AMAZING FEATS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 223, 20 September 1935, Page 7

AMAZING FEATS.

INDIAN MOVEMENTS.

Military Forces' Operations on North-west Frontier. 15,000 TROOPS ENGAGED. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) CALCUTTA, September 19. What is described by observers as 0110 of the most amazing feats in the annals of the Indian Army was the occupation at dawn yesterday of the precipitous 3000 ft high Nahakki Pass and the plains of Kamalai —the home of the warlike JMohmand tribesmen and long a thorn in the side of the Indian frontier administration —by 15,000 English, Scottish and Indian troops. Apart from sniping by watchful tribesmen, who probably are among the finest shots in the world, the British Indian force had little actual fighting, but the climbing of the barren, rocky mountains —mostly during hot, airless frontier nights—proved a strenuous test of endurance for the troops. The actual occupation of the hostile territory was carried out without opposition, though it is believed thousands of tribesmen watched the operation from rocky retreats. The Highland Light Infantry actually seized the pass, after which mountain batteries and field artillery shelled the Kamalai Plains. Other troops passed through and secured the village of Nahakki, from which tribesmen were seen hastily evacuating. They sniped the soldiers, who replied with Lewis guns and rifles. In the meanwhile the cavalry, who had to climb very steep mountain paths, made a dashing attack on the territory to the north. Tanks, which on tho previous day had rendered invaluable service, could not now operate. When the troops were established a transport of nearly 2000 mules trekked through the pass into the plain.