Leaving Their Horses, They
Advanced A Mile And A Half On Foot Before They Came Within Easy
Range Of The
Hidden riflemen, and learned the lesson which had been
taught to their comrades all along the line, that given
approximately
Equal numbers the attack in the open has no possible
chance against the concealed defence, and that the more bravely it
is pushed the more heavy is the repulse. The irregulars carried
themselves like old soldiers, they did all that mortal man could
do, and they retired coolly and slowly with the loss of 130 of the
brave troopers. The 7th Field Battery did all that was possible to
support the advance and cover the retirement. In no single place,
on this day of disaster, did one least gleam of success come to
warm the hearts and reward the exertions of our much-enduring men.
Of Barton's Brigade there is nothing to be recorded, for they
appear neither to have supported the attack upon Hlangwane Hill on
the one side nor to have helped to cover the ill-fated guns on the
other. Barton was applied to for help by Dundonald, but refused to
detach any of his troops. If General Buller's real idea was a
reconnaissance in force in order to determine the position and
strength of the Boer lines, then of course his brigadiers must have
felt a reluctance to entangle their brigades in a battle which was
really the result of a misunderstanding. On the other hand, if, as
the orders of the day seem to show, a serious engagement was always
intended, it is strange that two brigades out of four should have
played so insignificant a part. To Barton's Brigade was given the
responsibility of seeing that no right flank attack was carried out
by the Boers, and this held it back until it was clear that no such
attack was contemplated. After that one would have thought that,
had the situation been appreciated, at least two battalions might
have been spared to cover the abandoned guns with their rifle fire.
Two companies of the Scots Fusiliers did share the fortunes of the
guns. Two others, and one of the Irish Fusiliers, acted in support,
but the brigade as a whole, together with the 1st Royals and the
13th Hussars, might as well have been at Aldershot for any bearing
which their work had upon the fortunes of the day.
And so the first attempt at the relief of Ladysmith came to an end.
At twelve o'clock all the troops upon the ground were retreating
for the camp. There was nothing in the shape of rout or panic, and
the withdrawal was as orderly as the advance; but the fact remained
that we had just 1200 men in killed, wounded, and missing, and had
gained absolutely nothing. We had not even the satisfaction of
knowing that we had inflicted as well as endured punishment, for
the enemy remained throughout the day so cleverly concealed that it
is doubtful whether more than a hundred casualties occurred in
their ranks. Once more it was shown how weak an arm is artillery
against an enemy who lies in shelter.
Our wounded fortunately bore a high proportion to our killed, as
they always will do when it is rifle fire rather than shell fire
which is effective. Roughly we had 150 killed and about 720
wounded. A more humiliating item is the 250 or so who were missing.
These men were the gunners, the Devons, and the Scots Fusiliers,
who were taken in the donga together with small bodies from the
Connaughts, the Dublins, and other regiments who, having found some
shelter, were unable to leave it, and clung on until the retirement
of their regiments left them in a hopeless position. Some of these
small knots of men were allowed to retire in the evening by the
Boers, who seemed by no means anxious to increase the number of
their prisoners. Colonel Thackeray, of the Inniskilling Fusiliers,
found himself with a handful of his men surrounded by the enemy,
but owing to their good humour and his own tact he succeeded in
withdrawing them in safety. The losses fell chiefly on Hart's
Brigade, Hildyard's Brigade, and the colonial irregulars, who bore
off the honours of the fight.
In his official report General Buller states that were it not for
the action of Colonel Long and the subsequent disaster to the
artillery he thought that the battle might have been a successful
one. This is a hard saying, and throws perhaps too much
responsibility upon the gallant but unfortunate gunner. There have
been occasions in the war when greater dash upon the part of our
artillery might have changed the fate of the day, and it is bad
policy to be too severe upon the man who has taken a risk and
failed. The whole operation, with its advance over the open against
a concealed enemy with a river in his front, was so absolutely
desperate that Long may have seen that only desperate measures
could save the situation. To bring guns into action in front of the
infantry without having clearly defined the position of the
opposing infantry must always remain one of the most hazardous
ventures of war. 'It would certainly be mere folly,' says Prince
Kraft, 'to advance artillery to within 600 or 800 yards of a
position held by infantry unless the latter were under the fire of
infantry from an even shorter range.' This 'mere folly' is exactly
what Colonel Long did, but it must be remembered in extenuation
that he shared with others the idea that the Boers were up on the
hills, and had no inkling that their front trenches were down at
the river. With the imperfect means at his disposal he did such
scouting as he could, and if his fiery and impetuous spirit led him
into a position which cost him so dearly it is certainly more easy
for the critic to extenuate his fault than that subsequent one
which allowed the abandoned guns to fall into the hands of the
enemy.
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