On The Morning Of The 6th, The Position Of The British
Force Was Not Dissimilar To That Of Spion Kop.
Again they had some
thousands of men upon a hill-top, exposed to shell fire from
several directions and without any guns upon the hill to support
them.
In one or two points the situation was modified in their
favour, and hence their escape from loss and disaster. A more
extended position enabled the infantry to avoid bunching, but in
other respects the situation was parallel to that in which they had
found themselves a fortnight before.
The original plan was that the taking of Vaalkranz should be the
first step towards the outflanking of Brakfontein and the rolling
up of the whole Boer position. But after the first move the British
attitude became one of defence rather than of attack. Whatever the
general and ultimate effect of these operations may have been, it
is beyond question that their contemplation was annoying and
bewildering in the extreme to those who were present. The position
on February 6th was this. Over the river upon the hill was a single
British brigade, exposed to the fire of one enormous gun - a
96-pound Creusot, the longest of all Long Toms - which was stationed
upon Doornkloof, and of several smaller guns and pom-poms which
spat at them from nooks and crevices of the hills. On our side were
seventy-two guns, large and small, all very noisy and impotent. It
is not too much to say, as it appears to me, that the Boers have in
some ways revolutionised our ideas in regard to the use of
artillery, by bringing a fresh and healthy common-sense to bear
upon a subject which had been unduly fettered by pedantic rules.
The Boer system is the single stealthy gun crouching where none can
see it.
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