afghanistan
Uncertain as to the location of ‘Ayub’s army and with supplies running
low, Borrows withdrew back down the Kandahar road to Khushk-i
Nakhud. On 26 July 1880 his scouts reported a small body of enemy
cavalry at Maiwand. Burrows, believing that ‘Ayub Khan was still on the
other bank of the Helmand, ordered his troops to march to Maiwand early
the next morning. Exhausted from marching in high summer under the
blazing desert sun, and parched from lack of water, the troops spent the
whole night striking camp. By the time they reached Maiwand they were
exhausted, thirsty and many of them were suffering from heatstroke.
To his dismay, Burrows discovered that he had marched straight into
‘Ayub Khan’s main army, which was well dug in on high ground between
his troops and the only water source. Burrows then made another serious
misjudgement, sending two of his infantry regiments forward to adopt a
static line of defence. Exposed and without any cover, the troops were caught
in crossfire from entrenched snipers and artillery. Despite heavy losses, the
regiments held their ground for more than four hours until Burrows, in an
attempt to save them, ordered his cavalry to storm the trenches. When they
failed to break through, he ordered the forward line to withdraw, only for
the retreat to turn into panic-stricken flight. A few stood their ground and
fought to the last man, but most turned and tried to flee back to Kandahar,
some 80 kilometres (50 mi.) away, only to run the gauntlet of local villagers
who attacked them with any weapon they could lay their hands on. In the
end, more troops perished in the flight than were killed at Maiwand: in all
Burrows lost more than 1,200 men, nearly half of his Brigade.
The Battle of Maiwand remains one of the cornerstones of Afghanistan’s
nationalist identity. Streets are named after the battle and memorials to
the victory are found in Kabul, Herat and Kandahar. In Kabul’s Old City,
the graves of ancestors killed at Maiwand, or who died later from their
wounds, are still venerated as family shrines. Maiwand also gave rise to the
legend of Malalai, arguably the most famous Afghan woman of modern
times, whom nationalists in the twentieth century dubbed the Afghan
Joan of Arc. Malalai, so the story goes, was the teenage daughter of a poor
shepherd from Khig who, along with hundreds of other women, brought
water to the troops during the battle. When, in the heat of the battle, the
ranks of the mujahidin faltered, Malalai is said to have seized the Afghan
flag and rallied the soldiers with an extempore Pushtu couplet about the
shame of defeat, turning defeat into victory. In some versions, the day of
the battle is said to have been her wedding day.
This romantic story is very probably a later fabrication, for there is no
mention of either Malalai, or any such act of heroism, in contemporary
nandana
(Nandana)
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