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History | Asia | Afghanistan

The road back to the Afghan capital after disaster.

The writer of this vital first hand account of the First Afghan War was an officer serving with the 40th Foot. His regiment formed part of Nott's 'Candahar Division' and its role was as part of the so called 'army of retribution' which marched to Cabul to 'conclude' the conflict after the appalling disaster which culminated in the annihilation of a British army under Elphinstone as it retreated from the Afghan capital. The 40th's route took them once again to Ghuznee, the scene of fighting for the 'Army of the Indus' early in the war, but this time the city was left as a smoking ruin. This book graphically describes a time of almost perpetual hard fought running battle as the column ground forward towards its objective; descriptions of attacks on the column, night attacks upon the camp and open set piece engagement fill its pages. Arriving in Cabul shortly after Pollock's forces, the author met the liberated prisoners of the Afghan disaster including the redoubtable Lady Sale. Withdrawal-nothing less than a fighting retreat with the rearguard hard pressed-from Cabul meant the column of which the 40th formed part had to follow the line of the catastrophic march of the destroyed British army and the author's description of the horrors they witnessed as gun carriages literally ground over the bones of former comrades makes harrowing reading. Nevertheless, this is a different account of the war told from a company officer's perspective and is recommended.