Return of a King: The Battle For Afghanistan (104 page)

Afghan insurgents prepare an attack on the British cantonments outside Kabul. This image shows how the elegant colonial cantonments, with the Mission Compound on the left, were surrounded by hills on all sides and almost impossible to defend.

Afghan foot soldiers of the insurrection against the British occupation fire their accurate long-barrelled jezails down onto the indefensible British position in the cantonment.

The elderly and ineffective gout-riddled British military commander in Afghanistan, General William Elphinstone, collapsed into nervous indecision at the outbreak of the uprising.

Major-General Sir Robert Henry Sale, known to his men as ‘Fighting Bob’ for always throwing himself into the fiercest combat.

Lady Sale, turbaned in captivity.

Alexandrina Sturt (née Sale), taken hostage by Akbar Khan after the massacre in the Khord Kabul Pass.

Captain Colin Mackenzie commanded the defence of the commissariat fort against the Afghan insurgents. Both he and Lawrence became celebrities on their return and enjoyed posing in Afghan costume.

The interior of the fort where the British hostages were kept.

Captain Skinner, here a hostage prior to the British withdrawal, would be killed in action at the Jagdalak Pass during the Retreat of
1842
.

Eyre, the artist, in self-portrait.

George Lawrence

The last survivors of the
44
th Foot were exposed and surrounded at dawn as they stood at the top of the hill of Gandamak. Overwhelmingly outnumbered, the troops made their last stand. They formed a square, and defended themselves, ‘driving the Affghans several times down the hill’ until they had exhausted the last of their rounds, and then fought on with their bayonets. Then, one by one, they were slaughtered.