Battle of Jalalabad
| Battle of Jalalabad | ||
|---|---|---|
| Part of 1st Afghan War 1839-42 | ||
| Date: | 7 April 1842 | |
| Location: | Jalalabad, Afghanistan | |
| Presidency: | Bengal | |
| Co-ordinates: | 34.456712°N 70.384276°E | |
| Result: | Akbar Khan defeated | |
| Combatants | ||
| British & Indians | Barakzai tribesmen | |
| Commanders | ||
| Maj-Gen Sir Robert Sale | Mohammed Akbar Khan | |
| Strength | ||
| 1,500 | 6,000 | |
| Casualties | ||
| 14 killed 66 wounded |
||
See main article General Sale's March from Kabul to Jalalabad
Synopsis
Sirdar Mahommed Akbar Khan came to Jalalabad with a large body of troops hoping to take the city following the earthquake of 19 February. He found the damage had been quickly repaired however so he established a rigorous blockade. Rumour came on 5 April that the relieving army under General Pollock had been repulsed at the Khyber Pass (later found not to be true). General Sale decided on an attack on the Afghan camp in the hope of raising the siege.
Almost all the garrison's fighting men were detailed in three columns for the assault. A skeleton guard was left on the walls under Captain Robert Pattisson. On 7 April at dawn the force issued from the the Kabul and Peshawar gates. The right column under Captain Havelock[1] drove the enemy back while Colonel Dennie attacked a fort on the right and was killed at the head of his regiment.[2] The battle lasted twelve hours at the end of which the enemy was in full retreat. The Afghan standards were captured together with a great quantity of stores.
Akbar Khan was defeated and the garrison had raised the siege before the arrival of Pollock's relieving force on 14 April.
Troops in the Sortie
Left Column
500 men under Lieut-Col Thomas Monteath CB
- 35th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry 500 bayonets
Centre Column
500 men under Col. William Dennie
Right Column
360 men under Capt. Henry Havelock
- One company 13th Regiment of Foot
- One company 35th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry
- Detachment of Sappers
Artillery
- No 6 Light Field Battery under Capt Augustus Abbott
Cavalry
- Small troop under Capt Oldfield and Lieut William Mayne
Biographies
Entries in the Dictionary of Indian Biography 1906:
Augustus Abbott (1804-1867)
Mahommed Akbar Khan (1813?-1849)
William Dennie (1785?-1842)
Henry Havelock (1782-1842)
William Mayne (1818-1855)
Thomas Monteath (Douglas) (1795-1857)
George Pollock (1786-1872)
Robert Sale (1782-1845)
External Links
1st Afghan War Wikipedia
1st Afghan War Somerset Record Office
Siege of Jellalabad BritishBattles.com
Historical books on-line
Sale's Brigade in Afghanistan: with an Account of the Seizure and Defence of Jellalabad by George Robert Gleig 1846 (Google Books)
History of the war in Afghanistan, Volume 3 - Siege of Jalalabad by John William Kaye 1851 (Google Books)
Historical Record of the Thirteenth, First Somersetshire, or Prince Albert’s Regiment of Light Infantry - Akbar defeated by Thomas Carter 1867 (Google Books)
Notes
- ↑ Later to become Maj- Gen Sir Henry Havelock KCB who led the relief of Lucknow
- ↑ Account of Glennie's death