3-085-790 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Indian Frontier Rising: the 1st Brigade of the Tirah Expeditionary Force at its Christmas Dinner in the Bazar Valley, 1898. 'From a Sketch by Major E. W. F. Martin, 1st Gurkhas. [View of] the withdrawal of the Tirah force to winter quarters at Barkai, in the Bara Valley, at the beginning of last December, an operation which was only accomplished, it will be remembered, under great difficulties owing to the constant attacks of the tribesmen...The rearguard of the 1st Brigade, with 1200 mules laden with commissariat stores, was unable, owing to the badness of the road, to get over the Alachi Pass on Christmas Day. The force therefore halted for the night in a ravine, pickets of Gurkhas were stationed in front and rear and on either side, and officers and men proceeded to prepare and eat their Christmas dinner'. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.