Special Service

I´m here again!

I have really busy with my real life work and other things, so I have been unable to work in this really interesting  period. But, at last, I have been able to do something. I painted these figures from Empress Miniatures some time ago; they are wonderful miniatures sculpted by the GREAT Paul Hicks that are now part of my platoon of Gordon´s. Because I have not found any reference about the presence of Scottish units in the ORBATs of the Third Afghan War, I have decided , finally, to use them as member of one of the Special Service Battalions raised for the war.

Despite the fact that the British Indian Army was in a not very good shape at the begining of the Third Afghan War, there was a really fortunate respect. A large number of personnel coming from Mesopotamia en route to England for demobilization were awaiting in India due to a shortage of ships, so they were called to meet the crisis.

The Infantry were formed inot Special Service Battalions and those numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 were made into a Brigade at Rawalpindi for further deployment but, in June, they were finally split up to provide reinforcements for existing British units. The Special Service Battalions Nos. 6, 12, 15, 16 and 18 were employed, on the other hand, as internal security troops in India while No. 17 was used in the Baluchistan area. Artizan and mechanics were drafted to technical corps where they rendered an ivaluable service.

So these tired and home sicked soldiers were called for a last fight.

Well, my Gordon´s are going to be part of one of these internal security detachment posted in the Northwest Frontier. They are going to provide an escort for a certain Mr. Flashman in his very important mission...

More Terrain!!!

Something very common in any Afghan landscape is the irrigation ditch. How many US soldiers have finished their jump in the middle of the muddy water? I ask myself (because there are many pictures like this one).

So I wanted to have some irrigation ditches for my Afghan based games...

And here they are; another fantastic work from the Wargames News and Terrain terraforming service.

I sent Timmy a pair of pictures and a very basic sketch about I wanted to have, and in least than a week, he sent me these pictures with his almost finishd work. A perfect irrigation system.

I wanted to have it modular, to be able of deploy different configurations of ditches over the table.

Of course, I´m going to use it in my Third Afghan War games (I´m now painting the British, at last!).

And in the new Afghan War too. They can be perfect barriers and trenches...

So another very good work from Wargames News and Terrain, with a really fair price and fast, really, really fast delivery time.

I´m now finishing the painting of some Taliban fighters to play a test game with the future "Taliban ORBAT" for "Skirmish Sangin". Some SAS are going to wet their boots...

Paul Hicks is moving in the Right Direction!!!!

HMS Berwick off Norway...

I have been following with great interest the last work of Paul Hicks as a creator of wonderful 28mm figures because I´m a true fanatic of his models and I have been waiting for more model useful for the Third Afghan War, British Indian Army this time. I have left this blog forgoten for a long time because I was unabe to find figures of quality to represent the British forces. In fact, I was thinking about to buy some of the Musketeer Miniatures models and put them heads with pith helmets from Woodline Designs, or use the new German revolutionary sailors from Tsuba Miniatures as a band of mercenaries in the north frontier of Afghanistan...

Fortunately, Paul Hicks has come to my rescue:

I have found these pictures in "The Lead Adventure Forum". The British Army, at last, from Mutton Chop Miniatures. I have read in Paul´s entry that they are for the BEF, so quite useful for me, because they have light kit and soft caps. Fortunately, Brigade Games/Company B has spare Lewis guns for them.

Link to the Forum

I expect to begin the painting of the 1/25th London Regiment soon!

To finish this entry, something I have received today for my basing system. This product from Tajima1 Miniatures can be very useful with my bases of Afghanistan:

The British Indian Army, 1919

Finally, it is time to write about the British Empire forces for this war. It is going to be a short entry, because it is a really complex topic. My idea is to write here an introduction to the British Indian forces and then, in other entries, write about single topics such as the machine guns, the armoured cars, etc.

In meeting the threat of the Third Afghan War, the British could call a really large force. In May 1919, the British Indian Army comprised eight divisions, not including frontier militia, and five independent brigades of infantry and three of cavalry. The North-West Frontier province had three infantry divisions and two cavalry brigades and there were also three frontier brigades and a number of frontier militia and irregular corps.

 

An Infantry division consisted of  three infantry brigades (each with one British and three Indian battalions), one squadron of Indian cavalry, one RFA field artillery brigade (two batteries of 18-pdrs. and one battery of 4.5-inch howitzers) and an Indian mountain brigade with two batteries of 2.75-inch mountain guns. Finally, there were two companies of machine guns with 16 guns each and the usual service units.

A Cavalry brigade was composed of one RHA battery with 13-pdrs. and one British and two Indian cavalry regiments, one squadron of machine guns (12 guns) and service units.

To these units forming the powerful Field Army for service in the North-West Frontier were added armoured cars and RAF detachments that increased the British firepower and reach.

 

 The main problem for the British was manpower, but it was not really apparent in a first glance. Although many of the pre-war units of the Indian Army were still overseas, being repatriated, or on long delayed leave, there was still the equivalent of the pre-war army available in India. But here laid the problem; the quality of these troops, especially the infantry, was very low. The Indian Army had been heavily commited to the Great War, and had suffered a large number of casualties. With the depots empty, many of the new battalions had been raised in 1917 or 1918 with recruits of a lower standard.

 

Only two cavalry regiments and eight infantry battalions of British troops remained in India from a pre-war establishment of 61 units. They were, of course, true "Old Contemptibles", long service regulars that had maintained a high standard of training and efficiency. There were also units of the Territorial Army, part-time soldiers who had volunteered for overseas service and had been sent in order to release regular units for the fighting in Europe. After four years of mundane and boring garrison duty, away from their homes, most of them were only interested in demobilization and returning to Britain. In fact, many of the British personnel were in the transit camps, awaiting repatriation and demobilization. They were not prepared to fight a hard campaing on the Frontier.

 

In adition to all these disadvantages, both British and Indian units were short of  experienced junior officers and NCOs because the pre-war cadres were greatly diluited due to the high loses and the many new units raised.





Fifth Sikhs in Mardan, 1895



In accordance with the principles laid down by Lord Curzon in 1899, the trans-border tracts of the North-West Frontier were held by irregulars, with the exception of the garrisons of Chitral, the Malakand and Dardoni in the Tochi.

The duty of policing independent tribal territories fell on Militia and Levies, giving employment to the turbulent trans-frontier men. In case of actual hostilities, they would act as outposts behind which the Field Army could concentrate ready to strike.

The Militia was organized in battalions like the regular army, and were commanded by selected officers of the Indian Army. Their uniform was the same as that of the Indian Army, with white metal buttons and shoulder numerals. They were armed with low velocity .303 rifles and bayonets.

Along the line of the Administrative Border there were a number of small posts manned by the Frontier Constabulary, a force of armed civil police who had been raised in 1913. The Constabulary had a quasi-military organization, being formed into battalions under selected civil police officers. They were armed also with .303 rifles.

There were also other minor forces, local levies beyond the border, armed with Martini-Henry, employed by political officers to garrison mud towers and to provide escorts. They had little military value.

Whislt the organization of the fighting forces was carefully arranged, the means of maintaining the army in the field were not adequate to meet the situation. As a result of the drain of resources of India since 1914, stocks of any type had been reduced to the lowest ebb and many of them could not be replaced. Animal transport had been exploited to the uttermost and the reserve of animals left in the country was very low. There was not supply of mules and there was also a shortage of camels due to heavy shipments overseas and to the ravages of surra (disease of vertebrate animals).

 

The Field Army attempted to meet the new situation encountered on the Frontier by the advent of the modern, small-bore, magazine rifle to the hands of the tribesmen. One way, the most obvious, was the deployment of the modern technology developed on the Western Front, as was the Lewis LMG and the hand grenade. The heavy machine gun was a powerful weapon but the climate and topographical conditions on the Frontier made difficult  its use and supply, so it brought into a great prominence the use of the Lewis gun. The grenade, in the form of the hand thrown and the dischraged by rifle, had become the infantry most useful weapon (in fact, the tribesmen used it too after having captured  a significant stock in the early stages of the war). But the hand grenade had a downside since excessive reliance on it tended to diminish reliance on the rifle, a serious error on the Frontier.

There was a surprising omission in the use of the trench mortar that would seem yo have been well suited to tactical requeriments.

The most important development in military technology, and a major factor in frontier warfare by 1919, was the motor transport in the form of the ubiquitous Ford, the armoured car and the aeroplane.

Motorised transport greatly increased the mobility of troops and weapons but its main importance laid in the speeding up and easing of the supply. Armoured cars proved useful in patrolling the lines of communication and in escorting convoys. About the aeroplane, I have written already an entry, but it was another very useful new "toy" for the British.

 

Summing up, the British Indian Army was not ready for another war in such a short space of time, but it was perfectly able to fight and defeat the Afghan forces... if the tribes didn´t take part in the fight. In the end, they were lucky.

 

To finish this entry, here is my last painted figure for this project, Orde Wingate from Warlord Games. I have painted him as a British Officer, perhaps an Intelligence or Political one, because I like a lot the figure (it has been sculpted by Paul Hicks).

The British Renault FT17? (Revised and Corrected)

This picture has interested me a lot since the first time I saw it in an old book:

Literally: "The first tank ever knocked out by Afghans - in 1919! This Renault FT17 was used by the British Tank Corps in the Third Anglo-Afghan War and was outside the fortress of Spin Baldak, held by Kabul regime forces until 1988".

Interesting, really interesting...

There are a lot of remnants of many countries that lay, ruined, in the Afghan landscape, on the side of the roads or "decorating" various junkyards, as this picture from the KMTC in Kabul shows (and it is only a very, very, very small portion of that junkyard):

And this one:

Very dangerous, but also a treasure of military history.

Well, about the history of this tank:
During operations in Afghanistan in 2003, Major Robert Redding, an US Special Forces serviceman, found the rusted remnants of two WWI era Renault FT17, tattered and disassembled, while visiting an Afghan scrap yard in Kabul. Redding sent digital images of the tanks to the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor in Fort Knox, Ky, asking if the Museum would be interested in acquiring them. That was Friday, and by Monday he had seven enthusiastic responses.

The Museum was very interested in bring the tanks back to the States because, in that moment, their previously owned FT17 tank had been sent back to France at the request of the French Government because it was a very rare tank and France was really interested in getting and keeping intact equipment (in fact, France was more interested in finding an engine, because they had already a body of a FT17).

This model of tank has also a great interest for the United States Army because it was the model used by the US forces in the Great War. In fact, George Patton, then a captain serving under General John Pershing, was one of the first to learn how to operate this tank.

There were made about 5,000 FT17, the first one to have a full traverse, 360º rotating turret. It was a light vehicle with a weight of 6,700 kgs, but not fast. It had a two men crew, a driver in the front center of the vehicle and a commander in the small turret. Today, there are probably no more than six or seven of them in existence, like this one owned by Spain, a veteran of the Marruecos Campaings and the Spanish Civil War:

Fort Knox personnel arrived in Kabul in May 2003 to examine the tanks, which were in a relative good shape because of the Afghan dry climate, but they were dirty and missing armament and other components. On the other hand, both tanks still had their original engines, complete tracks and most of their parts. With the tanks found, they had to be sent to the States and the first step was getting permission from Afghanistan, the owner of the vehicles, so Redding went to Afghanistan´s Deputy Minister of Defence, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, also commander of Northern Afghanistan. Fortunately, he was more than willing to concede permission, as a gift for what the United States had done for his country. He allowed one of the tanks to be taken out of Afghanistan, to the Patton Museum.

With the help of French Major Thierry Delbarre (at right in this picture), the project manager and historians from the 326th Military History Detachment, a reserve unit from Columbus, Ohio, such as Major Charles Boyd (at left in the picture), the best tank was chosen.

A curious history, but were there British tanks?

The idea that it was captured to the British during the Third Afghan War is a pure fantasy; the British Army didn´t have FT17 in its inventory and, certainly, not in India! The curator at Fort Knox that restored the vehicle believed that the Afghan Renaults (there were at least four of them prior 2003) were examples bought by Poland and captured by the Soviet Union during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919. They were then presented to Afghanistan when this country became the first state to officially recognise the Soviet Union under the Afghan-Soviet Treaty of 1921.

Another FT17 tank, this one displayed in Kabul. This could be another one of the Polish tanks captured by the Soviets and re-equipped with a Hotchkiss 37mm naval gun or, perhaps, one of the White Russian Renaults built between 1920-1921 (and also captured by the Reds).

And another one:

This was found in the backyard of the Afghan Ministery of Defence and the Polish diplomatics were so interested in it thatit  was finally gave to them as a gift and sent to Poland to be restored and put on exposition.

Finally, I have been able to learn that there were four Renault FT17 given as a gift by the Soviet Union to Afghanistan in 1923. They had been captured in the Battle of Równe, on 5 July 1920... because they had been abandoned by the Polish forces. One of them is now restored in the United Stated, a second one is, also restored, in Poland and a third one is restored and exposed in front of the Ministery of Defense in Kabul.

For me as a Military History enthusiast, it is a great news but for my Third Afghan War project it is not good. I was thinking about to deploy an "Afghan Tank Korps" using a FT17 model in 1/56 scale I have from FAA Models:

Perhaps for a Fourth Afghan War...

The RAF in the North-West Frontier, 1919

 

Although limited in number and quality, airpower played a key role during the Third Afghan War.

The RAF had arrived to the Frontier in 1916, for the Mohmand campaing and also against the Mahsuds in 1917. In 1919, the only aircraft available on the Frontier was 31 Squadron at Risalpur, east of Peshawar, that was equipped with BE2C of limited performance, and a flight of 114 Squadron at Quetta, also equipped with BE2C.

These machines were obsolete and worn out airplanes with so a low climbing power that they could be shot from the hill tops as they passed along the valleys. On the other hand, their moral effect was great and the bombing of Dakka, Jalalabad and especially Kabul, were factors that "help" the Amir Amanullah to decide about to sue for peace.

BE2C

There were a total of five RAF squadrons deployed in the war, equipped with BE2C, Bristol F2B, De Haviland DH9A and De Haviland DH bombers. They allowed the British to extend their reach well beyond the border, bombing Kabul itself but also harassing the retreating and defeated Afghan regulars and breaking up tribesmen forming larger groups prior the launching of an attack.

 

They proved the value of the modern air-power in long range reconnaisance missions, in the bombing concentrations of tribesmen, supply depots and transport columns, but they were not really useful in the short range, tactical, reconnaisance, in which the enemy could hide in hearing their aproach, so bodies of the enemy were difficult to locate and negative information about them must be regarded with suspicion.

 

It can be said that the most important element was their moral effect over the Afghan hearts and minds. For example, the single-plane raid on the Amir´s palace that took place on 24 May 1919 caused little real damage but greatly impacted the morale of the Afghan people and of Amanullah himself, helping him to go to the negotiating table.

The raid over Kabul

During the course of the war, British aircraft losses were of one plane crashed and two shot down. A not small price against a primitive foe.

 

I have an 1/48 BE2C that I bought a lot of years ago for my "Back of Beyond" games; it can be a good moment to prepare it for another war...

Frontier Tribesmen

Group of Afridi fighters, 1878

Now, it is the time to write something about the Afghan tribesmen.

 

At the begining of the war, the Amir´s call to a Holy War had not been received with general enthusiasm by the tribes of the Frontier. The Afghan Pathans between Jalalabad and Dakka were eager for war whilst the Afridi and Mohmands of the British side of the Durand Line were not so actively hostile; and this was a problem for Amanullah Khan because the true strong of Afghanistan lies in the armed tribesmen rather than in the regular army raised by a form of conscription which took a man in eight for life service. Of course, they were not the pick of the country...

 

The most warlike of the inhabitants of Afghanistan were the Pathan tribes of Eastern Afghanistan, precisely those situated in front of the British forces. All these Pathans were serious Mohammedans, susceptible to be called to a religious war by the Amir or by the many mullahs that hated the British and also overwhelmingly hard hillmen in contrast with the Afghan, that were mainly plains dwellers. They were first-class fighters, and the best armed and more warlike of them lived in the area between the Durand Line and the Administrative Border.
There was, in fact, an order among the tribes in terms of their fighting quality. The Mahsuds were the most formidable adversaries followed nearly by the Afridis and Mobmands but all of them shared the same broad characteristics: hardy, implacable in their vengeances, tactically sophisticated, fiercely Muslim and independent and hostile to ALL authority. They lived under a common and rigid code of behaviour, Pakhtunwali, based in badal (blood vengeance), malmastia (hospitality) and nanawati (asylum). Living in a hill country of low fertility, the tribesmen had for centuries been accustomed to raiding down into the plains of India or levying tolls on travellers through their lands

There were, probably, half a million Pathan fighting men, many of them armed with more or less modern rifles and all of them very expert in mountain guerrilla war. Although British subjects and receivers of annual allowances of money from the British Government, all of them enjoyed an almost complete independence in their tribal areas and didn´t think they were subjects of the Crown.

 

The Pathans were expert in guerrilla warfare; were full of Muslim fanatism and, also, love of plunder. They were quick to rally under the Amir´s standard if it suited their interest or it was not too dangerous, but they rarely fougth at any great distance from their homes. Each man carried his rifle, ammunition, a knife and a supply of flour in a bag of undressed sheepskin. Because this flour was easily spoiled by the action of rain or perspiration, or when it was consumed, the men went of at any moment to their homes for more.

 

The brave tribesmen made an effective use  of the rugged terrain and could be very aggresive if the prospects of exit were good but they could not compete with the weaponry and discipline of the British forces in set-piece actions, so sniping at columns on the march was more effective (and safe) for them; also, the attack against picquets or rearguard units.

 

By this time, the tribesmen had replaced their old jezzails with breech-loading rifles such as the Martini-Henry or the Lee-Metford. In adition, the tribesmen carried tulwars (curved swords) and chora (heavy knives) for the close combat. Tribes that were not sustained by the British (or Afghan) subsidies made do with older weapons, but those tribes who could afford them, bought European rifles. From 1908, most tribesmen carried Martini-Henry and the luckier - or more skilled thieves of them - carried Lee-Metford or Lee-Enfield. The tribal craftmen were also really skillful at reproducing European weapons so these tribesmen were now the most dangerous adversary of the British forces.

 

The Pathan were tall and lean men dressed in a coarse home-spun angarka (shirt), loose white trousers, sandals ans a cummerbund holding a knife. The common headdress was a pointed cap (kullah) rounded with a strip of material (lungi) to form a medium-size turban.

The headmen (maliks) had a more ornate costume, with, by example, crimson waistcoats covered with gold lace.

The turban could be of a bright red, white, blue, etc. and the lungi (sash) could have solid colours or narrow stripes of black, yellow, red or blue.

Although white was the most common colour used for the angarka, red, blue and grey were also worn. To counter the bitter Afghan winter, tribesmen wore a poshteen, a shepskin coat with hair on the inside. Its ammount of embroidery depended of wealth and status.

 

The clothing worn by the Pathans varied from tribe to tribe but the basic garment was that indicated here. The Waziris, by example, tended to favour a dark-red or indigo turban and a dark-red or pink waist sash; the Kurram Valley tribes wore an angarka of dark blue and the Khyber Pass Afridis usually wore a grey or blue angarka with off-white trousers.

 

For this entry I would like to have had the command group of the Empress Miniatures Afghan tribesmen painted, but it has been not possible; some painting commissions and this horrible hot have prevented it.

In their place, I have this figure from Scarab Miniatures, a downed pilot in the middle of a very delicate moment that I´m thinking about to use in a "Rescue the Pilot" game, perhaps in the middle of the Kabul valley...

 

I like a lot the figures from Scarab Miniatures; they are not anatomically perfect, and are, in fact, a bit "chunkies" but they have a lot of character in them and I like to paint them!

20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Infantry (Brownlow´s Punjabis)

20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Infantry in Egypt, 1882

I have chosen this British Indian Army regiment as the first one of my own collection of units for my project... but it didn´t participate in the Third Afghan War!

No problem; all of them are very similar.

 

This regiment was raised in 1857 as the 8th Regiment of Punjab Infantry and was designated as the 20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Infantry in 1904. Today, it is the 6th Battalion, The Punjab Regiment in the modern Pakistan Army.

 

The regiment was raised on August 1857 by Lieutenant Charles Henry Brownlow from drafts of the 4th and 5th Punjab Infantry as a part of the army raised to suppress the Great Indian Mutiny. After this bitter war, the Regiment took part in the Second Opium War against China, taking part in the assault to the Taku Forts in 1860. In 1861, the regiment become part of the line as the 24th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry but was renumbered as the 20th Regiment later in the year.

In 1863, it took part in the Umbeyla Campaing in the North-West Frontier, in the first of its many engagement against the Pathan tribes. In 1864, the regiment was designed as the 20th (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry and took part in the Black Mountain Expedition.

 

Painting by Walter Fane, 1868

The regiment took part in the Second Afghan War, advancing into the Khyber Pass to clear Afghan forces at Ali Masjid fortress. In 1882, the regiment was dispatched to Egypt as part of the expeditionary force to suppress the revolt of Arabi Pasha, taking part in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir. In honour of its service in Egypt, the Duke of Cambridge was appointed as its honorary colonel in 1883 and the regiment was retitled (again) as the 20th (Duke of Cambridge´s Own) (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry.

In 1891 and 1897, the regiment took part in new expeditions in the North-West Frontier and in 1900 was sent to China to suppress the Boxer Rebellion.

 

After the reforms brought about in the Indian Army by Lord Kitchener, the regiment received a new designation, 20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Punjabis in 1903 and then 20th Duke of Cambridge´s Own Infantry (Brownlow´s Punjabis) in 1904.

 

During the Great War, the regiment saw active service in Mesopotamia and Palestine, taking part in the capture of Kut-al-Amara in September 1915. In May 1918 it returned finally to India.

30rd Punjabis and 2oth Duke of Cambridge

In 1921-22 there was a major reorganization in the British Indian Army, grouping four to six battalions in a same regiment. In this way, the 14th Punjab Regiment was formed by grouping the 20th Punjabis with the 19th, 21th, 22th and 24th Punjabis and the 40th Pathans. The new designation of the battalion was 2nd Battalion (Duke of Cambridge´s Own) 14th Punjab Regiment. During the Second World War, the battalion was part of the British garrison of Hong Kong but, after a siege of 18 days, the battalion surrendered and spent the rest of the war in Japanese captivity.

In 1947 the battalion was allocated to Pakistan Army and fought, in 1948, in the war with India in Kashmir and in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965.

 

And this is the history of this interesting Regiment.

 

I like a lot the green touch in the kullahs, and perhaps it is the main reason to choose this unit for painting my first Indian Army figures. I have painted some more figures for this unit:

 

 

They are, again, from Woodbine Design and this time I have painted the LMG team and one of the British officers.

 

I have also painted another of my old Foundry figures from the North-West Frontier range:

 

 

It is an Afghan regular soldier for the Second Afghan War. Perhaps I will use him as a Khassadar militiaman, or an "old timer"...

 

The Road to War (UPDATED)

Amanullah Khan

It´s time to begin with the history of the war. I pretend to write some entries dedicated to the first steps to the war and the war itself. I am reliing principally in Brian Robson´s book "Crisis on the Frontier", but I have found (or am waiting) some other sources. My idea is to update these entries with the new information, in blue letters.

As we have seen, the Amanullah´s attack against India could be perfectly a dangerous gamble, but it had some elements in his favour.

In that moment, there was in India an intense Muslim feeling aroused by the defeat of Turkey in the Great War, a dangerous one, because the 40% of the Indian Army had a Muslim component. There was also a difficult internal situation because of the shortages of food and other goods caused by the war-time mobilization and the enlistment of so many men in the Indian Army, something that had led to a massive increases in prices. These wartime sacrifices had increased also the pressures for an Indian self-government.
At the begining of 1919, these factors combined finally to produce a wave of riotings and destruction, particularly extreme in the Punjab, that led to the tragedy of Amristar. Amanullah was very well informed on all this, but some of his information was a bit exaggerated, as the likelihood of an uprising in India, where "there were thousands of Hindus and Muslims ready to give their lives for the Amir".
Como ya hemos visto, el ataque de Amanullah contra la India podía ser perfectamente una apuesta peligrosa, pero tenía algunos elementos a su favor.
En ese momento, había en la India un intenso sentimiento pro-musulmán debido a la derrota de Turquía en la Gran Guerra, y que podía ser peligroso al tener el Ejército Indio un componente musulmán del 40%. Había también una situación interna muy difícil debida a las privaciones de comida y otros bienes causadas por la movilización para la guerra y el alistamiento de tantos hombres en el Ejército Indio, algo que había llevado a un incremento masivo de los precios. Los sacrificios debidos a la guerra habían incrementado también los deseos de la India de tener su propio gobierno.
A principios de 1919 estos factores se combinaron finalmente para producir una oleada de manifestaciones violentas y de destrucción, particularmente extremas en el Punjab, que llevaron a la tragedia de Amristar. Amanullah estaba muy bien informado de todos esos hechos, aunque parte de dicha información era un tanto exagerada, como la de la posibilidad de un levantamiento en la India donde " había miles de hindúes y musulmanes listos para dar sus vidas por el Emir".

With his own forces totally inadequated for the task of defeating the Indian Army, the most important element for Amanullah Khan to attack India was the attitude of the cis-border tribes. They were really annoyed by the defeat of Turkey in the war against the angrezi, and were also better armed than before, so they were really a powder keg and very dangerous if properly coordinated. But the tribes were notorious for their independence and unreliability. It was impossible to organize and coordinate an uprising of all the tribes in the Frontier, so Amanullah could only hope that a declaration of war followed by some initial success would ignite a general tribal uprising.
Con sus propias fuerzas totalmente inadecuadas para la tarea de derrotar al Ejército Indio, el elemento más importante en el plan de ataque de Amanullah era la actitud de las tribus situadas a ambos lados de la frontera. Éstas estaban realmente molestas por la derrota de Turquía a manos de los ingleses, y estaban también mejor armadas que nunca antes, por lo que eran en realidad un inestable barril de pólvora, muy peligrosas si se conseguía coordinarlas. Pero las tribus eran famosas por su independencia y poca fiablidad. Era imposible organizar y coordinar un levantamiento de todas las tribus de la Frontera, por lo que Amanullah sólo podía confiar en que una declaración de guerra y algunos éxitos iniciales precipitaría un levantamiento general espontáneo.

In the early part of 1919, Amanullah issued a firman to the tribes of both sides of the border, calling on them to be ready to support an uprising in India; in spite of his many presents of weapons and ammunition, the result would prove disappointing due to the opportunistic nature of the tribes, except in Waziristan.
En la primera parte de 1919, Amanullah convocó a todas las tribus de ambos lados de la frontera para que estuvieran listas para apoyar un levantamiento en la India; a pesar de muchos regalos de armas y municiones, el resultado iba a ser decepcionante debido a la oportunista naturaleza de las tribus, excepto en Waziristán.

Hill tribesmen

Amanullah and his advisers never formulated a clear-cut set of objetives, and too much depended upon success in raising the tribes and upon the development of the situation in India (an armed rising). It had neccessarily to be a war of limited objetives. Three of them had been inherited by Amanullah from his father and grandfather and were witihin the bounds of practicality:
The first one was the rectification of the Durand Line, traced by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand in 1893, in Afghanistan´s favour this time.
Amanullah y sus asesores nunca llegaron a formular una clara lista de objetivos para la guerra, y demasiado se dejó en manos de un posible levantamiento de las tribus y del desarrollo de la situación en la India. Tenía que ser por necesidad una guerra de objetivos limitados y tres de ellos habían sido heredados por Amanullah de su padre y su abuelo, estando además dentro de los límites de lo práctico.
El primero era la rectificación de la Línea Durand, trazada por Sir Henry Mortimer Durand en 1893, en favor de Afganistán esta vez.

The second was the recovery of territory and influence over areas in which Afghanistan had exercised sway before the Second Afghan War of 1878. But the main objetive, the one that had the heart of Amanullah, was regaining control of Afghan external affairs, to make the country fully independent from the British influence. Besides, nothing could be better calculated to unite all sections of Afghan society. For the national regeneration, both social and economic of Afghanistan, Amanullah would need the help from other countries, and he need to be able to negiotiate with completely free hands.
El segundo era la recuperación de territorio e influencia en áreas en las que Afganistán había ejercido su voluntad antes de la Segunda Guerra Afgana de 1878. Pero el objetivo principal, el que tenía todo el apoyo de Amunallah, era la recuperación del control de los asuntos externos del pais para hacer que Afganistán fuera totalmente independiente de la influencia británica. Además, nada podía estar mejor calculado para unir a todos los sectores de la sociedad afgana. Para la regeneración social y económica de Afganistán Amanullah iba a necesitar la ayuda de otros paises, y necesitaba ser capaz de negociar con ellos con sus manos totalmente libres.

Amanullah had also some hope of Bolshevik support, but it was not in place before the begining (and the end) of the conflict, because the war came, finally, with a remarkable speed and caught not only the Bolsheviks, but also the Indian authorities napping. Lord Chelmsford (Jr), Viceroy of India, did not expect troubles with Afghanistan and the Army was not taking precautions for it (in fact, it was demobilizing units from the war establishment).
At the begining of May, Amanullah issued a public firman saying that he believed that the peoples of India had been badly rewarded for their loyalty during the Great War and were justified in rising against the British. On the other hand, because he was afraid that those disturbances might spread into Afghanistan, he sent his Commander in Chief, Saleh Muhammad, with troops to the eastern frontier. On 2 May, Chelmsford reported that Saleh Muhammad, "on a frontier tour", had arrived at Dakka (Afghan territory) with two companies of Infantry and two guns, and was quickly followed by another 2,000 regular troops; 1,500 men were despatched to Kandahar and 2,000 to Khost to join there Nadir Shah, the old Commander in Chief under Habibullah, probably the best Afghan General.
Amanullah también tenía cierta esperanza de ayuda por parte de los Bolcheviques, pero esto no pudo cuajarse antes del comienzo (y el final) del conflicto, debido a que la guerra llegó, finalmente, con notoria rapidez y cogió por sorpresa no sólo a los bolcheviques, sino también a las autoridades de la India. Lord Chelmsford (hijo del famoso), Virrey de la India, no esperaba problemas con Afganistán y el Ejército no estaba tomando precauciones (de hecho, estaba desmovilizando a sus fuerzas del nivel de guerra).
A comienzos de mayo, Amanullah declaró publicamente que creía que los pueblos de la India habían sido malamente recompensados por su lealtad durante la Gran Guerra y que estaban justificados en alzarse contra los británicos. Pero, como le preocupaba que tales disturbios se extendieran dentro de Afganistán, envió a su Comandante en Jefe, Saleh Muhammad, con tropas a la frontera oriental.
El 2 de mayo, Chelmsford informó que Saleh Muhammad había llegado a Dakka, en territorio afgano, con dos compañías de Infantería y dos cañones, y que fue rapidamente seguido por otros 2000 hombres; 1500 fueron enviados a Kandahar y 2000 a Khost para reunirse con Nadir Shah, anterior Comandante en Jefe bajo  Habibullah, probablemente el mejor General afgano.

Dakka, 1919

From Dakka, Saleh Muhammad moved on to Bagh, in what the Indian Government considered as Indian territory (it was a point that the Durand Line had never formally demarcated), to made a personal inspection of the springs... that provided the water supply for the British post at Landi Kotal. On 4th May, his Afghan troops took up their positions in the area.

Desde Dakka, Saleh Muhammad avanzó hacia Bagh, en lo que el Gobierno de la India consideraba territorio propio (éste era un punto en el que la Línea Durand no había sido formalmente demarcada), para realizar una inspección personal de los pozos... que proporcionaban agua al puesto militar británico en Landi Kotal.

On 3rd May, a party of Khyber Rifles detailed to escort a caravan through the Khyber Pass, was met and turned back by picquets of armed tribesmen under the command of a notorious raider, Zar Shah. Then, 150 Afghan regulars occupied Kafir Kot ridge and Bagh village, on the British side of the frontier. On the 4th May, further reinforcements of Khassadars and Shinwaris reached Bagh and cut the water supply of Landi Kotal. On the 5th May, further reinforcements of Afghan regulars arrived at Bagh whilst a column of two Indian infantry companies, a section of mountain artillery and one section of sappers and miners reached Landi Kotal as reinforcements.
El 3 de mayo, un grupo de los Khyber Rifles enviado a escoltar una caravana por el Paso de Khyber fue detenido y rechazado por piquetes de guererros tribales bajo el mando de un notorio bandido, Zar Shah. 150 regulares afganos ocuparon entonces Kafir Kot y la aldea de Bagh, ambos en el lado británico de la frontera. El 4 de mayo, nuevos refuerzos de Khassadar y Shinwaris llegaron a Bagh y cortaron el suministro de agua a Landi Kotal. El día 5 llegaron aun más refuerzos a Bagh mientras una pequeña columna formada por dos compañías de infantería India, una sección de artillería de montaña y una sección de zapadores llegarona Landi Kotal también como refuerzo de la guarnición.

In the Kurram, Jafis and Afghan regulars had commenced to build fortifications on the Peiwar Kotal, so British regular troops were asked to protect the Turi inhabitants, and a column left Thal on the 5th of May.
The next day, general mobilization was ordered and war was declared on Afghanistan.
En el Kurram, Jafis y tropas regulares afganas habían comenzado a construir fortificaciones en el Peiwar Kotal, por lo que se solicitó la presencia de tropas británicas para proteger a los Turi locales, y una columna dejó Thal el día 5 de mayo.
El siguiente día, se ordenó una movilización general, y se declaró la guerra a Afganistán.

About the figures, in spite of this terrible summer, I have painted some more of them:

Indian Army figures from Woodbine Design



Afghan Tribesmen from Empress Miniatures

I need to paint other 30 Indian troops for the scenario, the mountain gun and the mules and the command group for the Afghan side; then, some civilians, more tribesmen for the possible reinforcements and some terrain elements... It never ends!!!