SILENCING "LONG TOM."

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8698, 18 December 1899, Page 4

SILENCING "LONG TOM."

Mr Donald MoDonald, the Melbourne Argus war correspondent, gives the following graphio account of how the Boer " Long Tom" was silenced at Ladysmit h :— "The people of Ladysmith thought it serious enough, however. Tho screech of the shell was enough for them. Sir George White took his artillery well out on the veldt to the northward of the town, and started to shell tho mountain from which the big gun flamed at long intervals. At fiist our shots were short, and hit near the base of the hill. The second salvo ploughed the slope near the crest. At the next attempt the shrapnel appeared to burst just on the crest or slightly over it, and they had found the position. For about four hours that hill was simply sown with shrapnel. Beneath an umbrellashaped tree one could see even with the naked eye the mound of red earth that marked tho position of the big gnn, and frequently the 15-pounder shells seemed to plump right into it, and the red earth was tossed aloft. A dozen times it seemed to us, lying on the crest of the outer ridge at Ladysmith, that tho big gun hud ceased; but when we were most assured of it "cover" was the cry, "here comes Long Tom," and we dodged behind the stones until the shell had gono over. There was always tho possibility that a shell, shorter than the rest, might burst upon the cap, in which case there would have been splinters. Wo got timing " Long Tom" with nice accuracy, and when wo saw smoke burst on the hill, for they were firing black powder, we sauntered quite deliberately to cover. It was a point of honor not to hurry. THE BOER FORMATION. After breakfast the noise find smoke of battle spread tight and left. On our left the Boer artillery openod on tho iron buildings of the permanent military camp, about a quarter ot a mile out of town. They were unoccupied, and the sheila began to drop amongst them. Two of our field guns that had been hiding under a kopje close in to the town were taken out at a trot with a couple of companies of infantry as supports, and in a few minutes we were hotly engaged with them. As our brown infantry lined the ridge a horde of Boers in their medley of dull colors surged out of a donga (gully), aud for a moment it looked like a surprise. But the hill crackled with the Lee-Metfords. The short pup-piip-pup of the Maxims mado a new and unmistakable note in the din, and hard upon it all came tho steady bursting British volleys. The Boer artillery replied with splendid accuracy. Their shells were falling just behind our Armstrongs, and the puffs of white smoke dotted the hills where the infantry crouched. No guns could have been much better served, yet still our men held the position, and gradually this wing of burghers, the formation of which, like the Zulu impis, threatened us with envelopment, shrank away, and the moment it did so the fierce fire tied down. It opened with four-fold vigor

away on our extreme right. The Boer formation mnoh have extended then over a crescent twelve miles long. SOME OF THE HORRORS OF WAIt. At about 12 o'clock we saw a sight upon our right which fairly startled us. The Boers had been pressing forward in such strength there that both our artillery aud infantry were obliged to give way. At the extreme distance they were partly sheltered by come low mounds and scattered mimosa trees, but between this and the town ridge there wus a long open flat, level almost as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and on which the green of early summer was just showing, for the winter tone of the veldt is a dull brown. Out upon this flat, without formation of any kind, dime the retiring field guns and the men of the Rifle Brigade, who fought so well at Om(lurman, and arrived just in time to take partin thebattle. Tlieinsttinttheyappetired in tho open the Boer guns opened on them with a flank firo of shrapnel. Tho guns quickened to a trot-, and never swerved from their straight track. A shell struck in front of one of them, and tho magnificent gun leaders trotted through its smoke 'and dust without a shy or a swerve. " Long Tom" Bwung to the "left and dropped his first shell right over them, the second right amongst them. One could sec the brown men dart out in a circle, leaving a ring of green grass round the exploding shell Then they closed round again, and soon were stooping over the whole where " Long Tom's" shot had buried itself without burfting. The real danger was from the puffs of white smoke bursting overhead. These were the fused shell, and they were planted with deadly accuracy. Sometimes one heard nn agonised " My God !" close to him, as twenty men of the Rifle Brigade went down in a cluster, followed by a long sight of relief as they rose again, having fallen to avoid bursting shrapnel. The casualties were few, but they were horrifying. One poor fellow had his thigh shaved away so that the white sinews were exposed in strings. Another lay in the ambulance with his left leg a Mackoned, bleeding pulp from hip to knee. He kept his nerve like a hero, gave his name, regiment, and number with scarcely a tremor in his voice, but at last his fortitude broke down, and he groaned, " Oh, doctor, give me something." The doctor took one look at him, the chaplain knelt by him on tho grass, and took his hand, and the poor ohap knew that his end had come. "LONG TOM" MEETS HIS MATCH. After long waiting, arrogant "Long Tom " was to meet his match. The field guns had failed to silence him. A couple of Hotchkisß Nordenfeldts had spitted at him for half an hour. I once counted 24, and on two occasions 19 rounds from these guns as fast as one could repeat the figures. "Long Tom" turned sullenly upon them, shortened his range, buried a couple of shells behind them, and the Hotchkiss, seeing the folly of the duel, gave way. They were no sooner silent than two guns from H.M.S. Powerful, that had been brought up from Durban by train and placed in position by a body' of Jack Tara, opened on Long Tom's mountain. The onlookers upon the heights waited anxiously, but both shells were short. The next pair, fired in a few seconds, appeared to burst right on the Boers' big piece of ordnance. The townspeople who had been crouching behind the rocks waiting in fevered eagerness to see that gun silenced, sprang to their feet, swung their hats, and yelled exultantly. Long Tom's measure had been taken at last. Once he threw a shell at the naval gunß which fell to the left of them, but in half an hour they had fired more rounds inco him than he had got off since daylight, and for the rest of Monday he spoke no more. Thus fur thingß" seem to have gone rather well with us. Perhaps 20 ot our men had been killed and 100 wounded, while the Boers were naid to have lost 185 killed and 400 wounded. Whatever our loss through shrapnel, it was certain that of the Boers must be still heavier. We seemed to have forced them back on our left, held them in the centre, and retired before them on our right, where the fight raged hottest.