MY LAST DAYS ON THE VELDT.
The first month of 1902 found the storm of death and destruction still
unabated, and the prospect appeared as dark as at the commencement of
the previous year. Our hand, however, was on the plough, and there was
no looking back. My instructions were, "Go forward and persevere."
To the south of Lydenburg, where a section of my commando under
General Muller was operating, the enemy kept us very busy, for they
had one or more columns engaged. We, to the north of Lydenburg, had a
much calmer time of it than our brethren to the south of that place,
for there the British were pursuing their policy of exhausting our
people with unsparing hand. I attribute the fact that we in the north
were left comparatively undisturbed to the mountainous nature of the
country. It would have been impossible for the British to have
captured us or to have invaded our mountain recesses successfully
without a tremendous force, and, obviously, the British had no such
force at their disposal. Probably also the British had some respect
for the prowess of my commando. An English officer afterwards told me
in all seriousness that the British Intelligence Department had
information that I was prowling round to the north of Lydenburg with
4,000 men and two cannons, and that my men were so splendidly
fortified that our position was unconquerable. Of course, it was not
in my interest to enlighten him upon the point. I was a
prisoner-of-war when this amusing information was given me, and I
simply answered: "Yes, your intelligence officers are very smart
fellows." The officer then inquired, with an assumption of candour and
innocence, whether it was really a fact that we had still cannon in
the field. To this I retorted: "What would you think if I put a
similar question to a British officer who had fallen into my hands?"
At this he bit his thumb and stammered: "I beg your pardon; I did not
mean to--er--insult you." He was quite a young chap this, a conceited
puppy, affecting the "haw-haw," which seems to be epidemic in the
British Army. His hair was parted down the centre, in the manner so
popular among certain British officers, and this style of
hair-dressing came to be described by the Boers as "middel-paadje"
(middle-path). As a matter of fact, my men only numbered as many
hundreds as the thousands attributed to me by the British. As for
cannons, they simply existed in the imagination of the British
Intelligence Department.
Affairs were daily growing more critical. Since the beginning of the
year we had made several attempts at destroying the Delagoa Bay
Railway, but the British had constructed so formidable a network of
barbed wire, and their blockhouses were so close together and strongly
garrisoned, that hitherto our attempts had been abortive. The line
was also protected by a large number of armoured trains.
In consequence of our ill-success in this enterprise, we turned our
attention to other directions. We reconnoitred the British garrisons
in the Lydenburg district with the object of striking at their weakest
point. A number of my officers and men proceeded under cover of
darkness right through the British outposts, and gained the Lydenburg
village by crawling on their hands and knees. On their return journey
they were challenged and fired on several times, and managed only with
difficulty to return to camp unhurt. The object of the reconnaissance
was, however, accomplished. They reported to me that the village was
encompassed with barbed wire, and that a number of blockhouses had
been built round it, and also that various large houses of the village
had been barricaded and were strongly occupied. My two professional
scouts, Jordaan and Mellema, had also reconnoitred the village from
another direction, and had brought back confirmatory information and
the news that Lydenburg was occupied by about 2,000 British soldiers,
consisting of the Manchester Regiment and the First Royal Irish,
together with a corps of "hands-uppers" under the notorious Harber.
Three other Boer spies scouting about the forts on the Crocodile
Heights also brought in discouraging reports.
At the Council of War which then took place, and over which I
presided, these reports were discussed, and we agreed to attack the
two blockhouses nearest the village, and thereafter to storm the
village itself. I should mention that it was necessary for us to
capture the blockhouses before attempting to take the village itself,
for had we left them intact we should have run the danger of having
our retreat cut off.
The attack was to take place next night, and as we approached the
British lines on horseback, between Spekboom River and Potloodspruit,
we dismounted, and proceeded cautiously on foot. One of the objective
blockhouses was on the waggon path to the north of the village, and
the other was 1,000 yards to the east of Potloodspruit. Field-Cornet
Young, accompanied by Jordaan and Mellema, crept up to within 10 feet
of one of these blockhouses, and brought me a report that the barbed
wire network which surrounded it rendered an assault an impossible
task in the darkness. Separating my commando of 150 men into two
bodies, I placed them on either side of the blockhouse, sending, in
the meanwhile, four men to cut down the wire fences. These men had
instructions to give us a signal when they had achieved this object,
so that we could then proceed to storm the fort. It would have been
sacrificing many in vain to have attempted to proceed without
effecting the preliminary operation of fence cutting, since, if we had
stormed a blockhouse without first removing the wire, we should have
become entangled in the fences and have offered splendid targets to
the enemy at a very short range, and our losses would, without doubt,
have been considerable.
My fence-cutters stuck doggedly to their task despite the fact that
they were being fired upon by the sentries on guard. It was a long
and weary business, but we patiently waited, lying on the ground.
Towards 2 o'clock in the morning the officer in command of the
wire-cutters returned to us, stating that they had accomplished their
object in cutting the first wire barrier, but had come across another
which it would require several hours to cut through. The sentries had,
in the meantime, grown unpleasantly vigilant, and were now frequently
firing on our men. They were often so close that at one time, in the
darkness, they might have knocked up against the Boers who were
cutting their fences.
It being very nearly 3 o'clock, it appeared to me that the attempt
would be ineffectual owing to the approach of daylight, and we were
forced to retire before the rays of the rising sun lit the heavens and
exposed us to the well-aimed fire of the British. I therefore
resolved, after consulting my officers, to retire quietly, and to
renew my attempt a week later at another point. We returned to camp
much disappointed, but consoled ourselves with the hope that success
would attend our next efforts.