Battle Report
 

Battle Report: 23rd April 1991

British Indian  ~vs~  Afghan

(Nog Norgren ~vs~ Robert Avery & Richard Avery)

.

British Indian

Brigade

Unit

Fig.'s Org. Class Weapons Pts/Fig Points
  CinC

1

         
  2inC 1          
  78th Highlanders 40 8x5 RegB blr (2 Co's LI)    
  32nd Punjab Foot 32 8x4 RegC blr (2 Co's LI)    
  3rd Ghurka Foot 40 8x5 RegC blr (2 Co's LI)    
  17th Lancers 16 4x4 RegB s,blc,p,l    
  14th Sikh Horse 16 4x4 RegC s,blc    

 

1st Btty RHA

3

3x1

RegA

medium blrb FA

 

 

  Naval Brigade 24 8x3 RegB blr    
  Gatling Gun 1 1x1 RegA hmg    
  Ammo Wagon 1          
              3052
.

Afghan

Brigade

Unit

Fig.'s

Org.

Class

Weapons

Pts/Fig

Points

 

Sher Abu Alibi

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

2inC

1

 

 

 

 

 

Pathans

Foot 1

36

1x36

FanB

sp/sw,sh

 

 

 

Foot 2

36

1x36

FanB

sp/sw,sh

 

 
 

Foot 3

18

1x18

MksA

sp/sw,sh,blr

 

 
 

Foot 4

18

1x18

MksA

sp/sw,sh,mlr

 

 
  Foot 5 18 1x18 IrregA

sp/sw,sh,mlr

   
 

Horse 1

10

1x10

FanA

sp/sw,sh,mlr

 

 

 

Horse 2

10

1x10

FanA

sp/sw,sh,mlr

 

 

Waziri

Foot 1

32

1x32

IrregB

sp/sw,sh,mlr

 

 

 

Foot 2

32

1x32

IrregB

sp/sw,sh,mlr

 

 
 

Foot 3

32

1x32

IrregB

sp/sw,sh,mlr

 

 
 

Foot 4

32

1x32

IrregB

sp/sw,sh,mlr

 

 
 

Foot 5

32

1x32

IrregC

sp/sw,sh

 

 
  Guns 2 1x3 IrregB medium mlsb FA    
    1     light mlsb FA    
  Works       40" medium works    
              3050
.
. British Indian Afghan
Foot 2720 6120
Horse 640 400
Guns 8 6

 

 

Report

Once the battle had started, the Afghans advanced their right flank very quickly: with two units of Fanatics shielded by skirmishers and supported by cavalry.

To counter this, the British commander moved his artillery and the Naval Brigade, Ghurkas and Sepoys to face them. The Afghan artillery, meanwhile, safe behind their works, opened up: scoring a lucky hit on the Naval Brigade gatling gun, and nigh on obliterating a squadron of Lancers.

As the rest of the field remained static, the British artillery came under heavy fire from the Afghan skirmishers: led by Sher Abu Alibi, the Afghan CinC, himself. With their opening volley, the breechloader-armed Marksmen shot fully 1/5th of the artillery crews down! The British artillery and light infantry skirmishers returned fire: but the Afghans, being a large unit of prone skirmishers headed by the CinC, seemed unaffected.

The duel between the Afghan Marksmen and their opponents continued for some 45 minutes (3 turns) until finally the British artillery had had enough (over 50% casualties) and routed off the field, taking some of the infantry with them.

Meanwhile, the Afghan artillery was knocking off British cavalry squadrons at a rate of one per turn, and also beginning to fire at the flanks of the British infantry.

With the guns off the board, more Afghan skirmishers moved up, and the Afghan fanatical cavalry charged the sepoy battalion as it formed square. Although one unit of cavalry was stopped, the other smashed the Punjabi infantry from the board, massacring the fleeing troops.

The Afghans began a general advance as the trickle of routing sepoys became a flood. The British Naval Brigade were next to rout, and the battle ended as the Highlanders ended up as the only unbroken British unit present!

Casualties

The Afghans lost 177 skirmishers, 70 fanatics, 74 cavalry and 60 waziri: a total of 381 men.

The British lost huge amounts: about 350 Lancers, 200 Naval Brigade plus the gatling gun, about 160 artillery crew, most of the Punjabi battalion, about 100 Sikh cavalry and 30 ghurkas. In all, about 1300 men.

Most of the casualties were caused by skirmisher and artillery fire, apart from the Punjabis, who were massacred by fanatical cavalry.

Results

A complete and total victory for the Afghans.

Analysis

The main British mistake was in tying up his guns and infantry fighting against skirmishers rather than advancing them strongly at the Afghans. The British should have tried to clear the marksmen away with company strength charges, risking losing one company to rout the skirmishers.

The other mistake was to expose his cavalry to fire from the Afghan artillery. Horse, while vital to exploit gaps in the enemy line, are very vulnerable to both smallarms and artillery fire.

Also, the Afghan works, whilst seeming strong, are very vulnerable to artillery fire. As the British artillery is immensely superior in knocking out enemy artillery, one should KO the Afghan works the first round, then KO their guns, one by one.