TIRAH CAMPAIGNBiblio.com
Tirah and Surrounding Country.
1897ref. 170872Dehra Dún India: Surveyor General of India 1897. One of the greatest difficulties felt at the outset of the Tirah Campaign was the lack of topographical information Rare map issued on the eve of the Tirah Campaign; 750 copies were printed at the Office of the Trigonometrical Branch Survey of India in August 1897 two months before the outbreak of hostilities. Printed on linen and clearly intended for use in the field attrition rates would have been high: we have traced no copies among institutional libraries. In October 1897 one of the largest operations on the North-West Frontier involving 35000 troops under Lieutenant-General Sir William Lockhart was launched against the Afridi and Orakzai in the Tirah. "The two tribes had attacked several forts but also captured posts in the Khyber Pass which bordered the north of their territory. As Lockhart's main force crossed the Samana Mountains it found its route blocked by 12000 tribesmen occupying a steep ridge at Dargai" National Army Museum. Lockhart's troops suffered heavy casualties in the open ground in front of the Afridi positions but in a famous action the heights were stormed by the 1st Gordon Highlanders and 1st/2nd Gurkhas to the sound of Piper George Findlater's bagpipes. Lockhart's force then fought its way into Tirah and from its fortified camp at Maidan columns fanned out to pacify the surrounding valleys and regain control of the Khyber Pass. The expedition lasted until January 1898. As Captain H. L. Nevill points out in Campaigns on the North-West Frontier 1911 "one of the greatest difficulties felt at the outset of the Tirah Campaign was the lack of topographical information Many of the parts about to be invaded had never been visited by Europeans". An 1897 map entitled Rough Map of Tirah and Surrounding Country scale 1 inch = 2 miles measuring 930 x 60 mm issued at Simla by the Intelligence Branch is known only by the copy at the British Library. Photozincographed map printed on linen unfolded 740 x 1020 mm; folded 260 x 200 mm; scale 1 inch = 2 miles. Housed in a custom green cloth flap case gilt-lettered spine. Creased where folded peripheral toning some soiling on verso yet this remains in very good condition. hardcover
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