The Afghans launched numerous attacks against the column as it made slow progress through the winter snows of the Hindu Kush. In total the British army lost 4,500 troops, along with 12,000 mainly Indian camp-followers. The final stand was made just outside a village called Gandamak on 13 January. The retreat has been described as "the worst British military disaster until the fall of Singapore exactly a century later."
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| - The Afghans launched numerous attacks against the column as it made slow progress through the winter snows of the Hindu Kush. In total the British army lost 4,500 troops, along with 12,000 mainly Indian camp-followers. The final stand was made just outside a village called Gandamak on 13 January. The retreat has been described as "the worst British military disaster until the fall of Singapore exactly a century later."
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sameAs
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Strength
| - 12000(xsd:integer)
- Around 30,000
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dbkwik:military/pr...iPageUsesTemplate
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Partof
| - the first Anglo-Afghan War, 1839–1842
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Date
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Commander
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Caption
| - The last stand of the survivors of Her Majesty's 44th Foot at Gandamak, painted by William Barnes Wollcompaen in 1898
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Casualties
| - Unknown
- ~16,500 killed or captured, 1 escaped
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Result
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combatant
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Place
| - Road from Kabul to Jalalabad, near Gandamak, Afghanistan
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Conflict
| - Massacre of Elphinstone's Army
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abstract
| - The Afghans launched numerous attacks against the column as it made slow progress through the winter snows of the Hindu Kush. In total the British army lost 4,500 troops, along with 12,000 mainly Indian camp-followers. The final stand was made just outside a village called Gandamak on 13 January. Out of more than 16,000 people from the column commanded by Elphinstone, only one European, an Assistant Surgeon named William Brydon, and a few sepoys would eventually reach Jalalabad. The Afghans subsequently released a number of British prisoners and civilian hostages. Most of the Indian soldiers and civilians died of exposure, frostbite or starvation or were killed or sold into slavery by the tribesmen. The retreat has been described as "the worst British military disaster until the fall of Singapore exactly a century later."
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