John Haughton

With the Ghurkas in Afghanistan: the Defence of Char-Ee-Kar During the First Afghan War, 1841---Char-Ee-Kar and Service There With the 4th Goorkha Regiment and Notes on Goorkhas Including the Goorkha War & Types of Ghoorkha Soldiers John Haughton

The hill men with kukris at war in Afghanistan, 1841

The Ghurkhas-the irrepressible warriors from Nepal-were, soon after their own war with the British, incorporated as a vital component part with the HEIC army in India. So it was that the 4th Ghoorkas were made part of Shah Shuja's force during the disastrous First Afghan War. The Nepalese soldiers were commanded by British officers and among them were the authors of both accounts in this special value Leonaur two books in one edition. The first piece is an account of a very typical Afghan War action with events that resonate to the present day. The author and his resolute contingent were surrounded and outnumbered by hostile Afghan forces and had to fight a running battle through fields, ditches, villages and walled gardens until they were forced to defend their own tenuously positioned base set in hostile countryside not far from Kabul. Within the city the situation also daily plummeted towards the catastrophe that would mean the retreat and total ruin of the army under Elphinstone. With mounting casualties at Char-ee-kar and the most gallant defence all but exhausted the survivors attempted a breakout. This vital account is demonstrative of the war in Afghanistan and the fighting qualities of Ghurkha troops that have made them so highly regarded by comrades and the nation . The second book enables the reader to understand the background and structure of Ghurkha society and perhaps what makes them the world renowned soldiers they are today. Available in soft cover and hard back with dust jacket.