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Meanwhile the infantry had been advancing swiftly. The 45th Sikhs
stormed the fortified village of Batkhela near the Amandara Pass, which
the enemy held desperately. Lieut.-Colonel McRae, who had been relieved
from the command of the regiment by the arrival of Colonel Sawyer, was
the first man to enter the village. Eighty of the enemy were bayoneted
in Batkheka alone. It was a terrible reckoning.
I am anxious to finish with this scene of carnage. The spectator, who
may gaze unmoved on the bloodshed of the battle, must avert his eyes
from the horrors of the pursuit, unless, indeed, joining in it himself,
he flings all scruples to the winds, and, carried away by the impetus of
the moment, indulges to the full those deep-seated instincts of
savagery, over which civilisation has but cast a veil of doubtful
thickness.
The casualties in the relief of Chakdara were as follows:--
11th Bengal Lancers--killed and died from wounds, 3; wounded,3.
Killed.


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