The "Graded" road, if any, was the road by which Chakdara was
to be relieved. Looking at the tangled, rugged nature of the country, it
seems extraordinary to an untrained eye, that among so many peaks and
points, one should be of more importance than another. Yet it is so. On
the high ground, in front of the position that Colonel McRae and the
45th Sikhs had held so well, was a prominent spur. This was the key
which would unlock the gate and set free the troops, who were cramped up
within. Every one realised afterwards how obvious this was and wondered
they had not thought of it before. Sir Bindon Blood selected the point
as the object of his first attack, and it was against this that he
directed Colonel Goldney with a force of about 300 men to move, as soon
as he should give the signal to advance.
At half-past four in the morning of the 2nd of August he proceeded to
"Gretna Green" and found the relieving column fallen in, and ready to
march at daybreak. All expected a severe action. Oppressed with fatigue
and sleeplessness, there were many who doubted that it would be
successful.
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