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| Tipu Sultan's Rocket Demolish the British Army |
His hands worked swiftly grabbing the powder and musket ball from his ammunition bag. David Baird crouched as he reloaded his weapon, pouring gunpowder into the barrel, shoving the musket ball inside and finally lining up the flintlock with a little gun powder. Then his rifle rose in the air and with a bit of aiming, he pulled up his iron sights just above the target’s head, he squeezed the trigger. A puff of smoke blew out, a Mysorean soldier fell of the fort’s parapets and Baird repeated the process of reloading his weapon. A quick glance behind revealed Colonel William Baillie holding the rear and firing off commands. Scuttling forward, moving closer to the fort with his fellow comrades, Baird took aim once again.
He was about to pull the trigger when a light streaking across the dark orange sky distracting him. At first it was only one, but then several more appeared and then even more. The sky was suddenly lit up with lights. “Rockets”, cried out one of the soldier’s on the battlefield.
What were so many rockets streaking across for? Baird asked himself. Usually, Indian rockets made of bamboo were harmless and just used for signalling. From streaking up in the sky, the rockets changed direction and plummeted to the ground. As gravity pulled them down, the rockets spun out of control. Their guidance stick whipped through the air. Guidance sticks were mainly made of wood. Those guidance stick aren’t wooden, he realised, watching a sword attached to the rocket cut through soldiers before exploding.
An explosion rang out, enough to create a crater on the ground. Baird watched in horror as over fifty rockets crashed on to their ranks, sending out fireballs. His body froze. The sky looked empty for a second before more lights filled it and rockets once again, plummeted down.
Fear gripped him and Baird wanted to run, to escape, to flee, to find cover, to hide under shelter, but in an open battlefield, there was none. The smell of burning gunpowder never smelled stronger and came along with the smell of with burning flesh. It sickened Baird to the pit of his stomach.
An explosion rang out louder than the rest of the rockets and Baird glanced behind. The army’s whole rear was gone in a blaze of burning fire. The Colonel was nowhere to be seen. The ammunition cart was blown to smithereens. The soldiers stopped advancing, threw their guns and began to flee. Baird wanted to join them, to escape, to live; but he saw no escape. Rockets slashed soldier and blew them to bit. Arrows and musket ball rained down. The fort’s door creaked open and a cavalry force charged out. The Battle of Pollilur was over and the use of rockets as military force was introduced.
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