It Seems
Admirably Simple When Done Upon A Small Scale.
But when the scale
is one of forty miles, since your front must be broad enough to
envelop the
Front which is opposed to it, and when the scattered
wings have to be fed with no railway line to help, it takes such a
master of administrative detail as Lord Kitchener to bring the
operations to complete success.
On May 3rd, the day of the advance from our most northern post,
Karee, the disposition of Lord Roberts's army was briefly as
follows. On his left was Hutton, with his mixed force of mounted
infantry drawn from every quarter of the empire. This formidable
and mobile body, with some batteries of horse artillery and of
pom-poms, kept a line a few miles to the west of the railroad,
moving northwards parallel with it. Roberts's main column kept on
the railroad, which was mended with extraordinary speed by the
Railway Pioneer regiment and the Engineers, under Girouard and the
ill-fated Seymour. It was amazing to note the shattered culverts as
one passed, and yet to be overtaken by trains within a day. This
main column consisted of Pole-Carew's 11th Division, which
contained the Guards, and Stephenson's Brigade (Warwicks, Essex,
Welsh, and Yorkshires). With them were the 83rd, 84th, and 85th
R.F.A., with the heavy guns, and a small force of mounted infantry.
Passing along the widespread British line one would then, after an
interval of seven or eight miles, come upon Tucker's Division (the
7th), which consisted of Maxwell's Brigade (formerly
Chermside's - the Norfolks, Lincolns, Hampshires, and Scottish
Borderers) and Wavell's Brigade (North Staffords, Cheshires, East
Lancashires, South Wales Borderers). To the right of these was
Ridley's mounted infantry.
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