'Flathead Left From Marble Arch', 1920 (c)

Photograph, North West Frontier, India, 1920 (c).

'Flathead Left' was the name given to a flat-topped hill in the Tank Zam Valley. It dominated the surrounding area and had to be cleared of tribesmen by Major-General Sir Andrew Skeen's Derajat Column if it was to advance further into the Mahsud heartlands of South Waziristan. It was occupied on the morning of 14 January 1920 by a force led by Lieutenant-Colonel James Crowdy of 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles.

Crowdy's men were almost immediately subjected to accurate rifle fire from the nearby 'Flat Right' and 'Marble Arch' hills. With their ammunition running out the Gurkhas were eventually forced into a series of bayonet charges in which Crowdy was killed. Reinforcements in the shape of the 2nd Battalion, 76th Punjabis and 2nd Battalion, 9th Gurkha Rifles, eventually relieved the situation and by midday the position was secured.

From a collection of 146 photographs possibly collected by Sir A Skeen, 1880 (c)-1940 (c).