1 The First Sikh War. 179
2 10. The delay in the arrival of the British siege-
3 train, which only reached Firozptir on the 6th, was
4 made good use of by the Sikhs. Every day they
5 continued to add to the strength of their position ;
6 and by the 10th the British commander, with a
7 force of 15,000 men all told, was faced with the
8 task of attacking " a position covered with formi-
9 dable entrenchments, and occupied by no fewer than
10 30,000 men with 70 pieces of artillery, united by
11 a bridge of boats to a reserve on the opposite bank
12 of the river." As at Firozshahr, the battle com-
13 menced with an artillery duel, in which again the
14 Sikhs had the better of the exchange, the lighter
15 guns of the British making little impression on their
16 works. The cannonade was kept up for nearly three
17 hours, after which the British advanced to the storm
18 of the scarcely damaged defences. Then followed
19 a hand-to-hand struggle of the fiercest description.
20 The Sikhs, knowing that they had staked their all
21 on the issue of the day, fought with the courage of
22 despair. But the British brigades, though more than
23 once checked by the murderous fire of the Sikh artil-
24 lery, captured position after position, and by one
25 o'clock in the afternoon their victory was complete.
26 But though the prize went to the British, the honours
27 of that great and glorious fight were shared equally
28 by victors and vanquished. How gallantly the Sikhs
29 at Sobraon upheld the honour of the Khalsa is proved
30 by the words of the British commander. In his
31 official dispatch, written on February 13, to the
32 Governor-General, Sir Hugh Gough thus described
33 the struggle after the first line of breastworks had