At Least One Prominent Officer Fell
Among His Men, Torn By British Shrapnel Bullets.
Talana Hill and
Modder River have shown also, though perhaps in a less tragic
degree, that what with the
Long range of modern artillery fire, and
what with the difficulty of locating infantry who are using
smokeless powder, it is necessary that officers commanding
batteries should be provided with the coolest heads and the most
powerful glasses of any men in the service, for a responsibility
which will become more and more terrific rests upon their judgment.
The question now, since the assault had failed, was how to
extricate the men from their position. Many withdrew down the hill,
running the gauntlet of the enemy's fire as they emerged from the
boulders on to the open ground, while others clung to their
positions, some from a soldierly hope that victory might finally
incline to them, others because it was clearly safer to lie among
the rocks than to cross the bullet-swept spaces beyond. Those
portions of the force who extricated themselves do not appear to
have realised how many of their comrades had remained behind, and
so as the gap gradually increased between the men who were
stationary and the men who fell back all hope of the two bodies
reuniting became impossible. All the infantry who remained upon the
hillside were captured. The rest rallied at a point fifteen hundred
yards from the scene of the surprise, and began an orderly retreat
to Molteno.
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