The Lieutenant In Charge And The Sergeant Were Both Upon The
Ground.
So far as it is possible to reconstruct the action from the
confused accounts of excited eye-witnesses and from the exceedingly
obscure official report of General Dixon, there was no longer any
resistance round the guns, which were at once turned by their
captors upon the nearest British detachment.
The company of infantry which had helped to escort the guns proved
however to be worthy representatives of that historic branch of the
British service. They were northerners, men of Derbyshire and
Nottingham, the same counties which had furnished the brave militia
who had taken their punishment so gamely at Roodeval. Though
hustled and broken they re-formed and clung doggedly to their task,
firing at the groups of Boers who surrounded the guns. At the same
time word had been sent of their pressing need to the Scotch
Borderers and the Scottish Horse, who came swarming across the
valley to the succour of their comrades. Dixon had brought two guns
and a howitzer into action, which subdued the fire of the two
captured pieces, and the infantry, Derbys and Borderers, swept over
the position, retaking the two guns and shooting down those of the
enemy who tried to stand. The greater number vanished into the
smoke, which veiled their retreat as it had their advance.
Forty-one of them were left dead upon the ground. Six officers and
fifty men killed with about a hundred and twenty wounded made up
the British losses, to which two guns would certainly have been
added but for the gallant counter-attack of the infantry. With
Dargai and Vlakfontein to their credit the Derbys have green
laurels upon their war-worn colours. They share them on this
occasion with the Scottish Borderers, whose volunteer company
carried itself as stoutly as the regulars.
How is such an action to be summed up? To Kemp, the young Boer
leader, and his men belongs the credit of the capture of the guns;
to the British that of their recapture and of the final possession
of the field. The British loss was probably somewhat higher than
that of the Boers, but upon the other hand there could be no
question as to which side could afford loss the better. The Briton
could be replaced, but there were no reserves behind the fighting
line of the Boers.
There is one subject which cannot be ignored in discussing this
battle, however repugnant it may be. That is the shooting of some
of the British wounded who lay round the guns. There is no question
at all about the fact, which is attested by many independent
witnesses. There is reason to hope that some of the murderers paid
for their crimes with their lives before the battle was over. It is
pleasant to add that there is at least one witness to the fact that
Boer officers interfered with threats to prevent some of these
outrages. It is unfair to tarnish the whole Boer nation and cause
on account of a few irresponsible villains, who would be disowned
by their own decent comrades.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 366 of 435
Words from 189282 to 189806
of 225456
