THE PASSAGE OF THE TUGELA
Hospital Ship 'Maine': March 4, 1900.
Since I finished my last letter, on February the 21st, I have found no
time to sit down to write until now, because we have passed through a
period of ceaseless struggle and emotion, and I have been seeing so many
things that I could not pause to record anything. It has been as if a
painter prepared himself to paint some portrait, but was so fascinated
by the beauty of his model that he could not turn his eyes from her face
to the canvas; only that the spectacles which have held me have not
always been beautiful. Now the great event is over, the long and bloody
conflict around Ladysmith has been gloriously decided, and I take a few
days' leisure on the good ship _Maine_, where everyone is busy getting
well, to think about it all and set down some things on paper.
First and foremost there was the Monte Cristo ridge, that we had
captured on the 18th, which gave us the Green Hill, Hlangwani Hill, and,
when we chose to take it, the whole of the Hlangwani plateau. The Monte
Cristo ridge is the centrepiece to the whole of this battle. As soon as
we had won it I telegraphed to the _Morning Post_ that now at last
success was a distinct possibility. With this important feature in our
possession it was certain that we held the key to Ladysmith, and though
we might fumble a little with the lock, sooner or later, barring the
accidents of war, we should open the door.
As Monte Cristo had given Sir Redvers Buller Hlangwani, so Hlangwani
rendered the whole of the western section (the eastern section was
already in our hands) of the Colenso position untenable by the enemy,
and they, finding themselves commanded and enfiladed, forthwith
evacuated it. On the 19th General Buller made good his position on Green
Hill, occupied Hlangwani with Barton's Brigade, built or improved his
roads and communications from Hussar Hill across the Gomba Valley, and
brought up his heavy guns. The Boers, who were mostly on the other side
of the river, resisted stubbornly with artillery, with their
Vickers-Maxim guns and the fire of skirmishers, so that we suffered some
slight loss, but could not be said to have wasted the day. On the 20th
the south side of the Tugela was entirely cleared of the enemy, who
retired across the bridge they had built, and, moreover, a heavy battery
was established on the spurs of Hlangwani to drive them out of Colenso.
In the afternoon Hart's Brigade advanced from Chieveley, and his
leading-battalion, under Major Stuart-Wortley, occupied Colenso village
without any resistance.
The question now arose--Where should the river be crossed? Sir Redvers
Buller possessed the whole of the Hlangwani plateau, which, as the
reader may perceive by looking at the map opposite p. 448, fills up the
re-entrant angle made opposite Pieters by the Tugela after it leaves
Colenso. From this Hlangwani plateau he could either cross the river
where it ran north and south or where it ran east and west. Sir Redvers
Buller determined to cross the former reach beyond Colenso village. To
do this he had to let go his hold on the Monte Cristo ridge and resign
all the advantages which its possession had given him, and had besides
to descend into the low ground, where his army must be cramped between
the high hills on its left and the river on its right.
There was, of course, something to be said for the other plan, which was
advocated strongly by Sir Charles Warren. The crossing, it was urged,
was absolutely safe, being commanded on all sides by our guns, and the
enemy could make no opposition except with artillery. Moreover, the army
would get on its line of railway and could 'advance along the railroad.'
This last was a purely imaginary advantage, to be sure, because the
railway had no rolling-stock, and was disconnected from the rest of the
line by the destruction of the Tugela bridge. But what weighed with the
Commander-in-Chief much more than the representations of his lieutenant
was the accumulating evidence that the enemy were in full retreat. The
Intelligence reports all pointed to this situation. Boers had ridden off
in all directions. Waggons were seen trekking along every road to the
north and west. The camps between us and Ladysmith began to break up.
Everyone said, 'This is the result of Lord Roberts's advance: the Boers
find themselves now too weak to hold us off. They have raised the
siege.'
But this conclusion proved false in the sense that it was premature.
Undoubtedly the Boers had been reduced in strength by about 5,000 men,
who had been sent into the Free State for its defence. Until the Monte
Cristo ridge was lost to them they deemed themselves quite strong enough
to maintain the siege. When, however, this position was captured, the
situation was revolutionised. They saw that we had found their flank,
and thoroughly appreciated the significance and value of the long high
wedge of ground, which cut right across the left of their positions, and
seemed to stretch away almost to Bulwana Mountain. They knew perfectly
well that if we advanced by our right along the line of this ridge,
which they called 'the Bush Kop,' supporting ourselves by it as a man
might rest his hand on a balustrade, we could turn their Pieters
position just as we had already turned their entrenchments at Colenso.
Therein lay the true reason of their retirement, and in attributing it
either to Lord Roberts's operations or to the beating we had given them
on the 18th we made a mistake, which was not repaired until much blood
had been shed.
I draw a rough diagram to assist the reader who will take the trouble to
study the map. It is only drawn from memory, and its object is to show
how completely the Monte Cristo ridge turned both the line of
entrenchments through Colenso and that before Pieters. But no diagrams,
however exaggerated, would convince so well as would the actual ground.
[Illustration: Plan of the Colenso Position.]
In the belief, however, that the enemy were in retreat the General
resolved to cross the river at A by a pontoon bridge and follow the
railway line. On the 21st, therefore, he moved his army westward across
the Hlangwani plateau, threw his bridge, and during the afternoon passed
his two leading infantry brigades over it. As soon as the Boers
perceived that he had chosen this line of advance their hopes revived.
'Oh,' we may imagine them saying, 'if you propose to go that way, things
are not so bad after all.' So they returned to the number of about nine
thousand burghers, and manned the trenches of the Pieters position, with
the result that Wynne's Lancashire Brigade, which was the first to
cross, soon found itself engaged in a sharp action among the low-kopjes,
and suffered a hundred and fifty casualties, including its General,
before dark. Musketry fire was continuous throughout the night. The 1st
Cavalry Brigade had been brought in from Springfield on the 20th, and on
the morning of the 22nd both the Regular and Irregular Cavalry were to
have crossed the river. We accordingly marched from our camp at the neck
between Cingolo and Monte Cristo and met the 1st Cavalry Brigade, which
had come from Chievejey, at the pontoon bridge. A brisk action was
crackling away beyond the river, and it looked as if the ground scarcely
admitted of our intervention. Indeed, we had hardly arrived when a
Staff Officer came up, and brought us orders to camp near Hlangwani
Hill, as we should not cross that day.
Presently I talked to the Staff Officer, who chanced to be a friend of
mine, and chanced, besides, to be a man with a capacity for sustained
thought, an eye for country, and some imagination. He said: 'I don't
like the situation; there are more of them than we expected. We have
come down off our high ground. We have taken all the big guns off the
big hills. We are getting ourselves cramped up among these kopjes in the
valley of the Tugela. It will be like being in the Coliseum and shot at
by every row of seats.'
Sir Redvers Buller, however, still believing he had only a rearguard in
front of him, was determined to persevere. It is, perhaps, his strongest
characteristic obstinately to pursue his plan in spite of all advice, in
spite, too, of his horror of bloodshed, until himself convinced that it
is impracticable. The moment he is satisfied that this is the case no
considerations of sentiment or effect prevent him from coming back and
starting afresh. No modern General ever cared less for what the world
might say. However unpalatable and humiliating a retreat might be, he
would make one so soon as he was persuaded that adverse chances lay
before him. 'To get there in the end,' was his guiding principle. Nor
would the General consent to imperil the ultimate success by asking his
soldiers to make a supreme effort to redress a false tactical move. It
was a principle which led us to much blood and bitter disappointment,
but in the end to victory.
Not yet convinced, General Buller, pressing forward, moved the whole of
his infantry, with the exception of Barton's Brigade, and nearly all the
artillery, heavy and field, across the river, and in the afternoon sent
two battalions from Norcott's Brigade and the Lancashire Brigade--to the
vacant command of which Colonel Kitchener had been appointed--forward
against the low kopjes. By nightfall a good deal of this low, rolling
ground was in our possession, though at some cost in men and officers.
At dusk the Boers made a fierce and furious counter-attack. I was
watching the operations from Hlangwani Hill through a powerful
telescope. As the light died my companions climbed down the rocks to the
Cavalry camp and left me alone staring at the bright flashes of the guns
which stabbed the obscurity on all sides. Suddenly, above the booming of
the cannon, there arose the harsh rattling roar of a tremendous
fusillade. Without a single intermission this continued for several
hours. The Howitzer Battery, in spite of the darkness, evidently
considered the situation demanded its efforts, and fired salvoes of
lyddite shells, which, bursting in the direction of the Boer positions,
lit up the whole scene with flaring explosions. I went anxiously to bed
that night, wondering what was passing beyond the river, and the last
thing I can remember was the musketry drumming away with unabated
vigour.
There was still a steady splutter at dawn on the 23rd, and before the
light was full grown the guns joined in the din. We eagerly sought for
news of what had passed. Apparently the result was not unfavourable to
the army. 'Push for Ladysmith to-day, horse, foot, and artillery' was
the order, 'Both cavalry brigades to cross the river at once.' Details
were scarce and doubtful. Indeed, I cannot yet give any accurate
description of the fighting on the night of the 22nd, for it was of a
confused and desperate nature, and many men must tell their tale before
any general account can be written.
What happened, briefly described, was that the Boers attacked heavily at
nightfall with rifle fire all along the line, and, in their eagerness to
dislodge the troops, came to close quarters on several occasions at
various points. At least two bayonet charges are recorded. Sixteen men
of Stuart Wortley's Composite Battalion of Reservists of the Rifle
Brigade and King's Royal Rifles showed blood on their bayonets in the
morning. About three hundred officers and men were killed or wounded.
The Boers also suffered heavily, leaving dead on the ground, among
others a grandson of President Kruger. Prisoners were made and lost,
taken and rescued by both sides; but the daylight showed that victory
rested with the British, for the infantry were revealed still
tenaciously holding all their positions.
At eight o'clock the cavalry crossed the river under shell fire directed
on the bridge, and were massed at Fort Wylie, near Colenso. I rode along
the railway line to watch the action from one of the low kopjes. A
capricious shell fire annoyed the whole army as it sheltered behind the
rocky hills, and an unceasing stream of stretchers from the front bore
true witness to the serious nature of the conflict, for this was the
third and bloodiest day of the seven days' fighting called the battle of
Pieters.
I found Sir Redvers Buller and his Staff in a somewhat exposed position,
whence an excellent view could be obtained. The General displayed his
customary composure, asked me how my brother's wound was getting on, and
told me that he had just ordered Hart's Brigade, supported by two
battalions from Lyttelton's Division, to assault the hill marked '3' on
my diagram, and hereinafter called Inniskilling Hill. 'I have told Hart
to follow the railway. I think he can get round to their left flank
under cover of the river bank,' he said, 'but we must be prepared for a
counter-attack on our left as soon as they see what I'm up to;' and he
then made certain dispositions of his cavalry, which brought the South
African Light Horse close up to the wooded kopje on which we stood. I
must now describe the main Pieters position, one hill of which was about
to be attacked.
It ran, as the diagram shows, from the high and, so far as we were
concerned, inaccessible hills on the west to the angle of the river, and
then along the three hills marked 3, 2, and 1. I use this inverted
sequence of numbers because we were now attacking them in the wrong
order.
Sir Redvers Buller's plan was as follows: On the 22nd he had taken the
low kopjes, and his powerful artillery gave him complete command of the
river gorge. Behind the kopjes, which acted as a kind of shield, and
along the river gorge he proposed to advance his infantry until the
angle of the river was passed and there was room to stretch out his,
till then, cramped right arm and reach round the enemy's left on
Inniskilling Hill, and so crumple it.
This perilous and difficult task was entrusted to the Irish Brigade,
which comprised the Dublin Fusiliers, the Inniskilling Fusiliers, the
Connaught Rangers, and the Imperial Light Infantry, who had temporarily
replaced the Border Regiment--in all about three thousand men, supported
by two thousand more. Their commander, General Hart, was one of the
bravest officers in the army, and it was generally felt that such a
leader and such troops could carry the business through if success lay
within the scope of human efforts.
The account of the ensuing operation is so tragic and full of mournful
interest that I must leave it to another letter.