages en route, until news came that Jellalabad had been evacuated. They must also supply him with hostages as guarantees that his demands would be carried out; and in return he would supply them with all the necessaries they required, and would clear the Passes of the savage tribes. The pusillanimous Elphinstone weakly agreed to the demand and halted the procession for the night, thus giving the human vultures still more time to prepare for their coming.
If the first night had been bitter, it had been but the beginning of sorrows. That second night the snow was deeper, the frost more keen, with the temperature 12 degrees below zero. Yet most of that column, still numbering over 15,000 souls, somehow lived through that awful night. The grip of the frost was so pitiless that some went almost insane with the cold. The state of the hungry, half-frozen children was terrible to witness. It may have been possible even at that stage to have charged the encircling enemy, and have made for the Bala Hissar, a citadel which they had passed on their first day's journey. Here they might have held out until a relief force arrived. It was not to be. On the third morning the fanatical warriors were again swarming about the camp, and still Elphinstone had no intention of attacking. But Captain Lawrence, seeing that the enemy were massing for a charge, led the cavalry towards them, scattering them like chaff. While this engagement was taking place, Akbar had sent in another ultimatum, a demand for six hostages, including the doughty Lawrence, and Shelton the Brigadier. Lawrence objected to surrender himself, and Pottinger, who had been wounded, volunteered to take his place. Meanwhile the sunless hours were passing, and noon was drawing on. Back came the message from Akbar saying that he would not press his demand for more than three hostages, but they must include Captain Lawrence, whose value as a fighting officer he had long recognised. The hostages departed, and that conglomerate mass moved forward into the valley of slaughter.
The Pass of Khurd Kabul, soon to become a Golgotha, was a broken track of rock and loose stones whose sides towered steeply upwards to end in jagged peaks. A gloomy, echoing, sinister gorge it was. At the start there was an attempt at order, with the native Infantry and Anderson's Force as the advance guard, and the light cavalry, with the two remaining guns in the rear. The general and his staff, the ladies in their camel panniers, the Government treasure, and what little baggage there was left, provided the main column. It was found impossible to round up all the cattle, and most of these, with perhaps half the ammunition, was left scattered about the camp, a prey to the avengers. The camp-followers still mixed themselves with the military, to everybody's confusion. Half blinded by snow-glares, benumbed by cold - there were icicles on the ponies' manes and the men's beards - the procession stumbled forward into the trap. The torrent that ran through the Pass had to be constantly recrossed, and soon the legs of men and animals became encrusted with ice. The Pass grew narrower, and as darkness came the men on the heights began to add to the woes of the British by incessant sniping. There was no escape either from the snow and ice, or from the fusillade of bullets. Whichever side of the valley was hugged, that side was exposed to the rifles of the tribesmen opposite. It seemed impossible that anybody could pass through that defile alive. Mingling with triumphal yells from above, as the snipers observed a successful shot, were the roar of the mountain cataracts, the smashing of ice, the groans and shrieks of dying men, women, children and animals. But on the whole the shooting from above was indifferent.
One of many odd incidents to attract the attention of the few was the sudden bolting of a horse on which rode the wife of Lieutenant Eyre. The horse, galloping ahead of the whole column, soon left it far behind, and presently its rider reached the top of the cliffs, the first to escape from the bloody Pass. As the advance guard followed her, some of the savage warriors, rushing down from the lateral gorges, fell upon the main column and rearguard with upraised swords. In the middle of that column were the other English women and children struggling to escape over the dead bodies of their relatives and friends. Mothers lost their children, wives their husbands, in that terrible struggle for life. Mrs. Mainwaring told little Mary Anderson to cling to her while she, carrying her own child in her shawl, strove to scramble up to safety. The child at her side was wrenched away and became lost, never to be found again. A savage horseman rode up to Mrs. Mainwaring and demanded the shawl in which her child was wrapped, but a Sepoy, seeing her shrink back, fired a shot and the savage fell from his saddle, dead. Yet a further shot struck the Sepoy and he, too, fell, begging Memsahib and her child to hurry up the rocks and boulders away from the carnage. Still the bloody hand-to-hand battle continued to rage in the centre of the glen.
And now one of the remaining two guns was lost and had to be spiked into uselessness. The gunners dragged the other up the slope, waited for the camp-followers to pass, then fired round after round of grape-shot into the teeth of the pursuing tribesmen. Through bad leadership and overwhelming odds the column had suffered frightfully in this gorge, at least three thousand dead and wounded having to be left behind. None of the wounded had an earthly hope of escape from the knives of the holy warriors. Yet the solitary remaining gun had done considerable devastation in the ranks of the enemy.
Following in the wake of the demoralised British came the inescapable Akbar. With him were the hostages. They had been allowed to keep their swords, and even told that they could use them against any fanatic who molested them in the Pass. Pottinger, who understood Persian, riding with Mackenzie, recognised the duplicity of Akbar from his own words. He heard Akbar shout to his followers in their own language to slay all the Infidels, whereupon, speaking the language only the British understood, he changed the order to "Cease fire." As the hostages rode through the glen the Afghans leapt up from the dead and dying to taunt them. Pointing their blood-stained knives at the corpses, they shouted that those who had sought fruit in Kabul had found it too sharp for their stomachs. Yet Pottinger and Mackenzie each contrived to rescue from that glen of slaughter a frightened child whom they took along with them.
Next morning it was found that Elphinstone's fighting men had been reduced from about five thousand to less than a thousand, of whom no more than three hundred might still be fit to fight. Again the depleted column stirred itself and prepared to start off at sunrise. But now another and still more startling proposition was received from Akbar. Professing himself to be greatly distressed by the plight of the English ladies and their children, and that his own troops were unable to protect them so long as they remained with the column, he invited them into his camp for safety. Up to this time they had scarcely eaten a meal since leaving Kabul. Some of the ladies had infants a few days old at the breast. "Others were far advanced in pregnancy.... Yet most had been without shelter, and with the exception of Lady Macnaghten and Mrs. Trevor, had nothing in the world left but the clothes on their backs." Akbar's offer seemed to be their only chance of salvation.
Could a man who had murdered their Envoy be trusted not to murder the ladies of his entourage? Elphinstone was in a mood to trust the untrustworthy. But already the column was on the move. It had to be halted and brought back to the camp, a proceeding which caused open mutiny among the Indian troops, who saw only too plainly how things were going and that they had no conceivable opportunity of struggling through the remaining fifty miles to safety.
Ten Englishwomen, twenty-two children and five husbands made up the new hostage party that set out for Akbar's camp, each of them feeling a haunting prescience of impending evil. Yet at first the little cavalcade were gallantly received and assured by Akbar that they would be safely escorted to Jellalabad. Nevertheless, it was plain that Akbar was playing a double game; because his father and family were in British hands, he must be openly friendly; secretly he would do his utmost to requite the invaders for stealing the throne of his fathers.
He promised Elphinstone that now the cavalcade were through the Khurd Kabul Gorge, there would be no further attacks by the tribes, and consequently the British, incredibly trustful, were ordered not to fire on the pursuers. The column moved on again, but as the rearguard began to follow the stragglers along the high ground towards the Seven Hills, the enemy suddenly attacked once more. After a wholesale butchery of the unprotected wounded, they bore down on the troops. The native cavalry, ordered to counter-charge, did so with such zest that the harried Britishers began to cheer. Their elation was short-lived, for the cavalry, after four demoralising days, had decided to throw in their lot with the enemy, whose victory was assured. Finding that their own native cavalry had turned against them, the deserted rearguard hurriedly followed the main column towards the next gorge, with Akbar still clinging close behind. This next Pass, barely one hundred yards in length, provided the enemy with another opportunity. The advance guard passed through without much difficulty and pushed on to Kabar-i-Jabar, where they awaited the rest of the column. But it was only a remnant that came on to join them. For in that tiny gorge, the main column, encumbered by camp-followers, panic-stricken men, women and animals, had been assailed by the holy cut-throats from above, behind and before, and cut to pieces. The little gorge seemed to be almost choked with slaughtered bodies. By now all that was left was the advance guard, some four hundred British soldiers, their solitary gun, and about three thousand camp-followers. One-third of the journey had been covered, and four-fifths of the cavalcade had been murdered.
Again an emissary approached the little force. Despite all his previous treacheries, Akbar was still posing as the treaty-keeping friend of the British. Elphinstone sent one of his officers to where Akbar stood surveying the many times decimated force, to ask the Afghan chief why this butchery was continuing. Akbar expressed deep concern over the tremendous losses of his enemy, and proposed a safe escort of the remainder to Peshawar, if they would only surrender their arms. For once Elphinstone refused, and his force moved down to the valley of Tazin, harried all the way by knives and bullets.
Many camp-followers were slain during that descent of 2,000 feet, and the whole force would have perished there but for the determined resistance of the little rearguard. When presently they encamped on the plain, Akbar occupied a fort above them and closely observed the movements of the doomed force, quietly chuckling at the achievements of his troops and the havoc caused among the enemy ranks. But here at Tazin there was no shelter. They decided to remain but a few hours, to spike their remaining twelve-pounder, and hurry off at nightfall in the hope of forcing the Jagdalak Pass before morning.
A few odds and ends of food were discovered among the regimental stores together with a few frozen bottles of wine. This time the troops decided to move off quickly before the camp followers could stir and interrupt their progress, but this was not to be. The civilians hurried after them through the fierce country until the still fiercer heights of Jagdalak drew near. Here again they saw what they had all dreaded to see - the ubiquitous enemy.
Akbar, from his elevated fort, had seen them folding their tents and stealing away. Instead of following upon their heels, he had taken a short-cut across the mountains and was investing the Jagdalak Heights by the time they arrived. Some of the Afghans had established themselves on a little hillock by the roadside and Elphinstone ordered his men to charge. They did valiantly and suffered heavily. The remaining few, tormented by hunger and thirst, exhausted with incessant fighting, now sought refuge behind some ruined walls where they were still overlooked by the insatiable tribesmen. By now most of the rank and file had been killed or had given up the effort; and the surviving officers were almost as numerous as the men. They made a little meal from a few handfuls of flour during which one of them dropped their last piece of rock salt.
Some one said, "It is a bad omen to spill the salt." The others laughed, forced laughter, to hide their misery.
Once more they saw approaching horsemen - another envoy from the remorseless Akbar. Thinking that a parley meant respite from attack, the troops threw down their arms and slept. They were observed from the heights and attacked once more. The exhausted British scrambled back to the semi-shelter of the ruin from which twenty of them made a desperate effort to dislodge the Afghans, and would have done so had not the general, fearful of losing them, recalled them to camp. And now Akbar, again pleading that General Sale was refusing to evacuate Jellalabad, demanded more hostages. General Elphinstone, Brigadier Shelton and another officer rode off for a further parley.
But why argue further with this clever and audacious villain whose plan of campaign had been working out so diabolically as they marched? By a series of messages Akbar had created a false optimism in the ranks of his enemy as they passed through the stark regions and yawning gorges of Afghanistan. Specious promises of an escort, had kept them dawdling for two days at the start while his troops plundered the capital; and for five nights he had kept the demoralised rabble in altitudes where frost and snow would assist his butchers to do their work of destruction. By parley after parley, always accompanied by some new impudent demand, supported by offers of help which never matured, he kept delaying the advance until every fresh height they reached had been lined by his fanatical snipers. And now he had induced the British General to leave his command and trust himself to his tender mercies.
The fragment of the retreating column awaited his return until nightfall, by which time there were barely two hundred and fifty soldiers left. Two officers rode out hoping to meet the returning General, but met only a lone horseman who, riding up to one of the officers thrust a pistol in his face, pulled the trigger and galloped off.
Elphistone did not return; but the sniping continued; it could only be checked by charges up the heights; and these were continued from dawn the following day until noon. Although the holy warriors always fled before the British bayonets, the ranks of the little force became more and more depleted. Still no news of Elphistone, and the company decided to march at dusk. Only a few wounded could be taken. Amid pitiful entreaties from the rest, who knew they would be butchered at dawn, this handful of survivors tore themselves away. Before a real start could be made the enemy discovered they were on the move, and swooped down again. Dr. Brydon was pulled off his horse and felled by a blow on the head; but rising on one knee, he guarded himself against the second blow. Whilst his assailant went one way Dr. Brydon, hatless, shoeless and horseless went the other. He proceeded alone up through the Jagdalak Pass and then became aware that some of the advance guard were being driven backwards, completely demoralised. The holy warriors had drawn a barrier of prickly holly-oak across the mouth of the gorge against which the troops had charged in vain. Those who attempted to scramble over it fell back with hands and faces torn and bleeding. At the moment the tribesmen were not there to greet them, for they had not expected the advance to begin until dawn. But they soon swarmed to the barrier, yelling their war cries and raining bullets upon the discomfited British. In that nightmare of carnage no one knew how long the battle raged, but presently one horse and man broke through the barrier. As the gap widened others fought through; until nearly one hundred units of a column that originally totalled nearly 20,000 souls, had escaped. On went this tiny company, their progress signalled by watch-fires from hill to hill. A further barrier, and another terrible struggle ensued. Presently the survivors struck the open country, now aflush with dawn. They had passed such a night that if they now succeeded in reaching safety they were certain of being lionised by England when their epic story became known.
The snow had gone and the morning air was fresh and sweet. But again the tribesmen were in evidence still athirst for blood and plunder. Further progress was impossible. The stragglers came in, all that was left of the column, about seventy of them. Through that terrible night they had made tremendous progress, the best since Kabul was evacuated. They had travelled no less than twenty-five miles, but a similar distance still separated them from Jellalabad. Their armament now consisted of twenty swords, twenty rifles, and forty cartridges. But they took a height and held it for a while, threatening all comers with death. The Afghans drew round, jested with the men they intended to murder, and attempted to snatch away their rifies. The fight was on again. Charge after charge was made by the holy warriors and time and again they were beaten back, cursing the enemy who had taken toll of so many of their braves. But the end came at last, and every one of that gallant remnant lay dead on the height where they had defended themselves so gallantly. The Kabul garrison was no more.
But a few of the advance guard might yet have escaped. Four of them, taken alive that day, were sent to join the hostages still safe in Akbar's keeping. Seven others, however, were at liberty, waiting in a little glen ten miles ahead, and wondering why the main body did not join them. They decided to resume the advance, and came to a village where they were promised bread; but the village chief sent out a signal, and soon the vultures again put in an appearance. The villagers followed and invited them to return, still declaring that they were friendly. One officer named Bellew, tormented for rest and food, turned back to ask them further questions. He and another were hacked to pieces. The other five resumed their journey, counting themselves lucky to have escaped the perfidious villagers. Of these, the three who had the best horses drew farther ahead, and Dr. Brydon found himself riding with a young wounded officer named Steer, whose horse was bleeding at the mouth and nostrils. Brydon urged the boy forward saying that they would win through yet. But Steer declared that he could do no more. He would lie in one of the caves till nightfall, and then resume his journey. Brydon protested that he was mad to linger, yet Steer would not listen. The doctor rode on alone, still hatless, one unshod foot resting in the only stirrup of his wooden saddle. His poor horse was even more exhausted and desperate than he.
He scanned the horizon for his goal - -Jellalabad - securely held by General Sale and his British troops. He saw only twenty horsemen picking up stones with which to greet him. The desperate Brydon made one more determined fight for safety. He galloped his pony at his tormentors, slashing at them right and left, and so prevented then-knives from doing their bloody work. He was through and away, followed by a volley of stones. Somewhere in the distance lay Jellalabad but again between it and Brydon appeared yet another body of horsemen. One more lone charge, his lagging pony spurred forward with the point of his sword. Though he broke through again, his sword was now broken at the hilt by a large stone. Then a shot fired by a man hiding behind a mound wounded his pony which lurched but struggled bravely on. Still more men ahead of him, leading one of the horses of his three better mounted companions. They too must have gone the way of the great majority. But he contrived to pass before it was realised that he was an Englishman. Then one man turned and gave chase. Brydon flung the hilt of his sword in the Afghan's face, but the tribesman dodged cleverly. Having dropped his reins, Brydon now stooped to gather them, and the gesture saved his life. Thinking that the enemy had reached for a pistol, the Afghan galloped away. With the disappearance of the last of his enemies the nerve of Dr. Brydon broke. He continued his journey startled by every shadow.
At Jellalabad news had been received that the army of Kabul had set out to cross the Khyber. Colonel Dennie, one of the officers serving under General Sale, heard the news, and uttered a prophecy. This is what he said:
"You will see that not more than one man will reach this city alive. And he will come in to say that all the rest are destroyed."
The watchers on the walls of Jellalabad saw a lone figure riding a stumbling pony, rolling towards the gates of the city.
The one Englishman to escape from that long-drawn-out massacre had arrived to tell the appalling story.
Colonel Dennie turned to his brother officers.
"Didn't I tell you," he said quietly, "Here comes the survivor!"
Dr. Brydon swayed into the city.
Having achieved his relentless purpose with the army of Kabul, Akbar Khan decided to keep his hostages until he should hear that Jellalabad had been evacuated. General Sale knew better than to follow the example of General Elphinstone. And it was well that he did for it became known afterwards that Akbar had planned to exterminate his army to the last man.
Akbar, now that his forces had been augmented by deserters from the Kabul garrison, laid seige to Jellalabad, but Sale's army sallied out, attacked the Afghans and completely routed them. Akbar himself had a lucky escape from capture. He was also fortunate in not being shot by a rival chief whose gun went off accidentally. Akbar, alleging that the shot had been fired purposely, had the chief executed.
But Britain was not content to let Afghanistan off with one defeat. Kabul must be reoccupied and Akbar and his chiefs taught that they could not massacre semi-defenceless British troops and their wives and children without suffering for their devilry. Two armies set out for Kabul, one commanded by General Nott, which had to cover ninety miles, and the other by General Pollock, who had only two-thirds the distance to traverse. These two capable generals were each determined to Leat the other in being first in Kabul. Pollock had to march his army through those four blood-stained Passes where Elphinstone's cavalcade had made their grave. At that dreaded Jagdalak Pass, where the remnant had been stopped by the holly barricade, the standards of the holy warriors fluttered everywhere. Pollock ordered Sale to take his brigade up those heights and revenge the lost garrison, and gallantly they did so. The Afghans fled in terror from that advancing forest of steel, fled to the topmost peak which they thought inaccessible; and there they planted their standard. Under cover of the guns the British troops scaled that dizzy height and wiped out the disgrace of the massacre. On they went to the ruined enclosure, passing the bodies of their dead comrades, preserved by the frost - and still recognisable.
In that other terrible Pass of Khurd Kabul, Akbar awaited them again with a larger force, totalling 16,000 men. Again the Afghans had all the advantage of position; but they had not the discipline, the courage, nor the determination to be revenged, which stimulated the British troops. Again the heights were stormed; but this time the Afghans, fighting under the eye of their chief, made a firmer stand. No quarter was asked or given and in the end the peaks were carried. The Gurkhas, described as "the finest sight of the day," looked like terriers attacking mastiffs, when compared with the brawny Afghans. But in the end all the passes were carried, and Akbar and his followers were in flight. As they passed through the last defile the British saw the bodies of Elphinstone's army lying in heaps of fifties and hundreds. It was a veritable Golgotha. The British gun-wheels literally rumbled over the skulls of their former comrades.
Pollock won the race to Kabul by a short head. Had not General Nott been compelled to waste a couple of days trying to save a pair of historic gates, Pollock would have come in second. Even so there was some little feeling between the two generals over the coveted honour.
In revenge for the treatment of Macnaghten the British troops destroyed the bazaar where his severed head had been publicly displayed, also a citadel and a Mohammedan Mosque.
But what of Elphinstone and the other hostages? Did Akbar keep his word? For a time. He first sent them far into the mountains and had them interned in an Afghan fortress. The journey there was almost as perilous as the passage through the Khyber. Some of the gorges that the ladies had to climb were so steep that they clung to their horses' necks to keep themselves and their saddles from rolling down the mountain side. One of the rivers they crossed was so difficult to ford that they even availed themselves of the offer of Akbar to seat themselves behind the Afghans on their horses. When they had reached the comparative safety of the fortress they found that it was not so safe after all. One day they felt the building swaying and all rushed into the courtyard which was now undulating like waves of the sea. As they stood there the earth opened in a tremendous quake and the hut in which their goods were stored was suddenly engulfed. Lady Macnaghten had brought some of her pet animals through those terrible passes to the safety of the fort. At sight of the earthquake she raised her voice in lamentation: one of her cats had been swallowed up. Her fellow hostages seized spades and began to dig. Her cat leaped out alive!
Akbar continued his practice of sending messengers to the British Forces. When it became evident that the British Raj was getting the whip hand, his tone changed. Affirming that he had all along been Britain's only friend among the savage tribesmen he asked the British General to state how much of the country he would make over to him in return for helping in its reconquest. General Pollock disdained to offer terms to this wily villain. Akbar expressed astonishment when two of his hostages, sent to the British camp with messages from him voluntarily returned to captivity, bringing with them an unfavourable answer. He asked his chiefs if they would have done so. They replied "Praise be to Allah; we're not such fools."
Meanwhile Elphinstone had died in the enemy camp. Akbar had his body placed in a coffin and sent down towards Jellalabad for internment by the British. But on the way the cortege was met by some of the savage tribesmen who had distinguished themselves in the retreat from Kabul. Suspecting that it contained treasure, they knocked off the lid. Disappointed at what they found, they expressed their wrath by taking out the body of the Infidel General and hacking it to pieces. Like Long John Silver, Akbar played his double game to the end. He had the coffin fastened down again and taken safely into Jellalabad.
Angry at the persistent refusal of General Pollock to come to suitable terms, Akbar now threatened to send his hostages over the border into Turkestan where they would be sold into slavery. The ladies of the party looked gloomily at each other. The horrors of such a future they well understood. Suddenly deliverance came. One of the chieftains, seeing that the British had returned to power, offered to escort them back through Akbar's lines to their friends - for a reasonable ransom. On the way they met a rescue party, led by General Sale, whose reunion with Lady Sale was one of the most touching scenes in the whole series of campaigns.
The British now released Dost Mohammed, Akbar's father and permitted him to resume his position as Amir of Afghanistan. As such he found in his son Akbar the same monster of treachery under a veneer of urbanity as the British had found. The two quarrelled and Akbar, always revengeful when frustrated, might have again distinguished himself by another savage murder had not fate intervened. Feeling run down, and needing a stimulant, he ordered an Indian medicine man to prepare him some physic. Cautious as ever, he told the Indian to take the first two pills from the box, and to swallow them. Presumably the Indian knew which were the right ones to swallow, for he suffered no harm from his concoctions. But the brutal Akbar was taken suddenly ill, and died in convulsions. So ended the life of the man who had given the British Army the most humiliating experience in its history.
The Humanitarian Crisis of Gaza Oh The Horror!
On July 17th, 2010, a new luxury mall was opened in Gaza. It was packed with happy Gazans looking for goods.
How awful things look there!
More Horror at the Swimming Pools and Fine Dining Establishments...
What they won’t tell you about are the fancy new restaurants and swimming pools of Gaza, or about the wind surfing competitions on Gaza beaches, or the Strip’s crowded shops and markets. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live a middle class (and in some cases an upper class) lifestyle that western journalists refuse to report on because it doesn’t fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write.
Here, courtesy of the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, is a report on Gaza’s new Olympic-sized swimming pool . (Most Israeli towns don’t have Olympic-size swimming pools. One wonders how an area that claims to be starved of water and building materials and depends on humanitarian aid builds an Olympic size swimming pool and creates a luxury lifestyle for some while others are forced to live in abject poverty as political pawn refugees?)
If you pop into the Roots Club in Gaza, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook, you can “dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu”.
The restaurant’s website in Arabic gives a window into middle class dining and the lifestyle of Hamas officials in Gaza. And here it is in English, for all the journalists, UN types and NGO staff who regularly frequent this and other nice Gaza restaurants (but don’t tell their readers about them).
And look at how they are being starved!!!!
And for the finale I'll show you the REAL TERROR visited upon these people BY THEIR OWN who snatch up children and use them as Human Shields!
How awful things look there!
More Horror at the Swimming Pools and Fine Dining Establishments...
What they won’t tell you about are the fancy new restaurants and swimming pools of Gaza, or about the wind surfing competitions on Gaza beaches, or the Strip’s crowded shops and markets. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live a middle class (and in some cases an upper class) lifestyle that western journalists refuse to report on because it doesn’t fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write.
Here, courtesy of the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, is a report on Gaza’s new Olympic-sized swimming pool . (Most Israeli towns don’t have Olympic-size swimming pools. One wonders how an area that claims to be starved of water and building materials and depends on humanitarian aid builds an Olympic size swimming pool and creates a luxury lifestyle for some while others are forced to live in abject poverty as political pawn refugees?)
If you pop into the Roots Club in Gaza, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook, you can “dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu”.
The restaurant’s website in Arabic gives a window into middle class dining and the lifestyle of Hamas officials in Gaza. And here it is in English, for all the journalists, UN types and NGO staff who regularly frequent this and other nice Gaza restaurants (but don’t tell their readers about them).
And look at how they are being starved!!!!
And for the finale I'll show you the REAL TERROR visited upon these people BY THEIR OWN who snatch up children and use them as Human Shields!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Development of Kedah's Early History Based on Archeological Finds
Colling had decided on the first possibility
Early History - Bujang Valley
A History of Archeological Research in Bujang Valley
Bujang Valley's History Based On Archeological Finds
Archeological Finds Outside Bujang Valley
Conclusion
At the same time, an artifact made of quartz, which was shaped as either an arrow head or the head of a spear was found in Sintok, (Callenfels 1936, Collings 1937). It was found as a result of tin mining activities and this made it difficult for any concrete conclusion to be made based on the artifact alone. However, the find was of great importance into the research of our nation's prehistory as it was the only example to be found indicating the use of arrows of the Neolithic period in our country. We know that natives of the Negrito tribes once used arrows for hunting, although they are now more keen to use blow pipes instead (Endicott 1979). However the evidence from Sintok showed that it was more likely that ancient communities used bows and arrows to hunt. To obtain a more concrete proof, more research must be made on the matter.
Shortly after the Second World War, P.S.R. Williams-Hunt, explored the Northern part of Peninsular Malaysia with the hope of finding more prehistoric sites in the area. One of the places he visited was Bukit Keplu in Kodiang in the district of Kubang Pasu. On this site he uncovered three stone axes of the Neolithic period and tens of pieces of pottery in the shape of cones. Some of them had holes in them. As the pottery pieces were rather unique he came to a conclusion that
"The exact function of these objects remain speculative…..it can only be suggested that they have some ritual significance, possibly, in association with Buddhism" (William-Hunt 1952:182).
Early History - Bujang Valley
The importance of Bujang Valley in the development of Kedah's early history could not be disputed. This is based on two sources:
a) written records by Chinese and Arabian seafarers, as well as from Indian literary works
b) archeological proofs
Braddle (1949, 1950, 1980) and Wheatley (1957, 1961) made broad studies of written records made by Indian and Arabian seafarers and literary works of Indian writers. It is not my intention, however, to make a close study of their explanation. It would be sufficient for me to make a general and brief comment of their conclusion.
The earliest writing on Kedah could be found in a Tamil poem called Pattinapalai, which was written sometime between the second and third century A.D. It mentioned Kedah as Kalagam, which had the same meaning as Kandaram or Kedah. Stone writings produced in 1030 A.D. by the Kingdom of Chola clearly indicated that Kandaram was Kataha. This was mentioned in old Sanskrit texts (Puranas), especially in the drama called Kamudimahotsava, which was written around the seventh and the eighth century A.D. (See Whitley 161: 279-280 and Braddle 1980: 41- 43 for further details on the subject). Besides this Kedah was also mentioned in a Prakrit work called Samaraiccakaha produced during the eighth century A.D. as well as Katha writings such as Khatasaritsagara. In all these work, Kedah was projected as a peaceful and glorious country, like "the seat of all felicities" (Wheatley 1958).
Kedah was also known as Chieh-ch'a to Chinese sailors during the seventh century A.D. At that time, there were many Buddhist missionaries making their way to India and back to China, and one of them was I-Tsing (I-Ching) who made his maiden voyage in 671 A.D. from China and arrived in Srivijaya (Palembang) in 672 A.D. to learn Sanskrit. The following year he made a trip to Kedah via Melayu to take a passage to India on board a royal Indian vessel. He studied for 12 years in the University of Nalanda before returning to in 685 A.D. On this return trip he once again made a stop over in Kedah. From his writing, we found that that Kedah was a centre for trade and commerce and was the most important port in the region especially for the Kingdom of Srivijaya. Besides the evidence from I-Tsing's writing, Wheatley was of the opinion that Kedah, which was also known as Chia-cha had sent its ambassadors to meet the emperor of China in 638 A.D. (Wheatley 1961:278)
Evidence from Arab sailors was rather late, chronologically, as the writing of Sulaiman-al-Mahri on the fifteenth century A.D. only indicated that Kedah (spelt as Keda) was in the same latitude as Kelatan.
Although there were some information made on Kedah by Chinese and Arab seafarers and also from Indian literary works, the information given were rather unclear and sketchy. We now know that there was a growth of towns and settlements in estuaries and river mouths in most part of the peninsular. This difficulty was compounded when it was found that at one stage Langkasuka and Kedah was indicated as one and the same (Winstedt. 1920), when in actual fact they two different states altogether (see colles 1969). Mistakes in referring to names of places will end up in bigger mistakes in making synthesis.
A History of Archeological Research in Bujang Valley
Archeological evidence in Bujang Valley was first examined by Colonel James Low in 1864, but how much study was done remained unclear as there was no complete report on the matter. However his notes had at least pointed to the sites where the artifacts were found. Early in the twentieth century two surveyors, working at the summit of Jerai Mountain found the site of an abandoned Hindu temple. Further studies in Bujang Valley was enthusiastically made by Evans in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1921, on a visit to Sungai Batu, he found images of Durga Devi and Mahishahura. On another trip to the same area in 1923, he found an image of Ganesha. He found many other artifacts in the years that followed (Evans 1927).
Both these people opened a new chapter in the study of Kedah's early history. According to Low and Evans the artifaacts and monuments found in Kedah bear evidence of Hindu influence, and that Hindus and Buddhists had arrived in the region as colonists. Both Low and Evens were right when they concluded that Langkasuka was located in the South of Kedah. While Evans placed the settlement in Sungai Batu, Low was more correct when he placed it in Bukit Meriam. Evans believed that the Kingdom of Srivijaya which was centred in Plaembang had a very strong influence in Kedah. Therefore, besides opening a new chapter in the archeological study of Bujang Valley, these two also gave their conclusions on matters related to the area.
Between 1937 to 1938, H.G. Quaritch-Wales and his wife made an extensive study of Bujang Valley, and as a result uncovered 30 temple sites. Twenty nine of these were in Bujang Valley and one in Seberang Perai (Quaritch-Wales and Quaritch-Wales 1947). Shortly after the Second World War, they continued their study and this time the area they concentrated on was Bujang Valley. It must be remembered that the arrival of Qauritch-Wales in Bujang Valley was in the service of 'Greater India Research committee', which was based in Calcutta. The objective of the Committee was to study the extension and impact of Indian colonization in the area. Bujang Valley was singled out based on its geographical position, which was between and China. In this context, we found that the studies made by Quaritch-Wales, even though made systematically, was biased. This was because of his own strong theory, which he wanted very much to prove. It was because of this that he was often criticized for his conclusions based on archeological finds in Bujang Valley.
Work on Bujang Valley stopped for a while and was resumed in1956 when the Archeology Society of the University of Malaya, under the direction of K.G. Treggoning and M. Sullivan surveyed and excavated the area around Seberang Perai and Bujang Valley (Sullivan 1958). Although a study made by Lamb was done in a more systematic manner, he needed to obtain the co-operation of a few specialist from overseas to search and re-construct the temple of Batu Pahat, a task which was done in years between 1959 and 1960 (Lamb 1960). Lamb went on to make new inroads into the study by unearthing heaps ceramic pieces from the bottom of the said river (Lamb 1961).
Early History - Bujang Valley
A History of Archeological Research in Bujang Valley
Bujang Valley's History Based On Archeological Finds
Archeological Finds Outside Bujang Valley
Conclusion
At the same time, an artifact made of quartz, which was shaped as either an arrow head or the head of a spear was found in Sintok, (Callenfels 1936, Collings 1937). It was found as a result of tin mining activities and this made it difficult for any concrete conclusion to be made based on the artifact alone. However, the find was of great importance into the research of our nation's prehistory as it was the only example to be found indicating the use of arrows of the Neolithic period in our country. We know that natives of the Negrito tribes once used arrows for hunting, although they are now more keen to use blow pipes instead (Endicott 1979). However the evidence from Sintok showed that it was more likely that ancient communities used bows and arrows to hunt. To obtain a more concrete proof, more research must be made on the matter.
Shortly after the Second World War, P.S.R. Williams-Hunt, explored the Northern part of Peninsular Malaysia with the hope of finding more prehistoric sites in the area. One of the places he visited was Bukit Keplu in Kodiang in the district of Kubang Pasu. On this site he uncovered three stone axes of the Neolithic period and tens of pieces of pottery in the shape of cones. Some of them had holes in them. As the pottery pieces were rather unique he came to a conclusion that
"The exact function of these objects remain speculative…..it can only be suggested that they have some ritual significance, possibly, in association with Buddhism" (William-Hunt 1952:182).
Early History - Bujang Valley
The importance of Bujang Valley in the development of Kedah's early history could not be disputed. This is based on two sources:
a) written records by Chinese and Arabian seafarers, as well as from Indian literary works
b) archeological proofs
Braddle (1949, 1950, 1980) and Wheatley (1957, 1961) made broad studies of written records made by Indian and Arabian seafarers and literary works of Indian writers. It is not my intention, however, to make a close study of their explanation. It would be sufficient for me to make a general and brief comment of their conclusion.
The earliest writing on Kedah could be found in a Tamil poem called Pattinapalai, which was written sometime between the second and third century A.D. It mentioned Kedah as Kalagam, which had the same meaning as Kandaram or Kedah. Stone writings produced in 1030 A.D. by the Kingdom of Chola clearly indicated that Kandaram was Kataha. This was mentioned in old Sanskrit texts (Puranas), especially in the drama called Kamudimahotsava, which was written around the seventh and the eighth century A.D. (See Whitley 161: 279-280 and Braddle 1980: 41- 43 for further details on the subject). Besides this Kedah was also mentioned in a Prakrit work called Samaraiccakaha produced during the eighth century A.D. as well as Katha writings such as Khatasaritsagara. In all these work, Kedah was projected as a peaceful and glorious country, like "the seat of all felicities" (Wheatley 1958).
Kedah was also known as Chieh-ch'a to Chinese sailors during the seventh century A.D. At that time, there were many Buddhist missionaries making their way to India and back to China, and one of them was I-Tsing (I-Ching) who made his maiden voyage in 671 A.D. from China and arrived in Srivijaya (Palembang) in 672 A.D. to learn Sanskrit. The following year he made a trip to Kedah via Melayu to take a passage to India on board a royal Indian vessel. He studied for 12 years in the University of Nalanda before returning to in 685 A.D. On this return trip he once again made a stop over in Kedah. From his writing, we found that that Kedah was a centre for trade and commerce and was the most important port in the region especially for the Kingdom of Srivijaya. Besides the evidence from I-Tsing's writing, Wheatley was of the opinion that Kedah, which was also known as Chia-cha had sent its ambassadors to meet the emperor of China in 638 A.D. (Wheatley 1961:278)
Evidence from Arab sailors was rather late, chronologically, as the writing of Sulaiman-al-Mahri on the fifteenth century A.D. only indicated that Kedah (spelt as Keda) was in the same latitude as Kelatan.
Although there were some information made on Kedah by Chinese and Arab seafarers and also from Indian literary works, the information given were rather unclear and sketchy. We now know that there was a growth of towns and settlements in estuaries and river mouths in most part of the peninsular. This difficulty was compounded when it was found that at one stage Langkasuka and Kedah was indicated as one and the same (Winstedt. 1920), when in actual fact they two different states altogether (see colles 1969). Mistakes in referring to names of places will end up in bigger mistakes in making synthesis.
A History of Archeological Research in Bujang Valley
Archeological evidence in Bujang Valley was first examined by Colonel James Low in 1864, but how much study was done remained unclear as there was no complete report on the matter. However his notes had at least pointed to the sites where the artifacts were found. Early in the twentieth century two surveyors, working at the summit of Jerai Mountain found the site of an abandoned Hindu temple. Further studies in Bujang Valley was enthusiastically made by Evans in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1921, on a visit to Sungai Batu, he found images of Durga Devi and Mahishahura. On another trip to the same area in 1923, he found an image of Ganesha. He found many other artifacts in the years that followed (Evans 1927).
Both these people opened a new chapter in the study of Kedah's early history. According to Low and Evans the artifaacts and monuments found in Kedah bear evidence of Hindu influence, and that Hindus and Buddhists had arrived in the region as colonists. Both Low and Evens were right when they concluded that Langkasuka was located in the South of Kedah. While Evans placed the settlement in Sungai Batu, Low was more correct when he placed it in Bukit Meriam. Evans believed that the Kingdom of Srivijaya which was centred in Plaembang had a very strong influence in Kedah. Therefore, besides opening a new chapter in the archeological study of Bujang Valley, these two also gave their conclusions on matters related to the area.
Between 1937 to 1938, H.G. Quaritch-Wales and his wife made an extensive study of Bujang Valley, and as a result uncovered 30 temple sites. Twenty nine of these were in Bujang Valley and one in Seberang Perai (Quaritch-Wales and Quaritch-Wales 1947). Shortly after the Second World War, they continued their study and this time the area they concentrated on was Bujang Valley. It must be remembered that the arrival of Qauritch-Wales in Bujang Valley was in the service of 'Greater India Research committee', which was based in Calcutta. The objective of the Committee was to study the extension and impact of Indian colonization in the area. Bujang Valley was singled out based on its geographical position, which was between and China. In this context, we found that the studies made by Quaritch-Wales, even though made systematically, was biased. This was because of his own strong theory, which he wanted very much to prove. It was because of this that he was often criticized for his conclusions based on archeological finds in Bujang Valley.
Work on Bujang Valley stopped for a while and was resumed in1956 when the Archeology Society of the University of Malaya, under the direction of K.G. Treggoning and M. Sullivan surveyed and excavated the area around Seberang Perai and Bujang Valley (Sullivan 1958). Although a study made by Lamb was done in a more systematic manner, he needed to obtain the co-operation of a few specialist from overseas to search and re-construct the temple of Batu Pahat, a task which was done in years between 1959 and 1960 (Lamb 1960). Lamb went on to make new inroads into the study by unearthing heaps ceramic pieces from the bottom of the said river (Lamb 1961).
Bujang Valley: Earliest civilisation in S-E Asia
Bujang Valley, one of several Indianised kingdoms in Southeast Asia, existed long before neighbouring empires such as Majapahit (1200 AD) and Sri Vijaya (700 AD).
The early Bujang Valley civilisation between the first and the fifth century (earlier than previously thought) was probably based on animism before coming under Hindu and Buddhist influence from the fifth to the fourteenth century.
Now, here’s the strange thing: most Malaysians and visitors know about Malacca and Penang as historical sites, but few have even heard of the Bujang Valley. (Today is actually George Town World Heritage City Day, a holiday in Penang from this year.) In fact, very few residents of Penang and Kedah know about the fascinating archaeological museum amidst reconstructed Hindu and Buddhist temple foundations, discovered in the valley and relocated to the museum grounds, near a gurgling stream on a lush hill-slope in Merbok in Kedah. The museum is worth visiting if you are interested in the Hindu and Buddhist figurines and other artefacts discovered during excavation.
Archaeological interest covers sites spanning a thousand square kilometre region from Merbok in the north to Bukit Mertajam on mainland Penang in the south. Gunung Jerai, at 1,200 metres the highest peak in Kedah, was the most visible landmark for sea farers heading to the region.
Time to re-write our school history text books, don’t you think?
More information on Bujang Valley in Wikipedia.
Article from http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=49019
Bujang valley continues to amaze historians
By: by Himanshu Bhatt (Mon, 05 Jul 2010)
International historians observe archaeological excavations at the site of the 2,000 year old Bujang Valley civilisation in Sungai Batu, Kedah. They have described the man-made structures – the oldest thus far recorded in South-east Asia – as the most pivotal find in the region in the last few decades.
KUALA LUMPUR (July 5, 2010): The Bujang Valley in Kedah, where the oldest recorded man-made buildings in South-East Asia have been discovered, continues to be a source of amazement to historians and achaelogists.
Some of the world’s top historians converged at the archaeological site over the weekend to survey excavation works for the 2,000-year old civilisation which has been hailed in the last few decades as “the most important civilisational find in the region.”
The civilisation there is now known to have existed long before neighbouring empires like Sri Vijaya (700AD) and Majapahit (1200AD).
theSun had reported on March 28 that Malaysian archaeologists had unearthed a 1,900-year-old monument, scientifically dated to 110 AD, built with detailed geometrical precision in Sungai Batu, Kedah.
The monument, which faces the Gunung Jerai mountain, the highest peak in northern Malaysia, is believed to be have been used for ritualistic purposes.
The monument was found surrounded by remnants of advanced iron smelting facilities equipped with furnaces as well as brick jetties built along a river bank.
Dr Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University’s school of anthropology described it as “the earliest monumental site” that showed an important role as an industrial and trading centre.
“This is one of the most important finds in South-east Asia for the last couple of decades,” he said.
India’s Gujarat State Archaeology Department director Yadubirsingh Rawat said there was now indisputable evidence that international trading activities had taken place here in that period.
“The settlers here had full knowledge of iron smelting and jetty construction. This means they must have been connected to other places in the world,” he said.
“The discovery shows that the Bujang valley contributed significantly to maritime trade in the region,” he added.
Also found with the monument were various pottery and a Buddhist tablet with Pallava-Sanskrit inscriptions likely to have been made in the 5th century AD.
The discovery, by the Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), was made within a three sq km area where a total of 97 mounds have been found. Thus far only 10 have been excavated.
Dr R. Nagaswamy, former director of the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department said the western coast of peninsular Malaysia was likely a central point in the sea route of international trade in that period.
“From this we not only gain a deeper understanding of the country, but also of world history,” he said.
He also noted that Kedah had attracted rulers from South India, such as the Chola kings, to send their armies there in the 11th century.
The experts are in Malaysia for a conference on the Bujang Valley.
CGAR had announced last week that it had recently uncovered a new site in Jeriang, Kedah, comprising seven ancient furnaces once used for smelting of iron.
New estimates now show that the Bujang Valley settlement covered an area of about 1,000 sq km, mostly around Gunung Jerai, and not just 400 sqkm as previously believed.
Dated 110 AD, the newly discovered Sungai Batu monument in the Bujang Valley is the oldest recorded man-made building in South-east Asia.
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7 July 2010 at 12.40pm | Tags: Bujang Valley, earliest civilisation, kedah, Merbok | Category: Malaysian history | Printable version |
28 comments to Bujang Valley: Earliest civilisation in S-E Asia
Sean
7 July 2010 at 12.54pm · Reply
This is really great news – I’ve often wondered how Malaysia can be so devoid of historical monuments when the rest of South East Asia is brim-full. How nice would it be to attract proper tourists with the prospect of seeing something really interesting? I can’t see Tourism Malaysia commissioning the “Visit Malaysia – Ancient Indian Kingdom” video just yet though, can you?
jonh
7 July 2010 at 1.07pm · Reply
The fact that it was Hindu & Buddhist, it existence will be covered up from the public.
It was in our history books 70′s together with Ganganegara in Bruas.
Sad indeed.
Asmarada
8 July 2010 at 1.11pm · Reply
Malaysia only acknowledge its history from Kesultanan Melaka. That’s explain the sieged-mentality as expounded in Tun M’s classic The Malay Dilemma.
semuanya OK kot
7 July 2010 at 1.37pm · Reply
This was discoverd by the British in 1950s or earlier. No suppression, only benign neglect. No funds etc. Faham sahalah.
jonh
7 July 2010 at 2.36pm · Reply
Dear semua OK Kot,
If thats the case, can you explain why Lembah Bujang and Ganganegara were in our history test book but not anymore now?
Why is the site not accorded national heritage status but the single batu bersurat dari Terengganu has been given all the coverage?
Jonh
ksl
7 July 2010 at 4.43pm · Reply
i was surprised to see in my own eyes such existence within out doorsteps. we read this in passing in our history books in the 70s but the reality says it all. i first visited a few years ago and then went again two years back. my observation is that the treatment is an eyewash for such an important part of our history. being such an important site there is very little information and publicity of this heritage. i have asked around many do not know its existence! thankfully the early discovery had kept and preserved the artefacts. if it were a recent find i am very sure they will treat it as hard core for some road or building foudation work! sadly i think majority of malaysians would not be able to associate with the civilization after being brainwashed and conditoned by our so called leaders.
SamG
7 July 2010 at 4.47pm · Reply
Jonh,
Malayan History has been re-written over the last 40 years. What I learnt in the 1960s is totally opposite to what my children are fed in school today.
I do not wish to state why in print or openly, as I know why, but, by doing so, I could end up being charged for Sedition or related offences.
When I was in Tamil Nadu and going thru’ some of the History of SEA, may of the texts are also the same as the History as we were taught, and even more.
KM
7 July 2010 at 5.41pm · Reply
This is historical facts that exists for long long time which was not being ‘amplified’ may be due to some political reasons.
Go visit the place if you can you will be amazed with the ‘technology’ that mankind used to have in the past.
The early settlement was (most of it) on the hill that can be served as a guide “light house” for ships arriving from Indian Ocean then.
Let’s the history prevail not due to any political interest we are in.
nasri
7 July 2010 at 6.22pm · Reply
This is situated between Borobudor and Angkor Watt.
There is no reason not to believe in a Tamadun Manusia in this part of the world long before Parameswara set foot in Temasik.
Tourism Malaysia should promote it as a new tourist attraction. Imagine how much revenue to bring to the people in Jerai and Gurun in Kedah.
However, BN will (probably) cover up this dicovery to protect the ‘interest’ … Need not say more.
In the meantime, not sure what our Profesor Sejarah Khoo KK would say on this.
Ferdtan
7 July 2010 at 7.09pm · Reply
History Professor Khoo KK will only (probably) say politically correct history, connected with Umno is history.The rest are not history.As the late Judge who infamously loved to say-irrelevant ,irrelevant and irrelevant.
nasri
8 July 2010 at 1.06pm · Reply
I heard the History Prof … is now being cold-storaged… Must be the bad karma for twisting the history to suit the agenda of umnoputera.
Salak
7 July 2010 at 6.34pm · Reply
Strange the whole thing just decayed like that. Maybe there was a bigger tsunami last time – a remote but real possibility
Or maybe the ET aliens took their cousins back home, exasperated at the not-so-boleh response!
But maybe there was a big epidemic, a disease. Who knows? Between 1300-1450 there was a bad plague in Europe. Same thing could happen elsewhere. Muslim scholars like Khaldun lost part of his family because of that.
In Sarawak TB is back. It was eliminated in late 80′s or early 90′s. Our porous borders are as bad as our porous pockets. During the construction of the Bakun Dam there was an outbreak of some HFM or its mutated strains whick took a number of infant lives.
If we can’t kill the corruption in Malaysia these diseases are gonna come back! And they will not be after our pockets!
wandererAUS
7 July 2010 at 6.52pm · Reply
Aiyaaa Anil, see what you have done? You have given credibility to Tun M… to claim another feather to his cap!
I have just questioned, “Was there a malay race” after reading the modern history of Malaysia backed with facts…where Chinese remains were found in the Eastern coast of the Peninsular….
wandererAUS
7 July 2010 at 6.58pm · Reply
This article may make interesting reading…..
The Truth Revealed (with evidence)!
In June 1998, the government of Malaysia had hired a team of experts from all over the world to be gathered here in Malaysia for a research project to compliment the history studies that we undertook in our secondary school.
http://cforum6.cari.com.my/archiver/?tid-642283.html
donplaypuks
7 July 2010 at 7.38pm · Reply
I have visited the Bujang Valley site and museum near Sg. Petani. It was actually mentioned more than a hundred years ago in 1864 by British Administrator Colonel James Low who also translated the Kedah Annals in english!! Later in the 1930′s Prof Quaritch Wales did much of the excavations assisted by Prof Nilakanta Shastri from India.
Note than whenever there is a press release on Bujang Valley, great pains are taken by our “authorities” not to mention the definitive evidence of Indian Hindus/Buddhists . You will only read about ‘some” Sankrit inscriptions and “Chandis”. These Indians had settled in Bujang Valley as early as about 100 AD. This makes sense as Indonesian records show the presence in Java of King Aji Saka from India in 78 AD!!
The truth that Bujang Valley is the ancient site of Indian Hindus/Buddhists is indisputable and it was they who built all those temples and iron ore smelting facilities.
But what can we expect when yesterday the Governor of Melaka challenged whether Admiral Cheng Ho and his fleets ever actuall visited Melaka when extensive Ming records are available for inspection and research to any lay historian?
In fact, it was these Ming records that internationally renown M’sian Prof Wang Gangwu relied upon in proving the existence of the non-Muslim Parameswara and his numerous visits to China between 1405-1414, which resulted in our history books having to be corrected!
We have some dangerous history revisionists in our midst.
dpp
we are all of 1 race, the Human Race
tunglang
7 July 2010 at 9.31pm · Reply
Same goes for Hang Tuah, gone incognito! The truth is harder to stomach for some racist quarters who can’t see the truth other than Ketuanan.
Ganesh
7 July 2010 at 9.39pm · Reply
Anil, what about the Johor discovery? How come no news on that?
I hear it is even older.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kota_Gelanggi
Asmarada
8 July 2010 at 1.09pm · Reply
Johor discovery has been depicted in the movie ‘Puteri Gunung Ledang’. See the movie and find it out yourself.
donplaypuks
8 July 2010 at 2.10am · Reply
Kota Gelanggi, if it’s remnants exist in Johor, is likely to be from the Chola era of 1,000 AD and not older than Bujang Valley.
dpp
hoh
8 July 2010 at 1.20pm · Reply
hoh, kids these days still learn about lembah bujang in their history book.
These civilization was populated by Indinized local population which was the Kedahan. You all know rite that b4 islam, malays were hindu or buddhist? Just becoz that civilization were hindu, that doesnt mean they were indians. China was and still buddhist but that doesnt mean they are indian since buddhism came from india.
hoh
8 July 2010 at 1.26pm · Reply
to add sumting up :
It is quite ironic why indian want to claim this civilization as theirs when they themselves destroy them. Yes, the Chola destroy most of the city during their Srivijaya conquest. And they proudly tell this in their temple in tamil nadu on how they capture the king of Kadaram (kedah) and stole the city’s wealth.
donplaypuks
8 July 2010 at 7.41pm · Reply
“It is quite ironic why indian want to claim this civilization as theirs when they themselves destroy them. Yes, the Chola destroy most of the city during their Srivijaya conquest. And they proudly tell this in their temple in tamil nadu on how they capture the king of Kadaram (kedah) and stole the city’s wealth.” Hoh.
We are talking about 2 different time lines.
Bujang Valley goes back to 100 AD or thereabouts.
The Chola invasion of Kedah and possibly Perak and Johor led by Rajaraja Chola (Raja Chulan) took place circa 1000 AD as recorded in the temple inscriptions at Tanjavur (Tanjore) in S.India.
dpp
we are all of 1 race, the Human Race
hoh
8 July 2010 at 11.29pm · Reply
ok, then why must the india (chola) destroys sumting that thair ‘ancestor’ built? Weird huh? So obviously the population at that time was predominantly malayan not indian. Indianized but not indian.. same thing goes to the khmer empire.
donplaypuks
9 July 2010 at 12.07pm · Reply
Bujang Valley is not the site of some great Chola or any other invasion; there’s no evidence of that. Why these 1st century Indian settlers eventually left is not known; pehaps they found better fortunes in Cambodia and Indonesia where they built the Angkor Wat and Borobudur.
Some 900 years later, Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola began their forays into SEA around 1000 AD. by which time Hinduism and Buddhism was extant in Burma and Thailand. Northern parts of Malaya were under the control of Thai Rulers as evidenced by the 1st 9 kings of Kedah who all had Hindu/Thai names.
Evidence of pockets of large trading and religious families (as much as 500) in SEA are known to have existed.
Hinduized kingdoms did not spring out of native inspiration or 1 or 2 travelling monks. There had to have been a very strong presence of original Indians from India for such kindoms to have lasted until the 15th century, (including the founder of Melaka) to have influenced culture, religion and language.
dpp
we are all of 1 race, the Human Race
hoh
9 July 2010 at 3.47pm · Reply
dear dpp.. from 900ad > kedah was part of Srivijaya not Thailand. Plus, thailand (Ayutthaya) only exist in 1350++. The reason why those kings of kedah got hindu name bcoz their religion was hindu/buddha. Since those religion originated in India, so by nature, it is ok to adopt Indian name.. the same thing oso happen when islam was introduced. they adopt arabic name as islam originated from arabia. But this thing only happen in malaysia not indonesia where some of the people still retain their hindu name.
I guess, the way those old ‘malay’ people perceived the indian is the same on how malay view the arabs today.
Salak
9 July 2010 at 12.33am · Reply
“…Arabisation is the word. “
How is that nasri?
Arabs were more terrible before Islam.
It’s interesting to note that the bleak parts of Asia sent the Mongols, the Turks and the Tartars down to better pasture. The bleak desert sent the Arabs out to greener pastures, too. The urban cowboys of Sarawak went for the thicker foliage in the Sarawak jungles, almost making the Penans extinct (remaining number dwindled down to some 20,000).
We might just have to settle for blunt economic reasons why old people did this or that. And we’re now getting better at cheating – with ponzi finance!
K. P. VARAN
15 July 2010 at 10.06pm · Reply
Certain political ‘Historians’ like to hide their heads in the sand like Ostriches. They want our children to do the same too. They re write History books but have not been able to re write Geography books and the history books of other Nations. Our children these days are smart enough to read about the past through the IT
We do not need ‘trained’ teachers to bull… them about our historical background. It only make our children to call their teachers ‘dopes’ at their backs. The amount of comments you hear from children about the ignorance of their teachers on various factors is mind staggering. After all, a school is there only to teach you how to LEARN. After that the students are faster in learning all that they want to know….
nasri
8 July 2010 at 1.07pm · Reply
Arabisation is the word.
The early Bujang Valley civilisation between the first and the fifth century (earlier than previously thought) was probably based on animism before coming under Hindu and Buddhist influence from the fifth to the fourteenth century.
Now, here’s the strange thing: most Malaysians and visitors know about Malacca and Penang as historical sites, but few have even heard of the Bujang Valley. (Today is actually George Town World Heritage City Day, a holiday in Penang from this year.) In fact, very few residents of Penang and Kedah know about the fascinating archaeological museum amidst reconstructed Hindu and Buddhist temple foundations, discovered in the valley and relocated to the museum grounds, near a gurgling stream on a lush hill-slope in Merbok in Kedah. The museum is worth visiting if you are interested in the Hindu and Buddhist figurines and other artefacts discovered during excavation.
Archaeological interest covers sites spanning a thousand square kilometre region from Merbok in the north to Bukit Mertajam on mainland Penang in the south. Gunung Jerai, at 1,200 metres the highest peak in Kedah, was the most visible landmark for sea farers heading to the region.
Time to re-write our school history text books, don’t you think?
More information on Bujang Valley in Wikipedia.
Article from http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=49019
Bujang valley continues to amaze historians
By: by Himanshu Bhatt (Mon, 05 Jul 2010)
International historians observe archaeological excavations at the site of the 2,000 year old Bujang Valley civilisation in Sungai Batu, Kedah. They have described the man-made structures – the oldest thus far recorded in South-east Asia – as the most pivotal find in the region in the last few decades.
KUALA LUMPUR (July 5, 2010): The Bujang Valley in Kedah, where the oldest recorded man-made buildings in South-East Asia have been discovered, continues to be a source of amazement to historians and achaelogists.
Some of the world’s top historians converged at the archaeological site over the weekend to survey excavation works for the 2,000-year old civilisation which has been hailed in the last few decades as “the most important civilisational find in the region.”
The civilisation there is now known to have existed long before neighbouring empires like Sri Vijaya (700AD) and Majapahit (1200AD).
theSun had reported on March 28 that Malaysian archaeologists had unearthed a 1,900-year-old monument, scientifically dated to 110 AD, built with detailed geometrical precision in Sungai Batu, Kedah.
The monument, which faces the Gunung Jerai mountain, the highest peak in northern Malaysia, is believed to be have been used for ritualistic purposes.
The monument was found surrounded by remnants of advanced iron smelting facilities equipped with furnaces as well as brick jetties built along a river bank.
Dr Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University’s school of anthropology described it as “the earliest monumental site” that showed an important role as an industrial and trading centre.
“This is one of the most important finds in South-east Asia for the last couple of decades,” he said.
India’s Gujarat State Archaeology Department director Yadubirsingh Rawat said there was now indisputable evidence that international trading activities had taken place here in that period.
“The settlers here had full knowledge of iron smelting and jetty construction. This means they must have been connected to other places in the world,” he said.
“The discovery shows that the Bujang valley contributed significantly to maritime trade in the region,” he added.
Also found with the monument were various pottery and a Buddhist tablet with Pallava-Sanskrit inscriptions likely to have been made in the 5th century AD.
The discovery, by the Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), was made within a three sq km area where a total of 97 mounds have been found. Thus far only 10 have been excavated.
Dr R. Nagaswamy, former director of the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department said the western coast of peninsular Malaysia was likely a central point in the sea route of international trade in that period.
“From this we not only gain a deeper understanding of the country, but also of world history,” he said.
He also noted that Kedah had attracted rulers from South India, such as the Chola kings, to send their armies there in the 11th century.
The experts are in Malaysia for a conference on the Bujang Valley.
CGAR had announced last week that it had recently uncovered a new site in Jeriang, Kedah, comprising seven ancient furnaces once used for smelting of iron.
New estimates now show that the Bujang Valley settlement covered an area of about 1,000 sq km, mostly around Gunung Jerai, and not just 400 sqkm as previously believed.
Dated 110 AD, the newly discovered Sungai Batu monument in the Bujang Valley is the oldest recorded man-made building in South-east Asia.
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7 July 2010 at 12.40pm | Tags: Bujang Valley, earliest civilisation, kedah, Merbok | Category: Malaysian history | Printable version |
28 comments to Bujang Valley: Earliest civilisation in S-E Asia
Sean
7 July 2010 at 12.54pm · Reply
This is really great news – I’ve often wondered how Malaysia can be so devoid of historical monuments when the rest of South East Asia is brim-full. How nice would it be to attract proper tourists with the prospect of seeing something really interesting? I can’t see Tourism Malaysia commissioning the “Visit Malaysia – Ancient Indian Kingdom” video just yet though, can you?
jonh
7 July 2010 at 1.07pm · Reply
The fact that it was Hindu & Buddhist, it existence will be covered up from the public.
It was in our history books 70′s together with Ganganegara in Bruas.
Sad indeed.
Asmarada
8 July 2010 at 1.11pm · Reply
Malaysia only acknowledge its history from Kesultanan Melaka. That’s explain the sieged-mentality as expounded in Tun M’s classic The Malay Dilemma.
semuanya OK kot
7 July 2010 at 1.37pm · Reply
This was discoverd by the British in 1950s or earlier. No suppression, only benign neglect. No funds etc. Faham sahalah.
jonh
7 July 2010 at 2.36pm · Reply
Dear semua OK Kot,
If thats the case, can you explain why Lembah Bujang and Ganganegara were in our history test book but not anymore now?
Why is the site not accorded national heritage status but the single batu bersurat dari Terengganu has been given all the coverage?
Jonh
ksl
7 July 2010 at 4.43pm · Reply
i was surprised to see in my own eyes such existence within out doorsteps. we read this in passing in our history books in the 70s but the reality says it all. i first visited a few years ago and then went again two years back. my observation is that the treatment is an eyewash for such an important part of our history. being such an important site there is very little information and publicity of this heritage. i have asked around many do not know its existence! thankfully the early discovery had kept and preserved the artefacts. if it were a recent find i am very sure they will treat it as hard core for some road or building foudation work! sadly i think majority of malaysians would not be able to associate with the civilization after being brainwashed and conditoned by our so called leaders.
SamG
7 July 2010 at 4.47pm · Reply
Jonh,
Malayan History has been re-written over the last 40 years. What I learnt in the 1960s is totally opposite to what my children are fed in school today.
I do not wish to state why in print or openly, as I know why, but, by doing so, I could end up being charged for Sedition or related offences.
When I was in Tamil Nadu and going thru’ some of the History of SEA, may of the texts are also the same as the History as we were taught, and even more.
KM
7 July 2010 at 5.41pm · Reply
This is historical facts that exists for long long time which was not being ‘amplified’ may be due to some political reasons.
Go visit the place if you can you will be amazed with the ‘technology’ that mankind used to have in the past.
The early settlement was (most of it) on the hill that can be served as a guide “light house” for ships arriving from Indian Ocean then.
Let’s the history prevail not due to any political interest we are in.
nasri
7 July 2010 at 6.22pm · Reply
This is situated between Borobudor and Angkor Watt.
There is no reason not to believe in a Tamadun Manusia in this part of the world long before Parameswara set foot in Temasik.
Tourism Malaysia should promote it as a new tourist attraction. Imagine how much revenue to bring to the people in Jerai and Gurun in Kedah.
However, BN will (probably) cover up this dicovery to protect the ‘interest’ … Need not say more.
In the meantime, not sure what our Profesor Sejarah Khoo KK would say on this.
Ferdtan
7 July 2010 at 7.09pm · Reply
History Professor Khoo KK will only (probably) say politically correct history, connected with Umno is history.The rest are not history.As the late Judge who infamously loved to say-irrelevant ,irrelevant and irrelevant.
nasri
8 July 2010 at 1.06pm · Reply
I heard the History Prof … is now being cold-storaged… Must be the bad karma for twisting the history to suit the agenda of umnoputera.
Salak
7 July 2010 at 6.34pm · Reply
Strange the whole thing just decayed like that. Maybe there was a bigger tsunami last time – a remote but real possibility
Or maybe the ET aliens took their cousins back home, exasperated at the not-so-boleh response!
But maybe there was a big epidemic, a disease. Who knows? Between 1300-1450 there was a bad plague in Europe. Same thing could happen elsewhere. Muslim scholars like Khaldun lost part of his family because of that.
In Sarawak TB is back. It was eliminated in late 80′s or early 90′s. Our porous borders are as bad as our porous pockets. During the construction of the Bakun Dam there was an outbreak of some HFM or its mutated strains whick took a number of infant lives.
If we can’t kill the corruption in Malaysia these diseases are gonna come back! And they will not be after our pockets!
wandererAUS
7 July 2010 at 6.52pm · Reply
Aiyaaa Anil, see what you have done? You have given credibility to Tun M… to claim another feather to his cap!
I have just questioned, “Was there a malay race” after reading the modern history of Malaysia backed with facts…where Chinese remains were found in the Eastern coast of the Peninsular….
wandererAUS
7 July 2010 at 6.58pm · Reply
This article may make interesting reading…..
The Truth Revealed (with evidence)!
In June 1998, the government of Malaysia had hired a team of experts from all over the world to be gathered here in Malaysia for a research project to compliment the history studies that we undertook in our secondary school.
http://cforum6.cari.com.my/archiver/?tid-642283.html
donplaypuks
7 July 2010 at 7.38pm · Reply
I have visited the Bujang Valley site and museum near Sg. Petani. It was actually mentioned more than a hundred years ago in 1864 by British Administrator Colonel James Low who also translated the Kedah Annals in english!! Later in the 1930′s Prof Quaritch Wales did much of the excavations assisted by Prof Nilakanta Shastri from India.
Note than whenever there is a press release on Bujang Valley, great pains are taken by our “authorities” not to mention the definitive evidence of Indian Hindus/Buddhists . You will only read about ‘some” Sankrit inscriptions and “Chandis”. These Indians had settled in Bujang Valley as early as about 100 AD. This makes sense as Indonesian records show the presence in Java of King Aji Saka from India in 78 AD!!
The truth that Bujang Valley is the ancient site of Indian Hindus/Buddhists is indisputable and it was they who built all those temples and iron ore smelting facilities.
But what can we expect when yesterday the Governor of Melaka challenged whether Admiral Cheng Ho and his fleets ever actuall visited Melaka when extensive Ming records are available for inspection and research to any lay historian?
In fact, it was these Ming records that internationally renown M’sian Prof Wang Gangwu relied upon in proving the existence of the non-Muslim Parameswara and his numerous visits to China between 1405-1414, which resulted in our history books having to be corrected!
We have some dangerous history revisionists in our midst.
dpp
we are all of 1 race, the Human Race
tunglang
7 July 2010 at 9.31pm · Reply
Same goes for Hang Tuah, gone incognito! The truth is harder to stomach for some racist quarters who can’t see the truth other than Ketuanan.
Ganesh
7 July 2010 at 9.39pm · Reply
Anil, what about the Johor discovery? How come no news on that?
I hear it is even older.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kota_Gelanggi
Asmarada
8 July 2010 at 1.09pm · Reply
Johor discovery has been depicted in the movie ‘Puteri Gunung Ledang’. See the movie and find it out yourself.
donplaypuks
8 July 2010 at 2.10am · Reply
Kota Gelanggi, if it’s remnants exist in Johor, is likely to be from the Chola era of 1,000 AD and not older than Bujang Valley.
dpp
hoh
8 July 2010 at 1.20pm · Reply
hoh, kids these days still learn about lembah bujang in their history book.
These civilization was populated by Indinized local population which was the Kedahan. You all know rite that b4 islam, malays were hindu or buddhist? Just becoz that civilization were hindu, that doesnt mean they were indians. China was and still buddhist but that doesnt mean they are indian since buddhism came from india.
hoh
8 July 2010 at 1.26pm · Reply
to add sumting up :
It is quite ironic why indian want to claim this civilization as theirs when they themselves destroy them. Yes, the Chola destroy most of the city during their Srivijaya conquest. And they proudly tell this in their temple in tamil nadu on how they capture the king of Kadaram (kedah) and stole the city’s wealth.
donplaypuks
8 July 2010 at 7.41pm · Reply
“It is quite ironic why indian want to claim this civilization as theirs when they themselves destroy them. Yes, the Chola destroy most of the city during their Srivijaya conquest. And they proudly tell this in their temple in tamil nadu on how they capture the king of Kadaram (kedah) and stole the city’s wealth.” Hoh.
We are talking about 2 different time lines.
Bujang Valley goes back to 100 AD or thereabouts.
The Chola invasion of Kedah and possibly Perak and Johor led by Rajaraja Chola (Raja Chulan) took place circa 1000 AD as recorded in the temple inscriptions at Tanjavur (Tanjore) in S.India.
dpp
we are all of 1 race, the Human Race
hoh
8 July 2010 at 11.29pm · Reply
ok, then why must the india (chola) destroys sumting that thair ‘ancestor’ built? Weird huh? So obviously the population at that time was predominantly malayan not indian. Indianized but not indian.. same thing goes to the khmer empire.
donplaypuks
9 July 2010 at 12.07pm · Reply
Bujang Valley is not the site of some great Chola or any other invasion; there’s no evidence of that. Why these 1st century Indian settlers eventually left is not known; pehaps they found better fortunes in Cambodia and Indonesia where they built the Angkor Wat and Borobudur.
Some 900 years later, Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola began their forays into SEA around 1000 AD. by which time Hinduism and Buddhism was extant in Burma and Thailand. Northern parts of Malaya were under the control of Thai Rulers as evidenced by the 1st 9 kings of Kedah who all had Hindu/Thai names.
Evidence of pockets of large trading and religious families (as much as 500) in SEA are known to have existed.
Hinduized kingdoms did not spring out of native inspiration or 1 or 2 travelling monks. There had to have been a very strong presence of original Indians from India for such kindoms to have lasted until the 15th century, (including the founder of Melaka) to have influenced culture, religion and language.
dpp
we are all of 1 race, the Human Race
hoh
9 July 2010 at 3.47pm · Reply
dear dpp.. from 900ad > kedah was part of Srivijaya not Thailand. Plus, thailand (Ayutthaya) only exist in 1350++. The reason why those kings of kedah got hindu name bcoz their religion was hindu/buddha. Since those religion originated in India, so by nature, it is ok to adopt Indian name.. the same thing oso happen when islam was introduced. they adopt arabic name as islam originated from arabia. But this thing only happen in malaysia not indonesia where some of the people still retain their hindu name.
I guess, the way those old ‘malay’ people perceived the indian is the same on how malay view the arabs today.
Salak
9 July 2010 at 12.33am · Reply
“…Arabisation is the word. “
How is that nasri?
Arabs were more terrible before Islam.
It’s interesting to note that the bleak parts of Asia sent the Mongols, the Turks and the Tartars down to better pasture. The bleak desert sent the Arabs out to greener pastures, too. The urban cowboys of Sarawak went for the thicker foliage in the Sarawak jungles, almost making the Penans extinct (remaining number dwindled down to some 20,000).
We might just have to settle for blunt economic reasons why old people did this or that. And we’re now getting better at cheating – with ponzi finance!
K. P. VARAN
15 July 2010 at 10.06pm · Reply
Certain political ‘Historians’ like to hide their heads in the sand like Ostriches. They want our children to do the same too. They re write History books but have not been able to re write Geography books and the history books of other Nations. Our children these days are smart enough to read about the past through the IT
We do not need ‘trained’ teachers to bull… them about our historical background. It only make our children to call their teachers ‘dopes’ at their backs. The amount of comments you hear from children about the ignorance of their teachers on various factors is mind staggering. After all, a school is there only to teach you how to LEARN. After that the students are faster in learning all that they want to know….
nasri
8 July 2010 at 1.07pm · Reply
Arabisation is the word.
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