'What Price Majuba?' Was The Cry Raised By Some Of The Infantry As
They Dashed Up To The Enemy's Position, And The Action May Indeed
Be Said To Have Been In Some Respects The Converse Of That Famous
Fight.
It is true that there were many more British at Elandslaagte
than Boers at Majuba, but then the defending force was much more
numerous also, and the British had no guns there.
It is true, also,
that Majuba is very much more precipitous than Elandslaagte, but
then every practical soldier knows that it is easier to defend a
moderate glacis than an abrupt slope, which gives cover under its
boulders to the attacker while the defender has to crane his head
over the edge to look down. On the whole, this brilliant little
action may be said to have restored things to their true
proportion, and to have shown that, brave as the Boers undoubtedly
are, there is no military feat within their power which is not
equally possible to the British soldier. Talana Hill and
Elandslaagte, fought on successive days, were each of them as
gallant an exploit as Majuba.
We had more to show for our victory than for the previous one at
Dundee. Two Maxim-Nordenfeld guns, whose efficiency had been
painfully evident during the action, were a welcome addition to our
artillery. Two hundred and fifty Boers were killed and wounded and
about two hundred taken prisoners, the loss falling most heavily
upon the Johannesburgers, the Germans, and the Hollanders. General
Koch, Dr. Coster, Colonel Schiel, Pretorius, and other well-known
Transvaalers fell into our hands. Our own casualty list consisted
of 41 killed and 220 wounded, much the same number as at Talana
Hill, the heaviest losses falling upon the Gordon Highlanders and
the Imperial Light Horse.
In the hollow where the Boer tents had stood, amid the laagered
wagons of the vanquished, under a murky sky and a constant drizzle
of rain, the victors spent the night. Sleep was out of the
question, for all night the fatigue parties were searching the
hillside and the wounded were being carried in. Camp-fires were lit
and soldiers and prisoners crowded round them, and it is pleasant
to recall that the warmest corner and the best of their rude fare
were always reserved for the downcast Dutchmen, while words of rude
praise and sympathy softened the pain of defeat. It is the memory
of such things which may in happier days be more potent than all
the wisdom of statesmen in welding our two races into one.
Having cleared the Boer force from the line of the railway, it is
evident that General White could not continue to garrison the
point, as he was aware that considerable forces were moving from
the north, and his first duty was the security of Ladysmith. Early
next morning (October 22nd), therefore, his weary but victorious
troops returned to the town. Once there he learned, no doubt, that
General Yule had no intention of using the broken railway for his
retreat, but that he intended to come in a circuitous fashion by
road. White's problem was to hold tight to the town and at the same
time to strike hard at any northern force so as to prevent them
from interfering with Yule's retreat. It was in the furtherance of
this scheme that he fought upon October 24th the action of
Rietfontein, an engagement slight in itself, but important on
account of the clear road which was secured for the weary forces
retiring from Dundee.
The army from the Free State, of which the commando vanquished at
Elandslaagte was the vanguard, had been slowly and steadily
debouching from the passes, and working south and eastwards to cut
the line between Dundee and Ladysmith. It was White's intention to
prevent them from crossing the Newcastle Road, and for this purpose
he sallied out of Ladysmith on Tuesday the 24th, having with him
two regiments of cavalry, the 5th Lancers and the 19th Hussars, the
42nd and 53rd field batteries with the 10th mountain battery, four
infantry regiments, the Devons, Liverpools, Gloucesters, and 2nd
King's Royal Rifles, the Imperial Light Horse, and the Natal
Volunteers - some four thousand men in all.
The enemy were found to be in possession of a line of hills within
seven miles of Ladysmith, the most conspicuous of which is called
Tinta Inyoni. It was no part of General White's plan to attempt to
drive him from this position - it is not wise generalship to fight
always upon ground of the enemy's choosing - but it was important to
hold him where he was, and to engage his attention during this last
day of the march of the retreating column. For this purpose, since
no direct attack was intended, the guns were of more importance
than the infantry - and indeed the infantry should, one might
imagine, have been used solely as an escort for the artillery. A
desultory and inconclusive action ensued which continued from nine
in the morning until half-past one in the afternoon. A
well-directed fire of the Boer guns from the hills was dominated
and controlled by our field artillery, while the advance of their
riflemen was restrained by shrapnel. The enemy's guns were more
easily marked down than at Elandslaagte, as they used black powder.
The ranges varied from three to four thousand yards. Our losses in
the whole action would have been insignificant had it not happened
that the Gloucester Regiment advanced somewhat incautiously into
the open and was caught in a cross fire of musketry which struck
down Colonel Wilford and fifty of his officers and men. Within four
days Colonel Dick-Cunyngham, of the Gordons, Colonel Chisholm, of
the Light Horse, Colonel Gunning, of the Rifles, and now Colonel
Wilford, of the Gloucesters, had all fallen at the head of their
regiments. In the afternoon General White, having accomplished his
purpose and secured the safety of the Dundee column while
traversing the dangerous Biggarsberg passes, withdrew his force to
Ladysmith.
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