Schlacht von Ali Masjid
Vorlage:Infobox Military Conflict Vorlage:Campaignbox Second Anglo-Afghan War The Battle of Ali Masjid was the opening battle between the British forces, under Lieutenant General Sir Samuel James Browne VC, and the Afghan tribesman, under Ghulam Haider Khan, in the Second Anglo-Afghan War which took place on 21 November, 1878.
The perceived offensiveness of an Afghan general refusing to allow a British envoy entrance to the country was used as an excuse to attack the fortress of Ali Masjid, as the opening battle in the war.[1]
The British forces won the conflict.
Context
Following the 1837 Battle of Jamrud, Dost Muhammad Khan had built the fortress of Ali Masjid to assert his sovereignty over the Khyber region.[2] However, the fortress was captured only two years later by 11,000 troops commanded by Lt. Col. Claude M. Wade on July 226, 1839[3]
Two months prior to the battle, British envoy Gen. Neville Chamberlain had tried to enter Kabul on September 21, but had been ordered to retreat by Faiz Muhammad, the commander of Ali Masjid. Britain issued an ultimatum that Sher Ali apologise for the incident.[1]
Battle
Vorlage:RquoteAt sunset on November 20, 1878 an estimated 1,700 men of the second Brigade of the Peshawar Valley Field Force began their flank march to assist Browne in his attack on the Ali Masjid fort which guarded the Khyber pass.[4]
After the battle, Sher Ali still refused to ask the Russians for military assistance, despite their insistence that he should seek terms of surrender from the British.[5]
British Forces Order of Battle
Sir Samuel J. Browne (Overall Command of the Peshawar Valley Field Force)
- Cavalry Brigade
- Commander: Brigadier-General Sir Charles J. S. Gough
- 10th Royal Hussars (2 squadrons)
- 11th Prince of Wales's Own Lancers
- Guide's Calvary
- Royal Artillery
- Commander: Colonel W. J. Williams
- One Horse Battery
- One Field Battery
- Three Heavy Batteries
- 21st (Kohat) Mountain Battery (Frontier Force)
- 22nd (Derajat) Mountain Battery (Frontier Force)
- 24th (Hazara) Mountain Battery (Frontier Force)
- First Infantry Brigade
- Commander: Brigadier-General H. T. Macpherson
- 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade
- 20th Brownlow's Punjabis
- 4th Gurkha Rifles
- Second Infantry Brigade
- Commander: Brigadier-General J. A. Tytler
- 1st Battalion Leicestershire
- Guides Infantry
- 51st Sikhs
- Third Infantry Brigade
- Commander: Brigadier-General Frederick E. Appleyard
- Fourth Infantry Brigade
- Commander: Brigadier-General W. Browne
References
Vorlage:Reflist Vorlage:Battle-stub
- ↑ a b Clements, Frank. "Conflict in Afghanistan: A Historical Encyclopedia", p. 285
- ↑ Noelle, Christine. "State and Tribe in Nineteenth Century Afghanistan", p. 168
- ↑ Riddick, John F. "The History of British India", p. 43
- ↑ http://www.archive.org/stream/secondafghanwar102hann/secondafghanwar102hann_djvu.txt
- ↑ Sinhai, Damodar Prasad. "India and Afghanistan, 1876", p. 183