British Frontier Corps veteran recalls fighting Pashtun tribesmen - Times Online: "The shooting started late on a Sunday afternoon as the patrol returned to their remote frontier fortress from a mission in the hills. The hidden enemy, similar to that encountered every day by Nato troops stationed along the Afghan-Pakistan border, were Pashtun tribesmen, firing down upon the soldiers from a distant crest.
But as the bullets pinged on the rocks around the troops, the reaction of the British patrol commander was rather different to today's textbook Nato response.
“Into line!” Captain John Girling barked to his men. The soldiers wheeled into extended formation and, on Captain Girling's order, commenced their charge, a company of men, mounted on horses, in what was probably the last cavalry charge to be led by a British officer.
“I tried to draw my pistol,” recalled Mr Girling, now an 82-year-old retired major, speaking to The Times in Dorset. “But I couldn't, as my pony was so excited. It thought it was a polo match. We got to the top, dismounted and started firing. We saw the men running away. I don't know if we got any. Maybe we winged a couple.”"
Friday, January 2, 2009
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