Marquess of HARTINGTONasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he can make a statement about the North-West Frontier engagement of 29th September in which a company of the 5th/12th Frontier Force Regiment (the Guides) suffered heavy casualties?
§ Mr. BUTLERMy Noble Friend has now received a report of this affair. I wish to make it clear at the outset that it was not the case, as appears to have been supposed in many quarters, that the battalion fell into an ambush which should have been detected, or that it had failed to take proper precautions during its advance. The actual course of operations was as follows. The task given to the Guides, who numbered four British officers with 340 Indian officers and rank and file, was to occupy a culminating point on the ridge commanding the Nahakki Pass from the west. This involved climbing difficult hillsides which, as was realised, gave the opposition an advantage, but it was the kind of task which the Guides, by their tradition and training, are pre-eminently fitted to carry out. They proceeded with advance guards and all due precautions. Soon after leaving camp, they met with slight opposition, which intensified as the332W advance progressed, until on achieving their objective they encountered the tribesmen in unexpectedly large numbers, estimated at 1,800. After a protracted hand to hand fight the Guides were forced to give ground and the position was quickly occupied by the tribesmen, who maintained a heavy fire to prevent reinforcements.
Casualties among the battalion signallers interrupted communication with headquarters. As soon as the latter were enabled to appreciate the situation it was decided to withdraw the Guides to camp under cover of artillery and other fire and Royal Air Force action. They were successfully withdrawn with-out further fighting. The hill was reoccupied within 24 hours without opposition. The Guides casualties are now reported as two British officers killed and two wounded, and among other ranks 22 killed, 47 wounded and nine missing. The tribesmen engaged suffered heavy casualties estimated at 150, and within a few hours after the action were suing for peace.
All accounts, which the Commander-in-Chief corroborates, go to show that all ranks of the battalion behaved with the greatest gallantry and courage in a desperate encounter.