Cabool, 1842
This distinction was granted to all the regiments which participated in the operations in Afghanistan, have for their object the release of the captives in the hands of Akbar Khan, or of the relief of the garrisons at Jelalabad and Khelat-i-Ghilzai.
The Honour was awarded to the 3rd Hussars.
Detail
The 3rd were involved in this punitive expedition to relieve the Fortress of Jalalabad and release the prisoners from Kabul.
This all resulted from the British puppet, placed on the throne in 1839, massacring the British Mission in Kabul from which only one survivor made it to Jalalabad. It was a bitterly hard march through the Kyber Pass to the besieged garrison, involving fighting against tribesman all the way.
Having reached and secured Jalalabad, the Army was then ordered to “withdraw by the way of Kabul” in order to punish the Afghans. The advance on Kabul involved a series of battles, at one of which Akbar Khan sent a division to attack the Rearguard containing the 3rd.
They had 2000 horsemen but three of our squadrons charged them so fiercely that they dispersed the cavalry and then went on to put their infantry to flight.
In the final confrontation outside Kabul, “the 3rd Dragoons actively engaged in cutting up and dispersing several portions of the enemy“.
Having recaptured Kabul, it was decided by the Governor-General to abandon Afghanistan; thus the 3rd moved back to India. It was the turn of the Sikh Army to suffer in 1845 as they crossed in India with 60,000 men on 11 December.
Within sixty-two days the Sikh Army had been utterly defeated in four major battles. The first of these was Moodkee, at which the 3rd, and the second Brigade of Cavalry were present.
