LOMBARD'S KOP AND NICHOLSON'S NEK
General White forced to fight--The order of battle--Leviathan--The
Boers reinforced--A retrograde movement--How Marsden met his
death--Naval guns in action--A night of disaster--Who showed the
white flag?--A truce declared--A humiliating position.
_October 31._--If the action on Rietfontein, or Pepworth's Farm ridges,
a week ago was the great score for us that official reports represent,
in that it checkmated all possible efforts of the Boers to intercept
Brigadier-General Yule's column on its march from Dundee, there can be
no doubt that the tables were turned upon us effectually yesterday. Not
only did our attempt to beat one of the enemy's columns in detail, and
capture the heavy Creusot guns that had been harassing us, fail through
misdirection, but when attacked in turn by Boer reinforcements, our
troops were untimely ordered to abandon a position that they had held
for four hours without serious loss, and this gave moral, if not
material victory to the enemy. Successful in every fight up to that
point, we are now in the humiliating position of finding ourselves
practically invested by a Boer force that will not attack except by
artillery fire at long range, and whose leader has the power
temporarily, at any rate, to choose the fighting ground that suits Boer
tactics best if we decide to take the offensive. Not only so, but our
little army here has suffered a great disaster in the loss of two
gallant regiments, one of which had only ten days earlier gained for
itself proud distinction by being first to crown the heights of Talana,
near Dundee, where British infantry proved worthy of its most glorious
traditions. As a purely defensive measure, if nothing more, the fight of
yesterday was forced upon us. Like some other operations in this brief
but eventful campaign, it came too late, but, whether timely or not,
a battle was inevitable unless we meant to sit down tamely and be
battered at.
Yesterday morning, long before daybreak, our force was on the move,
intent upon outflanking positions which the Boers held two days earlier.
Colonel Grimwood, with one brigade consisting of the 1st and 2nd King's
Royal Rifles, the Leicestershire and the Liverpool battalions, took up a
position on open ground near Lombard's Kop, supported by a regiment of
cavalry, the Border Mounted Rifles, and the Natal Carbineers with three
batteries. A fourth battery was posted on a green kopje almost directly
in line between Lombard's Kop and Rietfontein Hill. Colonel Ian
Hamilton, with the second infantry brigade, consisting of the Gordon
Highlanders, Rifle Brigade, Manchesters, and 1st Devons, formed a
strong reserve behind the long ridge connecting these points with their
left on the Newcastle road, where the Imperial Light Horse were held
ready for action when the proper time should come.
At four o'clock in the morning our infantry were all in position for the
fight, as it had been originally planned. Half an hour later they
exchanged shots with a few Boers scattered about kopjes in their front,
and from that moment, until nearly noon, they remained practically under
fire, never budging an inch, but remaining immovable, except when a
change of front became necessary to meet the Boer reinforcements, and
that was effected by an advance. Up to that point everything seemed to
be going in our favour. When there was daylight enough for gunners to
see clearly, the 42nd Battery, posted at the eastern end of a green
kopje that forms an irregular spur of Rietfontein Hill, but at a much
lower elevation, opened fire on that ridge where the Boers had planted
Long Tom.
It was interesting to watch shot after shot fall nearer the mark around
it as the gunners picked up the range, until one shell struck and burst
close to "Long Tom's" embrasure. Then the battery took to firing
shrapnel, which were so well timed that one could see projectiles from
the six guns in succession bursting at intervals along Rietfontein's
level crest, which must have been raked from end to end with a shower of
shrapnel bullets. The enemy's leviathan sent two shots at this battery,
without effect, and then turned its fire upon Ladysmith town again, not
with malicious intent, perhaps, but aiming to hit either the balloon or
the railway station, where, in addition to naval guns, there happened to
be stores of forage and other things that might easily have been set
aflame by shells.
Notwithstanding this demonstration, our force was making steady progress
towards an envelopment of the main Boer position at half-past seven in
the morning. Immediately after that, however, prospects changed with the
appearance of formidable reinforcements for the Boers, marching
apparently from the direction in which a large camp had been seen two
days earlier. They came into action on our right flank with a brisk
rifle fire, followed by the deep notes of artillery. In intervals
between the regular roar of field guns came the sledgehammer "thud!
thud! thud!" from an automatic gun, which Tommy Atkins, with his
aptitude for expressive phrases, promptly christened "Pom! Pom!" and
that name sticks to it with unpleasant associations, for the Boers had
not only one but many automatons of the same pattern. Like the heavier
field-piece, "Pom! Pom!" throws shells that burst badly, but throws them
with great accuracy, so that scores of shots in rapid succession fell
among our batteries whenever they advanced to a fresh position, or
changed ground in hope of keeping down that harassing fire.
At this time the Border Mounted Infantry and Natal Carbineers made
frequent dashes to secure advantageous points, and the Boers were at one
time so hard pressed that they gave ground hurriedly before an attempt
of the 60th Rifles to gain a rough crest which took the long hollow
behind Lombard's Kop in reverse. Then the enemy's reinforcements falling
back somewhat threatened our right flank, and Sir George White,
reluctant to prolong his already attenuated line, met that movement only
by sending the Carbineers round Lombard's Kop, and bringing up the
Imperial Light Horse in support.
About this time the Gordon Highlanders and Manchester battalion were
drawn forward from Hamilton's Brigade to the green tree-fringed kopje,
on the ridge of which our 42nd Battery still maintained its position,
playing effectively upon "Long Tom." It looked as if Sir George meant to
reinforce his fighting line, and try a decisive counter-stroke, by
throwing all the weight he could against the Boer left wing, which was
either wavering or executing some wily movement that had the appearance
of a retirement. But unluckily at this critical moment the 60th Rifles
and Leicestershire men began to fall back from the position they had
gained, which was immediately occupied by Boer riflemen, and the 60th,
exposed to a storm of bullets from three sides, came across open ground
in very loose formation. We presently learned that the order had been
sent for them "to retire on the balloon," Sir George White having
apparently resolved upon concentration by a retrograde movement.
Receiving a message in the words quoted, men naturally assumed that it
meant a hasty retreat and not a retirement by successive lines of
resistance. In some cases nerves overstrained by hours of inaction gave
way, and a few men threw down arms or equipment in a momentary panic,
abandoning even their Maxim gun for a time. This, however, was quickly
checked by the example of cool comrades, who, spreading out in obedience
to commands from their officers so that there might be wide intervals
for the shots to pass through, walked slowly and steadily across the
open veldt, where bullets were raining like hailstones. In that
retirement Major Myres, of the 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifles (60th),
fell mortally wounded. Young Marsden, of the same battalion, going to
the Major's assistance, knelt beside him, and bent over as if to bind up
a wound. In that position he remained motionless so long that Lieutenant
Johnson, who had been firing steadily with a wounded soldier's rifle
until twice hit himself, went to see if he could give any help. He found
his brother subaltern dead in the act of binding up a wound as he knelt
over the dying field-officer's body. At that moment Lieutenant Johnson
received his third wound, and had to be carried from the field by
ambulance men.
Mounted infantry of the King's Royal Rifles and Leicestershire
Regiment, with Natal and Border Mounted Rifles, covered this retirement
until it passed beyond the new line formed by Gordons and Manchesters,
so that Colonel Grimwood's Infantry Brigade, looking rather like broken
troops in the loose irregularity of every company, was not called upon
to rally or turn to face the enemy, but marched straight back towards
the balloon, "Long Tom" opening fire upon them as they crossed a ridge,
with marvellously exact knowledge of the range. Three shells burst close
to groups of the 60th, many men being hit.
At that moment, however, the Boer gunners' attention was diverted to
another point, where, from hills just in front of the town, and facing
Rietfontein, Captain Lambton's 12-pounders opened. It was as great a
surprise for us as for the Boers. We saw the shell explode just in front
of "Long Tom's" epaulement, and heard a cheer from spectators, scores of
the townspeople having gathered on a slope by Cove Hill to watch the
scene, among them a crippled gentleman who has to be wheeled about in a
Bath-chair. Nobody who does not know what sailors will accomplish in
spite of difficulties could have believed that Captain Lambton would
bring his guns into action so soon after reaching Ladysmith, and
especially, as we heard afterwards, as one had been upset by a shell
from "Long Tom" as it was being drawn across level ground slowly by a
team of oxen. Evidently, however, the mishap had done no harm, for the
bluejackets were manning two 12-pounders that showed no sign of damage,
and both of them were making excellent practice. At the third round it
planted a shell in the enemy's battery, and the fifth put "Long Tom" out
of action for a time by disabling some of its gunners. Sir George
White's gradual withdrawal of his forces to positions prepared for
defence was therefore not harassed by shell fire from beyond the range
of our own field batteries.
Quite apart from these operations, but intended to fit in with them, was
the despatch of a flying column late on Sunday night to turn the enemy's
right flank or cut off his line of retreat in the direction of Van
Reenan's Pass. For either purpose, two battalions of infantry, though
they might be the bravest and the best, with a mountain-battery of
7-pounders carried on mules, did not seem quite adequate, but Major
Adye, of the Royal Irish Rifles, who acted as staff-officer guiding the
column, was confident of success, and glad of the chance to be with two
such battalions as the Royal Irish Fusiliers and the Gloucesters in such
an enterprise.
Possibly all might have gone well with it but for a deplorable accident.
In the dead of night some boulders rolling down from a hill startled the
transport and mountain-battery mules, which stampeded, taking with them
nearly all the reserve rifle ammunition. As to what happened after that,
accounts vary greatly. Few of the Gloucester men or Royal Irish
Fusiliers got back to tell the story, except as wounded men on parole,
and they had not seen the whole thing through. It seems certain,
however, from concordance of evidence, that the Gloucesters and
Fusiliers, instead of outflanking the Boers, were actually between two
strong bodies of Free State men, when they seized a strong position and
established themselves there. At any rate, they were attacked in turn
soon after daybreak by Boers who crept up the slopes in rear, firing on
them from both flanks--some say all round. Notwithstanding this, the
thousand men held their ground against odds until nearly every round of
ammunition had been expended, and the casualties numbered nearly a
hundred and fifty killed or wounded.
Both regiments begged that they might be allowed to charge the rough
slopes from which the ceaseless stings of rifle-fire came, and the
Fusiliers, whose colonel would have led them willingly enough, had their
bayonets fixed, when some one hoisted the white flag, and by this act
the remnants of two gallant regiments became prisoners of war. "Flags of
truce!" said an "old brag" who recounted the story, with tears in his
voice; "I wish they would leave the damned rags at home, or dye them all
khaki colour, so that neither Dutchmen nor us could ever see them."
News of that disaster travelled fast. It was told on the battlefield in
front of Ladysmith two hours later, and it probably had some effect on
the fortunes of a fight that cannot be recalled by Englishmen with
unmixed satisfaction. The result may be regarded as a drawn battle, in
that each side remained at the finish in possession of its own position,
but on us who watched every phase, first with confidence and then with
increasing anxiety, the impression made was a very unpleasant one,
closely akin to humiliation.
The Boers were left in command of heights on which, if given time, they
may plant artillery to shell the town and camp with a fire to which we
can make no effective reply until the quick-firing naval guns of heavy
calibre and long range are mounted. Bluejackets have been working hard
to that end all day, unmolested by the enemy, who have declared a truce
for twenty-four hours in order that the wounded of both sides may be
placed in comparative safety.
General Joubert has sent to us an ambulance with wounded under parole
from the captured column, and in exchange his surgeons have taken a
similar number of Boer wounded from our hospitals. All who have come in
speak highly of the treatment they have received at the enemy's hands.