Much Credit Is Due, Not Only To General Clements, But
To Carter Of The Wiltshires, Hacket Pain Of The Worcesters, Butcher
Of The 4th R.F.A., The Admirable Australians, And All The Other
Good Men And True Who Did Their Best To Hold The Gap For The
Empire.
The Boer idea of a strong attack upon this point was strategically
admirable, but tactically there was not sufficient energy in
pushing home the advance.
The British wings succeeded in
withdrawing, and the concentrated force at Arundel was too strong
for attack Yet there was a time of suspense, a time when every man
had become of such importance that even fifty Indian syces were for
the first and last time in the war, to their own supreme
gratification, permitted for twenty-four hours to play their
natural part as soldiers. [Footnote: There was something piteous in
the chagrin of these fine Sikhs at being held back from their
natural work as soldiers. A deputation of them waited upon Lord
Roberts at Bloemfontein to ask, with many salaams, whether 'his
children were not to see one little fight before they returned.']
But then with the rapid strokes in front the hour of danger passed,
and the Boer advance became first a halt and then a retreat.
On February 27th, Major Butcher, supported by the Inniskillings and
Australians, attacked Rensburg and shelled the enemy out of it.
Next morning Clements's whole force had advanced from Arundel and
took up its old position. The same afternoon it was clear that the
Boers were retiring, and the British, following them up, marched
into Colesberg, around which they had manoeuvred so long. A
telegram from Steyn to De Wet found in the town told the whole
story of the retirement: 'As long as you are able to hold the
positions you are in with the men you have, do so. If not, come
here as quickly as circumstances will allow, as matters here are
taking a serious turn.' The whole force passed over the Orange
River unimpeded, and blew up the Norval's Pont railway bridge
behind it. Clements's brigade followed on March 4th, and succeeded
in the course of a week in throwing a pontoon bridge over the river
and crossing into the Orange Free State. Roberts having in the
meanwhile seized Bloemfontein, communication was restored by
railway between the forces, and Clements was despatched to
Phillipolis, Fauresmith, and the other towns in the south-west to
receive the submission of the inhabitants and to enforce their
disarmament. In the meantime the Engineers worked furiously at the
restoration of the railway bridge over the Orange River, which was
not, however, accomplished until some weeks later.
During the long period which had elapsed since the repulse at
Stormberg, General Gatacre had held his own at Sterkstroom, under
orders not to attack the enemy, repulsing them easily upon the only
occasion when they ventured to attack him. Now it was his turn also
to profit by the success which Lord Roberts had won. On February
23rd he re-occupied Molteno, and on the same day sent out a force
to reconnoitre the enemy's position at Stormberg. The incident is
memorable as having been the cause of the death of Captain de
Montmorency [Footnote: De Montmorency had established a remarkable
influence over his rough followers. To the end of the war they
could not speak of him without tears in their eyes. When I asked
Sergeant Howe why his captain went almost alone up the hill, his
answer was, 'Because the captain knew no fear.' Byrne, his soldier
servant (an Omdurman V.C. like his master), galloped madly off next
morning with a saddled horse to bring back his captain alive or
dead, and had to be forcibly seized and restrained by our cavalry.
], one of the most promising of the younger officers of the British
army. He had formed a corps of scouts, consisting originally of
four men, but soon expanding to seventy or eighty. At the head of
these men he confirmed the reputation for desperate valour which he
had won in the Soudan, and added to it proofs of the enterprise and
judgment which go to make a leader of light cavalry. In the course
of the reconnaissance he ascended a small kopje accompanied by
three companions, Colonel Hoskier, a London Volunteer soldier,
Vice, a civilian, and Sergeant Howe. 'They are right on the top of
us,' he cried to his comrades, as he reached the summit, and
dropped next instant with a bullet through his heart. Hoskier was
shot in five places, and Vice was mortally wounded, only Howe
escaping. The rest of the scouts, being farther back, were able to
get cover and to keep up a fight until they were extricated by the
remainder of the force. Altogether our loss was formidable rather
in quality than in quantity, for not more than a dozen were hit,
while the Boers suffered considerably from the fire of our guns.
On March 5th General Gatacre found that the Boers were retreating
in front of him - in response, no doubt, to messages similar to
those which had already been received at Colesberg. Moving forward
he occupied the position which had confronted him so long. Thence,
having spent some days in drawing in his scattered detachments and
in mending the railway, he pushed forward on March 12th to
Burghersdorp, and thence on the 13th to Olive Siding, to the south
of the Bethulie Bridge.
There are two bridges which span the broad muddy Orange River,
thick with the washings of the Basutoland mountains. One of these
is the magnificent high railway bridge, already blown to ruins by
the retreating Boers. Dead men or shattered horses do not give a
more vivid impression of the unrelenting brutality of war than the
sight of a structure, so graceful and so essential, blown into a
huge heap of twisted girders and broken piers. Half a mile to the
west is the road bridge, broad and old-fashioned.
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