1842 retreat from Kabul

Massacre of Elphinstone’s army
Part of the First Anglo-Afghan War, 1839–1842

An 1898 depiction of the last stand of survivors of Her Majesty's 44th Foot at Gandamak
Date6–13 January 1842
Location
Kabul–Jalalabad Road, near Gandamak, Afghanistan
Result Afghan victory
Belligerents
 Emirate of Kabul

 United Kingdom

Commanders and leaders
Wazir Akbar Khan William Elphinstone †
John Shelton (POW)
Strength
Unknown but a British source states possibly up to 30,000[1] 4,500 regular troops (700 British and 3,800 Indian)[2][3] and approximately 14,000 civilians (workers, family members and camp followers)[2]
Casualties and losses
Unknown ~approximately 16,500 soldiers and civilians killed, missing, or captured

The 1842 retreat from Kabul was the retreat of the British and East India Company forces from Kabul during the First Anglo-Afghan War.[4] An uprising in Kabul forced the then-commander, Major-General William Elphinstone, to fall back to the British garrison at Jalalabad. As the army and its numerous dependants and camp followers began their march, it came under attack from Afghan tribesmen. Many in the column died of exposure, frostbite or starvation, or were killed during the fighting.[4]

At the beginning of the conflict, British and East India Company forces had defeated the forces of Afghan Emir Dost Mohammad Barakzai and in 1839 occupied Kabul, restoring the former ruler, Shah Shujah Durrani, as emir. However a deteriorating situation made their position more and more precarious, until an uprising in Kabul forced Maj. Gen. Elphinstone to withdraw.[4] To this end he negotiated an agreement with Wazir Akbar Khan, one of the sons of Dost Mohammad Barakzai, by which his army was to fall back to the Jalalabad garrison, more than 140 kilometres (90 mi) away. The Afghans launched numerous attacks against the column as it made slow progress through the winter snows along the route that is now the Kabul–Jalalabad Road. In total the British army lost 4,500 troops, along with about 12,000 civilians: the latter comprising both the families of Indian and British soldiers, plus workmen, servants and other Indian camp followers. The final stand was made just outside a village called Gandamak on 13 January.[5]

Out of more than 16,000 people from the column commanded by Elphinstone, only one European (Assistant Surgeon William Brydon) and a few Indian sepoys reached Jalalabad. Over one hundred British prisoners and civilian hostages were later released.[6][7] An uncertain number of the Indians, many of whom were maimed by frostbite, survived and returned to Kabul to exist as beggars[8] or to be sold into slavery elsewhere.[9] About 2,000 sepoys[6] returned to India after another British invasion of Kabul several months later, but others remained behind in Afghanistan.[10]

In 2013, a writer for The Economist called the retreat "the worst British military disaster until the fall of Singapore exactly a century later."[11]

  1. ^ First Afghan War – Battle of Kabul and Retreat to Gandamak
  2. ^ a b Dalrymple 2013, p. 355.
  3. ^ Wilkinson-Latham, Robert (1977). North-West Frontier 1837–1947. pp. 10–11. ISBN 0850452759.
  4. ^ a b c Colley 2010, pp. 349–350.
  5. ^ William Dalrymple (8 May 2010). "The Ghosts of Gandamak". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  6. ^ a b Dalrymple 2013, p. 387.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference ewans2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Dalrymple 2013, p. 388.
  9. ^ Dalrymple 2013, pp. 462–463.
  10. ^ Dalrymple 2013, p. 462.
  11. ^ "The first Anglo-Afghan war: Lessons unlearned". The Economist. 26 January 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2013.