That The Same Tactics Should Have Been Adopted At
Two Widely Sundered Points Shows With What Care The Details Of The
War Had Been Pre-Arranged By The Boer Leaders.
'Before I got my
horses out,' says an officer, 'they shot one of my drivers and two
horses and brought down my own horse.
When we got the gun round one
of the gunners was shot through the brain and fell at my feet.
Another was shot while bringing up shell. Then we got a look in.'
The roar of the cannon was deafening, but gradually the British
were gaining the upper hand. Here and there the little knolls upon
the further side which had erupted into constant flame lay cold and
silent. One of the heavier guns was put out of action, and the
other had been withdrawn for five hundred yards. But the infantry
fire still crackled and rippled along the trenches, and the guns
could come no nearer with living men and horses. It was long past
midday, and that unhappy breakfast seemed further off than ever.
As the afternoon wore on, a curious condition of things was
established. The guns could not advance, and, indeed, it was found
necessary to withdraw them from a 1200 to a 2800-yard range, so
heavy were the losses. At the time of the change the 75th Battery
had lost three officers out of five, nineteen men, and twenty-two
horses. The infantry could not advance and would not retire.
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