*************
Travel with me through the winding narrow 28 mile Khyber pass from Pakistan into Afghanistan....onward to the capital, Kabul.
To the land where Pashtun tribesmen have been fighting invaders for hundreds of years.
Into the valleys where American and other NATO forces fight Taliban Pashtun tribesmen....
Into the same valleys where Afghan tribesmen forced withdrawal of Soviet occupiers in a ten year war ending in 1989.
Where Pashtun tribesmen battled British invaders in three Afghan wars.
Today's Pashtun Taliban battle high tech helicopters, satellite guided weapons, drones and all the computerized power of seasoned global American military, "inheritors" of Britain's world dominance.
Fierce, familiar with the rugged Afghan terrain, they use improvised explosive devices (IED's) and the ubiguitous AK-47.
The nations of the former "Soviet Block" have made some 100 million of these cheap, automatic, rapid fire "spray and pray" rifles.
They are perhaps the world's most popular military weapon.
This omnipresent gun is known for toughness, simplicty -- although its aimed range is limited to 350 yards.
That short range makes the AK-47 weak for sniping. The IED set in ambush for NATO patrols and convoys is a more lethal modern equivalent of long distance sniping.
Word is out that to supplement the short range AK-47, Taliban fighters are once again turning to the Lee Enfield for sniping.
That venerable and widely available British World War I fast bolt action rifle has a practical range of 650 yards extending out to still deadly at 2000.
As supplied by the CIA to the Mujahideen, this rifle played an important part in undermining the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980's.
Some 17 million have been made.
*************
The AK-47 is today's Jezail -- that ancient muzzle loading flintlock or matchlock musket which Åfghan soldiers used to kill hundreds of British soldiers back in the last century.
During Britain's First Afghan War of 1839 to 1844, the Jezail was a strong match for the British smoothbore flintlock muzzle loading "Brown Bess" musket.
The highly inaccurate Brown Bess had a practical aimed range of some 50 yards and a maximum effective range of 100 to 200 yards.
The "Brown Bess" tried and true -- the very same musket the British used against American rebels in 1775.
*************
The Jezail gave Afghans an important advantage over the British.
It was sometimes was rifled for accuracy and range -- which could extend up to 500 yards.
This is not to say it was the only reason the Pashtuns defeated the British in the First Afghan War.
Rugged terrain, weak British leadership, fierce Pashtun fighting skills, poor roads, extended supply lines, freezing winter, and a hostile population all were extremely important.
Still the short range Brown Bess musket was ill adapted to irregular warfare in rough terrain.
Effectiveness of the Brown Bess also required an enemy marching bunched together so that its inaccurate fire would be more likely to hit a target.
The British musket could have a tough time hitting wildly charging Afghans not in close formation.
The slow loading weapon had limited power against a mounted, fast charging Afghan tribesman. It could only kill a tribesman or his horse at relatively close range.
Once enemies got within that range, a British soldier would have little time to reload for more volleys.
Soldiers carrying the Brown Bess could be especially vulnerable to being outnumbered by tribesmen charging in fast on foot.
British soldiers had no ability to reload a muzzle loading musket at close quarters.
A soldier outnumbered and surrounded was quickly hacked to death.
*************
The Jezail smoothbore musket, with a long barrel and a tight-fitting ball, often had longer range, greater accuracy than the Brown Bess.
Because of this advantage in range, protected Afghan tribesmen often used the Jezail against the British during ambushes from the tops of cliffs, along valleys and defiles.
Afghans with Jezails could creep up close to British forts and snipe at British soldiers while out of musket range.
Thus primitive tribesmen with the right weapon and the ability to exploit remote terrain were able to defeat an army of the world's greatest military power.
Afghan snipers poured devastating fire on British soldiers and civilians retreating from Kabul through the Khyber pass in January 1842.
Thousands died from Jezail balls, attacks by tribal horsemen, and from freezing in the snows.
*************
With a range of up to 1500 yards.
Like the American colonial rebels of 1775 the tribesmen of David took on the British Goliath.
The tribesmen had terrain on their side. They knew it, could retreat to it, sally forth to ambush and snipe at British invaders so far from their bases across the Hindu Kush in India.
No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
Or ward the tulwar's downward blow.
Strike hard who cares - shoot straight who can
The odds are on the cheaper man.
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!
Jezail: yesterday's AK-47 picks off an empire
"Brown Bess:" killing Afghans and Americans
The Jezail was a style of musket common in Muslim lands. Because the flintlock lock mechanism was complicated, many were just removed from captured Brown Bess muskets.
The stock was hand-carved, the long barrel hand-wrought, and sometimes rifled.
No comments:
Post a Comment