CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH OFFICERS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1509, 31 January 1901, Page 61

CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH OFFICERS

A GUARDSMAN’S STORY. The London “Daily News,” on Dec. 8 gave an account of an interesting talk which one of its representatives had with a non-commissioned officer of the Guards. The Guardsman said the fighting was all right. No one grumbled about that. Jr was the long marches and little food which were killing. They marched about 20 to 26 miles a day. All they had to eat was a biscuit and a-half. All they had to drink was half-a-pint of coffee and what water they could find. When they found water it was often in stag-

nant pools in ivhich two or three bodies of dead horses were decaying. x'riey v'ere not allowed to wash. The use cf soap Avas strictly forbidden, for the tiooos which follovrcd had to drink out cf the same stream or puddle. The Guardsman AYent on to mention that when he reached Klip Kraal from Medder R.ver ius boots had all come to pieces tbrougn the mud, and liis clothes Avere simply in rags. When the Guards marched into Bloemfontein they Avere a sight! They were clothed in tatters. The "iicu-com.” complained of the treatment or men by officers and the hardships the men were forced to endure. Describing the punishment infLcted upon men who fell out on the march, he said:—lf a man fell out he knew what to expect.. For the first time he was given 7 C.B. That is, he was compelled to perform the fatigue duties of the company. For the second time he got 14 C.B. ; for the third, 2l: and then if he fell out again he was tried by District court-martial. It AA r as cruel hard to have to report the poor fellows who, from sheer exhaustion, and through no fault of their own, fell out on tne march. The ambulances aa'Oul«l not pick them up unless they Avere actually dying. I will just gi\-e you an instance. We were near to Bloemfontein. A sergeant in the Guards AA*as limping along beside me. “I cannot go any further, ' he said to me. “I must drop/’ “No, no, don’t do that," I said. “You knoAV what will happen if you do. Here, grte me your rifle, and I’ll help you along. ' He struggled on a mile or two, and then simply diopped in his tracks from exhaustion. He was left behind. An officer in the Guards found him lying prostrate on the gound. “What are you doing here?' he said. “Im very ill, sir; I can’t go any further/ The officer, looking at hi.s feet, said, “You haA'e a good pair of boots. Get up and march at once!” The man said it was quite impossible, he could not do it. “Very Avell,” the officer exc aimed as he left him, “stay there and die.” The sergeant Avas subsequently p eked up and brought into Bloemfontein. But others cf our men avlio had fallen cut - were found days afterwards Avith their eyes picked out by the vultures. OFFICERS AS LEADERS. The non-commissioned officer spoke thus of tbe officers as leaders : —-They were always leading you into death-traps, unless you kept your eyes very wide open. They often did not know Avhat to do. JL AA'ill give you a case that liapjiened at Magersfontein. We were supporting tne Highlanders. When tnev were shot goavii by scores we held the ground and formed the first firing line. There was a great deal of barbed Avire fencing about. Crouching on all fours, Are managed to get past cue fence. The next could not be passed, as the Avires Avere too close together. The Beers were "firing in irons and cn our flank. We were potecting a battery of guns by firing volleys at tiie enemy. That’s the only thing that will keep "them quiet. The lieutenant m command of my section lost his head completely. “Really,” he kept on saying, “really, I don’t know what tc, do. x think we shall be cut off if we stay here. Rea-llv, I believe we had better retire. ' “I think, sir,” I ventured to suggest — theA r don’t like you to interfere, so you must be careful—“we had better remain here.” He thought better of it, and there Ave stayed. If Ave had retired we should liaA r e lost some more guns. Some of the officers cared very nttle for their men. They would speak to them as if they Avere "dogs. At Magersfontein one of my men was Avounded in the arm. We bound it up as well as we could. lie had to lie out in the open all day long, for the Beers fired at the stretcher-bear-ers. At night, when we Avere about to retire, I asked the officer in command of my company Avhat Ave should do Avith the Avounded man, “Do.” he said, “we must leaA r e him behind. HeAA’ill have to stay out all night.” I knew that Avould mean certain death, for he had lost a terrible amount of blood, and I kneAV also that he had a Avife and two cn/ldren at home in England. I therefore got four of my men to make a stretcher out of a blanket and two rifles. While the others were firing volleys at the Boers, we got him safe into camp. Af course you got got no credit for it. But the man’s Hie was saved.