After the outbreak of the Second Afghan War, the Bombay Grenadiers found itself initially employed initially in the vicinity of the Bolan Pass. It was not until March 1880 that the battalion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Horace Anderson, entered Afghanistan as an element of a British-Indian column intent on quelling a revolt by Ayub Khan, the ruler of Herat, who sought to depose the British-backed Amir of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman Khan. At the Battle of Maiwand, on 27 July 1880, the Bombay Grenadiers and its column, under Brigadier George Burrows were attacked by an Afghan force of up to 25,000 men.