Escape from Hell

by Stuart, V. A.

  ESCAPE FROM HELL

  Historical Fiction by V. A. Stuart

  Published by McBooks Press

  THE ALEXANDER SHERIDAN ADVENTURES

  Victors and Lords

  The Sepoy Mutiny

  Massacre at Cawnpore

  The Cannons of Lucknow

  The Heroic Garrison

  THE PHILLIP HAZARD NOVELS

  The Valiant Sailors

  The Brave Captains

  Hazard’s Command

  Hazard of Huntress

  Hazard in Circassia

  Victory at Sebastopol

  Guns to the Far East

  Escape from Hell

  For a complete list of nautical and military fiction

  published by McBooks Press, please see pages 251–254.

  THE PHILLIP HAZARD NOVELS, NO . 8

  ESCAPE

  FROM

  HELL

  by

  V. A. STUART

  MCBOOKS PRESS, INC.

  ITHACA, NEW YORK

  Published by McBooks Press 2005

  Copyright © 1976 and 1977 by Vivian Stuart

  First Published in Great Britain by Robert Hale & Co. Ltd.,

  Also published as Sailors on Horseback and Action Front

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

  Requests for such permissions should be addressed to

  McBooks Press, Inc.,

  ID Booth Building, 520 North Meadow St., Ithaca, NY 14850.

  Cover: 1857, Delhi Stormed, lithograph by G. McCulloch after

  Captain G. F. Atkinson. Courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Stuart, V. A.

  Escape from hell / by V.A. Stuart.

  p. cm. — (The Phillip Hazard novels ; #8)

  ISBN 1-59013-064-2 (trade pbk. : alk. paper)

  1. Hazard, Phillip Horatio (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History, Naval—19th century—Fiction. 3. Lucknow (India)—History—Siege, 1857—Fiction. 4. Great Britain. Royal Navy—Officers—Fiction. 5. British—India—Fiction. I. Title.

  PR6063.A38E83 2005

  823’.92—dc22

  2004024252

  All McBooks Press publications can be ordered

  by calling toll-free 1-888-BOOKS11 (1-888-266-5711).

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  Printed in the United States of America

  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  FOR DAVID AND LEE ZENTNER

  in gratitude for an unforgettable visit to New York,

  the house opposite Walter Winchell’s,

  and the American Booksellers’ Fair, 1975.

  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Epilogue

  Historical Notes

  Books Consulted

  Glossary of Indian Terms

  PROLOGUE

  For days past warnings of an impending attack by the Nana Sahib’s army and the ten thousand strong Gwalior Contingent had been reaching Cawnpore and, on 24th November, 1857, Major-General Charles Windham called a conference of his senior officers to decide how best to meet the threat.

  A Guards officer who had won great distinction in the Crimean War, where his personal heroism had earned him the honoured nickname of “Redan” Windham, the General had been appointed to command of the Cawnpore garrison on the departure of the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Colin Campbell, two weeks earlier, with the Lucknow Relief Force.

  It was an unenviable command, since every soldier and every gun that could be spared had gone with the Relief column on its desperate, do-or-die mission, and Windham had been left with a bare holding force of four companies of Her Majesty’s 64th Regiment, some military and naval gunners and small detachments of other British regiments amounting, in all, to five hundred officers and men. When he had decided to advance to Lucknow’s relief before dealing with the threat to his base at Cawnpore, Sir Colin Campbell had, General Windham was aware, taken a carefully calculated risk. Sir Colin had only forty-two hundred men of all arms under his command—even with the addition of the two hundred seamen of HMS Shannon’s Naval Brigade and of a Brigade from Delhi, which had fought every mile of the way south to join him.

  The Gwalior mutineers had established themselves on the far side of the River Jumna and—since all the available boats were in their hands—any attempt to bring them to battle could be indefinitely delayed should their wily commander, Tantia Topi, so choose … and even a few weeks’ delay might well lead to the fall of the hard pressed Lucknow garrison. Already the siege of the Residency, by an estimated fifty thousand fanatical rebels, had lasted over four months.

  The first small relief force, under Generals Outram and Havelock, had fought valiantly to rescue the garrison but had suffered so many casualties—five hundred out of a total strength of twenty-five hundred—that, since the end of September, the survivors had been trapped in the Residency, aiding its defence, admittedly, but also adding to the number of mouths its slender stock of provisions had to feed. With women and children, wounded and sick, there were now close on two thousand non-combatants in the garrison, whose lives depended on swift evacuation and Sir Colin Campbell, determined to save them if he could, had openly conceded that he was taking the greatest gamble of his long career. In a letter to the Duke of Cambridge, he had written:

  “I intend to trust to the valour of my small but devoted band, make a dash for Lucknow, withdraw the garrison and return— swiftly enough, I hope—to save Windham from any danger that may threaten him …”

  General Windham’s orders were to hold Cawnpore at all costs, pending the Commander-in-Chief’s return. His first responsibility was to guard the Bridge of Boats, which crossed the River Ganges into Oudh, from enemy attempts to capture or destroy it. The bridge was a vital link in Sir Colin’s line of communication; by it, the evacuated garrison of Lucknow would have to be brought into Cawnpore and, recognising its importance, Windham had done all in his power to strengthen the fortified entrenchment sited at the Baxi Ghat, on the Cawnpore side of the broad river, mounting guns to cover the approaches to the bridge.

  The entrenchment had been originally constructed in July for the same purpose, when General Havelock had first been compelled to leave Cawnpore with a handful of men to hold both city and bridge and, by dint of employing several thousand native coolies, it had been considerably enlarged. Now a wall, seven feet in height and some eighteen feet in thickness, extended for half a mile to form an inner defensive circle surrounding a high mound overlooking the river. The parapet was turfed over to prevent its being washed away by the rains; the walls were fitted with sally-ports, and embrasures and platforms for the guns, constructed of brick, had been set in concrete by native masons. An outwork beyond enclosed four acres of ground and included a mile of loop-holed parapet and this was connected to the enciente by a covered way, closed at the canal end to the rear by a high stockade, with a tête-de-pont descending to the river bank and mounting two guns.

  By comparison with the mud-walled entrenchment, nearly a mile away on the open plain, which General Wheeler’s illfated garrison had defended so heroically in June, Windham’s was a fortress but nevertheless it possessed a number of disadvantages. It was dangerously close to the native city, for one thing, and the ground about it—although flat
—was encumbered by houses and walled gardens, with two narrow ravines leading up from the river, which had constantly to be patrolled. A resolute enemy would have little difficulty in bringing up guns with which to bombard his stronghold and the bridge it guarded, the General was unhappily aware—particularly if he were compelled to withdraw his troops from the city of which, for the moment, he was in control.

  The opportune arrival of Brigadier Morden Carthew’s Madras Brigade had to a certain extent assuaged his anxiety and during the last few days, drafts from the Rifle Brigade and the 34th, 82nd, and 88th Queen’s Regiments had raised his total force to some seventeen hundred men. These he had been directed to retain, in a note from Sir Colin Campbell’s Chief of Staff in Lucknow, which had reached him on the 15th. Since the 19th, however, communication with the Commander-in-Chief had been abruptly cut off and, as yet, he had received no reply to his request to make the best possible use of his reinforcements by going over to the attack. A fighting soldier, Charles Windham had always believed that attack was the best means of defence and now, as his commanders gathered about him, he again studied the written orders Sir Colin Campbell had issued for his guidance, heavy dark brows gathered in a frown as he did so.

  “You are to make the best show you can of whatever troops you may have at Cawnpore, leaving always a sufficient guard in the entrenchment … by encamping them conspicuously and in somewhat extended order, looking, however, well to your line of retreat …”

  Up to now, he had done precisely as ordered, Windham told himself, still frowning. His main body was encamped, as conspicuously as possible, just outside and to the west of the city, with strong pickets posted at the junction of the Delhi and Calpee roads, two more at the northern boundary of the city, whilst detachments of the 34th and the 82nd covered the road from Bithur, to the east. The entrenchment, with its well-positioned artillery, was defended as adequately as it could be; to his rear, at Fattehpore, he had detached the 17th Madras Native Infantry to patrol the road to Allahabad and, with the 27th supported by a European field battery, he had retaken the Bunni Bridge, on the Lucknow road, which had been overrun by the rebels. He had forwarded all the detachments required of him, in wings of regiments, to augment the Lucknow column, and the Commander-in-Chief had thanked him, in the warmest terms, for his support. Now that, at last, he had been permitted to bring his own force up to reasonable strength, it would surely be the height of folly not to seize the opportunity this afforded him to take the initiative.

  He would have to make certain that he had the full support of his senior officers, of course. The final paragraph of Sir Colin Campbell’s orders called for him to retire to the entrenchment, should he be seriously threatened and— General Windham glanced down at the paper in his hand— “not to move out to the attack unless compelled to do so by the threat of bombardment.” A prudent order, when he had had a scant five hundred men with whom to hold his position but with treble that number—and the majority Europeans—it smacked of over-caution, even of cowardice and, as such, went sorely against the grain. In his own case and … He subjected the faces of the officers gathered about him to a searching scrutiny, glancing first at those most likely to offer him the support he wanted.

  Brigadier Carthew, of the Company’s Madras Army, had given him most admirable backing since his arrival and he was now peering down, with lively interest, at the maps which the Chief of Staff, Colonel Adye, was spreading out on the table in front of them. Equally dependable, Windham felt confident, was Colonel Wilson of the Queen’s 64th, now acting Brigadier and his predecessor in the Cawnpore command. Wilson was in his late sixties, white haired and somewhat slow of movement but a fine soldier, very popular with the garrison and as eager as he was himself to bring the Gwalior rebels to heel. Colonel Walpole, the Rifles’ CO, was an old and well tried friend—he need have no doubts on that score—and Major Stirling, acting commander of the 64th, had been with Havelock’s Force since it left Allahabad in June. The 64th had done a lot of hard fighting and there had been some scandal or other, in which Stirling had been concerned, during the advance on Cawnpore. Something about an unmanageable horse that had compelled Stirling to go to the rear, whereupon Havelock had sent his son to lead the regiment into an attack in its commander’s place—and had then recommended the boy for a Victoria Cross. Or so rumour had it … General Windham smiled to himself. Clearly Stirling would welcome the chance of action, if only as a means of repairing the damage to his reputation.

  As to the others—Kelly of HM’s 34th was a fighting Irishman, Maxwell of the Connaught Rangers an officer of the same calibre, and Watson of the 82nd and Harnass of the Engineers were both conversant with the details of the proposed plan of attack and had wholeheartedly approved of it. The only stumbling block therefore was Dupuis, commanding the Royal Artillery. As a Major-General, Dupuis outranked all the others so that his opposition—if he opposed the plan—was likely to be formidable. There was no questioning his courage, of course; Dupuis did not lack courage, but he was inclined to set great store by a rigid adherence to orders and would almost certainly advise waiting until a reply had been received to the urgent despatch he had sent to the Commander-in-Chief, setting out details of the proposed attack. That an affirmative reply would be received, Windham did not doubt, since the plan he had worked out was a sound one but … it was unfortunate that communication with Lucknow should have been interrupted at so vital a time. Any delay in putting his plan into action would rob him of the element of surprise, which was essential to its success. And it would give the enemy, at present divided, time to join forces …

  “Gentlemen, if I may have your attention,” General Windham said. He gestured to the map. “You know our own depositions, of course. What I want you, if you will, to consider are those of the Gwalior mutineers. Until the middle of this month, they made no attempt to cross the Jumna. Indeed, although well armed and disciplined and excellently supplied with artillery, up to now their movements have been hesitant, even timid, but since the Commander-in-Chief marched to Lucknow, they have been gradually advancing upon us. According to reports from the spies I have sent out, five days ago their main body of about three thousand men, with twenty guns, was still at Calpee. A force of about twelve hundred, with four guns, had advanced to Bognepore, here”—he jabbed at the map with his forefinger—“two others, slightly smaller, were at Akbarpore and Shewlie, and a body of about a thousand, with cavalry and guns, was at Shirajpore, here. The remainder are at Jaloun.”

  The General paused, allowing his assembled officers time to pick out the places he had named on the map, and then went on, “They thus form the segment of a circle about us gentlemen which, I venture to suggest, is an indication that they intend to launch an attack on this city while, as they suppose, we are depleted in numbers and hard put to it to defend ourselves.”

  “You do not think, then, that they will try to join the Nana’s army in Oudh?” General Dupuis asked. “Clearly their hesitation caused them to miss the opportunity of attacking the Commander-in-Chief’s column on the way to Lucknow but it is possible, is it not, General Windham, that they may fall upon Sir Colin when he returns here, impeded by the Lucknow women and children and the wounded?”

  “It is possible,” Windham conceded. “But unlikely, in my view. Our spies all tell us that the Nana is moving southward at considerable speed … away from Lucknow. Captain Bruce will give you chapter and verse, gentlemen.” He nodded to the Intelligence Officer and Bruce—another veteran of Havelock’s Force, now in overall command of Cawnpore’s newly-raised police—gave crisp details of the reports his men had brought in.

  He added wryly, “The Nana isn’t anxious to be observed, gentlemen—three of my unfortunate fellows have been sent back with their tongues cut out. But everything points to his joining Tantia Topi and the Gwalior mutineers on this side of the river, probably within the next two or three days. His prestige suffered when he lost Cawnpore to General Havelock— he wants the place back and, once he
joins forces with the Gwalior troops, I’m quite certain he’ll attack us.”

  “I feel,” General Windham put in, “and I feel very strongly that we should take the initiative—strike a swift and decisive blow against them before they’ve had time to join forces. And I propose to make use of the canal, gentlemen. You’ll see from the map that it runs from here northwards and passes between Shewlie and Shirajpore, both of which are fifteen miles from us. My plan, the details of which I have forwarded to the Commander-in-Chief, is to transport about twelve hundred of our available force by boat along the canal during the hours of darkness. There are plenty of boats, and field guns can be moved up with them, along the tow-path. The men, instead of being fatigued by a fifteen mile march, will arrive fit and fresh and can fall upon either of the two rebel forces—which of the two will depend on the intelligence reports we receive— taking them by surprise at first light. Having met and dealt effectively with whichever force seems the more vulnerable to attack, our troops will at once return to Cawnpore.”

  “You would, of course, leave the entrenchment adequately defended, General?” Brigadier Wilson suggested.

  “Of course.” General Windham’s bearded lips parted in a smile. “And in your safe hands, my dear fellow. We now have a strength of some seventeen hundred bayonets, have we not, Adye?”

  “We have, sir,” his Chief of Staff confirmed.

  “Then you’ll have your four companies of the 64th and your artillerymen, my dear Wilson.”

  The old Brigadier nodded his satisfaction. “We could never count on more. But we know the defects of the entrenchment and, for the information of those commanding officers who have recently joined us perhaps, General, you would wish me to point them out?” Receiving his superior’s permission, the Brigadier proceeded to list the deficiencies of the earthwork under his command, ending ruefully, “General Windham’s orders call for him to retire to the entrenchment if attacked, and not to move out unless compelled to do so by the threat of bombardment. Which means, in effect gentlemen, that if the enemy succeed in penetrating the native city, such is the nature of the ground that they would be able to bring up heavy guns with which to bombard our defences, and the Bridge of Boats. We could not reply to their fire if they position guns on the north side of us.”