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Rayner, and Second Lieutenants A. K Honywood and W.R Olivey, all of the 66th, .Major Blackwood of E/B, and Lieutenant T.R. Helm, commanding the Sappers, are all known to have died fighting inside the walls of the garden. Blackwood’s medal pair, Figure 3, also part of the Ritchie collection, sold at Dix Noonan Webb in the March 2, 2005 sale for 18,000 pounds.
Figure 7: The obverse (left) and reverse of the Second
Afghan War Medal of Lieutenant R. T. Chute, one of the
Last Eleven At Maiwand (Courtesy of Dix
Noonan Webb).
News of the disaster reached Kandahar at 2:00 am and Primrose ordered Brigadier H. F. Brooke to lead a small relief force which departed around five o’clock. By two o’clock in the afternoon of the 28th, Burrows and most of the survivors were safe in the city.
Burrows lost some 43% of the forces engaged (Robson) including 21 officers and 948 men killed and 8 officers and 168 men wounded. The 1 st Bombay Grenadiers lost 64 percent, the 66th lost 62 percent, including twelve of the nineteen officers present, the Sappers and Miners lost 60 percent, the cavalry only lost 11 percent, a testament to the value of being mounted and perhaps to their lack of determination. Despite their exposure on the field, and the fight amongst the guns, E/B took only 23 percent casualties, truly a tribute to their discipline as well as the leadership of both Blackwood and Slade.
Most accounts put Ayub’s losses at between 3,000 and 3,500 killed and wounded, but those figures are likely somewhat exaggerated. Robson’s estimate is between 2,500 and 3,000.
While there was much blame to go around for the defeat, all sources agree that had Burrows wanted to break Ayub against the British line, he would have been far better off not to have crossed the main ravine, and stayed instead
within Mandabad where numerous walled compounds could have anchored his defense. His second major error was entrusting the exposed cutting edge of the left flank to the two poorly trained, unsteady, companies of the 30th Native Infantry Regiment. Several officers including the commanding officers of the two cavalry regiments were court martialed, but all were exonerated.
Two Victoria Crosses were awarded for Maiwand, both to members of E/B, Royal Horse Artillery. Sergeant R Mullane was decorated for rescuing a wounded soldier, and Gunner J. Collins for bravery under fire during the retreat toward Kandahar. Captain J. R. Slade was made a companion of the Order of the Bath, and fifteen Distin- guished Conduct Medals were awarded, including eight to members of E/B Battery and seven to the 66th Foot. The E/B medals were awarded to Driver J Bishop, Ser- geant. T. Burridge, Trumpeter J. H. Jones, Quartermaster Sergenat J. Munro, Sergeant Major W. Paton, Acting Bombardier W. Payne, Corporal F. Thorogood, and Gun- ner T. Tighe. The Paton Distinguished Conduct Medal was illustrated in the second article of this series. Med- als to the 66th Foot went to Private E. Battle, Private W. Clayton, Private C. Kidgell, Sergeant Frederick Lovell, Lance Corporal J. Martin and Lance Corporal F. Williams. Medals awarded to Sergeant Lovell, the senior surviving non-commissioned officer of the regiment, are shown in Figure 4. This group was part of the Ritchie collection, sold by Dix Noonan Webb on September 23, 2005.
The author previously reported that eighteen Distin- guished Conduct Medals were awarded for Maiwand, but recently uncovered an error in the Farrington casualty role wherein medals awarded to members of the 7th Foot were mistakenly presented as being awarded for Maiwand. Since that regiment was not present at Maiwand, these medals were most likely given for Deh Khoj ah where the 7th lost over fifty killed and wounded.
No campaign medal clasp was authorized for Maiwand, and most medals of those present are found without clasps. Some of the survivors of the 66th regiment fought at the Battle of Kandahar on September 1, 1880 and received the clasp KANDAHAR. As in so many of the Colonial battles, the difference between victory and defeat was a fine line indeed. At Ahmed Khel, only a short
three months before Maiwand, General Donald Stewart, attacked a 10,000 man Afghan army before all his forces were positioned, and was slammed by a massive attack, causing two native infantry units to buckle upon the 59th Foot. Only the recovery of one of the native regiments and the steadfastness of the 59th prevented Ahmed Khel from turning into an absolute disaster. Even with the
26 JOMSA
inexperienced leadership, the lack of discipline among the native regiments, and the inability of the Martini- Henry to save the day, Burrows came close to having his victory at Maiwand. It was later learned that the Afghan infantry, devastated by their heavy losses, were in fact close to leaving the field when the final ghazi charge saved the day.
Of course, as always in colonial days, those who twisted the tail of the British lion eventually paid the price. Prim- rose sought revenge but achieved only marginal results on August 16th when he directed a force led by Brigadier H. F. Brooke to attack the village ofDeh Khojah. Brooke’s undermanned force returned to Kandahar after suffering heavy casualties. However, a relief force of over 10,000 led by Major General F. S. Roberts marched the 320 miles between Kabul and Kandahar in 23 days and decisively defeated Ayub and his army at the Battle of Kandahar on September 1, 1880. Ayub escaped, returning to Herat where he resided when the war ended and the British departed Kandahar.
Author’s Note: The photograph published in "The
British Second Afghan War Medals," Principal Engage-
ments, and Unit Casualties, JOMSA, Volume 57, Number
6, September-October, 2006 as Figure 13: Fort Battye
and the plains of Fattabad, appeared, by permission of
The British Library, 487(38). The author would again
like to express his thanks to Mr. Jamie Wilson, Director,
Spellmont Limited, publisher of Brian Robson’s The
Road To Kabul The Second Afghan Wa~ 1878-188 and to
the author for their kind permission to reproduce the two
maps used in this article, and to the staffat the Old Church
Galleries, London for preparing and transmitting the
image of Frank Teller’s 1882 painting, The Last Eleven
At Maiwand. In addition, special thanks to Dix Noonan
Webb for the use of the photographs of the Blackwood
group, the Lovell group, and the Chute medal, and to
Wioletta Madaj of Dix Noonan Webb for preparing and
transmitting the images. Lastly, for those wishing more
information on the Second Afghan War and the battle of
Maiwand, the author recommends Brian Robson’s work
for a general account of the war and Leigh Maxwell’s
superb narrative of Maiwand.
Bibliography
Barthorp, Michael. Afghan Wars and The North- West Frontier 183 7-
1947. London: Cassell 1982. 184pp.
Farrington, Anthony The Second Afghan War 1878-1880 CasualO~
Roll London: The London Stamp Exchange. 1986. 189pp.
Heathcote, T.A. TheAfghan Wars 1839-1919. Staplehurst Spellmount
Limited. 2003.224pp.
Marston, Searle, and Rivington 1882, The Naval and Military Press,
Ltd. Reprint, date unknown. 274pp.
Maxwell, Leigh My God-Maiwand Operations of the South Afghani-
stan Field Force. London: Leo Cooper Ltd., 1979. 277pp.
O’Balance, Edgar. Afghan Wars: Battles in a Hostile Land 1839-
Present. London: Brassey’s 1993. 277pp.
Rees, Simon. The Long Road To Kandaha~: Military History Dec
2004 pp31-36 and 80.
Robson, Brian. The Road To Kabul The Second Afghan Wag 1878-
1881. Staplehurst Spelhnount Limited 2003. 312pp.
Shadbolt, Sydney H. The Second Afghan Campaign of 1878-1880
Historical Division. London Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and
Rivington 1882. The Naval and Military Press, Ltd. Reprint, date
unknown. 352pp.
Shadbolt, Sydney H. The Second Afghan Campaign of 1878-1880
Biographical Division. London Sampson Lo~v,
The Second Afghan Wal; 1878-80. AbridgedOfficial History. London.
1908. 600+/-pp.
Wrigley, Carlton. "Saving The Guns, Maiwand, Afghanistan-July 27,
1880." Medal News, September 2002, pp14-15.
Book Review
Stein, Barry Jason, U.S. Army Patches, Flashes
and Ovals, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cloth Unit
Insignia. Insignia Ventures, 2007. 433 pages, illustrated,
hard or soft cover. Order online at http://WWW.
USMILITARYPATCHES.COM or call 203-618-0276.
$69.95 soft cover, and $95.00 hard cover plus postage.
This book is a must-have for United States medal
collectors with a collecting interest in the United States
Army. It provides a single source for 3600 Army cloth
unit insignia fiom World War I through January 2006. It
has 433 pages of text, and color illustrations. It is well
indexed. Included is a brief history of each active and
inactive unit, its period of service, short history, list of
campaign credits, and unit decorations. Pictured are both
the official and the unofficial worn cloth insignia by the
unit during its period of service.
This book also includes, for the first time, the more
recently created flashes and ovals. It covers Armies, Corps
Divisions, Brigades, Regiments, Battalions and even
some Companies that had their own cloth insignia. This
book is most useful for collectors doing displays or trying
to authenticate a medal group form the accompanying
insignia. I find it a valuable tool. It is a large format
heavy book and I would recommend spending the extra
money to get it in hard copy for those who plan to make
frequent use of the book.
Reviewed by Ronald E. Fischer
Vol. 58, No. 6 27
THE SIR HENRY WELLCOME MEDAL
Steve Watts
My purpose is to show and describe one medal that the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS) awards to one of its members yearly. Sometime ago I saw on eBay a beautiful cased copy of the Sir Henry Wellcome Medal that was named to Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Jardon M.D. As there appeared to be little interest in the medal and as I was curious about the man who earned it and why the medal was awarded to him, I purchased the medal. Research indicated that the medal was issued by the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS).
for the competitive awards, of which there are 18. The deadline for submissions is June 30th and awards are presented at the annual meeting in November. Three of the awards are essay awards for research and other studies. There are five non-competitive awards, three of which are lecture awards and two are The Founder’s Medal and the Joel T. Boone Award. These two award recipients are chosen for their service to the Association over an extended period of time.
The competitive awards are divided into the following categories:
Dental Awards:
Carl A. Schlack Award
Enlisted Awards:
Lewis L. Seaman Senior EnlistedAward for
Outstanding Operational Support (E-7 through
E-9)
Lewis L. Seaman Junior Enlisted Award for
Outstanding Operational Support (E-7 through
E-9)
Executive Leadership Awards:
Outstanding FederalHealthcare ExecutiveAward
Outstanding Medical InformationExecutiveAward
Figure 1: AMSUS membership medal (left), miniature
membership medal (top righO and lapel pin.
Medical Service Corps Awards: Ray E. Brown Award Walter R McHugh Award Paul F. Truran Jr. Medical Material and
Logistics Management Award Young Federal Healthcare Administrator Award
The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS) was founded in 1891 and chartered by Congress in 1903. It was originally an organization for surgeons and physicians. However, today it is comprised of professionals serving in the full spectrum of health care disciplines. This includes the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Air Force, United States Public Health Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, United States Army Reserve, United States Navy Reserve, United States Air Force Reserve, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, and the Coast Guard. It is open to present and former military personnel. I was able to join and have on display the association medal, ribbon, lapel pin, miniature medal, and civilian pin. (Figure 1)
AMSUS has an awards program that is broken down into competitive and non competitive awards. Members are mailed nomination forms in the March issue of Military Medicine and are encouraged to nominate individuals
Nursing Awards: Clinical Nursing Excellence Award
Optometry Awards The W. David Sullins, Jr. Award for Outstanding
service in Optometry
Pharmacy Awards: AMSUS Award for Excellence in Clinical
Pharmacy Practice Andrew Craigie Award
Physicians Assistant Awards: Physician Assistant Award
Physician Awards: John D. Chase Award for Physician Executive
Excellence. Donald F. Hagen Young Physician Award
28 JOMSA