Considering
That The Boers Could Throw Any Strength Of Men Or Guns Against The
Place, It Seemed Certain That If They Seriously Desired To Take
Possession Of It They Could Do So.
Under ordinary circumstances any
force shut up there was doomed to capture.
But what may have seemed
short-sighted policy became the highest wisdom, owing to the
extraordinary tenacity and resource of Baden-Powell, the officer in
command. Through his exertions the town acted as a bait to the
Boers, and occupied a considerable force in a useless siege at a
time when their presence at other seats of war might have proved
disastrous to the British cause.
Colonel Baden-Powell is a soldier of a type which is exceedingly
popular with the British public. A skilled hunter and an expert at
many games, there was always something of the sportsman in his keen
appreciation of war. In the Matabele campaign he had out-scouted
the savage scouts and found his pleasure in tracking them among
their native mountains, often alone and at night, trusting to his
skill in springing from rock to rock in his rubber-soled shoes to
save him from their pursuit. There was a brain quality in his
bravery which is rare among our officers. Full of veld craft and
resource, it was as difficult to outwit as it was to outfight him.
But there was another curious side to his complex nature. The
French have said of one of their heroes, 'Il avait cette graine de
folie dans sa bravoure que les Francais aiment,' and the words
might have been written of Powell. An impish humour broke out in
him, and the mischievous schoolboy alternated with the warrior and
the administrator. He met the Boer commandos with chaff and jokes
which were as disconcerting as his wire entanglements and his
rifle-pits. The amazing variety of his personal accomplishments was
one of his most striking characteristics. From drawing caricatures
with both hands simultaneously, or skirt dancing to leading a
forlorn hope, nothing came amiss to him; and he had that magnetic
quality by which the leader imparts something of his virtues to his
men. Such was the man who held Mafeking for the Queen.
In a very early stage, before the formal declaration of war, the
enemy had massed several commandos upon the western border, the men
being drawn from Zeerust, Rustenburg, and Lichtenburg.
Baden-Powell, with the aid of an excellent group of special
officers, who included Colonel Gould Adams, Lord Edward Cecil, the
soldier son of England's Premier, and Colonel Hore, had done all
that was possible to put the place into a state of defence. In this
he had immense assistance from Benjamin Weil, a well known South
African contractor, who had shown great energy in provisioning the
town. On the other hand, the South African Government displayed the
same stupidity or treason which had been exhibited in the case of
Kimberley, and had met all demands for guns and reinforcements with
foolish doubts as to the need of such precautions. In the endeavour
to supply these pressing wants the first small disaster of the
campaign was encountered. On October 12th, the day after the
declaration of war, an armoured train conveying two 7-pounders for
the Mafeking defences was derailed and captured by a Boer raiding
party at Kraaipan, a place forty miles south of their destination.
The enemy shelled the shattered train until after five hours
Captain Nesbitt, who was in command, and his men, some twenty in
number, surrendered. It was a small affair, but it derived
importance from being the first blood shed and the first tactical
success of the war.
The garrison of the town, whose fame will certainly live in the
history of South Africa, contained no regular soldiers at all with
the exception of the small group of excellent officers. They
consisted of irregular troops, three hundred and forty of the
Protectorate Regiment, one hundred and seventy Police, and two
hundred volunteers, made up of that singular mixture of
adventurers, younger sons, broken gentlemen, and irresponsible
sportsmen who have always been the voortrekkers of the British
Empire. These men were of the same stamp as those other admirable
bodies of natural fighters who did so well in Rhodesia, in Natal,
and in the Cape. With them there was associated in the defence the
Town Guard, who included the able-bodied shopkeepers, businessmen,
and residents, the whole amounting to about nine hundred men. Their
artillery was feeble in the extreme, two 7-pounder toy guns and six
machine guns, but the spirit of the men and the resource of their
leaders made up for every disadvantage. Colonel Vyvyan and Major
Panzera planned the defences, and the little trading town soon
began to take on the appearance of a fortress.
On October 13th the Boers appeared before Mafeking. On the same day
Colonel Baden-Powell sent two truckloads of dynamite out of the
place. They were fired into by the invaders, with the result that
they exploded. On October 14th the pickets around the town were
driven in by the Boers. On this the armoured train and a squadron
of the Protectorate Regiment went out to support the pickets and
drove the Boers before them. A body of the latter doubled back and
interposed between the British and Mafeking, but two fresh troops
with a 7-pounder throwing shrapnel drove them off. In this spirited
little action the garrison lost two killed and fourteen wounded,
but they inflicted considerable damage on the enemy. To Captain
Williams, Captain FitzClarence, and Lord Charles Bentinck great
credit is due for the way in which they handled their men; but the
whole affair was ill advised, for if a disaster had occurred
Mafeking must have fallen, being left without a garrison. No
possible results which could come from such a sortie could justify
the risk which was run.
On October 16th the siege began in earnest. On that date the Boers
brought up two 12-pounder guns, and the first of that interminable
flight of shells fell into the town.
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