The idea of joining the Third Brigade at Nawagai had now to be given up in favour of punitive operations in the Mamund country, and co-operation with General Elles was for the present impossible; the First Brigade was therefore ordered to move up to the Panjkora, the Third remaining entrenched at Nawagai. Here, on the night of the 19th and 20th determined attacks were made upon the camp, chiefly by the Hadda Mullah’s men from the Bedmanai Pass; they were beaten off without much difficulty, but some of them were shot down within ten yards of the entrenchment; we had one man killed and thirty-one wounded, among the latter being General Wodehouse. On the 22nd Sir Bindon Blood proceeded to the Mamund Valley to rejoin General Jeffreys; the Third Brigade on the same date being attached to the force under General Elles for completion of the operations against the Mohmands.
In the meantime the Second Brigade under General Jeffreys had been engaged in further fighting. On the 16th the troops marched up the Watelai Valley in three small columns, directed respectively on Badalai, Badan and Agra, and experienced in the operations which resulted the heaviest loss which British troops have suffered in frontier warfare, in a single day’s fighting, since the Ambela campaign. The right column destroyed some villages and then, finding a considerable force of the enemy occupying a strong position from which it seemed impossible to dislodge them without guns, returned to camp. The remaining two columns moved up the valley, the enemy retiring before them; when, however, it became necessary for the troops to halt to await the return of a party which had been detached, the enemy began to press forward in considerable numbers, inflicting some loss upon two companies of the 35th Sikhs, which were falling back upon their supports. The pressure was, however, temporarily relieved by an opportune charge of a squadron of the 11th Bengal Lancers under Captain Cole. The two columns commenced their withdrawal to camp at Inayat Kila about 3 p.m. A flanking party of two companies of the 35th Sikhs had not received the order to retire, but when the party commenced to do so, it withdrew in a direction rather diverging from the general line of retreat. These companies were assailed by the enemy on all sides, and did not extricate themselves, assisted finally by the Guides, until they had suffered over forty casualties. As the whole force continued its retirement darkness came on, accompanied by a heavy thunderstorm, and the General, considering it would be difficult to reach camp that night and anxious about his flanking parties, decided to occupy some villages till morning. The orders failed, however, to reach all the units; some pushed on to camp; but about dusk General Jeffreys found himself with no troops at his immediate disposal, except four guns of No. 8 Bengal Mountain Battery, a small party of Sappers, and a few men of the Buffs and 35th Sikhs, who had become separated from their companies in the dark. With these the General decided to occupy a hamlet called Bilot, about 3½ miles from camp. Part of this village was burning and half was in possession of the enemy, who had been following up closely, and the party with the General was only able to occupy and entrench one angle of the hamlet. Fighting was kept up at the closest possible quarters, and with heavy losses on both sides, until the arrival, about midnight, of four companies of the 35th Sikhs, with whose assistance the enemy were easily driven off, the rest of the night passing quietly.