Two Years on Trek Part 8

About 800 yards was the range, and we pushed up every rifle into the firing line, made head cover for ourselves, and kept up a furious fire for some little time. The second line coming up behind us, composed of the rear half companies, had some casualties, Lieut. Morphett being shot in the thigh, and one or two of the men being wounded. Private Bowles of F company was shot on the foot, through boot and all, by a dropping bullet; he was much astonished and spun round and round several times.

Soon afterwards B and C companies, under Major Panton and Capt.

Wroughton, came up to reinforce us, and they also were spread out behind rocks and told to keep up a continual fire. Probably owing to the fact that they could see nothing, the enemy gradually reduced their rifle fire until it almost ceased; but they now opened on us with a couple of pom-poms, fortunately for us not beginning until after we had reached the rocks and had established ourselves under cover. Almost at the same time, a heavy sh.e.l.l fire was commenced at us, but soon discontinued, as we afforded the enemy's gunners no object to shoot at. This sh.e.l.l fire was from our left front; we could not locate the gun, but wherever it was, it remained there, and in action, all the afternoon, although we were not afterwards troubled by it. The pom-poms came from the far right, where we could just distinguish the rocky tops of some elevated ground, and had they been closer would no doubt have done considerable damage, as they were quite on our right flank.

As though all this sh.e.l.l and rifle and pom-pom fire was not enough, we were now treated to a sh.e.l.l from the rear, which struck close to a man of B company and covered him with dust and dirt. Taking a man with me, I ran down into a safe spot, and we both waved our helmets vigorously for some minutes, when apparently we were observed from the battery which was firing at us, as no more sh.e.l.ls came over our way.

The intensity of our firing had now somewhat dropped, as had that of the enemy, neither of us giving the other much to fire at; but the Boers were very watchful, and you could not look over your rock without one or two shots whizzing past immediately.

There was nothing more to be done but to sit and wait; it was impossible to advance further, even if we had had orders to do so.

About five o'clock there was a tremendous outburst of firing, but not all in our direction; and then we saw, to our left rear, a battalion of Guards, (Coldstreamers they were) coming up towards the rocks. They went through precisely the same experience as we had, and after a while commenced company volleys at the opposite side of the ravine, where the Boers were concealed, and continued for some time to pour in consistent volley firing. Meantime the Boer fire dropped to almost nothing, but every now and then, whenever there was a longer interval than usual between the volleys of the Guards, the rattle and whizz of the Mausers developed suddenly into a furious hailstorm, and as quickly died away again, showing that the Boers had some system of control of fire.

General Bruce Hamilton came up to where I was and had a look at the position, and I pointed out to him the direction from which the pom-pom fire had come; he looked at the hills through his telescope, and said he saw some of the Boers' horses collected at the base of a rock, and would send a gun up to us to have a shot at them. The gun came up shortly afterwards, but it was then too late to see any distance, and the sh.e.l.ls fell short.

All the afternoon, a most interesting artillery duel had been going on between the 82nd Battery and the enemy's gun to which I have alluded, as being in position to our left front: our battery came into action near the cleft in the hill through which the road past Botha's Farm runs, and for some hours sh.e.l.led the Boer position on all sides. The Boers answered the fire pluckily, and sh.e.l.led the battery consistently for some time: we had a good view of the whole action, and it seemed marvellous that our guns could be worked at all in the face of the clouds of shrapnel which were hurtling through the air, all round the battery; but although they lost heavily in men and horses, they kept their guns going until it was too dark to see any longer.

Just as it was getting dusk, orders were received to withdraw from the position after dark, but to leave three companies on picket, and to send the remainder to the camp, which was being formed at Botha's Farm, behind the hill. B, C and E companies were therefore left on picket, and F company and the half of D returned to camp.

The remainder of the battalion had stayed in reserve behind the hill near the farm, G company being in advance somewhat and on the left of the 82nd Battery, and the others behind the hill, near the Farm.

Sad to relate, Captain Maguire was shot through the head whilst ascending the hill near the farm: he was not even in sight of the enemy, and must have been killed by a dropping bullet fired at extreme range.

Poor Maguire, always so cheery and full of spirits; it was his first and only action, and he was the only man of ours killed in the two days fighting.[8]

Lord Roberts wired to the War Office on the 12th of June as follows:

"After surrendering the city (Pretoria) Botha retired to a place about 15 miles east on the Middleburg road: he had a small force at first, but during the last few days the numbers increased, and his being so near the town kept up excitement in the country, prevented burghers from laying down their arms, and interfered with the collection of supplies.

"It became necessary to attack them. This I did yesterday.

"He held a very strong position (practically una.s.sailable in front) which enabled him to place the main portion of his troops on his flanks, which he knew from former experience were his vulnerable parts.

"I sent French, with Porter's and d.i.c.kson's Cavalry Brigades and Hutton's Mounted Infantry round by our left: Ian Hamilton with Broadwood's and Gordon's Cavalry Brigades, Ridley's Mounted Infantry, and Bruce Hamilton's Infantry Brigade round by our right.

"Both columns met with great opposition, but about three in the afternoon I saw two of Hamilton's Infantry battalions advancing to what appeared to be the key of the enemy's defence on their left flank. This was almost gained before dark and I ordered the force to bivouac on the ground they had won."

FOOTNOTE:

[8] Our Casualties on the 12th of June were:--

KILLED.

Captain C. Maguire.

WOUNDED.

2nd Lieut. G. Morphett.

Cr. Sergeant F. Akehurst, B Company.

Lce. Corporal A. Tester, G " (died of wounds) Private R. Davis G "

" W. Miller D "

" C. Divall F "

" J. Bowles F "

" A. Dennett F "

" F. Needham B "

" F. Guntley D "

" G. Wadham Vol. "

CHAPTER X.

TO SPRINGS.

Boers retreat during the night--Elandsrivier station--Through the Boer positions--To Pretoria--Off again--Irene---Bad state of clothing and boots--Difficulty of repairing the latter--To Springs--Clothing and stores obtained from Johannesburg.

During the night the Boers vacated their position absolutely, so on the 13th June we made an early start, and the Brigade moved round to the south-east in a circular direction and then headed east to Elandsrivier station. On the way we pa.s.sed some low hills on the south which had been held the day before by the enemy, and we saw the place, at the foot of the hills, where their horses had been standing, apparently for many hours. These were the horses which had been seen by the General, but which it was too dark for our sh.e.l.ls to reach. The ground was also strewn with Mauser cartridge papers and boxes, showing that they must have refilled their bandoliers at this place before starting. Their final position at Diamond Hill was plainly visible, due north of this spot, the intervening ground being flat and open veldt; and it was, possibly, very wise of them to have retreated during the night, and not exposed themselves to the risk of being caught with open country in their rear and no cover for miles.

Elandsrivier is a small roadside station, with no town or houses near.

The Boers had done all the damage they could, smashed the water-tank and pump, broken into the booking-office, looked into the safe with the aid of a hammer and cold chisel, and written a notice for us on a sheet of paper which we found pinned to the wall.

It was written in pencil and ran as follows:

"Sorry not to have found here the price of a ticket to St Helena.

DE VAN DER MERWE, Lieut.-Colonel Commanding the Potchefstroom Infantry.

Elandsrivier, 12th June, 1900."

Possibly Colonel De Van der Merwe has, ere this, been provided with a free pa.s.sage to the island he mentions!

The Camerons rejoined us on the 14th, having been detained with their baggage and the convoy all this time, and having to their great sorrow missed all the fighting.

On the next day, the 15th of June, the Brigade moved off towards Pretoria, pa.s.sing on the road the Diamond Mine, and entering the defile which had formed part of the main Boer position on the 12th. This defile had been, seemingly, held in great force by the enemy, and it was somewhere on the right of the defile that they had had their gun in position: the defile, which was the main road to Pretoria, wound in and out, the track threading its way among the hills for some considerable distance.

About half way through we pa.s.sed a farm with a large dam, and here there were numerous indications of the recent presence of a large body of Boers with their wagons, as the ground was covered for some s.p.a.ce with hoofmarks, remains of fires, cartridge papers, etc. This laager had been immediately in rear of the final Boer position, which we pa.s.sed, black and frowning, on our left; from the front it was steep and impa.s.sable and covered with huge rocks; on top, the hill sloped to the rear, and the descent on the enemy's side was easy, so that the position presented many points in favour of the Boers.

On either side of the defile, or pa.s.s, at this point were huge ravines covered with black rocks, running up into the hills: one of these ravines on our left was recognised as being the one which had lain between us and the enemy, and just beyond it was the hill which we had occupied.

We were now just clearing the defile, and the position revealed itself to us in all its ma.s.sive strength: on the right it ran back for miles, a huge wall of rock, black and glistening, and rising almost sheer out of the plain, but with a low glacis of gra.s.sy veldt in front; on the left the position was more in the nature of a range of gra.s.s covered hills, with some broken ground and a few isolated kopjes in front. This was the ground that we had manoeuvred over on the two previous days, and, having now pa.s.sed through the Boer position in two places, we were quite at a loss to understand why they did not make a better stand, and we thought ourselves very fortunate in having escaped with the moderate loss that we had experienced.

The road to Pretoria wound off to the right, and pa.s.sed for some miles at the base of this precipitous range of rocks, which continued to run in a northerly direction towards Pretoria.

We camped at night at the foot of these hills, at a farm called Schwartz Kopje; from here the range became lower and lower until it merged into the hills round Pretoria.

Around us were many farms, and some country houses belonging to Pretoria people, whilst a few miles to the north lay the railway line, and a large distillery at a spot called Eerstefabrieken.

Lord Roberts wired to the War Office on the 14th of June as follows:--

"As I telegraphed yesterday from our outposts 15 miles east of Pretoria, the Boers evacuated their position during the night of the 12th. They had paid so much attention to strengthening their flanks that their centre was weakly held, and as soon as this became evident on the 12th I directed Ian Hamilton to attack.