7. A Murderous General
Amritsar’s public garden, the Jallianwala Bagh, measured about 200 yards by 200 yards, and was enclosed by walls on all sides. There was one main entrance, plus some smaller gated exits. At 4:30 PM, Dyer arrived with about 90 troops, and without warning the crowds to disperse, blocked the main exits. He then ordered his men to open fire. They kept on firing for the next ten minutes, until their ammunition was exhausted. The troops then withdrew, leaving the carnage behind.
As Dyer later explained it, his goal “was not to disperse the meeting but to punish the Indians for disobedience“. A week later, an unrepentant Dyer issued an order to humiliate the locals and emphasize British racial supremacy. It required every Indian man using a street where a British missionary had been attacked to crawl its length on his hands and knees.
