OUR BOYS AT THE FRONT

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 3956, 23 January 1900, Page 5

OUR BOYS AT THE FRONT

WITH THE FIRST COHTISGENT FIGHTING IN CAPE COLONY. WITH GENERAL FRENCH’S COLUMN. HOW TROOPER BRADFORD FELL. (Press Association Special Correspondent.)

ARUNDEL (S.A.), Dee. 20,

I had to finish my last letter in a great hurry to catch the mail, and did not recount rather an amusing incident (as it happened) which occurred during our visit to Plowman’s farm, which I described. The Cape mounted policeman who accompanied us knew the place well, and as soon as wo got into the house he went straight down into the cellar, as being the most likely place for any Boer to be concealed. He found it empty, and was just coming up again when a certain Hooper from Christchurch started down. The trooper thought he was the first there, and on seeing 'a man emerging, of course took him for a Boer, and with a shout of “ ARE. YOU BEGGAR,” thrust .at him with his bayonet. The Cape policeman luckily parried the thrust, and escaped with only a slight wound in the wrist. ,He was much amused at the trooper’s war cry, and took the matter as a groat joke. The horses are saddled up at 3.30 a.m. every, day, after which we turn in again, and try and snatch an hour or two more sleep. 'Tills is a precautionary measure in case of an alarm. All seemed , quiet in the afternoon of the 15th. I formed one of a party of eight or nine ordered to go out and put an . end to some wounded Boer horses which were roaming about some miles out of camp and also to try and drive in an alleged'mob of twenty or thirty more sound ; ones. We passed the outlying mounted infantry, picket, and were searching for the wounded horses, when we saw a

NUMBEB OF BOERS in the distance galloping towards us.Shortly afterwards a cavalry patrol came by saying they had been heavily fired on, and that ; about 200 Boers were trying to work round our flank. The mounted infantry picket called' us in.. and we remained with them, and almost at once our cavalry came streaming out of camp,'the alarm having been promptly signalled. A few shots were fired at some of the first and more enterprising Boers, when they all returned to their position. They kept well away, and hid behind a range of hills. The whole camp turned out, but did nothing., On the 16th at 6 a.m., No. 2 Company was:ordered to proceed at once to Vaalkop .(seven miles), -a large military kopjein the middle of the veldt, - there to relieve a company of mounted ' infantry, and to - remain until themselves relieved the following day. A small force of two. guns 8.H.A., one squadron (120) of cavalry, and one company of m min t fed infantry (100) had been detached to Hold this, point, being relieved every twentyfour hours. As the men of No. 2 Company were getting ready, heavy artillery firing was heard in that direction, so no time was lost in; getting under way. On emerging from a line of hills* some two miles and a half out of camp a good view was obtained of Vaalkop, lying like,an; island towards the far end of a'deadiflat. plain. - It wasrthen seen that-our force there were withdrawing before the fire of two.heavy Boer guns') winch had been mounted during the night. 'The Boers were seen working round to'Ary and cut us off. Our company*' immediately: stopped: their 1 mafchVahdrtodik -up a stx’brig in some kopjes to intercept this manoeuvre, and had not the whole camp been alarmed, and turned out the company would have had-a grand opportunity of paying the Boers back with their own saltHowever,' it was not to be; the Boers disappeared on seeing masses of cavalry and guns, and our No. 1 Company coming out pf camp. This mass of troops went out on to the veldt and appeared to ■ WANDER ABOUT AIMLESSLY, occasionally halting till a shell from a long range Boer gun in another position moved it on. , The shots from this gun were large, but not very dangerous, as from the extreme range they were fired they fell almost perpendicularly and buried'themselves ill the ground.,. . The.few that burst only threw earth and a few stones about. Unless,, therefore, they made a direct hit or fell very close, not much, damage, .was likely to result. Nevertheless, it was extremely unpleasant to hear the great _ projectiles 'come shrieking Howards one, arid the suspense was.intense until they landed. The force eventually, moved towards Vaalkop, and when within range our guns shelled the place, .but the Boers had long before cleared; out.•» A'furtheri-move towards a farm, which had that morning beep infested with Boers, was then made. - .On the way our ponderous mass of troops came under fire of the other long range Boer f gun,(or perhaps two guns), which had just before compelled our’ force to leave Vaalkop, ’ and so the "direction was changed until our mass got. out of-range. This time some of the shots , FELL VEBY CLOSE.

and continued doing so until the range was too long. No damage was done. The farm was then bombarded, but as everyone ought to have known, the Boers had long since'left it. The force then returned to camp, having achieved nothing. The day "was intensely hot, and every one was sweltering in their tents,, when suddenly, in the middle of the afternoon, the alarm went again, and in about five minutes the jwhole camp was turned out. No one seemed toknow what the alarm was about, and trdops'ahd guns went scouring over the plain in air directions, with apparently no fixed object. Our orders were changed three times in a few minutes. We eventually occupied a line of kopjes, and remained there till dusk, when we returned to camp, no one having seen anything. It turned out that an officer in charge of a cavalry patrol had been “sniped” and shot-dead a few miles out of camp.' and this caused the alarm. On the 17 th (Sunday) General French, who had arrived here the previous evening, assumed command, and shortly after, definite orders were framed as to the action to be taken ' in case of alarm, and a * ■ DEFINITE SYSTEM

of defence devised. Everyone was very glad, as a repetition of the previous day’s fracas would be obviated. It was a relief to feel that we were now under a good general, with a complete staff. .'A “shave” went round that we had to move to Modder river at once, where Lord Methuen was having come terrific fighting. Nothing came of it, though the order was actually received. It- was, however, subsequently countermanded. The day passed quietly, the Boers evidently respecting the Sabbath. Next day we marched off at 3 a.m. as escort to O Battery of Artillery, destination and object being unknown. General. French and staff headed our small column, No. 1 Company being in front and No! 2 Company in the rear of tile six guns. We were ' LED IN DARKNESS straight across the veldt to a line : of hills'to the hack , of the Boer position, and some three' miles from* it;' ; ‘ Aa

dawn broke we advanced to Jeasfowtem Farm, where the Boers were known to occasionally take up their quarters for the night. When about a mile and half from the farm the battery came into action and sent a shell hurt'ing away, and soon the silence was oroken by a terrific bombardment. The Boer laager could now be seen away to our left, all bustle and commotion. Alter the farm had been well shelled. No. 1 Company was sent forward to occupy it and thoroughly search it. The position was cautiously taken, and, as expected, proved empty, but two or three Boers had evidently slept there that night, and had doubtless received a huge awakening. They must, however, have slipped out unseen and unharmed. The company, on completing the task, was withdrawing, but General French and his staff rode up and ordered it to remain in occupation a little time monger, and enable him apparently r.o make a personal inspection and reconnaissance. In the meantime No. 2 Company detached a number of men to hold some kopjes to our left rear, while Ihe rest of the company remained with the guns. Presently our old long-range friend of the 16th, “Long John/’ began to bang shells at the battery, and some of them landed INCONVENIENTLY CLOSE to our boys. They, however, all went too far, and, as before, stuck in the ground. This went on till a sheltering dip was calmly reached. Just then Boers were reported to be coming round in the rear of our. battery, so the remainder of No. 2 Company galloped back and occupied the intervening ridges, but nothing more was seen of this reported force' of Boers. From their position, however, the men of the company saw Boers streaming out of their camp and galloping round towards Jeasfontein Farm, where by this time General French and his staff had arrived. As it appeared probable that this manoeuvre could not be seen from the farm, an orderly (Trooper Tubman) was sent across the - plain (about two miles and a half) as hard as he could go to give the warning. He arrived' to find that the BOER ATTACK had already been ' discovered ; jin fact, they had already begun firing. Lieutenant Lindsay had been sent forward with about twenty-five men to try to gain the ridge which the Boers were racing for. He nearly reached it, but was intercepted by a wire fence, and so took up a position among the rocks. He immediately commenced firing at the enemy, who were now rapidly occupying the ridges all found, and who at once poured a terrible fire on to bis party and on all parts of the farm. The bullets rattled all round like hailstones, and there was nothing for it but to retire, This could not be dene until Lindsay’s party had been got in. The staff and most of the horses were by this time partially under cover behind the farmhouse. The firing becoming' more intense every minute, Captain Ward then rode out into’j the open end beckoned to Lindsay to come in. Lindsay had already retired from his position, and 1 his men were collecting in a more sheltered , place, prior to running a second 1 gauntlet to the farm. All this time “Long John’s” shells were exploding round us, to add to the turmoil, Lindsay’s men started to gallop across in twos and threes to the farm, a distance of about 150 yards, over very broken ground. .One'of the first to start was

; TROOPER GEORGE BRADFORD, who, when halt across, was- shot, and dropped from his horse. Trooper Parkes had his horse shot'dead'nrider him, but Sergeant Mahood,'following him, pulled up and got Parkes on to his Horse, and the two got safely in. Several men saw- Bradford and pulled up, but as he was motionless,, with his head in »,pool of blood, he was left for dead. All this time a perfect torrent of bullets was .poured .on to these men,' and also , up round the farm. One or two other small parties were out on the flanks, and likewise had to run the gauntlet to the farm, and then a dash across the open'plain for about half a mile to safety ._ This was accomplished without mishap, though a terrific-fire was kept up on the retiring force all the way. ■- - TROOPER MAUNDER

got;., a bullet through his water-bottle ; one grazed his wrist, and one went through his rifle sling and one through his tunic. , Trooper, Tubman had one through his coat and another hit his wallet. Several other men had similar narrow escapes. Several horses were grazed, and three or four wounded more seriously. 1 The Boers were from 250 to 600 yards distant from the farm. Our men’ fired ninety-four . rounds, and the Boers, must have fired twenty times as many, and it is a perfect, miracle that not more damage was done. I think our salvation was due to the Boers having magazine rifles, which caused their fire to'be- wild 'and hurried; They are certainly bad shots at a moving object. ,Tho Boers hardly showed themselves at all, but still we accounted for at least three or five of them, .The,, battery, with an escort from No. 1 Company, galloped across towards, the farm, and poured in a heavy fire, hut hy this time our men were clear away from all except “Long John,” which still kept up a desultory fire, without, as usual, doing any execution. We then return-; ed to camp, marvelling at our miraculous escape from being decimated. A Red Cross ambulance waggon and four unarmed men were sent Out to recover Trooper Bradford’s body, but learnt, to the great joy of everyone, that he was not dead, but had been taken away a wounded prisoner in the Boer ambulance. As far as can be ascertained, he has a bullet wound in the thigh and another in the neck, but he was conscious. He had left his name with the owner of the farm, who is treated as a rebel, although he declares himself to be a loyal British subject. Bradford was a sergeant in' one of the Auckland infantry corps, and was transferred. to the Auckland Mounted Rifles to join the contingent/ He had previously served as a private in the Grenadier Guards. ("Trooper Bradford subsequently died at Bloemfontein.] s General French eulogised our men for their behaviour under such trying conditions. It was a severe test, and they did splendidly. The. General himself had some narrow escapes, as in fact everyone had. We reached camp at 9 a.m., had breakfast, and were left in peace for the rest of the day, except for one slight scare towards evening. A dense cloud of dust was seen ih the rear of'the'camp across the plain, which looked exactly as if it was caused by an advancing army of Everyone turned out and looked; girths were tightened and accoutrements buckled on in anticipation of the alarm. It, however, turned out to be a huge swarm of locusts.

We are comparatively comfortable in camj) here, and the food is good. Fresh bread arrives every day by train and wo get fresh meat every other day. It is as a rule very hot in the daytime, but cool at nights.