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If it is not too hot, a climb up to the Churchill Piquet on Damkot Hill is rewarding. One can park the vehicle opposite the main gate of Chakdara fort. This fort was built in 1896 by the British on the foundations of a fort built by a general of Emperor Akbar in the 16th century as a prelude to the Mughal operations against the Yousafzais, which resulted in the total annihilation of the Mughal Army in Buner. Raja Birbal was also one of the main casualties of the operation.
The footpath up the hill to Churchill Piquet takes about 15 minutes to climb. The view from the top of the hill is magnificent. On a clear day the whole of the Malakand valley is visible against a backdrop of lofty mountains. Here the young Winston Churchill, reporting for the London Daily Telegraph, covered the Pathan uprising and operations of the Malakand Field Force as a war correspondent in 1897. A room reserved for him still exists in the shape of historical remains.
Actually, while on leave in England, Churchill read the news of the breakout of fighting on the North West Frontier. Previously, in a party, Sir Bindon Blood, the General-in-Command of Malakand Field Force, had promised him of an employment opportunity in the time of emergency. Churchill was quick to react by sending him a telegram as reminder of the promise. Without awaiting an official reply he embarked upon a journey to India. When he reached Bombay, he received the General's message, which read: Very difficult; no vacancies; come up as a correspondent; will try to fit you in BB. He was thus surprised and disturbed at that moment but little did he realize that the very message had decided his fate as well his future role. He was appointed as a war correspondent for the Allahbad Pioneer and Daily Telegraph subsequently and in an extremely satisfactory manner.
Churchill himself writes about his joining the Malakand Field Force as under:
"Having realized that if a British cavalry waits till he is ordered on active service, he is likely to wait for considerable time, I obtained six weeks leave of absence from my regiment and on 2 September 1897 arrived at Malakand as press correspondent of The Pioneer and Daily Telegraph, and in the hope of being sooner or later attached to the force in a military capacity."
Winsten Churchill wrote his first book "Story of the Malakand Field Force" which brought him instant fame. Everyone was full of praise for him. After publication of the book, the Prince of Wales wrote him a letter of felicitation expressing the hope that he would stick to the army before adding MP to his name.
Churchill spent many days and nights under operational conditions at Malakand and Chakdara. The Piquet at Chakdara where he stayed was, therefore, named "Churchill Piquet in recognition of his services rendered by him during extremely critical times. "
Winsten Churchil writes so explicitly:
"There was a ragged volley from the rocks; shouts, exclamations, and a scream. One man was shot through the breast and pouring with blood; another lay on his back kicking and twisting. The British officer was spinning round just behind me, his face a mass of blood, his right eye cut out. Yes, it was certainly an adventure".
"It is a point of honour on the Indian frontier not to leave wounded men behind. Death by inches and hideous mutilation are the invariable measure meted out to all who fall in battle into the hands of the Pathan tribesmen: We all laid hands on the wounded and began to carry and drag them away down the hill".
"I looked around to my left. Out from the edge of the houses rushed half a dozen Pathan swordsmen. The stretcher-bearers of the poor Adjutant let him fall and fled at their approach. The leading tribesman rushed upon the prostrate figure and slashed at it three or four times with his sword. I forgot everything else at this moment except a desire to kill this man. I wore my long cavalry sword well sharpened. After all, I had won the public school fencing medal. I resolved on a personal combat. The savage saw me coming, I was not more than twenty yards away when he picked up a big stone and hurled it at me with his left hand, and then awaited me, brandishing his sword. There were others waiting not far behind him. I changed my mind about the cold steel. I pulled out my revolver, took, as I thought, most careful aim, and fired. No result. I fired again. No result. Whether I hit him or not I cannot tell. "I looked around. I was all alone with the enemy. I ran as fast as I could". I got to the first knoll. Hurrah, there were the
Sikhs holding the lower one.We fetched up at the bottom of the spur little better than a mob, but still with our wounded, while the tribesmen, who must have now numbered two or three thousand, gathered in a wide and spreading half-moon around our flanks. The Colonel said to me, "The Buffs are not more than half a mile away. Go and tell them to hurry or we shall be wiped out." But meanwhile I heard an order: "Volley firing. Ready. Present." Crash! At least a dozen tribesmen fell. Another volley, and they wavered. A third, and they began to withdraw up the hillside. The bugler began to sound "Charge". Everyone shouted. The crisis was over, and here, praise be to God, were the leading files of the Buffs.
(Churchill was getting £5 a column, so it paid him to spin it out a bit).
There was an occasion when a tribal warrior had rushed to kill young Churchill with his dagger but Churchill pre-empted by killing him first with his pistol. Destiny is a strange phenomenon, well beyond human comprehension. Had Churchill been killed, the history of the British Empire, particularly during the Second World War would have been very much different.
The door to Churchill Piquet is usually open. A shaky ladder inside leads to the roof. From the ramparts one can see why the position was so important; as apart from affectively covering the crossing sites on the river provided all round observation of the entire area.
The foundations of the Churchill Picquet rest on an 8th century Hindu Shahi wall. But the history of all the hill goes back to 1,700 BC, when a wave of Aryans swept inform Afghanistan and settled in the area. Reference from "Shams ur Rehman's book Custodians Of Malakand"
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