COMRADES IN ARMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15664, 18 July 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

COMRADES IN ARMS.

BY A. A. GRACE.

At a dinner in London last month Sir Robert Baden-Powell, referring to the action of the Colonies during the South African war, said that for hard workers the Canadians could not bo beaten; for locality and for never being lost, the Australians surpassed any thing he had previously witnessed; but the New Zealanders were the bravest of them all. To bo appreciated is gratifying to any people; to be praised is, to us colonials, as pleasing as it is strange, and for us to bo praised by the defender of Mafeking is both remarkable and stimulating. No doubt Sir Robert Baden-Powell meant, and believed, what ho said, but, when the records of the regrettable South African war are searched it will be difficult to find the reason for his selecting the troops of this country for special praise. All Now Zealanders were, and aro to this day, proud'of the courage displayed by all of tho ten contingents which this country sent to the war, but wo have always extended the same admiration to the troops sent by our sister Dominions.

There is no doubt that at Sanna's Post our First Contingent played its part manfully. There Broad wood's column was ambushed by Do Wet, and amid the confusion and momentary panic which ensued tho Now Zealanders exhibited extraordinary calmness, and with Rimington's Scouts, Roberts' Horso, and the 3rd Mounted Infantry, staved off tho attack of the main Boer force, and covered the withdrawal of Broadwood's shattered batterjes. But it was not thought much of at the time. This, New Zealand Hill, Diamond Hill, Otto's Hoop, and Botha's Berg, were the principal engagements in which New Zealanders distinguished themselves and their country, but such actions as these are not to be compared with others in which our troops took no part.

There was, however, an action in which Australian troops covered themselves with glory which seems undying. There were but 400 of them, and they were cut off and surrounded by 2500 Boers with six guns, near Brakfontein, on the Elands River. During 11 days tho Boers fired 1800 shells within their lines. The river was half-a-milo off, and every drop of water for man and beast had to be carried that distance. But the brave band dug trenches and .shelters which are said to have been superior in depth and effectiveness to anything of this sort which the Boers themselves had made, and though they lost nearly one-fourth of their number, killed or wounded, and in spite of the jamming of their only gun and the death of the gallant Arnet, thoy showed no sign of being disheartened. Carrington's relieving column was repulsed, but still they held out. They swore an oath to' die before they would hoist the white flag in token of surrender. But, as they thus refused to yield to fortune, fortune yielded to them, as sho will when such brave men clench their teeth and put their backs to the wall, and on the eleventh day the troopers of Broadwood's column rode into the lines of the indomitable little garrison, reduced painfully in numbers, thin and war-worn, but the source of wonder and admiration to their rescuers. " When tho ballad-makers of .Australia," says one of the chroniclers of the war, "seek for a subject, lot them turn to Elands River, for there was no finer fighting in the war."

If Australians can tight thus, in the cause of tho Empire, imagine how they would fight for the protection of their hearths and homes and the freedom of their country!

But tho Canadians,, too, performed a notable action in that war, an action which proved their soldierly training, discipline, and courage to be of tho highest. When Lord Roberta surrounded Cronje's force at Paardeberg he placed SmithDorrien's 19th Brigade westward across the river. Canada supplied one of tho regiments which formed this brigade, which lias been described by one authority as "probably the very finest brigade in tha whole army." Its other regiments were the Gordons, the Cornwalls, arid the Shropshires. When Lord Roberts arrived on tho scene, their valour was put to a severe test. Giving orders to his infantry to close in on Cronjo's position as occasion served, he steadily bombarded the old Dopper General's pent-up troops, all his guns, some sixty in number, including two 4.7, and later augmented by the arrival of four 5-inch howitzers. For days tho thunderous cannonade continued, for eight days, to be precise; and on the night of the eighth day Smith-Dorrieii received orders to advance on the Boer trenches. The position of the 19th Brigade has been explained, and its foremost trenches, held by tho Gordons and the Canadians, were seven hundred yards from the enemy. Tho brigadier's orders were that tho Canadians were to advance, the Gordons were to support, the Shropshires were to take up a position on the left • flank of the attack so as to deal with any counter-attack the Boers might make, and tho Cornwalls, I presume, were held in reserve. Lot mo quote from the authority to whom L have previously referred. " The Canadians advanced in the darknoss of the early morning before the rise of the moon. The front rank held their rifles in tho left hand, and each extended right hand grasped tho sleeve of the man next it. The rear rank had their rifles slung, and carried spades. . . , 'Hie long line stole through a pitchy darkness, knowing that at any instant a blaze of lire such as flamed before tho Highlanders at Magersfontein, might crash out in front of them. A hundred, two, three, four, five hundred paces were taken. . . . On and on they stole, step by step, praying for silence. Would the gentle shuffle of feet be heard by the men who lay within stone-throw of them? Their hopes had begun to rise when there broke upon tho silence of the night a resonant metallic rattle, tho thud of a falling man, an empty clatter! 'They had walked'into a line of meat cans slusg upon a wire. By measurement it was fifty yards from the trench. At that instant a single rifle sounded, and the Canadians hurled themselves down upon the ground." Their bodies had scarcely touched the earth before the crashing riflo fire of the Boers swept the plain with torrents of bullets. To advance was impossible, to retreat was equally impracticable. So the Canadians lay where they were. But as the time of the rising of the moon approached, the companies on the left flank wore ordered to retire, and made their way back with little loss. The two companies on the right flank had gone into action supported. by the 7th company of Royal Engineers, who carried sacks of earth, and when dawn broke it was found that this part of the attack not only was secure but could enfilade tho first line of Boer trenches. That dawn ushered in the anniversary of Majuba day, and at six in the morning Cronje rode out of his lines and surrendered.

We may accept Sir Robert BadenPowell's praise of our countrymen, who fought in South Africa, but we must not forget such deeds as those of the Australians at Elands River, and of the Canadians at Paardoborg. Tho great gallantry displayed by our kinsmen of Canada and Australia is a thing which augers well for the preservation of the British Dominions beyond the seas. Scattered we are as a people, and scattered we must remain, but while each of the integral parts of tho British Empire is defended by such men as fought at Elands River, Paardeberg, and Sanna's Post, adequately organised, equipped, and trained, as is the case under such systems of defence as Australia and New Zealand have adopted, then the Empire need fear no peril, be it Teutonic or Mongolian, or emanating from any other earthly source.