FIGHTING NEAR COLESBERG.

New Zealand Mail, 8 February 1900, Page 28

FIGHTING NEAR COLESBERG.

THE BATTLE AT BEXSBERG. ARTILLERY DUELLING. A REVERSE TO GENERAL FRENCH’S COLUMN. COLONEL WATSON’S IMPETUOSITY. DETAILS OF THE LOSSES. NEW ZEALANDERS AGAIN IN ACTION. HARMLESS BOER ARTILLERY. " A RUNAWAY TRAIN. MORE NEW S~OF TROOPER BRADFORD. (Per Press Association's Correspondent.) BEXSBERG, January 7. (Six miles south of Colesberg).. In iny last letter (to 29th December) I had little of importance to write about, and plenty of time for writing it. Now the conditions are exactly reversed. However, in the short and uncertain time at my disposal I will endeavour to briefly recount all our proceedings during the past week. On tho 30th, at 2.30 a.in., the Cavabiiiiers, two guns of the Royal Horse Artillery and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles left camp in the order named, under Colonel Porter, to make a reconnaissance. At dawn we passed through our line of outposts, and soon ascertained that the Boors had, as oersistentiy rumoured, evacuated their position at Taibashlaagte and retreated towards Colesoerg. We pushed on to get touch or them and to locate their new position. A few miles further on we cauri°udy approached the Rensberg range or kopjes running across our front and at right angles to the railway "line’ along which we were working. Here we expected to find tho enemy, but round this strong position had also been abandoned, and on topping the ricNo we looked across about four miles of flat veldt to another ranae c* kopjes •r y ?T d £ hich ] ?y tbe town of Colesberg ltscir. the mam line crosses the Orange nver at Norval’s Pont, whence it Is a straight run to Bloemfontein. About a nine and a hair away lies Hariing’s harm. The two guns and our two companies nel u tire Rensberg range, while the Carabimers went forward across the plain towards the Colesberg ran«e Hero tne Boers were located. ” Hedger the owner or a farm in view, was with us anxiousiy awaiting his opportunity to revmt his farm to see "in what of a jumble the Boers had left "it Alter waiting an hour or two in our position the two guns wero ordered to move forward as rapidly as possible to Jieit tne Boers beiore they brought up then- guns which were being hurried up from Colesberg. Our No. 2 Company was told oft-to cover their advance,_ and m a few minutes ihev were cantering away across the veldt An an extended lme, with the guns following fm IfrA about ™ yar l s J rom Boer hills, bang ame a Meil, and burst just in front ?,! F 1 9 U] ekly followed by another just behind them. The guns at once galloped away to a flank position,

CAME INTO ACTION and sent shell after shell sineiii ■ ' : 1 to the kopjes opposite. A Boer shells burst harmlessly j,? company. Then, they were’ to our guns and a pretty little I duel ensued. In the meantime"rft I half our company went on " atuf I cupied some kopjes to the left I to prevent the Boers getting- ronIPA ‘ 1 enfilading our guns with g r “‘ i 4 ;« I The Boer gun was a light which could let off eight or I in rapid succession, each shot f "I about ten yards further th an I vious one, but unless the Bhell | directly hit a man or horse it ■ Ol I little damage, This gun 'has wvwU'l christened “ten a penny.”' ThkLaffUa mechanism of one of our ems T* s *'-] wrong, and so temporarily put th» ' ] out of action f and as no particular otfS ‘ could be gained by continuing the two guns lumbered up and off behind the kopje already ‘WajSsfjl our men. “Ten a penny” hgZffj-fo.' all the way, bnt only succeeded slightly wounding one In the meantime Mr Hedger hadM ’ J out to his farm with an officer 0 f p Carabiniere. _ On approaching it '.dp j saw it occupied by men in slouch tar ' and took them to be our men, huh 1 covered too late that they ’.vere Bo«i' ; '1 and both were taken prisoftens USEFUL SERVICE. No. 2 Company remained hi R e j r i tion all day carefully watching the'ißßl in their extended position. He fteaflr 1 ones were about 2500 yards away"---ijji could bs plainly seen moving ate--'-' building stofte emplacements for-'- theT guns and shelters for their fiflemiF 1 ' No 1 Company came up from RensW ! and held anotner kopje still mere - left, and we thus prevent c 1 anv jjP tempt on the part, of the Boers to oft" round our left flank and re-occupy b|s berg and cut us off—a game they arf much addicted to nlaying. ' *- In the evening No. 1 Ccnroany weV relieved by the New South Wales Lais 1 cers, and expected a long march'back'to Arundel; but on reaching Rensbdf they round that nearly the whole the Arundel camp had arrived there* and our own camp was already pitchy by the men who are always ’nec6Ssarijf r: left behind, such ae the cooks, some or the farriers,. those whose horses ■ eft’ ' sick, etc. .The Royal Engineers'.‘nr ! paired in about half an hour the reft-.'' way, which the Boers imagined they had rendered impassable :’.,r maiy weeks, and so enabled all the vast-hob lection of_stores and transport at Af% ' del to be brought up at* once.' HARDSHIPS ON THE VELDT. ('

No. 2 Company bivouacked on. t m j.cpje they occupied (since named Porter’s Rill).. We had all started qnf ‘ that morning expecting he be back a. Arundel by midday and so were quite unprepared to biveuack, and only bad a small supply of food, and we hadcome across no water ail day. In the evea- , ing a small spring was discovered, afid the poor horses were able to get’as indifferent drink. A strong line of- outposts was put out for the night, snd'te , watch all possible approaches. Then »"J cold, sleepless and anxious night m passed. The Boers, however, rercamed quiet, and did not shell our company cf 1 dawn, as was fully expected. At about 6 a.m. (31st December);® water-cart and some supplies were sent ; out to the company, which jgain sal , to remain all day in occupation of Pan ■ tor's Hill. At midday our boys LatPN A .SLIGHT DIVERSION. H \ Four Boers were observed .to- ’don® t out on to the plain and drive in soars. . norses. Colonel Porter directed .-/aw 1 as long as they confined their attentive to the horses they, were not to-be filed fj on. Two of them, however, when-.® , horses were rounded up, became iaqaisk tive and advanced towards our positkffii ~ evidently trying to get a look at back of it. They made straight for'* . gateway in a wire fence abom yards away, and our h-oy? get ready SP awaited their arrival there. -Be&ft’ ( they got there, however, they eith# saw our horses or our in<-‘H inovpig among the rocks, and got hub nefc-re they had made up they minds what to do they ;ound ihenrsfilw* under a pretty hot fire, and galtaw away as hard as fiver they could. soon caught uo tho other two, JM joined in their Sight, and our buuew : continued to whizz all round They seemed to reach cover safejßtW/is we afterwards ascertained frori) able Kaffir prisoner that one of had been shot through thehedfe ouel Porter only remarked, “ft think they will try that garif again.'” In the evening No. 1 relieved No. 2 Company Lorn LONG AND WEARY VlGiIM"!' 1 and enabled them, to return, new camp at Rensberg, they, ffiffl-lj been continuously on duty lor 'PIJJ?. t four hours, with very little rest"-',-.(V On arriving in camp after dark .ft )f ( round that the 2nd Brigade, C0B! ”‘S or the 10th Hussars,- ftfcii Drrtgoq%,.-> of the- Royal Berkshire Riinington Scouts and teq g a!,s /'T .; Royal Horse Artillery, hsd od on a night march to got- rigat. the Boer position, if possftMfcinfantry wero being carried time in mule waggons, some;of';w....;u were borrowed from each _ The dwwn of the New Year ■£ the sound of ' '"'^^s A -(DISTANT which boomed and crashed santly for several lionrs. . - -ftest -.-1 camp at Rensberg could first) octtj m

r.’ # : ! £or of the Boers’ “Long thOV » nTttei-patter of- their '“ton TolD ’ the sharp crack of; their * ?!Ss q&-firer@, uud, the . contmu-, H ° Sing -of our Horse Artillery 12OUS K hut nothing could be seen, every glass and telescope in towards Colesberg. Company expected to have a li °'h needed da.fs rest in camp, but Vtnrned out a delusion, as no less ItVfrre times did they, turn out and only to. receive - the order s and remain ready, . Abput.. forty men were also sent off in detachf - oad times to escort- ammunient and s&iea to the front. " These «ea onfy went, as far as Porter’s Hid, Stdour miles away, where they were feed and theij.'-waggons handed over, wSher escort,, sent; back from the front, who. kpew the way, so .. they S disappointed at seemg nothing. of condoled ourselves with the. +Sneht thatUthey also serve ttho only !i; n Taha waiii/handi that our-1 turn -; S d theVlsl.Brigade would soon come. . a. dangerous SITUATION. In. we afternoon a force- of about 100 dismounted‘meii from the cavalry 5 Mounted Infantry and Lieutenant LmdWa division from No. 1 Company about twenty-five strong, sallied forth from Porter’s Hid to try and gam possession of a point on the Boer position opposite, which had apparently been almost evacuated. For* some time the advance was splendidly carried tut, and looked as if it would be entirely successful. Our men advanced across the . rocky ground, taking advantage of every hit of cover, and in comparative safety from the Mauser. rifle 1 fire opposite; but on reaching a certain point they suddenly came into . a Very hot Crossfire from a kopje from which they had previously been covered. - Heavy filing on both - sides continued, and we held our ground,, being well.sheltered behind rocks and stones;, biit .Colonel Porter, seeing that, further" advance was impossible ‘ 'without supports, ordered a retirement, and sent Majof Robin across to bring .them, in. The ■ retirement was the -most - danger- - ous part of the business, : as the; Boers/; ooming round,: wefre able to ■ -command ■ the tgvoimd, over 3 which the party had to jretiini *. and in doing ; so; had necessarily fo expose themselves. It was fortunately, carried out without loss, although bullets were humming all round. The "whole of Lindsay’s division seem to bear charmed lives. Again, as at Jeasfontein Farm, many of his men had i miraculous escapes. No one was hurt. ...... _ The guns which were on Porter’s Hill shelled the Boers both during the advance and the retirement, and probably caused the Boer fire to be unsteady and'inaccurate. The Boers lost some men, probably* about ten or twelve. A HARD DAY’S BATTLE. It was hot till the evening that we got anything more definite than wild rumours as to what had taken place at the front, under General French. Wo had'heal’d the Artillery firing more or less.incessantly all day. All the Boer guns had been temporarily silenced, the Berkshire Regiment Jhad occupied .a strong position overlooking Oolesberg, and. only, about 800 yards from a similar position occupied by Boers, oppo®de; No one on either side dared put tneir head above the rocks, under pain of being immediately picked off by anopposing marksman from a loophole. A poor young officer of the Berkshires attempted to have a look through, his passes to see if. he could see any Boers to fire at, and immediately got a bullet through his head. The 10th Hussars and four guns Royal Horse Artillery adash right round to the back 2 Position -and located all'; laagers^ and . successfully planted-csome: shells rinto;.theim .Thoy;: ran® mnden. ,fire .at ..times,." The,. oth-Dragoons also did some good work wW o ot,k s ? mo kopjes- The day . 1 . v .f &. rea £ success, the Boers losing" ’H.korses, and probably in men 13 hard to ascertain theirlosses m men.. foS. Ur J OSSes ,M, er , 6: ~ one officer and woSnd“I n kled 3114 twenty-seven pOOT° rfcly af * cr our “rival at Rensberg TRQOPER BRADFORD’S GRAVE,, station ! ° V6r^d c \°se to the railway w °. u r la st hopes that he A Dutclt 3Qln -FK P -./dispelled, who had ra ßway station! ffie hiffi J?“ said th at ;: since scious anH e +k k i m i. h ad been rinconin two nlaroa^TT 110 keen-wounded 18th He , w “. wounded on. the A h and died on the 28th. wal buried°iv 10 - t i L H°y a l Hussars had a W,i by kra side. Each grave ten the DlP J> Ver on which was writfrom thei? e ridently taken . dates of their car ds, and the sight to Rea deaths. It was a; pathetic soldiers ench^k 6 ? rayes °f two good spot in Mid r come bo this lone opposite from the extreme his life for the* e^ rt k to give up pifie. ■ sa k© of orir great Em■'ir . /f-TRAIN WRECKED. which 10 ? 11 * t} iirty-six trucks railway'station fading at Rensberg .‘Poline toward® rf?'®-? down .- the gained m^entum° l6sl} i re i ey SOQn within two mil* 1 ’ i an , d dashed on-to Boer poSion 6 ?. of the “Nek” in the blown up bhe line had been U P- The front trucks went on

; - safely for some little way over the break, but the rear half of the train ■ came, .to terrible grief. It . contained •, 22,000. rations, 300 gallons of rum, a large ..quantity of lime juice, chocolate and immense, quantities of forage and - miscellaneous stores. The loss to us is really a trifle, and was not felt by ■ us. individually at all. We still got out 1 rations of rum and chocolate, and within two days all thje lost stores were replaced. It was the gain to the Boers which was our trouble.- When about twenty Boers had collected at the train, our two, guns at. Porter’s Hill opened fire on them, and made them drop, their loads and. run; but the range was too, long for the Royal Horse Artillery guns to do much ‘damage. Towards the evening a train containing a company of : infantry and some engineers under the,.escort of the New South Wales Lancers left Rensberg ' to try , and. recover some of the trucks if pos- ) sible,.„and.if ;jiot to set fire to them. Despite a' pretty hot shell fire and long,range rifle fire,- the wreckage was sue-. ; cessfully sqt on fire, and thus we saved the spoils from falling'mto the hands of.: the Boers. "The little force retired ixnder cover of darkness, having had five horses killed and two men very slightly wounded. At about midday Colonel Porter sent a detachment of New Zealanders, under Lieutenant Chaytor, to try and obtain sufficient cover to enable them to remain within rifle range of the train. He got within 1500 yards, but was unable to get an inch of cover any closer. Here the Boers opened fire, and several shots were exchanged. They were then busy looting, but" with the help of our gun fire we made them temporarily retire.' No.' 1 Company had an unrestful night on the 3rd, and returned to camp on the 4th at 7 a.m,, being relieved by some infantry, large “doses” of which had been continually arriving. A battery of 15-pounders also arrived in camp. At 8 a.m. ; VERY HEAVY FIRING • reached our ears from the direction of the 2nd Brigade. We received an order to turn out at once and proceed _ to, Porter’s Hill again: but at 5 p.m. . were ordered back to Rensberg. The firing lirid continued more or less :>ll ‘ day. The Boers had tried to cut off a squadron of the 6th Dragoons, and also tried an attack on the Suffolk Regiment.' The Dragoons were really caught napping, but got out of it well, though . they lost some five or six men and fifteen horses. THE BOERS WERE REPULSED with heavy losses, ahd twenty of them were taken prisoners by the Mounted Infantry; The 10th Hussars lost their second in command and another officer wounded. A shell fired by the Boer 3 was picked up and found to be opie of our 15-pounders. The enemy have evidently got one or more of our guns here which were lost at Tugela. The prisoners were brought into camp after dark and sent straight away by train. They mostly expressed their gratification at being captured, as they were sick of the war, and were getting bad and uncooked food!. , SPYING THE LAND: About half of No. 2 Company went out with a troop of Car a tamers, New South Wales Lancers and some' scouts, under Colonel Porter, to seek a camping ground away round to the right of the Boer position. They had an uneventful day, returning at 4 p.m., having found a nice camping ground, to which the Jst Brigade may soon move. Captain Davies’s services were utilised to assist in mapping that part of the country, he being a surveyor by profession in New Zealand. ' ; ANOTHER DAY’S FIGHTING. - ‘ “ jUbe. 2nd ..Brigade,, .under" General , Erencb, were toi attack an, important : 1 -Jbljje’on the; lfiftf of ;ihe; ißber position,!"' !a whife the Ist were to taake' oft: demonstration on the right ‘ flunk, 3 and if possible draw the Hoers’ artillery fire. At 3 a.m. we marched off, and , ; at dawn the whole brigade formed one "long line, keeping an interval of about five yards between each file, enveloping the right flank of the Boers. The artillery (only two guns) then went forward and opened fire at a very 1 long range at the supposed artillery position. This soon drew the fire of our old friend “Long Tom”; whereupon our Artillery retired to where we .were, “Long Tom” continuing to shoot. One of the shells fell in Pin line, and within two ■"feet', of ; v ! . . TROOPER ENDERBY, who was lying down. The shell came down almost perpendicularly and buried itself in the ground, where it burst harmlessly, only throwing up some small stones and dust. Enderby rolled over, merely making some disparaging remark about the rudeness of the gun. ‘ GENERAL FRENCH’S REVERSE. We returned to camp, getting in about midday, all full of hope, and anxious to hear the news from the left side. It appears that General French s yielded to the urgent request of the colonel commanding the Suffolk Regiment' (Colonel Watson) to be allowed to attack at dawn a kopje held by Boers.'. Four companies of the regimeiit waited halfway Up the hill till dawn, when the first -' company received the order to charge the crest. They got to within a few .yards of their goal, when they were ' mown down by a withering fire. The second company then charged and met the same fate. Someone, said to be a

Boer, shouted,“Retire! retire!” whereupon the remaining two companies, who ' v .“ e . extending, retreated down the inU in the darkness/ tumbling over the rocks, and several losing their arms.: Confusion reigned supreme, and apparently panic ensued. The survivors of the first two companies held their ground for twenty minutes, but were . surrounded and forced to surrender. On the roll being called, 140 men and 10 officers were missing, and one officer and 11 men brought in wounded. Col-' one! Watson was shot twice through, ■the head, and it is supposed that several of the missing are killed. The news was staggering, and, needless to say, cast a deep gloom over the Rensherg camp. The ambulances and burying party returned here to-day from the scene of the Suffolks’ disaster. At first the Boers would not allow them to approach, but eventually did so. Our medical officer, met the Boers’—a Britisher . from Kimberley—from whom many, details . were gathered. Four of-' fleers and twenty-six men, including the cqloriel arid adjutant/ were killed orit? right,.five officers and forty-five men wounded and taken prisoner, sixty-nine Uien taken prisoner unwounded, and one officer unknown whether wounded or • The Boers had treated the wounded well, and expressed their surprise at our folly in attacking them as we did. As a matter of fact, by some means they were fully aware of our coming attack some hours before it commenced, and were strongly reinforced. This is almost incomprehensible, as the order was only sent by General French to Colonel Watson - late tlie night before, by one single code word. Up till this General column was the only one of the four which had not had a reverse. It has not altered our position ill any way, arid we should, I think, soon score a big success here. Orders have just been received for the Ist Brigade, including our contingent, to go out at 3 a.m. to-morrow, taking three days’ provisions; so I must post this letter now to catch the lonic, leaving Capetown on the 11th or 12th.