Identifier: battlesofninetee01forb (find matches)
Title: Battles of the nineteenth century
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Forbes, Archibald, 1838-1900 Atteridge, A. Hilliard (Andrew Hilliard)
Subjects: Battles Military history, Modern
Publisher: London New York : Cassell and Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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gorges. Our troops THE STORMING OF THE NILT FORTS. 293 had by no means an easy task before them. Asthe Hunzas and Nagars, when not united toraid on foreign soil or to repel an invader, usedfrequently to wage war on each other, all theirvillages are strongly fortified. Nilt consists of acongregation of stone houses, some of which aretwo or three storeys in height, all strongly built,and having flat roofs of large stones so wellput together that our shells produced noeffect on them. These houses are built closetogether, and often open out one into an-other, while a labyrinth of very narrow alleysintersects this human rabbit-warren. Thetown is enclosed by a massive stone wallnearly twenty feet in height and twelve terrace of irrigated fields and returnea the fire.The 5th Gurkhas, who led the attack, madeshort rushes, section after section, availing them-selves of the cover afforded by the low wallsthat divided the fields, and directed a briskfire on the loopholes of the fort at 100 yards
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captain AYLMER IGNITEf) THE FUSe (p. 294). feet in breadth, loopholed for musketry, withtowers at intervals. This wall is surrounded byanother loopholed wall eight feet in height,distant some six yards from the first wall. Thisouter wall, where it does not hang over theprecipice, has a deep trench outside it, at thebottom of which the enemy had placed a strongabatis of branches lashed together, and, lastly,another abatis lined the outer edge of the trench.As soon as we turned the spur of the mountainthe Hunzas opened fire upon us from their loop-holes. Our troops deployed on to the flat range. The Punialis and the men of the 20thPunjab Infantry scaled the steep mountain spurabove the fort to the ridge on which we after-wards had our ridge picket (sec illustration onp. 297), and fired down into the centre of the fort.The two seven-pounders took up a positionabout 150 yards from the fort, and opened fireupon it with shrapnel and shot, which appearedto produce no effect on the strong wal

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