420 
THE DIARY OF THE 10th FIELD BATTERY, R.A. 
Owing to the hurried start, the battery had no time to complete 
deficiencies from the supplying battery. 
Seventeen men were on detachment in the Murree Hills; On the 
receipt of the order to mobilize, they had been wired for and thirteen 
of them reached Rawal Pindi the evening the Battery started; of the 
men in Pindi eight were left behind in hospital. 
All horses irrespective of age or other faults unsuiting them for 
service which were not actually in the sick lines had to be taken. 
Nine were left behind sick. The men were as fit as could be expected 
after three months hot weather. The horses were fat and soft, having 
been doing light work on soft food, bran, boiled barley and a little 
grain. 
The strength the Battery left Pindi was :— 
5 Officers, 
146 N.C.O.'s and Men, 
♦ 9 Native Drivers, 
58 Native Followers, 
134 Horses. 
At Nowshera, orders were received to push on. Twenty days 
rations for the men and five days rations for the horses were drawn. 
The latter not to be expended unless necessary, daily rations being 
drawn when available. 
4th August .—The Battery marched to Hoti Mardan, 16 miles. It 
started at 3.30 a.m. and got in about 6.15 a.m., trotting a consider¬ 
able part of the way as soon as it was light enough. The tents were 
not pitched, the men spending the day under some trees round the 
camp. The shade was not of the best but preferable to a single fly 
160 lb. tent. Three or four men went down with touches of sun and 
one man nearly succumbed to heat apoplexy. Two had to be left 
behind sick. 
5th August .—The battery marched to Jallala, 12 miles, starting at 
2.30 a.m. and getting in soon after 5 a.m. (sunrise). A standing 
camp of E.P. tents had been pitched here, the heat was intense through¬ 
out the day. Eleven men were more or less knocked up by it, three 
being very bad indeed. 
6th August .—The Battery left Jallala at midnight with a convoy, 
the progress consequently very slow. The Border is crossed about 
two miles out of Jallala. At 2 a.m. the battery halted for an hour to 
allow the convoy to close up. At 5.30 a.m. it reached the Dargai 
post (South Malakand) but could not get into the fort at once as an 
infantry battalion was just marching out and the place was full of 
transport animals. There were troughs outside filled by a pipe from 
the tanks inside the fort but the water was so warm the horses would 
not look at it even after the fourteen mile march on a hot stuffy night. 
They were eventually watered at a small village trough about half a 
mile off and then fed and the men got their breakfasts. 
On arrival a wire was received from the Adjutant, R.A., Malakand 
Field Force, to say the Battery was not to halt on the Malakand but 
to go through to Khar and to join the 1st Brigade at Amandara. 
