Page 80 - Lohgarh

80 w Lohgarh : The World’s Largest Fort

screamed, trumpeted and began retreating, thus wounding several of
the soldiers of their own army.
This angered Wazir Khan and he ordered his men to shower the
Sikhs with cannon balls. But, as the Sikhs had the protection of trees
and bushes, these balls did not affect them much. On the other hand,
the Sikh cannons began shelling the Sarhindi cannons. Soon, the Sarhindi
cannons were silenced because their masters (operators) had been killed
by the Sikh canons. Since the Sikh soldiers were not under direct attack,
their horsemen pushed forward and entered the front line of the
Sarhindi army. Soon there was full fighting in the midst of the Sarhindi
army. The Sikh soldiers began cutting the enemies like carrots. In
minutes, hundreds of them were slain. This frightened them and they
began running away. The first to desert were the ghazis (recruited in
the name of ‘holy war’) as a very large number of them had already
been killed.
Now, Ganda Mal, whom Wazir Khan had sent to infiltrate into the
Sikh army, too appeared in his true colours; he ordered his men to flee
from the battle-field. This, of course, created confusion in the Sikh camp
also. When Banda Singh saw this, he came down from the mound and
went to the front lines to encourage the Sikhs. He inspired them saying
‘Guru is waiting to embrace you in his arms. Let us annihilate the cruel
enemies or embrace martyrdom.’ These words rejuvenated the Sikh
soldiers and they made another fierce attack on the Sarhindi army.
Finding his soldiers over-awed, Wazir Khan himself went to the soldiers
and inspired them in the name of Islam and Allah. His minister Sucha
Nand too joined him. Finding Wazir Khan and Sucha Nand near them,
the Sikh soldiers attacked the enemy so forcefully that most of them
began fleeing from the battle-field in order to save their lives. Some
Sikh soldiers chased them. But, they did not kill the coward Sarhindi
soldiers. They allowed them to retreat after leaving their horses and
weapons. The Sikhs spared their lives.
After this, several Sarhindi soldiers fled from the front line. Soon a
hand-to-hand fight began. During this fight Baj Singh and Sucha Nand
came face to face. On seeing Baj Singh, Sucha Nand was frightened and