This Small
Detached Column Numbered About A Thousand Men - Whose Fate Will Be
Afterwards Narrated.
At five o'clock on the morning of the 30th the Boers, who had
already developed a perfect genius for hauling heavy cannon up the
most difficult heights, opened fire from one of the hills which lie
to the north of the town.
Before the shot was fired, the forces of
the British had already streamed out of Ladysmith to test the
strength of the invaders.
White's army was divided into three columns. On the extreme left,
quite isolated from the others, was the small Nicholson's Nek
detachment under the command of Colonel Carleton of the Fusiliers
(one of three gallant brothers each of whom commands a British
regiment). With him was Major Adye of the staff. On the right
British flank Colonel Grimwood commanded a brigade composed of the
1st and 2nd battalions of the King's Royal Rifles, the Leicesters,
the Liverpools, and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. In the centre
Colonel Ian Hamilton commanded the Devons, the Gordons, the
Manchesters, and the 2nd battalion of the Rifle Brigade, which
marched direct into the battle from the train which had brought
them from Durban. Six batteries of artillery were massed in the
centre under Colonel Downing. French with the cavalry and mounted
infantry was on the extreme right, but found little opportunity for
the use of the mounted arm that day.
The Boer position, so far as it could be seen, was a formidable
one. Their centre lay upon one of the spurs of Signal Hill, about
three miles from the town. Here they had two forty-pounders and
three other lighter guns, but their artillery strength developed
both in numbers and in weight of metal as the day wore on. Of their
dispositions little could be seen. An observer looking westward
might discern with his glass sprays of mounted riflemen galloping
here and there over the downs, and possibly small groups where the
gunners stood by their guns, or the leaders gazed down at that town
which they were destined to have in view for such a weary while. On
the dun-coloured plains before the town, the long thin lines, with
an occasional shifting sparkle of steel, showed where Hamilton's
and Grimwood's infantry were advancing. In the clear cold air of an
African morning every detail could be seen, down to the distant
smoke of a train toiling up the heavy grades which lead from Frere
over the Colenso Bridge to Ladysmith.
The scrambling, inconsequential, unsatisfactory action which ensued
is as difficult to describe as it must have been to direct. The
Boer front covered some seven or eight miles, with kopjes, like
chains of fortresses, between. They formed a huge semicircle of
which our advance was the chord, and they were able from this
position to pour in a converging artillery fire which grew steadily
hotter as the day advanced. In the early part of the day our
forty-two guns, working furiously, though with a want of accuracy
which may be due to those errors of refraction which are said to be
common in the limpid air of the veld, preserved their superiority.
There appears to have been a want of concentration about our fire,
and at some periods of the action each particular battery was
firing at some different point of the Boer half-circle. Sometimes
for an hour on end the Boer reply would die away altogether, only
to break out with augmented violence, and with an accuracy which
increased our respect for their training. Huge shells - the largest
that ever burst upon a battlefield - hurled from distances which
were unattainable by our fifteen-pounders, enveloped our batteries
in smoke and flame. One enormous Creusot gun on Pepworth Hill threw
a 96-pound shell a distance of four miles, and several 40-pound
howitzers outweighted our field guns. And on the same day on which
we were so roughly taught how large the guns were which labour and
good will could haul on to the field of battle, we learned also
that our enemy - to the disgrace of our Board of Ordnance be it
recorded - was more in touch with modern invention than we were, and
could show us not only the largest, but also the smallest, shell
which had yet been used. Would that it had been our officials
instead of our gunners who heard the devilish little one-pound
shells of the Vickers-Maxim automatic gun, exploding with a
continuous string of crackings and bangings, like a huge cracker,
in their faces and about their ears!
Up to seven o'clock our infantry had shown no disposition to press
the attack, for with so huge a position in front of them, and so
many hills which were held by the enemy, it was difficult to know
what line of advance should be taken, or whether the attack should
not be converted into a mere reconnaissance. Shortly after that
hour, however, the Boers decided the question by themselves
developing a vigorous movement upon Grimwood and the right flank.
With field guns, Maxims, and rifle fire, they closed rapidly in
upon him. The centre column was drafted off, regiment by regiment,
to reinforce the right. The Gordons, Devons, Manchesters, and three
batteries were sent over to Grimwood's relief, and the 5th Lancers,
acting as infantry, assisted him to hold on.
At nine o'clock there was a lull, but it was evident that fresh
commandoes and fresh guns were continually streaming into the
firing line. The engagement opened again with redoubled violence,
and Grimwood's three advanced battalions fell back, abandoning the
ridge which they had held for five hours. The reason for this
withdrawal was not that they could not continue to hold their
position, but it was that a message had just reached Sir George
White from Colonel Knox, commanding in Ladysmith, to the effect
that it looked as if the enemy was about to rush the town from the
other side.
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