TWO THOUSAND BRITISH PRISONERS RELEASED.
After the battle of Bergendal there was another retreat. Our
Government, which had fled from Machadodorp to Waterval Station, had
now reached Nelspruit, three stations further down the line, still
"attended," shall I say, by a group of Boer officials and members of
the Volksraad, who preferred the shelter of Mr. Kruger's fugitive
skirts to any active fighting. There were also hovering about this
party half a dozen Hebraic persons of extremely questionable
character, one of whom had secured a contract for smuggling in clothes
from Delagoa Bay; and another one to supply coffee and sugar to the
commandos. As a rule, some official or other made a nice little
commission out of these transactions, and many burghers and officers
expressed their displeasure and disgust at these matters; but so it
was, and so it remained. That same night we marched from Machadodorp
to Helvetia, where we halted while a commando was appointed to guard
the railway at Waterval Boven.
The next morning a big cloud of dust arose. "_De Engelse kom_" (the
English are coming) was the cry. And come they did, in overwhelming
numbers. We fired our cannon at their advance guard, which had already
passed Machadodorp: but the British main force stayed there for the
day, and a little outpost skirmishing of no consequence occurred.
A portion of the British forces appeared to go from Belfast via
Dullstroom to Lydenburg, these operations being only feebly resisted.
Our commandos were now parcelled out by the Commandant-General, who
followed a path over the Crocodile River bridge with his own section,
which was pursued by a strong force of Buller's.
I was ordered to go down the mountain in charge of a number of
Helvetia burghers to try and reach the railway, which I was to defend
at all hazards. General Smuts, with the remnant of our men went
further south towards the road leading to Barberton. Early the next
morning we were attacked and again obliged to fall back. That night we
stayed at Nooitgedacht.
The Boer position at and near Nooitgedacht was unique. Here was a
great camp in which 2,000 English prisoners-of-war were confined, but
in the confusion the majority of their Boer guards had fled to
Nelspruit. I found only 15 burghers armed with Martini-Henry rifles
left to look after 2,000 prisoners. Save for "Tommy" being such a
helpless individual when he has nobody to give him orders and to think
for him, these 2,000 men might have become a great source of danger to
us had they had the sense to disarm their fifteen custodians (and what
was there to prevent them doing so?) and to destroy the railway, they
would have been able not only to have deprived my commando of
provisions and ammunition, but also to have captured a "Long Tom."
There was, moreover, a large quantity of victuals, rifles, and
ammunition lying about the station, of which nobody appeared to take
any notice. Of the crowd of officials who stuck so very faithfully to
the fugitive Government there was not one who took the trouble to look
after these stores and munitions.
On arrival I telegraphed to the Government to enquire what was to be
done with the British prisoners-of-war. The answer was: "You had
better let them be where they are until the enemy force you to
evacuate, when you will leave them plenty of food."
This meant that there would be more D.S.O's or V.C's handed out, for
the first "Tommies" to arrive at the prisoners' camp would be hailed
as deliverers, and half of them would be certain of distinctions.
I was also extremely dissatisfied with the way the prisoners had been
lodged, and so would any officer in our fighting line have been had he
seen their condition and accommodation. But those who have never been
in a fight and who had only performed the "heroic" duty of _guarding_
prisoners-of-war, did not know what humanity meant to an enemy who had
fallen into their hands.
So what was I to do?
To disobey the Government's orders was impossible. I accordingly
resolved to notify the prisoners that, "for military reasons," it
would be impossible to keep them in confinement any longer.
The next morning I mustered them outside the camp, and they were told
that they had ceased to be prisoners-of-war, at which they seemed to
be very much amazed. I was obliged to go and speak formally to some of
them; they could scarcely credit that they were free men and could go
back to their own people. It was really pleasant to hear them cheer,
and to see how pleased they were. A great crowd of them positively
mobbed me to shake hands with them, crying, "Thank you, sir; God bless
you, sir." One of their senior officers was ordered to take charge of
them, while a white-flag message was sent to General Pole-Carew to
send for these fine fellows restored to freedom, and to despatch an
ambulance for the sick and wounded. My messenger, however, did not
succeed in delivering the letter, as the scouts of the British
advance-guard were exceedingly drunk, and shot at him; so that the
prisoners-of-war had to go out and introduce themselves. I believe
they were compelled to overpower their own scouts.
Ten days afterwards an English doctor and a lieutenant of the 17th
Lancers came to us, bringing a mule laden with medical appliances and
food. The English medico, Dr. Ailward, succeeded, moreover, in getting
through our lines without my express permission.
Next morning I accompanied an ambulance train to transport the wounded
British to the charge of the British agent at Delagoa Bay. Outside
Nooitgedacht I found four military doctors with a field ambulance.
"Does this officer belong to the Red Cross?" I asked.
"No," was the answer, "he is only with us quite unofficially as a
sympathetic friend."
"I regret," said I, "that I cannot allow this thing; you have come
through our lines without my permission; this officer no doubt is a
spy."
I wired at once for instructions, which, when received read: "That as
a protest against the action of the English officers who stopped three
of our ambulances, and since this officer has passed through our lines
without permission, you are to stop the ambulance and dispatch the
doctors and their staff, as well as the wounded to Lourenco Marques."
The doctors were very angry and protested vehemently against the
order, which, however, was irrevocable. And thus the whole party,
including the Lancers' doctor, were sent to Lourenco Marques that very
day. The nearest English General was informed of the whole incident,
and he sent a very unpleasant message the next day, of which I
remember the following phrases:--
"The action which you have taken in this matter is contrary to the
rules of civilised warfare, and will alter entirely the conditions
upon which the War was carried on up to the present," etc.
After I had sent my first note we found, on inspection, some
Lee-Metford cartridges and an unexploded bomb in the ambulance vans.
This fact alone would have justified the retention of the ambulance.
This was intimated again in our reply to General Pole-Carew, and I
wrote, _inter alia_: "_Re_ the threat contained in your letter of the
... I may say I am sorry to find such a remark coming from your side,
and I can assure you that whatever may happen my Government,
commandants, and burghers are firmly resolved to continue the War on
our side in the same civilised and humane manner as it has hitherto
been conducted."
This was the end of our correspondence in regard to this subject, and
nothing further happened, save that the English very shortly
afterwards recovered five out of the eight ambulances we had retained.