Military Operations at Cabul

This is the story of the catastrophe which befell the British and Indian troops and civilians in Kabul in 1842, and during the retreat from the city in the Afghan Wars. The only survivor to reach Jellalabad was a Dr Brydon, the subject of a well-known painting. The only British battalion involved was the 44th Foot (later the Essex) together with a troop of horse artillery. The rest were from the Bengal Army, including the author, an officer of the Bengal Artillery serving on the staff. Eyre refers to "the utter destruction of a force consisting of 5,000 fighting men and upwards of 12,000 camp-followers." The appendix lists just over a hundred British officers who died, giving date and place of death and their regiments. The last hundred pages of the book contain an account of the author's imprisonment in an Afghan jail. This eye-witness account of the debacle is both remarkable in itself, and highly topical given current events in Afghanistan.