BIG CAPTURES IN BATTLE.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 42, 24 May 1907, Page 7

BIG CAPTURES IN BATTLE.

In the great battle of'the Custozza fought in 1866 between 70,000 Austrians and nearly 200,000 Italians, both the losers and the victors, curiously enough, made a big capture of captives. The Austrians, who still regard their fight as the most brilliant in their history, had several hundreds of their men surrounded on one of the flanks and taken prisoners but they retaliated by capturing no less than 4,815 Italians. In the sanguinary Pranco-Prussian campaign practically every battle was fruitful in prisoners, while the Frenchmen who threw down their arms in the stupendous surrenders at Matz and Sedan would have taxed London itself to provide them with house-room. At San-dowa, where the Gormans, thanks largely to their then deadly needle-gun, scored a groat victory over the Austrians, no less than 17,000 unwounded Austrians were sent north under Prussian escort. The long-drawn struggle at Duppel —a dark page in Danish history—eventually saw the Germans and the •Austrians, then in alliance, secure several thousand prisoners, in addition to scores of guns. In the first fight of the American Civil War—the . battle of Bull Hun-t-lie Federals, sanguine of victory, fell into dire confusion. Finally the rank and file stampeded, leaving 1,461 prisoners in the hands of the Southerners. At Shiloh, after night had closed the first volume of that wonderful battle, the Federals were in a still more miserable plight, for not only had they lost the whole of their baggage and the greater part of their artillery, but over 3,000 of their men including a division general and several commandants, were taken prisoners. By a splendid piece of good fortune, however, they were enabled next morning to renew the struggle with 22,000 fresh troops which had come up in the night-time, and thus reinforced, they recovered their men and goods with interest. The Spaniards, at the blundering battle of Ayacucho, which virtually ended their power in South America, lost’, in addition to the day, the flower of their magnificently equipped army. The rival forces were almost equal in numbers, but the victors wore woefully short of everything except splendid leadership and determination, and as a soqmel they took off the field with them as captives 484 Spanish officers and 8,200 of the rank and file. In the First Plevna battle the Turks were left masters of the fitlld and over 2,000 Russians but the latter were all seriously wounded or dead. In the second and more sanguinary fight around the same town the undulating ground fronting the Turkish redoubts was strewn with 2,400 Russian dead, which were only recovered! under a flag of truce. The eventful battle of Austerlitz was extremely prolific in prisoners. Here the magnificent prescience and strategy of Napoleon made mere play of an enemy 82,000 stronger than himself—no less than 80,000 prisoners fa'lling into the hands of the victorious French on that day. In the wars that more directly concern England it has long been our proud boast that the prisoners of war on the right side of the ledger dwarf into insignificance those on the wrong. In the Peninsular wars it was little short of miraculous how our generals repeatedly balked immensely superior forces of their prey —as witness Sir .John Moore's glorious retreat on Corunna. On the other hand, our country was teaming with French prisoners. The Crimean campaign yielded to the Russians a surprisingily small number of British captives, nor, to bo candid, did we capture as many of the enemy as wo might have done. r Phe Zulus, chivalrous foes as they wore, never took prisoners alive, for at Insandhlwana no less than 50 officers alone were butchered, At Shangani River, where brave Wilson made his heroic stand, the Matabeles took only one man prisoner. The courageous Dervishes neither gave nor expected quarter, and perhaps nothing surprised those taken captive by Kitchener more than to have their lives spared. In the Egyptian campaign, as wiiH yet be readily recalled, our brave fellows did all the capturing, and at the final battle of Tel-el-Ke-bir big “takes” were made. The big capture of Boers in the recent war is a modern instance of big captures,— “Spare Moments.”