Battle of Maiwand

"Maiwand: Saving the Guns". Royal Horse Artillery withdrawing from Afghan attack at the Battle of Maiwand, painted by Richard Caton Woodville

Date	27 July 1880
Location	Maiwand, Afghanistan
Result	Afghan victory

Belligerents

British Empire

India

Afghanistan

Commanders and leaders

George Burrows

Ayub Khan

Strength

2,476 British/Indian troops

25,000 Afghan warriors

Casualties and losses

969 killed
177 wounded

2,500-3,000 killed and wounded

British Empire

The Battle of Maiwand on 27 July 1880 was one of the principal battles of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Under the leadership of Ayub Khan, the Afghans defeated two brigades of British and Indian troops under Brigadier-General George Burrows, though at a high price: between 2,050 and 2,750 Afghan warriors were killed, and probably about 1,500 wounded.British and Indian forces suffered 969 soldiers killed and 177 wounded.

Before the battle, the campaign had gone well for the British. They had defeated Afghan tribesmen at Ali Masjid, Peiwar Kotal, Kabul, and the Battle of Ahmed Khel, and they had occupied numerous towns and villages, including Kandahar, Dakka, and Jalalabad.

Ayub Khan, Shere Ali's younger son, who had been holding Herat during the British operations at Kabul and Kandahar, set out towards Kandahar with a small army in June 1880, and a brigade under Brigadier-General Burrows was detached from Kandahar to oppose him. Burrows' brigade, some 2,500 strong with about 500 British troops including a battery of 9-pounder cannons (4.1 kg), advanced to Helmand, opposite Gereshk, to oppose Ayub Khan, but was there deserted by the levies of Shere Ali, the British-appointed wali of Kandahar. Burrows's troops engaged and defeated the rebellious levies and captured 4 smoothbore 6-pounder guns and 2 smoothbore 12-pounders howitzers (5.4 kg). Burrows then fell back to a position at Kushk-i-Nakhud, halfway to Kandahar where he could intercept Ayub Khan if he headed for either Ghazni or Kandahar. He remained there a week, during which time the captured guns were added to his force with additional gunners drawn from the British infantry.

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Wikipedia