The column consisted of five companies of the 60th, and the 3rd Bombay Native Infantry, supported by the 3rd Bombay L Field Artillery and a squadron of the 1st Bombay Lancers, who seized a mound called Mandi Awa, while on the left five companies of the 1st Bombay Fusiliers, with the 4th Bombay Rifles, supported by the 7th Bombay Light Field Battery and a squadron of the Scinde Horse, were directed on to a small spherical hill called Sidi Lal Ke Behr, near to which was a white mosque. These two points were not too far from the Khoonee in the southern bastion of the city. The orders allowed each column to exploit success. Edwards, beyond the canal was to create a diversion to distract the Sikhs from the main theatre.
The attack was a complete success. On the right the Bengal troops soon incurred the brick kilns and pushed on to a building called the karkas, only about 500 yards from the south-east angle of the fort. The Sikhs counter-attacked to retake it but were driven back. Meanwhile the left Bengal column drove some of the Sikhs right back through the Delhi Gate. Part of this column seems to have veered to the left to co-operate with the Bombay troops who had assaulted the Mandi Awa. After capturing, the 60th and the 3rd Bombay Native Infantry had pushed to seize a mosque near the city walls, while the former unit then worked its way close to the Khoonee Burj. The left column took Sidi Lal Ke Behr without much trouble and, while the Bombay Fusiliers consolidated the position, the 4th Bombay Rifles pushed on towards the walls. They soon found themselves entangled in narrow lanes and, although they seized an enclosure called the Bighi Bagh and a party of them reached onto the city gates, they began to run out of ammunition and had to withdraw. This was said to be due to the fact that they had only recently been converted into a rifle regiment and they had had no previous experience upon which they could calculate the ammunition expenditure of the new weapons. The Sikhs followed up their withdrawal, whereupon the Bombay Fusiliers carried forward to meet them. Once more it was bayonet against tulwar and the bayonet in disciplined hands proved superior. The Bombay Fusiliers forced their opponents back to within 200 yards of the city wall. They then withdrew again to Sidi Lal Ke Behr, while the 4th Bombay Rifles, having replenished their ammunition, went forward again and occupied Bighi Bagh once more, remaining until relieved by the 19th Bombay Native Infantry in the evening. The latter repulsed some Sikh counter attacks. While this was happening, the British guns had been established on Sidi Lal Ke Behr and were able to bombard the walls at close range.
As a result of the success of the attack on 27 December, it was decided to revert to the original plan of assaulting the city through the suburbs and to abandon the idea of a direct attack upon the fort. On the 28th Edwards' men were moved to the right and relieved the Bombay troops on Sidi Lal Ke Behr and at the Bighi Bagh to free them for use in the coming assault. Soon after they had moved to their new positions Edwardes' troops were heavily attacked by the Sikhs, the deserters from Van Cortlandt's Regiment being especially prominent. But they were beaten back at all points and the same happened when they made a further attack three days later. Meanwhile, the British guns had opened fire on the walls and those about Sidi Lal Ke Behr began making an impression on the Khoonee Burj. On 30 December there was a tremendous explosion when fire from a British battery hit a large magazine just inside the city walls and on the following day there was a big fire in the fort, a range of godowns with stores and grain being set alight. These events can have done nothing to improve the morale of the defenders.
By now the British had brought eleven 8-inch mortars, ten 10-inch mortars, four 5 1/2-inch mortars, six 18-pounders, two 8-inch howitzers, two 10-inch howitzers and ten 24-pounders to bear upon the walls. By 2 January the engineers pronounced two breaches practicable, one near the Delhi Gate and the other at the Khoonee Burj. The Bengal troops were detailed to assault the former and the Bombay troops the latter. Colonel Franks of HM's 10th, whose Regiment was not directly involved in the initial assault, had offered to lead it to escalade the fort, while the assault on the town was going on, but his offer had been rejected. The assault was timed for 1530 hours and Whish had been severely criticised for his decision to attack so late in the day. It was within a fortnight of the shortest day of the year and inevitably his men would be involved in street fighting in the dark, a difficult task in a strange city even for the best troops.
The Bombay column was led by the 1st Bombay Fusiliers, supported by the 19th Native Infantry and followed by the 4th Bombay Rifles. One company of each regiment carried scaling ladders. When the Fusiliers arrived at the Khoonee Burj breach, receiving splendid support from the artillery, which fired over their heads until the very last minute. They discovered that the Sikhs had dug a trench beyond it, which they defended tenaciously and there was hard hand-to-hand fighting. However, the attackers broke through and soon found themselves enmeshed in the narrow streets of the city. It took the Bombay Fusiliers about fifteen minutes to cover the first fifty yards from the walls, but thereafter progress was quicker, although the debris from buildings ruined in the bombardment blocked many of the streets. They forced their way across the city to the Lahore Gate on the western side, having captured two Sikh Colours. The two native regiments had supported them well and the 4th Bombay Rifles established themselves in the grain market in the centre of the town. Having reached the Lahore Gate, the Bombay troops worked along the ramparts between it and the Khoonee Burj and cleared them completely of the enemy.
