Vastly outnumbered, British soldiers and civilians were threatened with extermination in their most valued colonial possession. As the vaunted Victorian army began a counteroffensive, the key to final victory lay at Lucknow, where 3,000 British men, women and children were besieged by 30,000 Indian mutineers. For nine months fierce battles raged at Lucknow as British relief columns tried to fight their way through the city, often grappling with swords, bayonets and the butts of their rifles. On both sides, feats of heroism took place by the score until the largest British army ever assembled in India finally resolved the campaign.In They Fight Like Devils-a phrase that applies to both sides in the war-we see the military course and human consequences of close-quarters combat waged with bestial ferocity.