There Were But Four Hundred In
All, Two Hundred Seamen And Two Hundred Marines, And The Losses In
That Rapid Rush Were Terrible.
Yet they swarmed up, their gallant
officers, some of them little boy-middies, cheering them on.
Ethelston, the commander of the 'Powerful,' was struck down.
Plumbe
and Senior of the Marines were killed. Captain Prothero of the
'Doris' dropped while still yelling to his seamen to 'take that
kopje and be hanged to it!' Little Huddart, the middy, died a death
which is worth many inglorious years. Jones of the Marines fell
wounded, but rose again and rushed on with his men. It was on these
gallant marines, the men who are ready to fight anywhere and
anyhow, moist or dry, that the heaviest loss fell. When at last
they made good their foothold upon the crest of that murderous hill
they had left behind them three officers and eighty-eight men out
of a total of 206 - a loss within a few minutes of nearly 50 per
cent. The bluejackets, helped by the curve of the hill, got off
with a toll of eighteen of their number. Half the total British
losses of the action fell upon this little body of men, who upheld
most gloriously the honour and reputation of the service from which
they were drawn. With such men under the white ensign we leave our
island homes in safety behind us.
The battle of Enslin had cost us some two hundred of killed and
wounded, and beyond the mere fact that we had cleared our way by
another stage towards Kimberley it is difficult to say what
advantage we had from it.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 154 of 842
Words from 41263 to 41543
of 225456
