Get Thee To
Hell, And Let's Fire!' In The Golden Light Of The Rising Sun The
Men Set Their
Teeth and dashed up the hills, scrambling, falling,
cheering, swearing, gallant men, gallantly led, their one thought
to close with
That grim bristle of rifle-barrels which fringed the
rocks above them.
Lord Methuen's intention had been an attack from front and from
flank, but whether from the Grenadiers losing their bearings, or
from the mobility of the Boers, which made a flank attack an
impossibility, it is certain that all became frontal. The battle
resolved itself into a number of isolated actions in which the
various kopjes were rushed by different British regiments, always
with success and always with loss. The honours of the fight, as
tested by the grim record of the casualty returns, lay with the
Grenadiers, the Coldstreams, the Northumberlands, and the Scots
Guards. The brave Guardsmen lay thickly on the slopes, but their
comrades crowned the heights. The Boers held on desperately and
fired their rifles in the very faces of the stormers. One young
officer had his jaw blown to pieces by a rifle which almost touched
him. Another, Blundell of the Guards, was shot dead by a wounded
desperado to whom he was offering his water-bottle. At one point a
white flag was waved by the defenders, on which the British left
cover, only to be met by a volley. It was there that Mr. E. F.
Knight, of the 'Morning Post,' became the victim of a double abuse
of the usages of war, since his wound, from which he lost his right
arm, was from an explosive bullet.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 150 of 842
Words from 40194 to 40471
of 225456
