SKETCH OF THE WAR'S PROGRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 53, 3 March 1900, Page 3

SKETCH OF THE WAR'S PROGRESS.

BULLER'S SECOND MOVE

(WARREN'S ADVANCE TO

SPIONKOP

FOUR DAYS' TERRIBLE

FIGHTING

THE INFERNO ON THE

MOUNTAIN

From our War Correspondent

CAPE TOWN ; February 2, 1900, GENERAL BULLEII IN NATAL.

Since mailing my last despaten events have moved swiftly and not altogether satisfactorily in Natal. There has been a brilliant and hardly won. success, followed almost immediately by a, distinct set-back. To-day it is impossible to^ay what the real position is. The censorship has never been so strictly exercised, and the disposition of our forces along the Tugela River and the exact importance of the reverse at Spionkop is not thoroughly understood in civil circles here. All that is apparent is that after having successfully crossed the Tugela River on or about the 15th January, we have had to fall back south of the river once more. A connected story of the progress of events as far as they are known may be of interest. It was on Saturday, January 20, that General Sir Charles Warren, the hero of the Bechuanaland expedition of 1884, commenced his flanking movement. The disposition of our forces extended from Acton Homes, on the east, to Colenso, on the west, a distance of about 45 miles. The enemy had in consequence to split his' forces, but when General Warren surprised him jjiy crossing the Tugela at Trickard's Drift, he made an effort to concentrate his force, and a large party with, transport was seen moving from Mount Alice, on the north bank of the river, just south of Acton Homes. The Boers took up their position on Mount Tabanyania, a range of steep and lofty kopjes some fr.'e miles in length, on which the enemy had posted their artillery and lay entrenched in strong force. The key to their position was a precipitous and rocky eminence known as Spionkop. Those who know Lion's Head, overlooking- Capetown, would recognise its counterpart in Spionkop, As our. troops under General Warren approached the river, their advance was covered by a heavy and well directed fire from our naval gittts, temporarily posted on the south banks of the Tugela. The Eoyal Engineers had speedily erected two pontoons over the river, and in two days our whole force had crossed practically without opposition. The Boers, according1 to their own accounts, watched the passage of our troops in silence from their position in the hills.

A THOUSAND YARDS IN TEN

HOURS.

. Sir Charles decided from the outset to play the Boers at their own game. We advanced along the ridges of a few kopjes without opposition, but as ihe York and Lancaster Regiment, with the Lancaster Fusiliers and other details on the left, came to the crest of a high ridge which tapered into the plain, the enemy poured a severe fire into them. It was1 then that the storm of battle and thunder of war arose. It was five in the morning, and even at that early hour the sun was rendering the atmosphere stiflingly hot. The opposing forces were within a thousand yards of each other, but the Boers held all the best positions, with the result that a murderotis cross-fire was sent across our front line. Their Nordenfeldt was also playing havoc among our men ■with deadly effect, and' owing to the difficult nature of the country it was not advisable to immediately commence the advance. For ten hours that day a constant roll of musketry and a, constant roar of cannon continued, and when night fell we had advanced a thousand yards, and were bivouacking on our position. At daybreak on Sunday the attack •was resumed. It was discovered that the Boers still occupied the range of hills intersected by steep ravines where they had been the precedingday. Our forces commenced the task of driving them out in good heart early that morning. There was again continuous firing, but the progress was slow, and it was long before British pluck at last told its tale, a/nd the enemy fell back on another kopje. Then again the attack was gallantly resumed. Whenever the enemy was observed taking up a fresh position otir field batteries poured in showers of shrapnel, and the rapid movements of the guns were followed by accurate shooting, which must have distressed the enemy. At the close, of the day our total casualties had been 379, of -whom only a small proportion were, killed. After the two days' hard fighting we had advanced three miles. The third day of the battle, which will be known as the battle of Acton Homes, was distinguished by a brilliant feat of arms on the part of the Dublin Fusiliers, who. in face of a ierrible and devastating fire from the several ridsres occupied by the Boers, charged right up to one of their trenches, and occupied it although they were subjected to the concentrated fire of the enemy from various points. Another splendid piece of work was the capture of Bastion Hill by a. squadron of the South African Light Horse, who dismounted, crept round to the rear of the hill, nnd rapidly scnled its steep sides in fnce of a heavy fire. On reaching1 the summit they" were immediately obliged to lie down, so terrible was the hail of shot and shell from the enemy's Creusot g\ms and the Boer musketry which was poured into them. Mai'or Childe. who gallantly led th* assault, was struck by a shell on the head in fhe moment' of success, and instantly killed.

THE CAPTURE OF SPIONKOP. The fourth day of the battle culminated, after a furious engagement, in the capture of Spionkop, and the key to the Boer position, just as darkness fell. The Boers were surprised by a body of infantry under General Woodgaie, which left the British camp under the cover of darkness and noiselessly scaled, the precipices on the western face of Spionkop. The men reached the base of the mountain after a long and difficult detour about two o'clock in the mornIng, and gained the crest of the table

top without being observed by the enemy.

THE FIKST, SHOT

A Boer sentry then challenged tho daring intruders from a picket trench. His answer was n ringing 'British cheer and a bayonet charge, the sentry being- killed. The other Boers fled, and our leading section occupied their trench. Another trench was excavated before daybreak, and our men coolly awaited the stern work before them, iiy good luck a mist covered the mountain. The mist lifting for a moment, the little battalion was assailed by a heavy fire, to which a prompt reply was given. The interchange of shots continued without causing much loss until the mist disappeared about nine o'clock.'

A number of Boers Hading1 they were opposed and surprised, a considerable foiee crossed over to the right corner of the table; top, where Hie enemy were entrenched on the knolls of a .small kopje at the eastern ;ipex of the crest which recedes to a j kloof, where a commanding" ridge | rises, forming a second link on the j Boer left flunk. ! LYDDITE. ! While onr men were waiting tlie ■order lo advance the whole Boer position was subjected lo a heavy tire lof Lyddite and .shrapnel. The rifle ! fire had fallen off somewhat until | about nine o'clock, when the sun ! cleared away the mist. The Boers swept, the face of the table land with a haii of bullets at long- range, while I Creusot and Hot eh kiss shelled from the rid"1?. Our men began to fall fast, and at i one time it appeared that they would be pbhged to retire before overwhelming' odds, but they stuck to their position gallantly. The reinforcements icached them at two p.m. Before the main party arrived, however, the Boers rushed up to the trenches, pointed their rifles at our 1 men, and called on the section to surrender. Our men refused, and ere the ] latter could use their bayonets the j enemy fired, and rolled a number of I dead back into the trench. The battle continued all the afternoon Until late. While more infantry climbed the north-eastern face of the ■mountain on the left of the wide battlefield, pushing the Boers further in, the howitzers from the plain shelled I the enemy's sehanzes at Acton | Homes. ! No achievement of the war has probably equalled the splendid work of the King's Royal Rifles in faking- the kopje Spionkop,'so called from the facr that more than sixty years ago the Boer trekkers halted here, and from this hill spied the fair lands of what is now called Natal. This regiment be-

!longed to General Lyttelton's brigade, land was stationed on the other side of I the Tugela from Potdieter's Drift. The i regiment Avas seen to be *jn skirmishling1 order, making a demonstration across the veldt towards the mountain. No particular notice was at first taken .of these spots of kharki dotted over i the yellow-green plain, because the 'centre of interest was Warren's divis- ! ion on the top of the mountain, more ito the left of Tabanyama. These men were fighting hard and were beingseverely shelled by the Boers. One correspondent thus describes the scene:— ' I kept watching- these Rifles silently ' stealing1 nearer and nearer to the I kopje, the key of the whole position. ; There they began to mount—half a battalion on the face, fronting Mount j Alice, where the naval guns were, and the other half-battalion on the other i side. | When about half-way up the hill the Boers seem to have realised what danger menaced them, and opened fire on the intrepid invaders. Steeper and ; steeper became the hill, till at last our men had to scramble up on their hands ■and knees. Men were shot, falling- a i long distance down a steep declivity. Without any hesitation upward they crawled, occasionally sheltering beIhind boulders for breath, and to take a shot at the Boers, who were occai sJoually to be seen. i Before they reached the top, the Boer fire was very severe. One man was shot in the leg, but he continued Ito crawl on towards shelter. Another shot struck him in tile shoulder, and he fell several yards down till he was : stopped by a boulder, when he was again shot and killed. His officer, who ;was watching, assured me that the j shots were from the same Boer. A I young subaltern, whom I saw after ;the fight, was shot through the boot j without touching his toe; then he rejceived a bullet through the sleeve, and dirsctly after that he received one I through his jacket, between the arm and ribs. Eventually he was scratched ■by a bullet grazing his skull. He was \ quite sure that the same man fired ■ each time. J On arriving at the top they found | some sort of shelter, but continued to ! receive bullets and shells near them jfrom concealed shelters. Colonel RidI dell exposed himself with the determination of finding1 where the shells came from, and was shot dead. THE EVACUATION OF SPIONKOP AND THE RETREAT ACROSS THE TUGELA. But the brilliant success so hardly won was not to be permanent. On the same nigh,t, after our infantry had held the rocky summit for five hours, under perhaps the most terrible and accurate fire of modern warfare—certainly the fiercest of the campaign— the order was reluctantly given to abandon the position. One of the correspondents who was present gives the ifollowing account of what happened.: At sunrise the northern end of the plateau, especially the corner on the right, was found to be lined with Boer trenches. As the reinforcements reached the crest of Spionkop they rushed and crawled as far forward as possible. The space then became congested, and there was little or no cover at the captured end, where the bullets rained and the shell fire was heavy, and a number of our men were killed. Our men deserve the greatest praise for heroically maintaining their position for such a long period under such severely tr3 ring circumstances.

Watching the fight from" the opposite ridge, we believed all was going well, and that the gallant achievement of our men might lead to the complete capture of Spionkop, and that this would be followed by the storming of the Boer centre. Unfortunately there was no water at the top of Spionkop, and it was impossible to take guns up its precipitous sides.. while the lire from the enemy's masked guns on our artillery made the position untenable.. Only the heroic conduct of our officers and men prevented overwhelming1 numbers of the enemy rushing the position early in the day. The Boers exhibited splendid courage, some actually standing- 30 hours

in front of the firing line. Three times one party of the enemy coolly talked up to a trench occupied by the Lancashire Fusiliers, with hands up, palms outward, and their rifles slung in an endeavour to trick our men into believing they were surrendering. Someone fired a shot while they were parleying, our men thinking' the Boers were giving' in. Instantly there was a melee. Some of our men charged with the bayonet, others, grappled with the {Jeers,*but not before the latter had g-ot in a volley, tumbling' many head back into the trench. The next two occasions the Boers tried the trick our men fired and drove them oil:. When The fight was raging1 incessantly all day the enemy's shells and

v desperate rifle fire and Maxim automatic shells caused great havoc. Ac the time of writing1 no complete statement has been made as to out losses during" tlmt magnificent but disastrous day. Undoubtedly they were very severe. Among the Colonial contingents alone 43 were killed and 122 wounded, while a considerable number art- known to have been taken prisoners It was not the Colonials ,vho bore the brunt of the lighting1 on this occasion, though they have evidently brilliantly distinguished themselves. If their loss was so heavy then, what must have been the loss among1 those devoted battalions who I held an untenable position for lire hours, a position which was a verit- ■ able .shell trap, on which the enemy's puns were carefully laid, and where Ino cover of any kind was available ? The march back across the Tugela i was brilliantly executed without fur- ! ther loss, and it is cheering- to know [that our soldiers are absolutely un* jdaunted by their terrible experience, lof the pai-t ten days. General Euller ! in a- stiiriug speech to the troops eon- ! o-ratulaiod them on having- achieved 1 a brilli-nt feat of arms, which most worthhy uphold the traditions of the British Army. "They must not im- | aglne," he said, "that the work of that ! week had been thrown away because 'we had had to abandon the position. lln his opinion we had by the work ! that had . been done, gained the key i to the road to Ladysmith, and he add--led significantly. "We hope to be there within a week." At the time of writ- ! ing- the troops nt Spearman's Camp, ! the British headquarters, are recoverI ing" after their arduous work, and are | ready to resume the inarch on LadyI smith. ! The besieged garrison have pluckily ! held their own all this time, and though no news of importance has come since I last wrote, it is known : that the town was safe two days ag-o. ! LORD METHUEN AT MODDEB RIVER,

I The camp at Modeler River has re* i mained very quiet now for several weeks, in fact e>ver since the check to I our troops at Magersfontein. On January 134. General Hector Macdonald . arrived there and took over the command of the Highland Brigade which has been vacant since the death of General Wauchope on the iield at j Magersfontein. The. Boer snipers | have been waxingl bolder of late, and there have been some lively exchanges of rifle- fire from time to time between i them and our outposts. Of conrse the i usual artillery fire continues intennit- | tently. One of the difficulties our ! gunners have 1o contend ■with is the fact that Ihe Boers have .apparently ;an elaborate system of look-out men, {who immediately signal the first sign of fire from our batteries, thus enabling1 the enemy to take shelter in I bomb-proof trenches. The naval guui ners are evidently aware of this fact, ; and a few days ago, when about midday they observed a thunderstorm : : blowing up, they laid their guns on the Boer position. Then the storm, i which as usual was preceded by a ; blinding' dust storm, struck the camp, | everything1 being- hidden from.. view i within a few dozen yards. This was our gunners' opportunity, and making ! the most of their time they rapidly ! pumped lyddite into the Boer lines, j about a dozen shells being- fired.bei fore the sand storm subsided sufii- | cieutly to distinguish objects at any I distance, nor could the Boers ta.l<e i warning- by the report of the g-uns, | for diiring' the time of firmg1 it was | thundering- heavily. Practically that !is all of interest that has happened at i Modrler River since I wrote last. It is I reported that Lord Kitchener has ! taken over the command there vice ! General Methuen, but there is no con- | firmation. If true it would be a very ; welcome piece of news. I THE SIEGE OF KIMBER- ! LEY. | Kimberley continues well and coni fident. A private letter received this week says that the town could easily hold out another two months, though the majority of the population are living on nothing- better than horseflesh. The sang- froid with which the inhabitants regard the siege is delightful. Mr Rhodes is planning- all sorts of improvements for the town. New streets are being laid out, and even I the fact that the Boers are pouringl 500 shells a day into undefended parts of the town has not dismayed or broken the spirit of the people of the gallant city. They find time in their own anxious predicament to enquire after the progress of our troops in other parts oi' the theatre of war, and the Mayor in a patriotic message'replying to a message of sympathy from the towns of South Africa said, "We | are determined to hold out in, the in-tei-ests of national honour." All the same several houses have been wrecked by the Boer cannonade. The hospital has been hit several times, and { the large Red Cross flags which fly therefrom are totally disregarded. To this kind of rascality we have become accustomed. Shrapnel even exploded over the carts following behind a hearse which was proceeding to the cemetery, one' shell bursting in the cemetery itself during the funeral service. Considering the fact that 1500 shells were discharged into the town in three days it is really marvellous how slight was the damage done. A few hundred pounds would cover it all. THE SIEGE OP MAFEKING.

News of Mafeking has been scanty, and principally confined to rumours. There is a strong; report emanating from a Boer source at Delagoa Bay, where Transvaal news filters through, that the town has been relieved. A native report from Moehudi states that patrols of the garrison were seen outside the town for a distance of some miles on the 22nd. If that be so the probable fact is that the Boers who have been besieging1 the gallant little town so ineffectually for the past three months have withdrawn in. order to reinforce their comrades in Natal or at Eensburg. It is just possible that Colonel Plumer has joined hands with his confrere from the North, When last heard of Plumer was some dis-

tance south of Gaberones, and abou 90 miles north of Mai'eking. He ha< with him the armoured train, and hai located the enemy's force ten mile: away, in a strongly entrenched posi tion. There then seemed to be ever; likelihood of an important engage merit. There is reason to believe tha communication by rail and telegrap! with his force had been cut off north wards of Gabprones by n Boer patrol However. Colonel IMuuu'i1 is in quite strong enough force to hold his owr against any Boer force that can bt brought against him so far north. GENERAL FRENCH AT RENDSBERG. Here again there is comparatively little of importance to record. Tht Boers are reported to be taking then ease within Colesberg, while our artillery pound the neighbouring hills will: lyddite. Unr forces almost surrounc the Boer position, and with the object of completing the circuit a demonstration was made on January 2ti with the object of occupying the important position known as Bastard's Nek, tc the north of Colesberg". It is probable thai information was traitorously convoyed to the enemy of our intentions, la. any case the hills were found swnrming with Boers, and whilst our men were waiting for reinforcements to come up the enemy were themselves strongly reinforced from the direction of N'orvnl's Pont. We shelled the hills vigorously for some time, but at about live o'clock as darkness was beginning to come on it was decided to abandon the attempt. The Boers had one gun, which they got into position and used all day, but it did no damage. Mean-

while General Clements was working round on the south-east by Kleintoren, but as he was driving the enemy from the kopjes in great numbers the Boers got a long range gun into position, anl we retired gradually. The Boers, apparently imagining that it was a retreat, dashed out in pursuit to the j number of 400, Three companies of the Worcester Regiment, however, lay hidden in a kopje between the enemy and our retiring forces, and opened a vigorous rifle fire upon the advancing Boers, knocking several over and corn- : pelling them to gallop away with considerable loss of dignity. The New ! Zealandcrs took part in the demonstra-' tion, and acquitted themselves well, j One little incident Ihat occurred on' the same morning is worth recording. Lieutenant Birt, of the 3rd Dragoon ; Guards, on remount service, accompanied by his servant, whilst looking1 for horses in the plain behind Palmietfontein, discovered twenty Boers re- | tiring to their picket. Some distance behind one of the ' Boers left the farm, and Lieutenant Birt making a dash cut him off and heid him up. The Boer surrendered, j As Birt was bringing in his prisoner j the twenty Boers from the picket gal- \ loped after him and opened a heavy \ lire, badly wounding- both horses. One j shot knocked his ritle out of his hand, ) but dismounting he recovered it and galloped on. Birt and his servant managed to get away with their prisoner, who was much chagrined, and I stated he never thought Lieutenant. Birt would get away with him,. !