Main Pass Defences

The Main Pass Defences are a complex of fortifications that cover the road leading from the Isthmus to what was the main commercial centre in Crater.  The access route was through a rock cut pass some twenty five feet ( seven meters) wide.  The pass was at the junction of the Shum Shum and Mussoorie range of hills, and was a nodal point of importance in respect of the Mussoorie Defence Line.  The location was heavily defended with the following key features:

The Main Gate and defence wall about 550 feet (170 Metres) in length that ran across the Western approaches to the pass.  This defence line included a demi-bastion with two guns and one other barbette gun emplacement.  The gate tower also possibly mounted a casemated 12-pdr gun covering the gate itself.  There was a loopholed wall covering the main gate.

The walkway which ran across the the pass, some 160 feet (50 metres) to the East on the crest of the ridge.  The walkway was on an arched bridge that stood some 70 feet (21 metres) above the road itself. The South spur of this walkway terminated at an infantry redoubt which is at the base of a cliff. This walkway was demolished in the early 1960s.

Bell’s Battery on a conical hill that is linked to the main infantry path over the pass by a covered way.  The defence wall extends further up the hill to Durub El Host Battery.  This extended defence wall ran all the way to the High Mussoorie Battery where there was a further gate.

Post Card image of Western face credited to: IBCC Digital Archive, accessed October 18, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/30313. CC BY-NC 4.0 International license.