med up in rear of the
low hills which covered the front of our camp, their right being at
Piquet Hill and their left resting on Chitral Zina. The Cavalry of the
Kabul column were drawn up in rear of the left, ready to operate by
Gundigan towards the head of the Arghandab, so as to threaten the
rear of Ayub Khan's camp and his line of retreat in the direction of
Girishk. Four guns of E Battery Royal Horse Artillery, two companies
of the 2-7th Fusiliers, and four companies of the 28th Bombay
Infantry, were placed at the disposal of Brigadier-General Hugh Gough,
whose orders were to occupy with these troops the position above
Gundigan, which had been so useful during the previous day's
reconnaissance, and to push his Cavalry on to the Arghandab.

Guards having been detailed for the protection of the city, the
remainder of Lieutenant-General Primrose's troops were ordered to be
disposed as follows: Brigadier-General Daubeny's brigade to occupy the
ground between Piquet Hill and Chitral Zina as soon as the Infantry of
the Kabul-Kandahar Field Force advanced to the attack. The remnant of
Brigadier-General Burrows's brigade, with No. 5 Battery, 11th Brigade
Royal Artillery, under Captain Hornsby, and the Cavalry under
Brigadier-General Nuttall, to take up a position north of the
cantonment, from which the 40-pounders could be brought to bear on
the Baba Wali Kotal, while the Cavalry could watch the pass, called
Kotal-i-Murcha, and cover the city.

From an early hour it was clear that the enemy contemplated an
offensive movement; the villages of Gundigan and Gundi Mulla Sahibdab
were being held in strength, and a desultory fire was brought to bear
on the British front from the orchards connecting these two villages
and from the Baba Wali Kotal.

The Bombay Cavalry moved out at 7.30 a.m., and Daubeny's brigade at
eight o'clock. Burrows's troops followed, and shortly after 9 a.m.,
their disposition being completed, Captain Hornsby opened fire upon
the kotal, which was one mass of _ghazis_.

This feint, made by General Primrose's troops, having had the effect I
had hoped, of attracting the enemy's attention, I gave the order
for Major-General Ross to make the real attack with the 1st and 2nd
Brigades of his division. The 3rd Brigade, under Brigadier-General
Macgregor, I placed in front of the village of Abbasabad, with the
double object of being a reserve to the 1st and 2nd Brigades and of
meeting a possible counter-attack fr