Battle of Kandahar, 1880

Following the Afghan victory at Maiwand, Ayub Khan’s army threatened Kandahar. Frederick Roberts led a relief column from Kabul on a rapid march of roughly three hundred miles, reaching the city at the end of August 1880.

On 1 September Roberts attacked Afghan positions west of Kandahar and defeated Ayub Khan’s force. The battle restored British military control after Maiwand and became closely associated with the endurance and logistics of the Kabul-to-Kandahar march.

Fiction can combine the physical ordeal of the relief march with the final assault, showing how supply, water, disease and fatigue shaped the outcome before the battle began.