5432 x 3402 px | 46 x 28,8 cm | 18,1 x 11,3 inches | 300dpi
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The Tirah Campaign was an Indian frontier war in 1897-98. (The campaign is often referred to in contemporary British accounts as the Tirah Expedition.) The Afridis had for sixteen years received a subsidy from the government of British India for the safeguarding of the Khyber Pass, in addition to which the government had maintained for this purpose a local regiment entirely composed of Afridis, who were stationed in the pass. Suddenly, however, the tribesmen rose, captured all the posts in the Khyber held by their own countrymen, and attacked the forts on the Samana Range near the city of Peshawar. The Battle of Saragarhi occurred at this stage. It was estimated that the Afridis and Orakzais could, if united, bring from 40, 000 to 50, 000 men into the field. The preparations for the expedition occupied some time, and meanwhile British authorities first dealt with the Mohmand rising northwest of the Khyber Pass. The general commanding was General Sir William Lockhart commanding the Punjab Army Corps; he had under him 34, 882 men, British and Indian, in addition to 20, 000 followers. The frontier post of Kohat was selected as the base of the campaign, and it was decided to advance along a single line. On October 18 the operations commenced, fighting ensuing immediately. The Dargai heights, which commanded the line of advance, were captured without difficulty, but abandoned owing to the want of water. On October 20 the same positions were stormed, with a loss of 199 of the British force killed and wounded. The progress of the expedition, along a difficult track through the mountains, was obstinately contested on October 29 at the Sampagha Pass leading to the Mastura valley, and on October 31 at the Arhanga Pass from the Mastura to the Tirah valley. The force, in detached brigades, now proceeded to traverse the Tirah district in all directions, and to destroy the walled and fortified hamlets of the Afridis.
