NIGHT ATTACK ON GYANTSE . TOWN 217'
with them. Shrapnel is of use only against troops. Common shell is more solid, and can be used against masonry, and against the jong it proved tremendously effective when fired by the accurate and hard-hitting little 10-pounders.
At 1.45 p.m. on July 5 General Macdonald began his operations by renewing the rifle fire on the jong. Then, at 3.30 p.m., two guns, six companies of infantry, and one company of mounted infantry, were sent to make a feint on the monastery side of the jong. This succeeded in inducing the Tibetans to reinforce largely that side of their defences. But after dark this column was withdrawn, and shortly after midnight a force of twelve guns, twelve companies of infantry, one company of mounted infantry, and half a company of sappers moved out in two columns to take up a position south-east of Gyantse.
We in the Mission post naturally spent the night on the ramparts awaiting events. It was 3.30 a.m. by the time the columns had taken up their position. Dawn had not yet appeared. All was still and quiet. The stars shone out in all the brilliance of these high altitudes, and nothing could be more serene and peaceful than this clear summer night. Suddenly a few sharp rifle cracks spat out, telling us that the enemy had seen our assaulting columns. Then the dull, heavy thud of an explosion showed that some doorway had been blown open. And after that came the full blaze of the fight, the whole jong lighting up with the flashes of rifle and jingal fire, and down below our own fire getting hotter and hotter.
As day dawned we could see that we had gained a footing in the town which was the immediate object of General Macdonald's attack previous to the assault on the jong itself. What had happened was this : The Tibetans had opened an unexpectedly heavy fire before the assaulting columns could get close up under the walls of the outlying parts of the town, and our three columns were reorganized into two—that on the right under Colonel Campbell, of the 40th Pathans, a tried and experienced frontier officer, and that on the left under Major Murray, 8th Gurkhas. With Colonel Campbell was Captain
IIIFカラー高解像度
