THE DEFENCE OF THE FARMHOUSE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 15

THE DEFENCE OF THE FARMHOUSE

sUPjSRB BRITISH DOGGEDNESS

:OW DE WET MET -HIS GREATEST DnriliAT.

A superb story of the battle of Bothaville, 'when Colonel D© Gaillais defeated De Wet, causing him a loss of 25 killed, 30 wounded, 100 prisoners, and seven guns, and fell himself in the moment of victory, is forwarded by Reuter’s correspondent from Kroonstad, under date November 19. Be Gallais had been hard at -work, in conjunction with other columns, tracking De Wet. A small, preliminary skir,mish took place at the village of Botha- . ville, and then, at 4.30 on the morning <of November 6, Be Gallais’s little forcemoved off in his" indefatigable chase. BOER OUTPOST SURPRISED. The country to our front was open and undulating, and there were no kopjes to afford a hiding-place to the enemy. The sth Mounted Infantry, under Major Beam, moved rapidly forward, taking every precaution against accidents. Suddenly they came upon, a small picket of the enemy lying fast asleep. Around them their horses, firmly knee-haltered, were peacefully grazing. In a moment they were awakened and after rubbing their eyes found themselves prisoners. The importance of this capture was not lost on Major Bean, for with the command of “Gallop” bis little force rode straight forward towards the next rise. What they saw from it was sufficient to delight the heart of any man. The enemy’s laager lay within 300yds of him, and beneath him, guns, waggons and horses, all contained in a small space of a few hundred yards square, immediately despatching a messenger with the news. Major Bean dismounted his men and fired volley after volley into the thick of them. Then arose such a panic as perhaps the Boers had never before experienced. Steyn and De Wet fled incontinently in a Cape cart. Those burghers who had horses, at hand leaped on their backs and galloped away, leaving everything—guns, ammunition and waggons. Only those who could not get their horses remained and fought, principally from a strong, stone enclosure and a stone wail adjoining, with the courage of despairing men. SIXTY AGAINST 200. Up to the present we only had sixty men, which was all that Bean had with him. The Boers numbered fully SOU, but the unequal fight was kept up with rigour by our men. At this stage of the fight our front was formed as follows : On \our left front, where the Bth Mounted Infantry had taken up a position in echelon, stood a Kaffir kraal, where lay fourteen men of the Oxford Light Infantry (Mounted Infantry), under Captain Maurice, Be Gallais’s' galloper, who took command when Captain Colville was hit. In the centre ten men of the Oxford Bight Infantry (Mounted Infantry) held a farmhouse, while twenty Buffs ami Royal Irish Mounted Infantry, under Cajitain. Engelbach, who was. killed, held a piece of the wall on the right- of the farmhouse. Further to the right, twenty of the Worcester Mounted Infantry, under Captain Holland, had secured and i.eld a bit of good ground. Later on twenty men of the Royal Irish, under Captain Brush, held a similar position on our extreme right front.

Le Gallais and Ross, hearing the firing, galloped forward to see how things were going. They reached the farmhouse, and, leaving their horses outside, entered the building, whence a good view of the position could be obtained. Le Gallais perceived that about 800 Boers, who had fled at the first volley, bad formed up, and were working round, both our flanks. Le Gallais thereupon ordered Major Hickie, his staff officer, to lide back to the. heliograph, and order Major Welsh, who was in charge, of the baggage escort, to pack his baggage between the two kopjes, and. send every man available to the left flank. This order was promptly obeyed. The Cape cart drivers, mostly men who had lost their horses, outspanned and held the kopjes, while Ma jor Welsh took the rest of the 7tl\ Mounted Infantry up towards our left wing. At the same time the 17th and 18th companies of the Imperial Yeomanry were ordered to move to the right flank. This relieved the situation somewhat, but still it was a difficult position, requiring great coolness and courage to face it. A PERFECT CHARNEL-HOUSE. y ,

Major Hickie rode back to the farmhouse and was greeted by a bail of bullets, five of which hit his horse and killed if. He, however, was luckily unhurt, and immediately entered the house. It was a. terrible sight that met his eyes.

The gallant Le Gallais lay mortally wounded. Ross, in another room, was stretched on the floor with his jaw and a portion of his throat shot away. Captain Williams lay dead, and LieutenantPercy Smith, of the Middlesex Rcgi-

ment, wounded, together with four men. Outside the house fourteen dead horses testified to the terrible nature of the Beer fire. It had become a perfect chamel-liouse, for it was a splendid mark for the Boers. The front window, which overlooked the Boer position, was an inferno of whistling, shrieking bullets, spattering the walls, and breaking the woodwork and glassr Rosa, it appeared, had gone straight to this window to see what was the position of affairs. The door of the room was exactly opposite the window, and unfortunately it had been left open, so the enemy Could see right through the house.

When Ross was hit four men picked him up, and carried him out, showing up clear against the light of the back doorway. The enemy; although -they saw that if was only a wounded' man being carried away, opened a terrible fire. But the bra ve four never din liked, and continued if carry their beloved commander down the passage, when suddenly Be Gallais appeared tram another room to see what was the matter, and was immediately hit. The collet entered his left breast, traversed hia body, and came out on his left side, lie sank to the ground with a moan, and was quickly put under cover. He was conscious all the time, and never seemed to think about his wound, but- kept asking questions about the progress of the fight. . TTbS WOUNDED FILLED THE RIFLES. For five hours these gallant men forming our fr-ont, held their ground against an overwhelming fire. Man after man was shot, killed, or wounded', but the others continued firing calmlv and steadily.

The wounded men in many cases filled the magazines for their comrades sti’l fighting, and handed Up the full rifles to them.

It wanted courage of a very high order to bold the position. Not only were 200 Boers firing with terrible rapidity at short range, but 800 were threatening to;out them off. But the men, with bull-dog tenacity, would not yield, and never flinched.

As one of the men said afterwards, “We could see their guns, and we wasn’t going to lose them.” And so the fight went on. "

On our right flank the Boers had made an attempt to get in, the two companies of Yeomanry, under Captain Coates and Lieutenant Bolton, faced them steadily, and drove them off ill seme confusion! After that our right flank was never seriously threatened. On the left flank, however, things were otherwise. Here the Boers were in greater numbers and seemed determined to do their very utmost to save the gnus. A gun of U Battery was posted to shell the advancing Boers.

A FINE DEED OF DARING

And now took place one of the finest deeds of daring of a day full of gallant action. The Boers crept up towards the gun, and actually got to within fifty yards. The sights had been shot away, and every man of the detachment was either killed or wounded. But tttev served the.” gun to the last man. The Boers imagined that- it was in their power, but there was a great disappointment in store for them. LieutenantWhite and six men of the Suffolk Mounted Infantry—all of them heroes—seeing Hie situation, rushed forward and poured a withering fire cn the enemy at close range, driving them belter skelter back and saving the gun. They then lay down and continued, until the arrival of reinforcements’, to keep the enemy at bay. The arrival of Major Walsh with the 7th Mounted Infantry and the Bur-ma-hs was most welcome.

Gradually they drove the Boers back until they got- opposite the Boer laager and were in a position to enfilade them. Quickly a pom-pom was unlinibered, and shell after shell was accurately placed along the- sides of the dam and the walls held by the enemy. This two companies of the Yeomanry also pushed forward on our right,* and soon we held three sides of a square, in the middle of which was the B-oer laager. Finally the Boers were shelled out with some difficulty.

But the victory wag clearly-purchased. Le. Gallais© lay dead, mourned sincerely by his' men. If anything, can console a mother for the loss of suchi a gallant son it is the last words he uttered feebly to Ins staff officer, Major Hickie, “If I die, tell sny mother that I. died happy, as we got the guns.”—Reuter.'