Again, As At Colenso, The Brunt Of The Fighting
Fell Upon Hart's Irish Brigade, Who Upheld That Immemorial
Tradition Of Valour With Which That Name, Either In Or Out Of The
British Service, Has Invariably Been Associated.
Upon the
Lancashire Fusiliers and the York and Lancasters came also a large
share of the losses and the glory.
Slowly but surely the inexorable
line of the British lapped over the ground which the enemy had
held. A gallant colonial, Tobin of the South African Horse, rode up
one hill and signaled with his hat that it was clear. His comrades
followed closely at his heels, and occupied the position with the
loss of Childe, their Major. During this action Lyttelton had held
the Boers in their trenches opposite to him by advancing to within
1500 yards of them, but the attack was not pushed further. On the
evening of this day, January 20th, the British had gained some
miles of ground, and the total losses had been about three hundred
killed and wounded. The troops were in good heart, and all promised
well for the future. Again the men lay where they had fought, and
again the dawn heard the crash of the great guns and the rattle of
the musketry.
The operations of this day began with a sustained cannonade from
the field batteries and 61st Howitzer Battery, which was as
fiercely answered by the enemy. About eleven the infantry began to
go forward with an advance which would have astonished the
martinets of Aldershot, an irregular fringe of crawlers, wrigglers,
writhers, crouchers, all cool and deliberate, giving away no points
in this grim game of death.
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