The Enemy Still Snarled And Occasionally Snapped In Front
Of Hart's Men, But With Four Companies Of The 2nd Rifle Brigade To
Protect Their Flanks Their Position Remained Secure.
In the meantime, through a contretemps between our outposts and the
Boers, no leave had been given to us
To withdraw our wounded, and
the unfortunate fellows, some hundreds of them, had lain between
the lines in agonies of thirst for thirty-six hours - one of the
most painful incidents of the campaign. Now, upon the 25th, an
armistice was proclaimed, and the crying needs of the survivors
were attended to. On the same day the hearts of our soldiers sank
within them as they saw the stream of our wagons and guns crossing
the river once more. What, were they foiled again? Was the blood of
these brave men to be shed in vain? They ground their teeth at the
thought. The higher strategy was not for them, but back was back
and forward was forward, and they knew which way their proud hearts
wished to go.
The 26th was occupied by the large movements of troops which so
complete a reversal of tactics necessitated. Under the screen of a
heavy artillery fire, the British right became the left and the
left the right. A second pontoon bridge was thrown across near the
old Boer bridge at Hlangwane, and over it was passed a large force
of infantry, Barton's Fusilier Brigade, Kitchener's (vice Wynne's,
vice Woodgate's) Lancashire Brigade, and two battalions of
Norcott's (formerly Lyttelton's) Brigade. Coke's Brigade was left
at Colenso to prevent a counter attack upon our left flank and
communications. In this way, while Hart with the Durhams and the
1st Rifle Brigade held the Boers in front, the main body of the
army was rapidly swung round on to their left flank. By the morning
of the 27th all were in place for the new attack.
Opposite the point where the troops had been massed were three Boer
hills; one, the nearest, may for convenience sake be called
Barton's Hill. As the army had formerly been situated the assault
upon this hill would have been a matter of extreme difficulty; but
now, with the heavy guns restored to their commanding position,
from which they could sweep its sides and summits, it had recovered
its initial advantage. In the morning sunlight Barton's Fusiliers
crossed the river, and advanced to the attack under a screaming
canopy of shells. Up they went and up, darting and crouching, until
their gleaming bayonets sparkled upon the summit. The masterful
artillery had done its work, and the first long step taken in this
last stage of the relief of Ladysmith. The loss had been slight and
the advantage enormous. After they had gained the summit the
Fusiliers were stung and stung again by clouds of skirmishers who
clung to the flanks of the hill, but their grip was firm and grew
firmer with every hour.
Of the three Boer hills which had to be taken the nearest (or
eastern one) was now in the hands of the British. The furthest (or
western one) was that on which the Irish Brigade was still
crouching, ready at any moment for a final spring which would take
them over the few hundred yards which separated them from the
trenches. Between the two intervened a central hill, as yet
untouched. Could we carry this the whole position would be ours.
Now for the final effort! Turn every gun upon it, the guns of Monte
Christo, the guns of Hlangwane! Turn every rifle upon it - the
rifles of Barton's men, the rifles of Hart's men, the carbines of
the distant cavalry! Scalp its crown with the machine-gun fire! And
now up with you, Lancashire men, Norcott's men! The summit or a
glorious death, for beyond that hill your suffering comrades are
awaiting you! Put every bullet and every man and all of fire and
spirit that you are worth into this last hour; for if you fail now
you have failed for ever, and if you win, then when your hairs are
white your blood will still run warm when you think of that
morning's work. The long drama had drawn to an end, and one short
day's work is to show what that end was to be.
But there was never a doubt of it. Hardly for one instant did the
advance waver at any point of its extended line. It was the supreme
instant of the Natal campaign, as, wave after wave, the long lines
of infantry went shimmering up the hill. On the left the
Lancasters, the Lancashire Fusiliers, the South Lancashires, the
York and Lancasters, with a burr of north country oaths, went
racing for the summit. Spion Kop and a thousand comrades were
calling for vengeance. 'Remember, men, the eyes of Lancashire are
watching you,' cried the gallant MacCarthy O'Leary. The old 40th
swept on, but his dead body marked the way which they had taken. On
the right the East Surrey, the, Cameronians, the 3rd Rifles, the
1st Rifle Brigade, the Durhams, and the gallant Irishmen, so sorely
stricken and yet so eager, were all pressing upwards and onwards.
The Boer fire lulls, it ceases - they are running! Wild hat-waving
men upon the Hlangwane uplands see the silhouette of the active
figures of the stormers along the sky-line and know that the
position is theirs. Exultant soldiers dance and cheer upon the
ridge. The sun is setting in glory over the great Drakensberg
mountains, and so also that night set for ever the hopes of the
Boer invaders of Natal. Out of doubt and chaos, blood and labour,
had come at last the judgment that the lower should not swallow the
higher, that the world is for the man of the twentieth and not of
the seventeenth century. After a fortnight of fighting the weary
troops threw themselves down that night with the assurance that at
last the door was ajar and the light breaking through.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 88 of 222
Words from 88520 to 89528
of 225456
