Battle of Chakdara

Battle of Chakdara
Part of Siege of Malakand

The Signal tower overlooking Chakdara fort in 1897
Date26 July - 2 August 1897 (1 week)
Location
Chakdara, British India
Result British Victory
Belligerents

United Kingdom British Empire

Pashtun tribes

Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Lt. Haldane Rattray (WIA)[3]
United Kingdom Lt. Wheatley
United Kingdom Cpt. Wright
United Kingdom Cpt. Baker		 Faqīr Saidullah[4]
Units involved
45th Bengal Lancers
45th Rattray's Sikhs
Pashtun Levies[5][6]		 tribesmen
Strength
240 men
- one 9-pounder field gun
- two maxim guns[7][6]		 1,500 (on 26th July)
12,000-14,000 (by 31st July)[8]
Casualties and losses
United Kingdom 1 wounded
British Raj 6 killed, 11 wounded		 2,000+ killed

The Battle of Chakdara was a battle and siege of a British military fort by rebel Pashtun tribesmen during the Siege of Malakand in 1897. Due to the defensive nature of the battle, the event draws parallels with the Battle of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War.[9][10][11][6][12][13]

  1. ^ Kevin James Baker · (2011). Diary of a Spitfire Pilot:Over the English Channel and Over Darwin. Rosenberg. p. 115. ISBN 9781921719394.
  2. ^ Michael Barthorp, Douglas N. Anderson (1996). The Frontier Ablaze: The North-west: Frontier Rising, 1897–98. Windrow & Greene. ISBN 9781859150337.
  3. ^ "Lieutenant-Colonel Haldane Burney Rattray, 45th Rattray's Sikhs". Opusculum.wordpress.com. February 1, 2021.
  4. ^ Edwards p. 263. also known as "Mullah Mastun" (Spain. 177, Easwaran p. 49) (Known by the Pashtun as: lewanai faqir, lewanai (Beattie p. 171), and by the British as "The Great Fakir", "Mad Fakir" (Hobday p. 13), or the "Mad Mullah", (Elliott–Lockhart p. 28)
  5. ^ "The Story of the Malakand Field Force, by Sir Winston Churchill". gutenberg.org.
  6. ^ a b c "The 1897 Rising". National Army Museum.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference BritishBattles was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Frontier was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Chakdara: the other Rorke's Drift?". military-history.org. 8 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Khyber during the Frontier Uprising of 1897". defence.pk. 25 June 2013.
  11. ^ "Winston Churchill in India". thediplomat.com. March 29, 2015.
  12. ^ "An Ever Present Danger: A Concise History of British Military Operations on the North-West Frontier, 1849-1947" (PDF). Matt M. Matthews. June 2010.
  13. ^ Nevill p. 232