No Blame Can Rest Upon The Men,
For Their Presence There At All Is A Sufficient Proof Of Their
Public Spirit And Their Gallantry.
But the lessons of the war seem
to have been imperfectly learned, especially that very certain
lesson that shell fire in a close formation is insupportable, while
in an open formation with a little cover it can never compel
surrender.
The casualty lists (80 killed and wounded out of a force
of 470) show that the Yeomanry took considerable punishment before
surrendering, but do not permit us to call the defence desperate or
heroic. It is only fair to add that Colonel Spragge was acquitted
of all blame by a court of inquiry, which agreed, however, that the
surrender was premature, and attributed it to the unauthorised
hoisting of a white flag upon one of the detached kopjes. With
regard to the subsequent controversy as to whether General Colvile
might have returned to the relief of the Yeomanry, it is impossible
to see how that General could have acted in any other way than he
did.
Some explanation is needed of Lord Methuen's appearance upon the
central scene of warfare, his division having, when last described,
been at Boshof, not far from Kimberley, where early in April he
fought the successful action which led to the death of Villebois.
Thence he proceeded along the Vaal and then south to Kroonstad,
arriving there on May 28th. He had with him the 9th Brigade
(Douglas's), which contained the troops which had started with him
for the relief of Kimberley six months before. These were the
Northumberland Fusiliers, Loyal North Lancashires, Northamptons,
and Yorkshire Light Infantry. With him also were the Munsters, Lord
Chesham's Yeomanry (five companies), with the 4th and 37th
batteries, two howitzers and two pom-poms. His total force was
about 6000 men. On arriving at Kroonstad he was given the task of
relieving Heilbron, where Colvile, with the Highland Brigade, some
Colonial horse, Lovat's Scouts, two naval guns, and the 5th
battery, were short of food and ammunition. The more urgent message
from the Yeomen at Lindley, however, took him on a fruitless
journey to that town on June 1st. So vigorous was the pursuit of
the Yeomanry that the leading squadrons, consisting of South Notts
Hussars and Sherwood Rangers, actually cut into the Boer convoy and
might have rescued the prisoners had they been supported. As it was
they were recalled, and had to fight their way back to Lindley with
some loss, including Colonel Rolleston, the commander, who was
badly wounded. A garrison was left under Paget, and the rest of the
force pursued its original mission to Heilbron, arriving there on
June 7th, when the Highlanders had been reduced to quarter rations.
'The Salvation Army' was the nickname by which they expressed their
gratitude to the relieving force.
A previous convoy sent to the same destination had less good
fortune. On June 1st fifty-five wagons started from the railway
line to reach Heilbron. The escort consisted of one hundred and
sixty details belonging to Highland regiments without any guns,
Captain Corballis in command. But the gentleman with the tinted
glasses was waiting on the way. 'I have twelve hundred men and five
guns. Surrender at once!' Such was the message which reached the
escort, and in their defenceless condition there was nothing for it
but to comply. Thus one disaster leads to another, for, had the
Yeomanry held out at Lindley, De Wet would not on June 4th have
laid hands upon our wagons; and had he not recruited his supplies
from our wagons it is doubtful if he could have made his attack
upon Roodeval. This was the next point upon which he turned his
attention.
Two miles beyond Roodeval station there is a well-marked kopje by
the railway line, with other hills some distance to the right and
the left. A militia regiment, the 4th Derbyshire, had been sent up
to occupy this post. There were rumours of Boers on the line, and
Major Haig, who with one thousand details of various regiments
commanded at railhead, had been attacked on June 6th but had beaten
off his assailants. De Wet, acting sometimes in company with, and
sometimes independently of, his lieutenant Nel, passed down the
line looking fur some easier prey, and on the night of June 7th
came upon the militia regiment, which was encamped in a position
which could be completely commanded by artillery. It is not true
that they had neglected to occupy the kopje under which they lay,
for two companies had been posted upon it. But there seems to have
been no thought of imminent danger, and the regiment had pitched
its tents and gone very comfortably to sleep without a thought of
the gentleman in the tinted glasses. In the middle of the night he
was upon them with a hissing sleet of bullets. At the first dawn
the guns opened and the shells began to burst among them. It was a
horrible ordeal for raw troops. The men were miners and
agricultural labourers, who had never seen more bloodshed than a
cut finger in their lives. They had been four months in the
country, but their life had been a picnic, as the luxury of their
baggage shows. Now in an instant the picnic was ended, and in the
grey cold dawn war was upon them - grim war with the whine of
bullets, the screams of pain, the crash of shell, the horrible
rending and riving of body and limb. In desperate straits, which
would have tried the oldest soldiers, the brave miners did well.
They never from the beginning had a chance save to show how gamely
they could take punishment, but that at least they did. Bullets
were coming from all sides at once and yet no enemy was visible.
They lined one side of the embankment, and they were shot in the
back. They lined the other, and were again shot in the back.
Baird-Douglas, the Colonel, vowed to shoot the man who should raise
the white flag, and he fell dead himself before he saw the hated
emblem.
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