These Guns Of Lambton's, Supplemented By Two
Old-Fashioned 6.3 Howitzers Manned By Survivors From No.
10
Mountain Battery, did all that was possible to keep down the fire
of the heavy Boer guns.
If they could not save, they could at least
hit back, and punishment is not so bad to bear when one is giving
as well as receiving.
By the end of the first week of November the Boers had established
their circle of fire. On the east of the town, broken by the loops
of the Klip River, is a broad green plain, some miles in extent,
which furnished grazing ground for the horses and cattle of the
besieged. Beyond it rises into a long flat-topped hill the famous
Bulwana, upon which lay one great Creusot and several smaller guns.
To the north, on Pepworth Hill, was another Creusot, and between
the two were the Boer batteries upon Lombard's Kop. The British
naval guns were placed upon this side, for, as the open loop formed
by the river lies at this end, it is the part of the defences which
is most liable to assault. From thence all round the west down to
Besters in the south was a continuous series of hills, each crowned
with Boer guns, which, if they could not harm the distant town,
were at least effective in holding the garrison to its lines. So
formidable were these positions that, amid much outspoken
criticism, it has never been suggested that White would have been
justified with a limited garrison in incurring the heavy loss of
life which must have followed an attempt to force them.
The first few days of the siege were clouded by the death of
Lieutenant Egerton of the 'Powerful,' one of the most promising
officers in the Navy. One leg and the other foot were carried off,
as he lay upon the sandbag parapet watching the effect of our fire.
'There's an end of my cricket,' said the gallant sportsman, and he
was carried to the rear with a cigar between his clenched teeth.
On November 3rd a strong cavalry reconnaissance was pushed down the
Colenso road to ascertain the force which the enemy had in that
direction. Colonel Brocklehurst took with him the 18th and 19th
Hussars, the 5th Lancers and the 5th Dragoon Guards, with the Light
Horse and the Natal Volunteers. Some desultory fighting ensued
which achieved no end, and was chiefly remarkable for the excellent
behaviour of the Colonials, who showed that they were the equals of
the Regulars in gallantry and their superiors in the tactics which
such a country requires. The death of Major Taunton, Captain Knapp,
and young Brabant, the son of the General who did such good service
at a later stage of the war, was a heavy price to pay for the
knowledge that the Boers were in considerable strength to the
south.
By the end of this week the town had already settled down to the
routine of the siege.
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