by Carly Smesh
David thought about the question before answering, "The key to our defence is the Cleft. Only five men on horseback can ride through it side by side; if on foot, perhaps eight men. The options open to the Afghans are, to destroy the buttress that forms the Cleft, to inflict damage to us on the other side of the Cleft without risking casualties of their own, or to generate superior firepower when forcing an entrance through it.
"The first option - destroy the buttress - would require a great deal of explosives and could be counterproductive if the explosion were to block the Pass completely.
"The second option - to damage us on the other side of the cleft at minimal risk to themselves- that would be possible with artillery. Howitzers or mortars, to be precise. The high angle of fire of these weapons give them the ability to lob shells over the buttress.
The last option - greater firepower - could be possible using quick firing weapons like the Gatling gun or one of the new machine guns that I believe are being developed. I have heard they are capable of firing 600 rounds a minute."
The Prince sat pondering David's reply, finally saying, "But if we had such weapons, would it not redress the balance?"
David hesitated before replying, "It could, sir, but I have no idea where they could be procured from."
"But you have friends or contacts in England who may know. David, my agents in Afghanistan have warned of increasing Russian presence there. When the Pass reopens in the spring, they may either use such weapons against us or train the Afghans to do so. We have, at most, six months in which to prepare. Would you return to England to seek out weapons to counteract the threat?"
"If that is your wish, then of course, Sir, but I shall have to set things in order at the Fort before I leave."
The Prince smiled, "I will make all the necessary arrangements, and provide you with documents to ease your task."
Outside the room he asked Peshawar to locate Subedar Turin for him and put a saddle on the packhorse.
An hour later Turin was trotting out of the gate with David at his side.
Once clear of the city he began to explain why he had cut Turin's leave short.
"I'm promoting you to Subedar Major. Your responsibility will be the welfare and training of all riflemen for active service. I'm going to be out of the country for at least three months, maybe more. By the time I return Cobra and Tiger should each be up their full company strength of 100 riflemen. I hope to start forming a third company, Panther. Rifles and ammunition should have arrived to arm them."
He went to explain the reason for his absence, ending by saying Turin could use his office in his absence.
Once back at the Fort, he summoned Para and Hangar to his office, where Turin waited with him.
David quickly announced Turin's promotion and the plans that drove his decision.
"We have two, maybe three weeks before the snows come. Prior to that, I intend to have a second blockhouse built to house 25 more men and fully ready for occupation in the spring when the Pass reopens. The three of you can work out the logistics of what is required. Speed is paramount, gentlemen. Subedar Turin can requisition whatever personnel and material he requires to carry out that task."
The three men adjourned to Para's office whilst David returned to his quarters.
David summoned Hanga, explaining he was going to England and directing him to pack his sea chest and suitcase accordingly.
The following afternoon, Ashar Kahn and his son Taraq rode into the Fort. Whilst Taraq went to see Julep, Ashar Kahn sat in an armchair in David's office, with a glass of whisky in his hand. He produced the usual letters for the bank and hotel, adding that Mr. Smithers would have further documents for him in Karachi. A mule cart would arrive at dusk to take him and his luggage to the river, where a boat would be waiting. The Prince's agents would be looking out for him.
David asked if he would take Kahn and Sulkie back with him to care for them.
"They will pine for you Sahib, for they have a new love in their lives now. But I will care for them like my own children, which they are."
He stood outside the stable fondling their heads as Ashar Kahn and Taraq waited astride their horses. He kissed each on the nose, fed them a last apple, then watched sadly as they were led away.
Chapter 17
Four days later he was sat in the suite of The Royal Hotel Karachi, listening to Mr. Smithers.
"You are in luck Mr. Ramage. You are again booked on the Comet. It sails tomorrow. You will find your ticket and documents here in the briefcase along with £750 for your out-of-pocket expenses. When you return, inform me in the usual manner and I shall arrange things at this end. It only remains for me to wish you a pleasant and successful voyage."
During the long voyage, David had time to reflect on his life now. Over the past five months never a day had past without some incident or problem requiring his physical attention or mental consideration. The day-to-day requirements of creating the regiment, and the sheer size of the obstacles and planning needed to accomplish it, had left very little time for David to consider his own life. Now, for the first time since coming to Kana he had time to reflect.
His life had changed dramatically, since accepting the Prince's commission.
Financially, he was secure for the first time in his life, although that somehow didn't matter as much as the fact that he was responsible for the lives of 184 men, and the many more that seemed certain to be recruited to their ranks in the future. That was important. That did matter.
He respected what the Prince had done for his people and sympathised with his efforts to remain outside the clutches of the British Raj, whilst at the same time ensuring his people were protected from the ravages of the Afghans.
On the personal side David realised he had a good life. He had comfortable quarters, and Hanga to look after his needs. He had Kahn and Sulkie, who he adored. The only thing significant thing missing was a woman in his life.
David gave a start. Why had he thought that? He'd not thought of women since Samantha, and that was over two years ago.
He could still see her in his mind's eye: Tall and slender with blond hair and startling blue eyes. He had met her in Amritser when his company was stationed there.
She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant who had a grand home in the hills above the town. She and her mother had journeyed there from England to see her father. To pacify the mother's dislike of India, her husband had organised balls at his home, to which the officers of the regiment had been invited.
He had been infatuated by her at first sight, and although there had been plenty of others vying for her attention, she seemed to be attracted to him.
He had begun seeing her whenever duty allowed. He had finally kissed her and she returned his kiss. He knew she was returning with her mother to England, so a week before they were due to go he had asked her to marry him.
She had laughed as if he were joking. She explained that, as much as she had enjoyed his company, he had served his only purpose in her life by making her stay in this tedious country bearable.
The experience had closed David's heart to women.
He knew his fellow officers saw Indian girls or even had Indian mistresses, but while many were beautiful, he had never succumbed to the temptation. Not that the colour would have mattered to him, but if he had married one, his career in the Army would have been over He pushed the thoughts from his mind.
Unlike his first mission he had nothing to refer to this time. The hunting magazines purchased in Karachi had been the primary source to lead him to Cartwright & Sons during his first trip to England on the Prince's business. Still, they represented an active relationship with a company engaged in weapons manufacturing. He would contact Henry Cartwright he decided. Perhaps he would know of current developments in rapid-firing weapons and artillery, or direct him to someone who did.
The Comet nosed into her berth on a cold, foggy, early November Friday morning. Southampton's waters echoed to ghostly soun
ds of foghorns and the movements of ships obscured by the damp fog.
The train journey to London was uneventful, the fog pursuing him into London itself.
David produced the Prince's letter upon his arrival at the Astor Hotel and was shown into his suite by the manager himself.
The banks being closed at the weekends, he left his unpacking for later and took a hansom cab around to the bank, presenting himself to Mr. Tompkins, the Bank manager. He had coffee with him whilst a chequebook and covering document were prepared for him.
Once back at the Astor, he put a telephone call through to Henry Cartwright, asking if he could visit him on the Monday and briefly outlining the questions to which he was seeking answers.
Henry insisted that he should stay with him and, further, he could come up to Birmingham the following day.
Upon arrival at the Cartwright home, a maid ushered him into the parlour where Henry was sat with his pretty wife and two children, both boys, who looked to be eight and ten.
After introductions, Henry informed him that his wife, Gladys, and their sons, Robert and Richard, were just about to go out to visit Henry's father.
Gladys showed him to his room. After refreshing himself and changing his clothes, he returned downstairs to find, as expected, that Gladys and the boys were gone.
As David reentered the room, he found Henry standing before the welcome heat of a roaring coal fire. Seeing David, he crossed to a cabinet and poured drinks for them, indicating that David should sit down.
David began by telling him of the success of the Cartwright .303 rifles and cartridges.
He went into detail about the conditions at the Pass and the engagements with the Afghans.
Henry asked about the Russian rifles, saying, after Davids's description, that they sounded like a copy of the French Lebel.
David went on to explain about the Pass being blocked during the winter until March or April, and his fears of a major Afghan assault when it reopened. An assault almost certainly supported and motivated by the Russians.
David then described his thoughts about how that assault could feasibly be launched with some expectations of success on the part of the Afghans and their Russian allies.
Henry sat quietly contemplating what David had said.
"I'm not too well informed about artillery developments," he admitted, "but there has been talk about a man called Maxim, an American, who it is claimed has invented an automatic firing gun which utilizes the recoil of the weapon to load the next round. The Gatling gun and its copies uses a hand cranking mechanism to fire it. Peter is more up to date in that field than I am."
David knew Peter from testing the rifle and developing its ammunition.
"I'll get him to come around tomorrow, and we can pick his brains," Henry said.
The following afternoon Peter was shown into Henry's study, where Henry and David awaited him.
David recounted the actions at the Pass ending with his fears for the future.
Peter listened intently, before responding, "From what you have described, David, the only weapons that are currently available that would seem to pose a real threat to your troops would be mortars. If they use howitzers, the shell is likely to explode some distance beyond this buttress you talk about, due the arc of its trajectory.
"The only fast firing weapon currently available is the Gatling gun. It's big and unwieldy and is notorious for jamming. The Maxim machinegun is not yet, to the best of my knowledge, commercially available.
"No, the only thing I can think that could cause you an unacceptable level of damage is a mortar. A mortar's projectile is fired steeply upwards, but can be adjusted to fall almost straight down. These projectiles can be time-fused to cause them to explode either in the air or after contact with the ground. When the explosives in the projectile explode, they release rifle balls or chunks of metal.
"The downside to them, is depending on size, they are normally heavy, and have to be solidly emplaced on the ground due to the recoil of their firing. They all use black powder for the propellant and explosive charge at the moment."
David sat back taking in Peters remarks.
Peter continued, "If a Russian Artillery officer saw your buttress, he would know immediately that a mortar was the only means to inflict damage on you."
"Logically then, our only reply to that eventuality would be to have mortars of our own," David replied.
Peter nodded, "How wide is the passage of the buttress, and how high" he asked.
"It's about a 800 yards long and 400 hundred feet high, of almost sheer rock," David informed him.
"So you wouldn't require a big mortar for those sort of ranges. I'll start to ask around tomorrow. At the moment, with the threat of war in the Sudan, and things boiling up in South Africa and on the North West Frontier, armaments are undergoing a minor revolution in developments."
Henry broke in, "We had a problem acquiring the cordite for your last order for ammunition. The War Office has nearly commandeered all the supply of it".
"They're finally looking at magazine bolt action rifles," Peter said, "We've submitted one for evaluation".
The meeting broke up with David agreeing to accompany Henry to the office the following morning, when Peter would begin to make inquiries.
It was late morning the following day when Peter entered Henry's office.
"I think I have a contact for you David. A Scot named Andrew Ferguson who worked at Vickers in Leeds. He was trained as a chemist and, by all accounts has been doing research into guncotton as a propellant. Anyhow, when Vickers withdrew his research grant he left them to start up on his own. Now, the interesting thing is, he was trying to develop a light mortar that could be transported and fired by three men.
"Unfortunately, he has a cash flow problem and has had to struggle on his own resources which has seriously slowed his progress. I have his address, if you are interested."
The three of them started discussing how best to proceed. In the end Henry suggested that Peter, being more conversant with propellants, accompany David.
They made arrangements to meet Mr. Ferguson at the hotel they had booked into in Sheffield.
When Andrew Ferguson was shown to their rooms in Sheffield, David assessed him to be in his mid-thirties.
David let Peter do all the talking as the conversation quickly turned to technical issues, firing angles and propellants.
But, from what David could glean, it appeared that Ferguson had developed a shell that used fins at the back of the projectile to stabilise its flight.
The mortar was a simple five-foot steel tube with a firing pin set in the base. The shell was dropped down it, and the firing pin ignited the propellant in the base of the shell, rather like a rifle cartridge.
From what David could understand, the main problems facing Ferguson were the guncotton used as the propellant, and a means of varying the range of the weapon.
Peter and Ferguson discussed velocities and shell explosives, the more technical aspects of which David did not understand.
They agreed to go round to Ferguson's workshop the next day and see what he had developed.
After he had gone Peter said he thought Ferguson was on to something that could be of use to David.
Later Peter spoke on the telephone to Henry, he was on some considerable time David thought.
Ferguson's workshop proved to be a shed some 30-feet by 10-feet. It contained a bench with chemistry instruments upon it and another with a comprehensive array of workshop tools.
The mortar, was covered by a sheet that, once removed, revealed a piece of four-inch diameter steel tubing approximately four-feet in length and attached at the base to a round steel plate about three feet in diameter. Two steel legs attached to a band on the near the open end of the tube, prevented it from falling down.
The tube was resting at an angle of approximately 45 degrees David thought.
Ferguson unlocked a cupboard and removed an object. The top part resembled
an artillery shell but the base was a tube smaller that the diameter of the shell. Four fins stuck out of the tube equally spaced around it.
Ferguson showed them the base, which resembled a rifle cartridge case, and explained that a fixed firing pin in the base of the steel tube ignited the charge in the tube of the shell, propelling it out of the tube.
He went on to say that altering the positioning of the legs on the steel tube altered the range of the weapon. It seemed that the range of movement of the legs, as the weapon was currently designed, was between 45 and 40 degrees.
David asked if the mortar was capable of reaching 500 feet in height and travelling a 1000 yards in range.
Ferguson frowned before responding that, with a precise load of propellant, it would have no problem accomplishing that. The main thing was ascertaining the correct amount of propellant.
Then Peter surprised David by asking if Ferguson would consider working for Cartwright & Sons in the pursuit of a finished weapon. He would have a fully equipped laboratory at his disposal as well as a modern workshop.
David went back to study the mortar as the two men talked.
Later Peter confessed that his talk with Henry had been about offering Ferguson a job in order for him to develop his idea.
When David said he thought Cartwright only specialised in firearms, Peter chuckled saying that, with all this talk of war, Cartwright was looking at all new developments. As one example, he said his department was already involved in developing a grenade.
Ferguson had, it seemed, accepted the Cartwright offer and Peter made arrangements for his mortar and equipment to be sent down to Birmingham.
"There are still some problems he has to sort out with the mortar shell, David, but once he gets down to Birmingham, at least he will have adequate facilities and trained staff to assist him. You may as well return to London. I'll let you know if anything comes of it."
"Very well Peter, but I am on a tight schedule time wise."