The Dargai position, which on the 18th had been held by a limited number of Orakzais, was now occupied by a gathering of tribesmen estimated to number 12,000, partly Orakzais, but more than half consisting of Afridis from the Malikdin Khel, Kambar Khel, Kamar Khel, Zakha Khel, Kuki Khel, and Sipah clans.
The advanced troops, under Brigadier-General Kempster, reached the kotal about 8 a.m., and, on being joined there by Major-General Yeatman-Biggs, were at once ordered to take the position; the remainder of the force being halted on the summit or the south side of the pass, and no attempt being made to threaten the enemy’s flanks by continuing the advance. The assault on Dargai was led by the Gurkha Scouts and 1st Battalion 2nd Gurkhas, with the Dorsets in support and the Derbyshire Regiment in reserve, covered by the long-range fire of the Gordons and Maxim gun from a ridge immediately west of the kotal, of three mountain batteries on the pass, and of another on the Samana Sukh. The whole of the infantry of the attack was able to mass, without loss and under cover, within less than 500 yards of the position, and from here the Gurkhas dashed out, and, with something over fifty casualties, succeeded in establishing themselves in shelter in the broken and dead ground immediately under the cliffs. The enemy now concentrated a rapid, accurate, and well-sustained fire upon the narrow col or saddle described on page 322. The remainder of the Gurkhas were unable to get across, and attempts made, first by the Dorsets and then by the Derbyshires, to rush forward in driblets (necessitated both by the narrow exit from the “funnel” and the congested state of the ground whereon these regiments were massed) were beaten back with considerable loss. About 2.30 p.m. the colonel of the Dorsets, the senior officer on the spot, signalled for reinforcements. The Gordon Highlanders and 3rd Sikhs were then sent up, and, under a rapid concentrated fire from all the batteries, the Gordons led a dash, which was joined by all the other troops in the position, and the enemy, not waiting for the final assault, fled towards the Khanki Valley.
By this time it was too late to continue the advance; consequently, while the bulk of the force bivouacked about the Chagru Kotal, the Narikh Sukh was held by the Derbyshires, the position at Dargai by the Gurkhas and Dorsets, with the Gordon Highlanders lower down the hill. The total casualties sustained in this, the second assault on Dargai, amounted to four officers and thirty-four men killed, fourteen officers and 147 men wounded. It may here be mentioned that the troops now holding these heights remained wholly unmolested, even when, after the 23rd, the position was occupied by no more than one battalion—the 30th Punjab Infantry.