Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c48.s7.2

v4.c48.s7.2

He began the battle with the small force he had at first at hand, by sending forward three of his battalions and a body of Ruhela irregular infantry under Abdāl Khan, which was specially trained for storming hills, to carry the pass that led to the enemy's position. No adequate artillery support could be given to the attack for some time, and this small advance-guard was assailed by a storm of cannon-balls and rocket-fire from the defence trenches on the heights and thrown back with heavy loss. De Boigne then wisely led his men back to the shelter of the trees on the two sides, where the enemy's big "guns of position" could do them little harm. But Holkar's army by the prodigal and useless expenditure of its scanty supply of powder and shot at this initial stage, ran quite out of munitions when the real crisis of the battle came later and it could then make no reply to De Boigne's massed artillery.