A Great Military Authority Has Stated That It
Takes Many Years For A Regiment To Recover Its Spirit And
Steadiness
If it has been heavily punished, and yet within two
months of Magersfontein we find the indomitable Highlanders taking
without
Flinching the very bloodiest share of this bloody day - and
this after a march of thirty miles with no pause before going into
action. A repulse it may have been, but they hear no name of which
they may be more proud upon the victory scroll of their colours.
What had we got in return for our eleven hundred casualties? We had
contracted the Boer position from about three miles to less than
two. So much was to the good, as the closer they lay the more
effective our artillery fire might be expected to be. But it is
probable that our shrapnel alone, without any loss of life, might
have effected the same thing. It is easy to be wise after the
event, but it does certainly appear that with our present knowledge
the action at Paardeberg was as unnecessary as it was expensive.
The sun descended on Sunday, February 18th, upon a bloody field and
crowded field hospitals, but also upon an unbroken circle of
British troops still hemming in the desperate men who lurked among
the willows and mimosas which drape the brown steep banks of the
Modder.
There was evidence during the action of the presence of an active
Boer force to the south of us, probably the same well-handled and
enterprising body which had captured our convoy at Waterval.
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