Once More It Was Shown How Weak An Arm Is Artillery
Against An Enemy Who Lies In Shelter.
Our wounded fortunately bore a high proportion to our killed, as
they always will do when it is rifle fire rather than shell fire
which is effective.
Roughly we had 150 killed and about 720
wounded. A more humiliating item is the 250 or so who were missing.
These men were the gunners, the Devons, and the Scots Fusiliers,
who were taken in the donga together with small bodies from the
Connaughts, the Dublins, and other regiments who, having found some
shelter, were unable to leave it, and clung on until the retirement
of their regiments left them in a hopeless position. Some of these
small knots of men were allowed to retire in the evening by the
Boers, who seemed by no means anxious to increase the number of
their prisoners. Colonel Thackeray, of the Inniskilling Fusiliers,
found himself with a handful of his men surrounded by the enemy,
but owing to their good humour and his own tact he succeeded in
withdrawing them in safety. The losses fell chiefly on Hart's
Brigade, Hildyard's Brigade, and the colonial irregulars, who bore
off the honours of the fight.
In his official report General Buller states that were it not for
the action of Colonel Long and the subsequent disaster to the
artillery he thought that the battle might have been a successful
one. This is a hard saying, and throws perhaps too much
responsibility upon the gallant but unfortunate gunner.
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