It Would Have
Been Wiser, If Less Gallant, To Retire At Once In The Presence Of A
Numerous And Invisible Enemy, But The Survivors Were Ordered To
Dismount And Return The Fire.
This was done, but the hail of
bullets was terrific and the casualties were numerous.
Captain
Norman, of C squadron, then retired his men, who withdrew in good
order. B squadron having lost Yockney, its brave leader, heard no
order, so they held their ground until few of them had escaped the
driving sleet of lead. Many of the men were struck three and four
times. There was no surrender, and the extermination of B company
added another laurel, even at a moment of defeat, to the regiment
whose reputation was so grimly upheld. The Boer victors walked in
among the litter of stricken men and horses. 'Practically all of
them were dressed in khaki and had the water-bottles and haversacks
of our soldiers. One of them snatched a bayonet from a dead man,
and was about to despatch one of our wounded when he was stopped in
the nick of time by a man in a black suit, who, I afterwards heard,
was De la Rey himself. . .The feature of the action was the
incomparable heroism of our dear old Colonel Wools-Sampson.' So
wrote a survivor of B company, himself shot through the body. It
was four hours before a fresh British advance reoccupied the ridge,
and by that time the Boers had disappeared.
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