THE 21ST BRIGADE. THE TREK BEGINS.
Composition of the Brigade---Start from Glen--Transport
arrangements--To Jacobsrust--Rations--Halts--Pickets--Tobacco--Tea.
The 21st Brigade was composed of four regiments, of which the Royal
Sussex (under Col. Donne) was the senior. Next came the Sherwood
Foresters, under Major Gossett (commanding in place of Colonel
Smith-Dorrien, who was then in command of the 19th Brigade), who had
under him a splendid body of men, the majority having served in their
Second Battalion during the Tirah campaign. The experience gained in
this war against the Afridis was extremely valuable to the officers and
men, as the system of fighting adopted by the crafty Pathan bore many
points of similarity to that carried out by brother Boer. The next
regiment in the brigade in order of seniority was the Cameron
Highlanders, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Kennedy. This regiment was
practically just off one campaign, as they had served in the last
Omdurman expedition and had not left Egypt until ordered to the Cape.
The men were in magnificent condition, hard as nails, and, throughout
the campaign, they amply justified the opinion formed of them at first
sight. The remaining battalion in the brigade was the famous regiment of
the City Imperial Volunteers. They were, of course, men of fine
physique, having been especially selected for their physical fitness and
their soldierly qualities, and I think it has been allowed by everyone
who has marched and worked in the field side by side with this battalion
of citizen soldiers that their conduct and bearing has at all times been
equal to that of the best infantry battalion in the Regular Army.
They had a cyclist section with them, but this was too small to be of
any use except as orderlies, or despatch riders.
I think there is a great future before the cyclist soldier, and I should
like to have seen a cyclist battalion, 1000 strong, employed in this
campaign with the Mounted Infantry Brigades. There is one point I am
quite positive about, and that is, that after having trekked over 1,500
miles in all parts of the country, from Pretoria to Bethulie, and in all
weathers, I have seen no district, not even in the Caledon Valley, where
cyclists in large numbers could not have been utilised in place of or in
addition to Mounted Infantry.
The Brigade was commanded by Colonel Bruce Hamilton of the East
Yorkshire regiment, who was promoted to Major-General before the
conclusion of the campaign. General Hamilton has a long record of active
and staff service, having taken part in the Afghan war, the Burma war,
and campaigns in Ashanti and on the West Coast of Africa; one of his
earliest experiences of active service being in the Boer War of 1881,
when he was A.D.C. to Sir George Colley and was present at the historic
fights of that campaign, Laings Nek and the Ingogo. He afterwards served
on the Staff at Bombay and at Simla, and, at the time our battalion was
at Aldershot in 1899, he was an A.G. to General Lyttleton's Brigade,
eventually going out to Natal as an A.G. when the war broke out, and
later receiving command of the 21st Brigade.
Major Shaw, the Brigade Major, belonged to the Sherwood Foresters and
was in Malta with us in that regiment, with which he also served in the
early part of the campaign in the Orange Free State, distinguishing
himself at the capture of the bridge at Bethulie. The General's
Aide-de-Camp was Lieut. Fraser of the Cameron Highlanders, who was
afterwards assisted in his duties by Lieut. Clive Wilson of the
Yeomanry. The Brigade Transport Officer was Major Cardew of the Army
Service Corps, and the officer in charge of Supplies was Lieut. Lloyd of
the same corps, who had lately returned from active service on the West
Coast.
Our medical officer was Major Dundon, R.A.M.C., who had accompanied us
from Malta, and who on board ship had inoculated a great many officers
and men of the battalion against enteric fever. Major Dundon's own
health, however, gave way, and he suffered so much from fever that he
had to be admitted to hospital and sent down country, so that he did not
afterwards return to the regiment.
On the 29th of April we started from Glen on our travels, but we did not
move until one o'clock, as there was a good deal of work to be done
first, leaving extra kit behind and issuing rations, of which we carried
two days' supply in our haversacks and four days' on the wagons. Some of
us have often, on after days when we were hard up for a bit of
breakfast, looked back on this morning at Glen and wished we could lay
hands on the piles and piles of biscuits which were thrown away by the
men.
At Glen our transport was issued to us; there were nine wagons
altogether, but as it was impossible to obtain mules, our four
ammunition carts, which we had brought out from home with us, and the
great casks of harness, had all to be left behind. We had no water-carts
either, except the one which had been lent to the detachment at
Ferreira, and which, under the circumstances, it was thought advisable
to retain. We should also have had led mules to carry ammunition, the
medical panniers and the signalling gear, but none were available for
this purpose; so all this gear had to be loaded on the nine wagons,
which were pretty full in consequence.
One wagon was allowed to every two companies to carry blankets,
great-coats, cooking pots, ration baskets, etc. Our nine companies thus
took four and a half wagons, leaving the same number to carry all the
miscellaneous gear, the officers' kits, the ammunition, entrenching
tools, and two days' rations, besides the reserve ration of bully beef.
It always struck us as being somewhat ironical having to carry a reserve
ration of bully beef while on the march, as the country was full of
cattle, which could have been driven in if required. If the worst had
come to the worst we could, in an emergency, have eaten the trek oxen,
which were quite as tender as the slaughter bullocks.
The company wagons were terribly overloaded; each company was about 120
strong, so the wagons had to carry 240 blankets and waterproof sheets
and 240 great-coats, besides the other impedimenta.
As time went on, Major Cardew succeeded in getting us other wagons, and
some small carts were picked up at farms and utilised to carry our
reserve ammunition, the signalling gear, the doctors' boxes and the
tools; but the difficulty was to find animals to draw these carts. There
were plenty of carts at the farms, but the only beasts that we could get
were such stray mules as we encountered on the road, or which were found
in camp. They were mostly quite unfit for work and had been abandoned on
that account, but, anyhow, we had to put them in harness and get what
work we could out of them until we found better ones.
Each large wagon was drawn by ten mules, and looked after by two black
boys as drivers, and one soldier as wagonman, who applied the brake
when necessary. The wagons were large and heavy, and the wheels too
light and spidery to stand much rough usage; and each wagon was cumbered
with a huge box or driving seat which must have weighed at least one
hundredweight, the use of which was not very obvious.
All wagons, and indeed all the transport carts, and the guns too, were
fitted with the South African brake, which is applied or taken off by
means of a hand-wheel at the back of the cart. These powerful brakes are
very necessary owing to the steep descents sometimes met with, and the
erratic behaviour at all times of the mules. These animals gave much
trouble at first, but soon, with hard work and scanty feed, became more
docile.
The native drivers had been enlisted evidently because they were
natives, not on account of what they knew about mules or oxen. Many of
them were quite ignorant of how to treat the mules, and flogged them all
day without cessation, until at last the use of long whips was
forbidden.
The mules suffered a good deal from the want of water on the march. They
will not drink before about eight o'clock in the morning, and by that
time we were on the road usually, and there was no opportunity, until we
arrived at our destination, of watering the animals. This was a pity, as
they would have travelled much the better for it. Sometimes we had a
rest of a couple of hours in the middle of the day, when the animals
were allowed to water and graze; but more often the exigencies of the
campaign would not allow of our halting for long.
Some of the artillery baggage wagons were of the old box pattern which,
it is understood, was condemned in 1881, after the first Boer war, as
being quite unsuitable; but now they appeared again. The artillery used
to mount a driver on the leading mule of the team and this plan seemed
to have many advantages. There is always much trouble in starting a team
of mules, as the natural perversity of the animals prevents them from
all pulling at once and together, until they are fairly started.
To humour the wretched beasts it is sometimes necessary to get men to
give the van a shove along, so that the ten mules, when they find the
wagon moving, get at once into their collars and step out together in
the most docile fashion. Give a mule a slight ascent in the road in
front of him and the extraordinary creature is in his element at once,
and puts all his weight into his work; but on level ground or on a down
grade, a good deal of attention is necessary to keep the traces taut and
the mules from hanging back and getting their legs over them.
We crossed the river by a footbridge and marched about eight miles to
Klein Ospruit. The baggage wagons had some adventures at the drifts and
did not arrive till fairly late, so that we had some trouble sorting out
our kits and other property in the dark.
Next day we marched to Schanz Kraal, a short march over grassy veldt.
The Volunteer company had the honour of being the first to come under
the enemy's fire on this occasion, as they were plugged at by one of the
Boer guns whilst they were acting as escort to our battery. The shells,
however, dropped short and did no damage. The 1st of May saw us up at
6.30, and on the tramp on an exceptionally long march to Jacobsrust, or
Steynspruit as it is sometimes called. The weather was the most charming
that could be wished for, a true South African day, and, had the march
been 12 miles instead of the 18 or 19 that it actually was, we should
have been better pleased. Arriving on the top of a nek, or dip in the
hills, we saw a huge plain in front simply covered with troops, all
dismounted and resting. These were Broadwood's Cavalry and Ian
Hamilton's Mounted Infantry, and, after a while, they moved off in
advance of us, we following in an hour's time and reaching Jacobsrust
just before dusk.
Our first business on arrival in camp each day was to see to the
provision of wood and water for cooking purposes, no easy matter in a
treeless country like the Orange Free State. When there were trees, wood
parties were sent out under an officer, and sometimes wooden fencing
posts were brought in from round the fields. Later on, when we moved
further North and wood became more scarce, men used to pick up these
fencing posts on their march home into camp, but, as they never knew
where camp was to be until they reached it, sometimes they were let in
to carry these logs of wood for miles. Occasionally, but very seldom, a
few small houses were ordered to be destroyed, and in that case the
troops were allowed to take the wood out of the doors and windows,
floors and ceilings. This did not often happen, though, as great
precautions were always being taken not to do any unnecessary damage or
to alarm the people of the country needlessly. A better substitute for
firewood was also found, under the guidance of stern necessity, to be
dried cowdung, and towards the close of the campaign the men used this
in preference to wood, as it was easier to get and lighter to carry.
Whilst the wood and water parties were out, there was nothing more to be
done except to wait until the wagons arrived with the blankets. This was
a matter, sometimes of minutes, sometimes of hours, and it was in order
to guard against any possible delay in the movements of the wagons that
every man was ordered to carry, in addition to a blanket, two days'
rations of tea, sugar and biscuit, and one day's ration of meat in his
haversack and canteen, which were regularly replaced when consumed.
Thus every man had in his possession the wherewithal to make a meal,
either in the middle of the day when a halt took place with the
intention of allowing the men to cook, or on arrival in camp.
The meat ration was driven with us in the form of slaughter oxen, and
immediately on arrival in camp the butchers, who rode on a wagon and did
not have to walk, set to work and killed sufficient oxen to supply the
Brigade. It is said that sometimes the butchers killed a tough old trek
ox by mistake for a young heifer, but this statement is, I am sure, a
libel. The butchers were allowed to sell the liver, heart, head, etc. of
the bullocks and sheep killed, at a certain fixed price; so, when the
slaughtering was going on, there was sure to be a small crowd of
would-be purchasers waiting.
Sometimes when the Brigade arrived late in camp the issue of rations
would take place several hours after dark; but as every man had that
day's rations carried on his person in addition to the next day's
groceries and biscuit, there was not really anything to complain about,
except the inconvenience, which was unavoidable. Many men did not at
first, however, realise that they had two day's biscuit in their
haversacks, and used to eat it all, or most of it, on the first
opportunity. There came a time, also, when, without notice, _flour_ was
issued for the second day's ration, and our improvident friends were
fetched up with a round turn.
Owing to the difficulties of transport and to the fact that every mortal
thing had to be carried with us--the country furnishing nothing but
cattle and forage--the ration question was always a troublesome one to
the regimental officer. No doubt it is an awkward thing issuing fresh
meat on the march, but what could be done? Preserved meat could not be
carried owing to the weight, and so the trek ox had to be cut up and
served out at no matter what hour. No doubt the pound-and-a-half of
meat, when cut up into portions, looked very small, and was often so
uninviting, that many of the men threw away their meat ration, such as
it was. Personally I do not think that the meat ration issued in this
way is nearly large enough, and it might with advantage be doubled at
the very least. By the time the bone, scraps, skin and dirty pieces are
cut away from a portion of meat representing the rations of a section
calculated at three pounds per man, and this again is subdivided into
each man's little chunk, it will be found that what was originally
considered as three pounds has dwindled to a pound-and-a-half or less.
The Boer prisoners, whom we rationed, laughed at the idea of existing on
the soldier's ration of a pound-and-a half of meat, and complained to
the General and got more.
Whilst on the march it was impossible to make any other arrangement than
that each man should be responsible for his own cooking. This was
necessary in consequence of the liability of any man to go off on
picket, on guard, or on any duty where he might be detached from the
bulk of his comrades. The utmost that the company cooks could do to be
of benefit was to occasionally boil the water for the tea and let each
man make his own brew. Not that he could make many brews out of his
ration; far from it. In a laboratory, no doubt, carefully weighed
rations of tea will make a certain quantity of quite a respectable
drink, but in the field when the soldier has to carry his tea, tied up
in a bit of rag, it certainly does not go far enough, and the man has to
drink water, with every possibility of enteric supervening. Again, tea
made in bulk as in military kitchens at Aldershot is quite a different
matter to the same article made in a canteen out of the miserable pinch
which constitutes one man's ration for one day. Similar arguments apply
to the coffee and sugar; in fact the whole question of rations in the
field needs revision. What we would have done without the Brigade
Canteen which the General started, I do not know; but the quantity of
tea, sugar and foodstuffs generally sold in that institution was only
limited by the amount that could be purchased in the towns.
On the march, the column usually halted at the regulation intervals of
time as prescribed in the drill books, of five minutes after the first
half-hour's marching and ten minutes on the completion of each
succeeding hour. There is some slight modification needed in this
regulation, as experience gained in marching, not only in South Africa,
has shown: the first halt is not long enough and should be at least ten
minutes or even longer, to enable men to fall out if they wish it. After
that, the halts should be for five minutes on the completion of each
half-hour's marching.
A full hour is too long to continue moving, carrying the heavy weight
that men do on the march, and a few minutes rest after half an hour's
walking is better than a long spell after an hour's march. The weight of
the blanket and the other equipment on the shoulders, which may not
appear to be great on first putting it on, soon reminds one of its
presence, and the half-hourly halt enables the men to sit down and
relieve their aching shoulders.
According to the regulations the proper place for the stretchers of a
battalion is for all of them, with their stretcher-bearers, to move in
rear under the medical officer, but common sense points to each
stretcher being always kept with its own company.
In South Africa, movements were so extended and companies so far apart,
sometimes, that the stretchers would have been useless if kept
together; and it is much more reasonable for the two men to go with
their company, wherever it might be, on picket or baggage guard, or
escort to guns, or any similar duty.
All regiments did not do this, however; and once during the mid-day
halt, we were much amused at the antics of a very military Volunteer
doctor, who was in charge of a squad of stretcher bearers, and was
trying to move them off with due decorum and a proper observance of
their importance. After falling-in and telling-off, they took up and
laid down their stretchers several times, just to wake things up a bit,
and then they received the order--"Stretcher party, r-r-right--form!"
This not being satisfactory, the doctor exclaimed "As you were! Now on
the word 'Right'! the right hand man turns to the right, the remainder
at the same time making a half-turn in the same direction," etc., and he
delivered the order again; upon which, this intricate manoeuvre being
executed to his satisfaction, the whole party solemnly moved off,
followed by the smiles of our men and a few muttered remarks, such as
"'e must 'ave thought 'e were in 'Ide Park"!
When our baggage wagons arrived in camp they were unloaded at once, and
the rolls of blankets and great-coats taken off to the sections that
owned them. The men then proceeded to erect their bivouacs, if they were
particular, or to spread their blankets on the ground, if they were
tired.
Sometimes it was our duty to furnish the pickets to protect the camp
during a halt, and when this was the case the companies used to go off,
as soon as they arrived in camp, to the spots pointed out by the Brigade
Major, and make themselves comfortable there until daybreak the next
morning; when either they were relieved, or else the column marched off
and the pickets followed behind as a rear guard. The wagons used to go
out to the pickets, if they were any distance off, with their blankets
and great-coats; but if they were at all close to camp, as they
frequently were, then the men used to carry out their bundles
themselves. As a rule, we camped in a hollow close to water, which was
either in a dam or a spruit (small stream), and the pickets were posted
in prominent places on the surrounding hills. We had early learned to
consider these pickets as really defensive posts, put out to hold
certain prominent features, with a view to preventing the enemy from
occupying them with guns and riflemen and from annoying us in camp, and
not as outpost pickets with their visiting and reconnoitring patrols by
day and night.
Cover from view was as much to be desired as protection from bullets and
possible shell fire, and every man was told off to his own little
position some distance away from the next man. Permanent objects like
sangars and walls in exposed positions might serve to draw the enemy's
fire more than was desirable, so, to deceive him, other positions were
whenever possible utilised. At early daybreak every man stood to his
arms for a while, watching especially points from which fire might be
opened by the enemy. Cordite being smokeless, we, of course, never knew
where the enemy actually was concealed, and could only fire at likely
places, in the hope that he _was_ there and that our bullets would make
him keep his head and rifle safe under cover. Double sentries,
especially at night, were of course an absolute necessity, and
signalling communication was invariably maintained between the pickets
and the camp, both by day and by night.
In the field there ought to be a weekly issue of tobacco, which should
be considered as part of the rations: it is impossible, sometimes for
weeks on end, for the men to purchase tobacco for themselves, and the
loss or absence of this luxury is very severely felt. Tobacco is
certainly procurable at some of the Supply Depots at the bases, on
payment, and twice during the nine months of our wanderings an issue was
made to those companies which had money on hand with which to pay for
it; the amounts which were due from the individual men were then charged
through their accounts and, after a good deal of clerical labour, the
transaction was concluded.
Owing to the greater necessity for carrying food, our Supply wagons
usually had no room to carry tobacco; so that it was not often, in fact
only twice, as has been said, that it was procurable.
The price was very inconvenient too; in a land where copper coins are
unknown and the smallest coin is a "tikky," or threepenny piece, to
charge 1s 4d. for an article means that there is always trouble over the
change, which is increased if only half the quantity is asked for.
Smoking before food has been taken as productive of eventual thirst. It
is extraordinary how men will smoke at all hours of the night, in fact
whenever they are awake; but it is a practice which ought not to be
allowed on the march, as the effects are surely felt later in the day
when the heat and consequent thirst rapidly increase: this engenders
drinking, and the water bottles are soon emptied before there is any
chance of replenishing them.
Undoubtedly, men require careful training and education in these little
matters, and, if they are properly attended to, as a result a long march
may be comfortably carried out and the men brought in to camp in good
physical form, not exhausted to the last stage, as they frequently are.
Our water supply when we were on the march was usually procured from the
spruits or streams, but in the Orange River Colony we frequently had no
other water than that procured from pools, more or less stagnant, and of
a dirty yellow colour from the suspended impurities. The section of the
Royal Engineers with our Brigade had a couple of hand pumps in their
carts with the picks and shovels, explosives and other things that they
carry in the field; and these pumps, immediately on arrival in camp,
were fixed up at the water supply, and a sentry posted to keep off
cattle and to see that the water was not contaminated by men washing in
it.
Whilst on the march there was very little sickness from bowel
complaints. No doubt the constant daily exercise in the magnificent
climate and the excitement combined to render the men somewhat innocuous
to the attentions of the enteric microbe, or, more probably, the water
that we drank had not, up to then, been poisoned with these germs,
although it was dirty enough in all conscience.
What with the constant smoking and want of self control, men usually
drank a good deal of water on the march and during the day in camp or on
picket: were the ration of tea increased in the field, as it might well
be, to three times the present quantity, men would drink considerably
less water on service and would save themselves a good deal of sickness.
Men will not go to the trouble of preparing boiled water for their
bottles; but if they have sufficient tea to spare, they will often fill
up their bottles with it.
There is nothing better to drink on the march than cold tea: it is an
excellent mild stimulant, it is a gentle aperient, and it is also a
febrifuge in a small way, besides being somewhat astringent: it clears
the brain, too, and leaves a clean taste in the mouth. Veldt water, on
the other hand, besides being a breeding establishment for the germs and
microbes of nearly all the diseases under the sun, is nasty to look at,
horrid to smell, and disgusting to drink: it invariably pours out in the
form of sweat if the weather is at all warm, and it clogs the mouth and
tongue with a mawkish taste which speedily requires more water to remove
it.
Why the microscopic ration of tea should be increased on the same day by
equally minute portions of coffee and cocoa has always been a puzzle.
The advantage and necessity of varying the drink ration is understood,
but why issue three kinds in one day, instead of tea one day, coffee the
next, and cocoa the third? At the best of times the men had no place in
which to stow the small portions of each of these articles which
comprised the daily ration, and were, perforce, compelled to wrap each
lot up in bits of rag and carry them in their haversacks.
Ration baskets were provided in which one day's groceries could have
been carried in bulk by each company, but, as an order had been issued
for each man to carry his own, these baskets proved to be useless
lumber.