The men grounded their muskets and pulled out fresh cartridges, biting off the end with the ball and holding it in their teeth as they primed the pan and dropped the charge into the muzzle. Then they spat the balls in and rammed the lot home before taking the weapons back in both hands ready to advance again. As soon as the reloading was complete Arthur gave the order to advance, and the regiment moved along the slope towards the column of Tipoo’s infantry, already drawing near to Baird’s men who were still in close formation as they fought off the enemy cavalry. Some of Tipoo’s men closest to the 33rd were shouting and gesticulating towards the new threat but their officers drove them on, knowing that their one chance of achieving some measure of success in the battle lay in charging directly into the ranks of the redcoats.

Arthur hurried his men on at the double, their kit thudding up and down as they trotted forward. He did not halt them until they were no more than seventy yards from the flank of the enemy column and then the familiar sequence of orders rattled out again.

‘Make ready! Present! Fire!’

The volley burst out in a storm of smoke and shot and all along the side of the enemy column men buckled and fell to the ground. The blow stopped their advance dead in its tracks, and at the same time unnerved the enemy cavalry who turned away from Baird’s men at the sound of massed musket fire. At once the redcoats, who had been beleaguered a moment before, let out a shout and surged forwards.

Arthur grabbed the chance at once. ‘33rd! Charge!’

Theatened from two directions the enemy instinctively recoiled, then broke and ran, streaming back up the hill at an angle from the two British formations. The enemy cavalry were heedless of their infantry and ran scores of them down in their bid to escape. Not wishing to repeat the mistake of the 74th, Arthur halted his men, and wheeled them back to the ridge to face any further attacks over the hill. But the battle was over. From his vantage point near the crest Arthur saw that the slopes of the nearby hills were also cleared of the enemy and red-coated battalions were moving forward to secure the ridge above Malavalley, stepping over the bodies of hundreds of Tipoo’s warriors as the daylight began to fade.