Forever the Colours (24 page)

Tommy approached Maurice. ‘I take it were not going back, then, me old mate?'

Maurice stared at Tommy. ‘Well, it seems that your skill for soothsaying is in no doubt, Thomas. And no, we are not going back, we are deploying down onto the plane and are going to engage the enemy after all. We will leave the baggage with a small guard at Mundabad village, and we are to make our way there,' he pointed, ‘and make ready.'

He stopped for a moment, took a deep breath and continued. ‘We will have some guns as well. I mean, we will also have the smooth bore cannon.' Tommy thought Maurice was talking like a robot, his eyes slightly glazed and unseeing. He was in shock, Tommy realised. He finally understood that what Tommy had been saying all along was right, and it had hit him like a bomb.

‘Maurice, you OK, mate?'

‘What? Oh, yes, I'm fine. I think!' He moved over to Tommy. ‘I should apologise, Thomas, for I have doubted you for far too long. You were indeed correct about the size of Ayub Khan's host. In fact, you have not been wrong about anything, really.' Maurice looked into Tommy's eyes. ‘But please, Thomas, tell me the destruction of the 66th isn't so. Surely that must be a mistake? This is an excellent regiment, professional, hardened. How can it cease to be?'

He
looks
close
to
tears
, Tommy thought, and his heart went out to him.

‘It's sheer numbers, mate. The 66th will hold their own when it comes to it, but the others, well, they won't, and that will be the end. But listen, not all the lads will get it. Some make it back to Kandahar, and some of the other regiments too. You might be all right. You could be one of the few who survive.'

Maurice was about to speak when he was interrupted. ‘Lieutenant Rayner, sir, the Lieutenant Colonel requests that you join him at once.'

‘Thank you Colour Sar'nt Bayne, I will be with him shortly.' Bayne moved off. ‘Well, my friend, it seems we're out of time. Will you join me?'

‘Wouldn't want to be anywhere else, me old mate,' Tommy said with a smile, and he patted Maurice on the back. ‘C'mon, let's go and kick the shit out of
'
em.'

They found Galbraith in conversation with Oliver and Burrows; the other officers were Blackwood and somebody Tommy later found out to be Brigadier General Nuttall, who was apparently in charge of the cavalry and guns. There were quite a few other officers, but none paid Tommy any attention as he stood next to Maurice. The conversation was about Blackwood and Nuttall; they would reconnoitre ahead and see what was what. That was the gist of it, Tommy thought, if you can get past all the posh shite!

After a few minutes, Nuttall and Blackwood mounted their horses and, with their escort, made off into the haze. Burrows and Gulliver made their way to the front again, and Galbraith turned to Maurice. ‘Well, Rayner, here we are. Is the regiment ready?'

‘They are, sir. What are our orders?'

‘As soon as Blackwood and Nuttall return and inform us of Ayub's movements, Burrows will issue exactly where he wants the 66th to deploy. I don't think it should be too long tho—'

At that moment, a cannon fired, then another a second later. Galbraith frowned and so did Maurice. Some moments later they fired again. At this Galbraith turned to Maurice.

‘Would you mind popping along over yonder, Mr Rayner, and finding out who is firing those guns, and at whom.'

‘Certainly, sir.' Maurice turned to Tommy and indicated that he should follow him, and they both trotted off to the sound of the cannon fire. After a few minutes, they reached the foremost units. Burrows and the rest of his staff were looking through binoculars and pointing ahead. Tommy looked and was greeted with a vast, arid plain stretching out into the distant haze, across which, he noticed, ran dry water courses and river beds; the backdrop was spectacular, with mountains and hills against a clear blue sky.

Maurice approached Captain McMath, who was also observing the scene.

‘Good morning, Captain, how goes the day?'

‘Ah, Rayner. And the top of the morning to you also.' He smiled and nodded at Tommy. ‘Well, it started all right, up until I beheld the size of the army to our front.' He pointed to where the haze was just starting to clear a little and the two friends could now see the extent of the enemy's size. Tommy swallowed, for he could see at last the object of his own warnings materialising on the plain before them. It was a horrendous sight. The enemy numbered in their thousands, with horses, foot soldiers and God knows what else. Tommy estimated the main column to be about two miles away and crossing the British front, but before he could think anymore about it, the sound of cannon fire could be heard again, a thunderclap rolling back toward the British forces.

Tommy looked down onto the plain, and about a mile beyond the nearest river bed stood two cannons blazing away at the enemy. While he was staring at this solitary duel, Blackwood and Nuttall came galloping back.

‘What are those two cannons doing, Blackwood, why have they engaged?' Burrows demanded.

‘Seems Lieutenant Maclaine has seen fit to engage the enemy by himself, General. He has taken two guns up and some Sind horse, so I have had to deploy some more cannons in front of that ravine there to cover them.' He indicated by pointing to where two gun teams were setting up.

Galbraith arrived and watched the spectacle, shaking his head.

Burrows became silent for a moment, and then muttered to himself, ‘Damn it all to hell, we could have caught them on the hop.'

Tommy suddenly had an idea and he quickly whispered into Maurice's ear.

‘Sir,' Maurice piped up, ‘Perhaps if we were to attack now in full, while the enemy is crossing our front, might we not cause sufficient damage and confusion that the enemy would break up, and melt away to wherever they came?'

Tommy knew this was his only chance at changing the outcome. If the brigade were to attack at their own choosing, they might just win the day.

Burrows was mulling this over and Tommy willed him to accept the logic of it.
C'mon,
c'mon
, he thought to himself,
think,
you
fucking
old
twat
.

‘No, I think we have lost the element of surprise. What we must do now is play a defensive role. We will deploy along those ravines there, out on the plain.'

He was looking through his binoculars and pointing to where the farthest cannons were deployed. ‘The horse artillery might as well stay where they are in the centre now they have chosen the ground for us. The Grenadiers will hold the left along with the rifles, with the cavalry protecting their flank, and the 66th will deploy there.' He indicated once more by pointing.

‘Keeping that ravine and village to their right, the cavalry will again keep their flank.' He paused for a moment. ‘I want a couple of companies of Jacob's Rifles in reserve, and I also want a baggage guard. Could you deal with that, Galbraith?' He stopped talking for a while, rubbing his chin, and then had one last look through some binoculars. He let them drop and breathed a heavy sigh. ‘That's it, the die has been cast. We will let them break themselves on us. Very well, gentlemen, you have your orders. Please make arrangements for the deployment of the brigade and let us go about our business.'

The officers broke and started to mount their horses, giving orders to their subalterns at the same time. Tommy, standing next to Maurice and Galbraith, was gobsmacked. Even he could see that where the General wanted to place the brigade gave no protection, right out on flat open ground.

‘Why the hell would he want to go out in the open against that lot?' he whispered to Maurice. ‘Why the hell doesn't he deploy back there by those villages. At least we would get some cover.'

‘Thomas, we have had our orders,' he whispered back, but Maurice didn't look convinced either. ‘Besides, it won't do to go skulking around and hiding behind garden walls when the enemy are out there, waiting for us to give them a decent trouncing, what.' He still didn't look convinced, Tommy thought.

He followed behind Maurice as the 66th and the rest of the brigade deployed out onto the plain. He watched with a sense of wonderment as the different companies began to wheel and arrange themselves behind the guns, to the right of a couple of Bombay infantry companies. He watched the Indian regiments deploying away to the left; the Grenadiers he thought, looked magnificent and totally controlled. He flinched as the cannon opened up again, firing away at the Afghans at a range of around 1700 yards; he looked for the guns attached to the 66th and found them setting up behind the horse artillery. He also noticed the cavalry away to the left and rear in column formation.
Why?
Get
them
out
on
the
flanks
ready
to
charge.
He looked into the distance and found the Afghan host had stopped crossing their front and were deploying for battle.
What
a
crock
of
shit
, Tommy thought.
The
stupid
old
fucker
should
have
slammed
straight
into
the
flank
of
the
Afghans,
using
every
gun
to
shell
the
shit
out
of
'
em.

‘Dickhead,' he said aloud.

‘Sorry, Thomas, you said something?'

‘What I said, Maurice, me old mate, is that the General has made a huge, massive fucking mistake. Look over there and you will see a shit load of ragheads
on horses – their cavalry, I presume – and there, pointing right at our left flank and nobody seems to give a shit.'

‘Just a moment, Thomas,' he turned away. ‘Yes, Colonel.'

Crump
. The cannons roared again.

‘Rayner, get the men lying down behind that fold in the ground there, that should afford us some cover. Inform the rifles they might want to do the same and get a company to keep an eye on that ravine directly to the front and right. It wouldn't surprise me if the sneaky bastards use that for cover.'

‘Yes, sir. With me, Thomas.' They both trotted forward along the ranks of the 66th, Maurice passing on Galbraith's instructions as they went. When they neared the furthest company to the right, Maurice approached the officer in charge.

‘Captain Cullen, a jolly good morning to you, sir. The Colonel wants that nullah covered in case of flanking.' He pointed to the river bed directly to their front. ‘Yours and Roberts's company is to take care of this, as the Colonel believes the Afghans may try and get around us, and into,' he pointed, ‘the village over there.' Tommy took a good look around, and noticed how deep the ravine, or nullah, as Maurice called it, actually was. It was directly in front of the village to their right, and, Tommy thought, exactly where the brigade should have deployed. The nullah to the 66th front was also quite deep and could afford a lot of protection to the Afghans if they sneaked around this way. Galbraith knew his business, Tommy thought.

All the while, the guns of the Royal Horse and the smooth bore were blasting away at the enemy; there was smoke was everywhere.
When
are
they
gonna
fire
back?
he thought, as they opened up again.

Maurice shook him out of his reverie. ‘Thomas, old chap, please report to D Company in the centre, and give Captain McMath the instructions from Galbraith to cover the nullah directly to our front. I will be back with the Colour party.'

‘What? Eh!'

Maurice smiled. ‘Thomas, you are my runner, are you not?' Tommy nodded. ‘Well, in that case, get running.' He patted him on the shoulder and walked back to the Colonel's position.

‘Fuckin' hell,' he said aloud. ‘Oh well, might as well enjoy it,' and he ran over to the rear of the centre company, pushing his way through the lines of soldiers.

‘Oi, watch who're you pushing, ya glock or I'll box yer ears for ya.'

‘Sorry, mate, just trying to get to McMath.' Tommy said to the man he had just pushed.

‘Well, well, look who it ain't. Mr Lardy Da!
'
Ere Billy, yon mandrake's back wiv us mere mortals.'

‘All right, Charlie, how you doing,' Tommy replied to the soldier now squaring up to him. Then he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned and was rewarded with the moustache that was Private Billy Davis.

‘
'
Ello, Mr Mandrake. Are you coming to fight with us, then?'

‘Err, sort of,' replied Tommy. ‘I have to see McMath first though, me old mate. Might catch up with ya in a bit.' With that, Tommy pushed his way past to find the Captain.