central india campaign a small affair apart from much rhetoric

8
CENTRAL INDIA CAMPAIGN A SMALL AFFAIR APART FROM MUCH RHETORIC EXTRACT FROM SEPOY REBELLION OF 1857 50 REINTERPRETED https://www.amazon.com/Sepoy-Rebellion-1857-59-Reinterpreted-Agha/dp/ 1480085707/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489416828&sr=1- 1&keywords=SEPOY+REBELLION+%2C+AMIN

Upload: agha-a

Post on 22-Mar-2017

43 views

Category:

Data & Analytics


3 download

TRANSCRIPT

CENTRAL INDIA CAMPAIGN A SMALL AFFAIR APART FROM MUCH RHETORIC

EXTRACT FROM SEPOY REBELLION OF 1857 50 REINTERPRETED

https://www.amazon.com/Sepoy-Rebellion-1857-59-Reinterpreted-Agha/dp/1480085707/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489416828&sr=1-1&keywords=SEPOY+REBELLION+%2C+AMIN

Sir Hugh Rose left Mhow on 6 January 1858 and joined his 2nd Brigade which had assembled at Sehore. His plan was to proceed towards Saugor and northward to Jhansi and subsequently to Kalpi with the 2nd Brigade. The First Brigade was to march north on the Main Grand Trunk Road from Bombay to Agra starting from Indore.

The first major aim of Hugh Rose was to relieve Saugor fort garrison who had been confined to this fort since 29 June 1857. They were, however, well defended by the 31 NI which remained loyal to the British. On 28 January 1857 the Raja of Banpur was defeated by the 2nd Brigade in a Skirmish type battle. At Barodia the Raja of Banpur again and Anant Singh were defeated in a battle whose intensity and magnitude may be gauged from the fact that the 2nd Brigade only suffered casualties of 2 men killed and 21 wounded366! Saugor was relieved by the 2nd Brigade with whom Rose was marching on 3rd February 1858. The relief of Saugor made communication and cooperation with the 1st Brigade possible because of the direct road link of Saugor with Goonah where the advance guard of the 1st Brigade was located. From here i.e. Saugor Hugh Rose (2nd Brigade) advanced to Garhakota which was captured after a brief siege on 12 February 1858. The casualties suffered were none killed and four wounded367! After this Hugh Rose went back to Saugor for rest / replenishment.

Rose resumed his advance on 27 Feb 1858 and forced the passes leading into Bundelkhand by resorting to some feint attacks misleading the various local rulers about his direction of attack. Again these were insignificant operations since the fighting was nominal. At the battle of Madanpur Pass fought on 3rd March 1858 Hugh suffered casualties of none killed and 12 wounded 368.

Chanderi was besieged and captured by the 1st Brigade on 17 March 1858 with a loss of just 3 killed and 23 wounded369. Meanwhile Rose had ordered the 1st Brigade to join him for the siege of Jhansi. Thus the 1st Brigade marched from Chanderi towards Jhansi and joined the Brigade on 25th March at Jhansi.

The siege of Jhansi was again a minor operation. Its only worthwhile event was an attempt by Tantia Topi to relieve it which was defeated by Rose. This engagement was known as the Battle of Betwa River and was fought on 31 March 1858. The Cambridge History of India puts Tantia's strength at 22,000370 which is a big joke with history ! That Tantia managed to kill only 17 men of Hugh Rose's force and wound 63 only proves that we should divide the figure of 22,000 by three or four !

The subsequent capture of Jhansi on 3rd April 1858 was again a minor show. The British losses were only 42 killed and 211 wounded371.

The battle of Jhansi was followed by the battle of Kunch. This battle was more of a series of outflanking manoeuvres by Hugh Rose which threatened Tantia's position at Kunch in such a way that Tantia had to withdraw without a fight. The British losses in this battle fought on 7th May 1858 were just 9 killed and 47 wounded372.

This was followed by another small battle at Kalpi fought on 22 May 1858. Here Rose again outflanked Tantia and made good use of Jumna River to protect his right flank. In addition, superior handling of artillery in this battle also played a decisive part in ensuring a decisive victory achieved with minimum casualties. In this battle Rose manoeuvred in such a way that he changed his direction of advance from a previously southwest-northeast axis to a east-west axis. Thereby, he turned Tantia's left at Kalpi forcing him to fight by facing eastwards whereas he was expecting the British to attack from the south west. Fortescue made an observation about the rebels of 1857 and I agree with him when he said '...they were disconcerted by Campbell's line of advance, which was not what they expected; and the moral effect of anything like a surprise is very potent among Orientals373.

The rebels of 1857 were not from the officer class and had very rudimentary notions about handling of troops. Nevertheless, the battle of Kalpi was definitely a fine example of Hugh Rose's handling of troops in which he resorted to a brilliant manoeuvre which greatly reduced his casualties which may have occurred had he followed the line of advance along the Jhansi-Kalpi Road. The British casualties in this battle were just 31 killed and 57 wounded.

The total casualties of Hugh Rose's Central India Field Force from Mhow to Kalpi were 560 out which 112 were killed374. Their smallness can be gauged from the fact that in just one engagement in Oudh i.e. the battle of Chinhat fought on 30 June 1857 the British casualties were 112 Europeans killed and 44 Europeans wounded375. Of Central India it may be noted that out of the 112 killed in actual battle just about around 30 were Europeans! Many more Europeans must have died due to heat stroke but that too is doubtful because by the time Kalpi was captured it was only 22 May and the hottest season was still many weeks away.

The battle of Kalpi was the end of the campaign. However, Tantia Topi managed to seize Gwalior by having boldly marched to Gwalior with what remained of his army at Kalpi. Tantia had withdrawn from Kalpi with around 5,000 to 6,000 sepoys. He reached Gwalior on 30 May 1857 along with the Rani of Jhansi and Rao Sahib. The Sindia Maharaja attempted to face him with his local levies but these men deserted him at the last moment and joined Tantia Topi. Thus Tanti succeeded in capturing Gwalior the strongest fortress of Central India. But the situation in May 1858 was not as it was in December 1857.

Tantia hardly had any artillery and everyone by May 1858 when Lucknow and Delhi had already fallen, knew that the sepoy cause was a doomed cause.

Rose immediately marched from Kalpi to Gwalior and after a short siege where he heavily outgunned Tantia captured Gwalior. The magnitude can be imagined from the fact that the total British casualties were just 22 killed and 62 wounded. These included just 9 Europeans killed including one from sunstroke376.

The campaign ended with another insignificant battle at Jaura Alipur in which Rose's casualties were 4 killed and 8 wounded.