The British Army at Charasiab, October. 6th 1879

For some time now I've been researching the make-up of the forces General Roberts commanded at the Battle of Charasiab.  There are many secondary sources which list these forces and they are largely consistent but like much else from the Second Afghan War, sometimes they are not.

One particular complication re: Charasiab is that for various reasons some regiments were split up into two or more elements and the seperate elements assigned to different sub-commands.  Another complication is that some units which were part of Roberts' Kabul Field Force and made the march to Kabul were not present at the battle at all.

Luckily I managed to track down three primary sources online which I believe helped me work out a little more accurately which specific units and portions of units were directly involved in the battle, and where they were positioned.

In case you're interested here are the three sources with a LINK to each:

(1)  41 YEARS IN INDIA - Lord Roberts' 1896 autobiograpy

LINK TO 41 YEARS IN INDIA

(the above link can only bring you to the cover-page -- to reach the related material scroll up to Chapter L (approach to Charasiab) and/or Chapter LI (the Battle itself) OR type "charasia" into the search bar and jump to the 3rd match)

(2)  RECOLLETIONS OF THE KABUL CAMPAIGN - written by Joshua Duke, who served as a Medical Officer during the campaign

(material related to Charasiab is contained in CHAPTER IV, starting on page 112 )

LINK to Chapter IV of RECOLLECTIONS OF THE KABUL CAMPAIGN

(3)  BULLETINS AND OTHER STATE INTELLIGENCE FOR THE YEAR 1880, COMPLIED & ARRANGED FROM THE OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS PUBLISHED IN THE LONDON GAZETTE

LINK to General Baker's dispatch re: the battle

Before getting into the details re: the Army Lists, I'll lay the scenario out very briefly:

October 1879.  A British Army under the command of Major-General Frederick Roberts is en route to Kabul, to exact vengeance for the massacre on September 3rd  of the British Embassy led by Major Cavagnari.  Due to a severe shortage of transport animals, General Roberts' is unable to move his entire Kabul Field Force at once, instead moving first one portion, then sending the same pack animals back to move the other. 

On October 5th Roberts and the larger part of his Field Force reached the village of Charasiab (sometimes referred to in period writings as "Charasia", "Charasiah", or "Chaharasia"), located about 2 miles South of the last mountain-range seperating them from Kabul.

There were two roads for the British to take forward: one to the East, skirting the Logar River through the "Sang i-Nawaishta" Gorge on their right, and one to the West, skirting the Kabul River to their left.

The Afghans occupied the hills North of Charasiab and the mountains all around.

Although a substantial portion of his Field Force was still out of reach, on the morning of October 6th General Roberts chose to attack the Afghan positions before they could be further reinforced by additional tribesmen from nearby areas and regulars reported to be already en route.

General Roberts launched a feint attack to the East while dispatching his main attack to the West.  Despite the very strong advantage of the Afghan position, the British attack succeeded in routing all the assembled Afghan regular and tribal forces and clearing passage to both the East and West roads North to Kabul.  But it was a close-run thing, as Wellington might have put it, and despite resulting in a near-total victory* for the British, at several points during the course of the battle the result hung in the balance and might have gone either way

(*What could have made it a more "total victory" is if the British had been able to cut off or pursue and destroy the substantial Afghan forces which survived the battle and managed to escape.)

Over the past year or so I've posted a bunch of pics of my table laid out in various incomplete versions of what will hopefully in the not-too-distant future be its full Charasiab glory, as well as Google Earth images of the battlefield, but for now we'll use two more familiar maps of the battlefield, the first from the "British Battles" website and the second from the "British Empire" site:

LINK to Charasiab page at BRITISH BATTLES site

LINK to Charasiab page at THE BRITISH EMPIRE site

Without further ado, here's my take on the British Order-of-Battle...


BRITISH FORCES PRESENT WITH MAJOR GENERAL FREDERICK ROBERTS AT CHARASIAB:


ARTILLERY
(combined Art. commanded by Capt. Swinley)

1.   F-A Battery RHA, 6 guns    (Held in reserve w/Roberts)

2.   G-3 RA, 6 guns                   (3 with White’s feint attack,
                                                   disposition of other 3...?)

3.   No. 2 Mt. Battery, 4 guns    (2 with each attack at the start, but 2
                                                   reassigned to Baker's attack, which
                                                   then included all 4 Mt. Guns)

Total 16 guns


CAVALRY:

4.   9^th Lancers - 1 squadron, Capt.  Apperley

5.   5^th Punjab Cavalry - 2 squadrons, Maj. Hammond

6.   12^th Bengal Cavalry - 3 squadrons, Maj. Green

7.   14^th Bengal Lancers (Murray’s Jats) - 3 squadrons, Lt. Col. Ross

Total 9 squadrons cavalry

*NOTE: much of the cavalry was assigned to guard the lines of communication between Charasiab and Brigadier Macpherson’s troops escorting the baggage & reserve ammunition from Saiadabad to the South, and also to serve as piquets to the East & West to deter attacks on the British camp by large gatherings of tribesmen visible on the heights on both sides of the Logar Valley -- which is why out of a total of 9 squadrons, barely 2 squadrons worth of cavalry were engaged during the battle. 


INFANTRY:

8.   67^th Foot - half battalion (Lt. Col. Knowles)

9.   72^nd Highlanders (Lt. Col. Clarke)

10.  5^th Punjab Inf. (Maj. Pratt)

11.  23^rd Bengal Native Infantry (Sikh Pioneers) (Lt. Col. Currie)

12.  5^th Gurkhas (Maj. Fitzhugh)

13.  No. 7 Company Bengal Sappers & Miners (Lt. Nugent, RE)

Total equivalent to 5½ battalions of infantry

14.  2 Gatling Guns (Maj. Broadfoot)

NOTE:  The above British Inf, Cav, & Art. forces were split into three parts, one for the main attack on the British left commanded by Brigadier Baker, one for the feint attack on the British right commanded by Major White of the 92^nd Highlanders, and one held in reserve at the British camp with Gnl. Roberts.

Brigadier Baker (main attack on British left):

1.   12^th Bengal Cavalry

2.   No. 2 (Dejarat) Mt. Battery - 2 guns (Lt. Allsopp)

3.   2 Gatling Guns (Capt. Broadfoot)

4.   72^nd Highlanders (700 bayonets, Lt. Col. Clarke)

5.   5^th Punjab Inf. (200 bayonets, Capt. Hall)

6.   5^th Gurkhas (300 bayonets, Maj. Fitzhugh)        

7.   No. 7 Company Bengal Sappers & Miners (Lt. Nugent, RE)

8.   23^rd Bengal Native Inf. (Sikh Pioneers) (350 bayonets,
       Lt. Col. Currie)

Total 1,650 Infantry, 450 Cavalry

Major White (feint attack on British right):

1.   One combined squadron of cav from 5^th Punjab Cav & 9^th Lancers
       (Major Hammond)

2.   3 field guns G-3 RA

3.   2 Mt. guns No. 2 (Dejarat) Mt. Battery (Lt. Montanaro)

4.   Wing of 92^nd Highlanders (284 bayonets, Major Hay)

5.   100 men of 23^rd Bengal Native Inf. (Sikh Pioneers)
      (*originally 450 but 350 reassigned to reinforce the
        main attack on the left)

Total  384 Infantry, 140 Cavalry

General Roberts reserve at camp:

1.   RHA battery - 6 field guns

2.   450 cavalry  - 14^th Bengal Lancers (Murray’s Jats) & elements other
      Cav regts.

3.   Approx. 650 Inf. (½ battalion 67^th Foot & elements of other
      Inf regts.)

ADDITIONAL TROOPS AWAY with Brigadier General Macpherson at Saiadabad, near the Logar River crossing:

1.   1 squadron 5^th Punjab Cav.

2.   2 Mt. Guns, No. 2 (Dejarat) Mt. Battery

3.   one wing of the 67^th Foot (other half of the battalion)

4.   full battalion 28^th Punjab Infantry

BRITISH FORCES ENGAGED DURING THE BATTLE IN BAKER'S & WHITE'S ATTACKS:

3 ½ battalions of infantry

2 weak squadrons of cavalry

7 guns

2,600 troops

...consisting of 1,090 British & 1,513 Native troops

(Field Hospital led by Surgeon Major Bourke)

BRITISH ROSTER FOR THE GAME:

(using a 1:15 figure-to-man ratio)

ARTILLERY:

2 guns No. 2 Dejarat Mt. Battery w/4 crew each. . . . . . . . .8 figs

2 guns G-3 RA w/4 crew each. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 figs

1 Gatling Gun w/4 crew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 figs   

+1 Art. higher command              

TOTAL:     21 Artillery figs

CAVALRY:

5^th Punjab Cav & 9^th Lancers combined detachments. . .12 figs

12^th Bengal Cav. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 figs

+1 Cav. higher command

TOTAL:     25 Cavalry figs

INFANTRY:

72^nd Highlanders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 figs
           (*in 2 basic units of 20 figures each)

5^th Gurkhas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 figs

5^th Punjab Infantry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 figs

23^rd Pioneers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 figs*
           (*in 2 basic units of 20 and 10 figs each)

92^nd Highlanders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 figs

No. 7 Company Bengal Sappers & Miners....6 figs

+8 Inf. higher command

TOTAL:     144 Infantry figs

TOTAL 3 COMBAT ARMS:     190 figs

(Above total includes 10 combat arms higher command figs)

+ 2 General Staff figures

Grand total:  192 figs

ADDITIONAL TROOPS W/GNL. ROBERTS IN RESERVE:

14^th Bengal Lancers (Murray’s Jats) & elements of 9^th Lancers & 5^th Punjab Cavalry (450 sabres)

Wing of 67^th Foot & other Inf. elements (600-700 bayonets)

F-A RHA w/6 guns

ROBERTS’ RESERVE IN GAME TERMS:

3 field guns of F-A RHA. . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 figs

14^th Bengal Lancers (Murray’s Jats). . . . 24 figs

Wing of the 67^th Foot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 figs

+1 Cav Higher Command fig, +2 Inf Higher Command figs.  + 3 Gnl. Staff figs.

TOTAL IN RESERVE: 82 figs

GRAND TOTAL of troops, including Roberts’ reserve: 274 figs

274 figs x 15 = 4,110 men

This number is pretty accurate vis-a-vis the historical record of 4,000 troops w/Roberts at the battle, properly erring by being slightly generous to Brits, who will have their work cut out for them in the scenario, with the Afghans occupying multiple strong defensive positions.

NOTE: removing the 6 figure No. 7 Company Bengal Sappers & Miners would give me a total force of 268 figs, which multiplied by 15 = 4,020 men, virtually exactly the size of Roberts' force.  But... it would mean dropping a unit that was really there, and I love my Sappers & Miners!  I will wait and see how the play-tests go and whether or not the Brits have too many or too few troops, or perhaps just the right number.

AFGHANS:

As with most battles of the Second Afghan War, historical reference concerning Afghan forces engaged at Charasiab consists almost exclusively of contemporary British estimates.  These range from "several thousand" to "thirteen regular regiments, (and) between eight and ten thousand (Tribal) Afghans."  Standard size of Afghan regular infantry regiments on paper was 690 men but of course that does not mean that the 13 Afghan Infantry regiments present at Charasiab were all up to full compliment, and it's very likely that few if any of them were.  There were also a great many Tribesmen ensconced on the mountains above the battlefield to the East and West, who never became engaged in the battle.  How many of them may be counted amongst Lord Robers' "ten-thousand Afghans" I don't know.  If things had gone differently, those additional Tribesmen would no doubt have descended upon the British, but that's not what happened.  For this scenario, I only want to involve the Afghans occupying the hills and mountains on the battlefield itself.

From a more macro view, my "go-to" Colonial rules set The Sword And The Flame (aka: TSATF) suggests a Pathan-to-British ratio of 2:1 for "balanced" games.  But of course, the devil's in the details, and it all comes down to the specifics of the scenario.  The scenario at Charasiab involves a substantial but by no means large Anglo-Indian army facing off against a larger Afghan force occupying a series of very strong defensive positions.  With the British having a grand-total of 192 figures (not counting the reserve, which for now I'm leaving out of play), twice as many troops for the Afghans might just be too much.  On the other hand, in reality the British were facing at least three or four to one odds in terms of troop strength and possibly more.

Commander:  Sardar Nek Muhammad Khan

Other Afghan leaders:          General Ghulam Haidar Khan

                                             General Muhammad Afzal Khan

                                             Sardar Muhammad Zaman Khan

12 Mountain Guns on heights to the West of the Sang-i-Nawishta Gorge

4 Armstrong breechloaders in front of the Gorge (supported by 3 battalions of Regular Infantry)

20 guns in total (4 more guns somewhere on Afghan heights to the West)

GAME TERMS:

4 guns in front of Gorge = 2 guns w/8 crew

12 guns on heights West of Gorge = 6 guns w/24 crew

4 remaining Afghan guns = 2 guns w/8 crew positioned at West edge of heights (…or not, just leave them out???)

AFGHAN GAME ROSTER:

2 x 61 fig. tribes ½ rifles, ½ sword-&-shield. . . . .122 Tribal figs

1 x 61 fig. Ghazi tribe, fanatic sword-&-shield. . . . .61 Ghazi figs

2 x 85 fig. regular infantry “Brigades”. . . . . . . . . . .170 Reg. Inf. figs

8 x 4 fig. gun crews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Art. Figs

GRAND TOTAL:         385 figs

At a figure-to-man ratio of 1:15 this translates to 5,775 men, somewhere on the lower end of British estimates of Afghan strength.  If it turns out the British have too easy a time with the scenario, the Afghan numbers could be increased, but due to the very strong defensive positions I doubt this will be the case.

Another interesting element is what Donald Featherstone might call the "Military Possibilities" concerning additional Afghan troops believed to be on their way to reinforce the Afghan positions at the time the battle took place...

AFGHAN REINFORCEMENTS EN ROUTE TO CHARASIB AT THE TIME OF BATTLE:

3 Inf. regts. from Ghazni

3 Inf. Regts. from Kohistan

6 Inf. Regts. & 3 Cav. Regts. from Herat (Afghan Turkistan)

IN GAME TERMS this could translate to:

42 Inf. figs from Ghazni

42 Inf. figs from Kohistan

42 Inf. figs & 25 Cav. figs from Herat
(…or 85 Inf. figs & 25 Cav. figs - but is that just too much?!?!)

Again, depending on how well-balanced the scenario proves itself to be during play-testing, use of these potential Afghan reinforcements could provide an "equalizer" -- though my expectation is that it is the British who will probably need more troops, perhaps to be provided by Robers' real-world substantial reserve force, due to the very strong defensive positions occupied by the Afghans at the start of the game.

NOTE:  I have been unable to find ANY MENTION WHATSOEVER of Afghan Cavalry, be it Tribal irregular horsemen or Regular Army Cavalry troopers, being present at Charasiab.  The only mention of any mounted Afghans is a reference to mounted leaders on horseback atop the mountains at the North edge of the battlefield, encouraging their men and mocking the British.  If anyone reading this has read something to the contrary, relating to the presence of any regular or tribal Afghan cavalry being present during the battle, I'd love to hear from you!

Beyond the narrow matter of Afghan cavalry, if anyone out there has some supplementary or contradictory info with regard to the British order-of-battle as discussed above, I'd truly appreciate hearing from you in the comments section below!

...ONE LAST THING:

This is the first time in a LONG TIME I've put a post up here without any visual content whatsoever.  Even though I highly value the research and thought I put into the above post... I have something I figure I can add to spice things up just a lttle bit -- my homemade version of the Sang-i-Nawishta monument that had stood at the Southern edge of the Sang-i-Nawishta Gorge since it was put there at the order of Mughal Emperor Sha Jahan some time in the early 17th Century.  Shah Jahan ordered a road built through the gorge, linking the Logar Valley with Kabul to the North.  When when the road was done the "Carved in Stone" monument was erected at its Southern entrance to mark the event.  Sang-i-Nawishta translates to "carved in stone" and became the name for the gorge itself.

After his army won the victory and he advanced North and occupied Kabul, General Roberts had the "Sang-i-Nawishta" stone transported to the Sherpur Cantonments and  placed in front of his tent.

Here's my scratchbuilt attempt at a 28mm version, using a couple of garden wood-chips, a square shaped antique Mughal coin and an early 20th Century Iranian coin (turns out the winged lion holding a sword on those Iranian coins is almost identical to the 17th Century Mughal emblem used by Shah Jahan's regime) mounted onto a 40mm Round Rock Base from Itar's Workshop...