The fact that the position had a
circumference of five or six miles to be held by about one thousand
men against a force who at their own time and their own place could
at any moment attempt to gain a footing. An ingenious system of
small forts was devised to meet the situation. Each of these held
from ten to forty riflemen, and was furnished with bomb-proofs and
covered ways. The central bomb-proof was connected by telephone
with all the outlying ones, so as to save the use of orderlies. A
system of bells was arranged by which each quarter of the town was
warned when a shell was coming in time to enable the inhabitants to
scuttle off to shelter. Every detail showed the ingenuity of the
controlling mind. The armoured train, painted green and tied round
with scrub, stood unperceived among the clumps of bushes which
surrounded the town.
On October 24th a savage bombardment commenced, which lasted with
intermissions for seven months. The Boers had brought an enormous
gun across from Pretoria, throwing a 96-pound shell, and this, with
many smaller pieces, played upon the town. The result was as futile
as our own artillery fire has so often been when directed against
the Boers.
As the Mafeking guns were too weak to answer the enemy's fire, the
only possible reply lay in a sortie, and upon this Colonel Powell
decided. It was carried out with great gallantry on the evening of
October 27th, when about a hundred men under Captain FitzClarence
moved out against the Boer trenches with instructions to use the
bayonet only. The position was carried with a rush, and many of the
Boers bayoneted before they could disengage themselves from the
tarpaulins which covered them. The trenches behind fired wildly in
the darkness, and it is probable that as many of their own men as
of ours were hit by their rifle fire. The total loss in this
gallant affair was six killed, eleven wounded, and two prisoners.
The loss of the enemy, though shrouded as usual in darkness, was
certainly very much higher.
On October 31st the Boers ventured upon an attack on Cannon Kopje,
which is a small fort and eminence to the south of the town. It was
defended by Colonel Walford, of the British South African Police,
with fifty-seven of his men and three small guns. The attack was
repelled with heavy loss to the Boers. The British casualties were
six killed and five wounded.
Their experience in this attack seems to have determined the Boers
to make no further expensive attempts to rush the town, and for
some weeks the siege degenerated into a blockade.
