Battle of Khushab

The Battle of Khushab (Battle of Khoosh-Ab) took place on 7 February 1857 and was the largest single engagement of the Anglo-Persian War. Having taken Borazjan without a fight, the British expeditionary army under Sir James Outram was in the process of withdrawing to Bushehr when it was ambushed by a far larger Persian force under Khanlar Mirza, drawn up in battle order to its rear.

The distinguishing action of the battle was the charge of the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry (now amalgamated into The Poona Horse) against an infantry square of the 1st Khusgai Regiment of Fars, in which two Victoria Crosses were won. The recipients were the commander's adjutant Lieutenant Arthur Thomas Moore, who first broke into the square, and Captain John Grant Malcolmson, who then extricated Moore. Only twenty of the five hundred soldiers in the square escaped. Having beaten off the ambush, the British continued their withdrawal to Bushehr.