Page 112 - Chronicle Vol 17

Figure 2 – Skeletal remains (in the foreground) surround the Residency, still unburied after the battle – National Army Museum Online Collection.
sun as well as constant enemy fire, whilst artillery destroyed both buildings and the shade that they provided, leaving The Residency largely roofless (see Figure 1). The sun not only tormented defenders but baked the many corpses which lit- tered the battleground (see Figure 2), which Forbes-Mitchell recalled ‘were left to rot where they lay’, as sniper-fire made burial unfeasible. Consequently, Adelaide Case wrote ‘we are overrun with rats and mice’, whilst Inglis was tormented by swarms of flies which ‘filled our dishes and cups’, amplifying the misery of their meagre rations.
Psychological hardships accompanied these physical tribulations, further dem- onstrating the powerful mental resilience of the survivors. Despite the appalling conditions, men still found time to joke, shouting ‘here comes a barrel of beer at last!’ when bizarre gunpowder-charged catapults launching wooden projectiles began complementing the enemy artillery. Harris recorded how the 32nd ‘were all in excellent spirits’, whilst General Outram praised the garrison, declaring ‘never could there have been a force more free from grumblers, more cheerful, more willing, or more earnest’. All of this unflinching fortitude was in defiance of a staggering death-toll, with Cohen noting that there was only 5 days out of the 140 without fatalities. Despite the unimaginable mental strain from such relent- less personal loss, men still fought on. For instance, Private Metcalfe describes one soldier responding to a friend suddenly shot in the head before him with ‘recklessness to tears, and from tears back to recklessness again, and so on’ – all whilst continuing to fight off an enemy attack. Threats of a similar sudden demise were exacerbated by the rebels’ use of mining, as tunnels were dug under The Residency, packed with explosives, and then blown, typically with an assault fol- lowing. Nevertheless, the 32 responded, constructing listening-posts and their own countermines, often breaking into enemy tunnels and fighting underground battles. Despite this, Inglis declared the mines’ psychological impact ‘more ter- rible than anything else’. These fears were stacked upon the ‘great anxiety felt’ regarding the loyal Indian troops within The Residency, as ‘sinister rumours’ cir- culated about their fidelity, to the extent that a constant reserve was kept to ‘check any trickery’, further stretching the garrison physically and mentally . Thankfully,
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