AT THE FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 202, 29 September 1900, Page 1

AT THE FRONT.

■ BATTLE OF BETHFS NEK. THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE IN ACTION. (A. B. Patebsoh in Sydney Morning Herald.) Outside Foumesberg, July 22. The army under command of General Hunter left Bethlehem and came down here with a view of capturing the ' Free Staters' under De Wet. It must be explained that t>y occupying all the towns and roads in the Orange Eiver Colony the Boers were gradually forced down into the mountains at the Eastern - corner of the Colony, and touching the Basutoland border, and at last they were hemmed inside a circle of rugged mountains, through which only a -few passes existed. There are real genuine mountains in this country. The whole place is about 4000 ft. above the sea, and these mountain - chains run up another 1000 ft. or 1500 ft., and are as steep as the Kock [of Gibraltar. Consequently, when we had them penned in a circle of mountains, with the Basutos at their back, it seemed a single matter of tactics to block all the passes and advance on them from all sides and overwhelm them by numbers. "With this object in view, General Hunter sent Paget's force to a place called Stabbat's Nek to prevent the Boers getting out that way. Bruce Hamilton was at Naaupoort Nek with a like object. Clements was further • round on the West, and Rundle on the south at Commando Nek, just near Ficksburg. The New South Wales Rifles were with Hunter at Bethlehem, which blocked Eetiefs Nek, the only other passage into the circle of hills. Suddenly one morning there was heard heavy nring out towards Stabbat'e Nek, and all Ridley's Brigade, which included our Mounted Eifles, were ordered out to see what had happened. News soon came in that a large commando had come out of Stabbat's Nek in the night; they had marched quite close past Paget's camp with five guns and 100 waggons, and no one had seen them, although Paget's force comprised about 300 of our Australian Bushmen. At daylight the Boers opened fire on Pagefs people, and engaged them all day; meanwhile sending their waggons on ahead. Paget failed to stop their northward march, and Broadwood's Cavalry and Ridle/s Mounted Infantry j... were sent to fetch the Boers to a halt. * They chased them nearly to Lindley, but here the wily Boers managed to give them the slip. How it was done is a mystery, when you remember that the Boers had bullock waggons, which can only travel about 14 miles a day, and they were pursued by mounted *• men, who could do 30 miles a day. Near Lindley the Boer forces crossed a convoy of ours coming down to - -Bethlehem, and the two parties camped '■ insight of each other for the night. I was following Ridley's Brigade up, but . found that the Boers had given him the j slip, so I came back to headquarters 1 with the convoy. The after history of , the Boer flying commando has reached \ us here by wire to the effect that they got on to the line and captured a train. , Whethe» they have been headed off ( (since that is not known. It was expected that Ridley's Bri- ] gade, with the New South Wales ] Mounted Rifles, would rejoin Hunter, , but so far they have not put in an ap- ■ psarance, and at date of writing they - may be still following the Boer com- . mando over trackless leagues of open , veldt on a sort of' Here we go round the ■ mulberry bush' business. One thing j is certain, if our people do get sight of ■ the Boer waggons they are just the sort . of troops to hang on to them. It is said that De Wet himself is in charge of this flying column, and tha* Steyn, ! the President, is with him; but this was only rumour, while we knew for certain that a lot of Boers, with waggons and guns, had not left the circle of hills; so, leaving Ridley and Broad- ', wood to chase the flying lot, Hunter came on to this place to earry out the > scheme of driving them into a corner , • and capturing them; and whatever be ', the' result of this movement, I, at any rate am glad that I came, as I have «een the Highland Brigade in action, and this alone was worth the miseries of the march down here. THE FIGHT AT RETIEF'S NEK, : . We moved out from Bethlehem arid crossed the Jordan (a dry creek) and advanced on Retief's Nek. The only Australians with the forces were Colonel Williams, P.M.0., of the Division, and Captain Martin, his Secretary. The Colonel had the largest medical command in at the time, as Hunter had two. infantry divisions and a lot of Yeomanry and .sundries, and when Macdonald joined us with his Highlanders, it brought the strength of the troops under Hunters' command up to a very high figure, As there were so many passes to hold it was not possible to concentrate a very large force on any one point for fearot leaving the others unguarded, so we advanced on Retief's Nek with only the Highland Brigade—the* regiments of Black Watch, SeafortLs, and Highland Light Infantry—supposed by the ' Susseu Regiment, three batteries o! field artillery, two ' r ■••v.-' guns, and ; lot of ii regular mounted men, namely •■ Lovatt's Highland Giliie:; and Riming- j ion's Guides. And now a word to ilii' l/urhlMnders. These are the '.lncsf troop;; 1 hive ever seen. They aie much more intelligent looking men than the ordinary Tommies. They are nut particularly Hg men, but all strong, weil-proportioned, jand alert-looking, very neatlv turne<J.|

out, and evidently in a high state of 'discipline. The army people say that the Highlanders have not done as well as the Irish troops in this war, the h Munsters and Dublin Fusiliers and Royal Irish being cited as cases in point. There is no doubt the Highlanders were driven off at Magersfontein, and they failed to carry the Boer trenches at Paardeberg; but no other j troops have been asked to do such tasks 2 as were put to these men at those two 3 places. Whatever be the respective 3 merits of the troops, no one could fail 3 to be struck by the bearing and apr pearance of the Highlanders, or the { ' Jocks,' as they are always called in 1 the army; and in this fight at Retief's 5 Nek they acted up to the best possible T standard. [ Leaving Bethlehem, we advanced to r within five miles of the Nek and , camped at a farm-house. Before us , there rose a chain of hills about 1000 ft. high, with a narrow gap or passage , cleft between two of them. This pasj sage, about a quarter a mile wide, was . the Nek through which we were to I force our way. Along to the righthand side of it the hills stretched for miles nan unbroken chain; on the left there were hills for a few miles, and then a patch of open ground, and then more hills. At the back of all were the mountains of Basutoland—great peaks and crags and fortresses of stone towering to the sky. ' WHITE WITH SNOW. It was bitterly cold and windy the night of our camp there, and, behold, when we came out in the morning all the hills at the Nek and all the mountains at the. back were white with snow. It was a glorious sight-those miles of snow-covered mountains gleaming in the sun. But we had something else to think about than the scenery. About 10 o'clock the tramp of feet and the challenge of pipes told us that the Highlanders were on the march. Grim and stern, with fighting Macdonald at their head, the Highland Light Infantry filed out to march up the long valley of death that led to Retief's Nek; the Black Watch moved up parallel with them to attack the little bit of open ground that lay to the left of the hills guarding the Nek; and away on the right the Sussex regiment advanced along the foot of the hills which converged on the attack of the Highland Light Infantry. The Seaforths were left in camp to guard the huge convoy we had with us. The two Generals, Hunter and Macdonald, took their positions on a big bare hill facing the Kek, and from that height the whole battlefield lay before us like a scene in a theatre. Down on the right hand was a long clear grassy valley leading up to the Nek. On the far side of this valley the Sussex Regiment could be seen making its way along the foot of the mountains. On the near side of the valley, and only a stone's throw below us, the Highland Light Infantry opened out into long lines and advanced straight up the frowning hills that guarded the pass; and on the left the Black Watch made a similar advance on the bare ground that lay to the left of the Nek. This spare ground looked as if it might be easily taken, but it turned out that tco simply led to the edge of a I precipice some hundred feet deep, and down at the foot of the precipice was a | huge plain something like the Hollow described by Bolderwood in ' Robbery Under Arms.' It was into this Happy Malley that we wished to get, and the only way was to go through the Nek ' or down the sides of this precipice. The Black Watch pushed their attack ! first. They were to go to the edge of this precipice and see if there was any , way down. The wailing of the pipes died away, and the men opened out and marched in open order across the brown grass, till suddenly a hot musketry fire broke out from the edge of the precipice itself, showing that the Boers had got up from the lower side and were holding it in force; in addition to this a hot lire was opened from the chain of hills on either side. The men dropped in the grass and ; advanced, crawling along the gaound, and actually seized t an outlying hill, driving the Boers off in confusion; but the price paid was too high, and when the ambulances began to come in with the wounded and thesecondin command was fatally hit the advance was stopped, and the men lay motionless in the grass under fire, while an attack was tried by the Highland Light Infantry and Sussex on the Nek 'itself. This looked a hopeless task from the start. The hills rose sheer and rugged, scarcely offering foothold for a goat. All along the tops of the hills the Boers had made stone breastworks and shelters and were shooting at their leisure, undismayed by the shower of shells that the ' cow , guns and the two field batteries poured forth at them. The crackle of their musketry rattled all along the mountain side, and yet not a man could be seen. From the hilltop where we were we could see down below us just a series of little dot.-, of black—these were the kilts of the Highlanders lying flat on the ground, (rich by inch they pushed ; heir v;ay towards the foot of the hills. No-v and again an officer would stand ■:p for a moment or so and look through lis glasses, and sink again into the. iong brown giass. They did not advance into the pass itself, as that was .''nil of liocr trenches, but made for the hills from which the P.oers were firing, in the. hope-of being able to get a foot'i 'ld to go up them and drive the Boers o'l'.

. . (BRAWLING DP THE ROCKS. . It was a gallant attempt to make, ■-,„ and we could scarcely believe our eyes V? .when we saw what looked like a long strings of black ants crawling up the rocks into the foot of the hill, while 'the Boer rifles rattled incessantly from the top. The Highlanders had got some little cover from a gully that ran ' out of the hill, and had sneaked in single file along this till they were at • . the foot of the hill, while the Boer . rifles rattled incessantly from the top. '• "The Sussex had wormed their way . along the rocks on the other side of the valley,-but as soon as they got near c - the Nek itself a deafening discharge of :■ rifle fire began, and our cannons were £ worked as" fast as possible to try and ; keep it down. All along the line of hills there,was incessant firing for .? about two hours, and no efforts of ours v could-dislodge the Boers from their ' rocks; Word came back from the Light Infantry that they c6\jld not get up the rocks, and reluctantly General Hunter ordered a - general withdrawal. Here Macdonald showed better judgement than the colonel in charge of the Sussex. The The latter withdrew his m3n at once, : *nd they suffered severely in his retirement. Macdonald didn't try to •' move his men till dark, and they came . pack safely enough. We had about .. 100 killed and wounded in the fight, and it is donbtful if the Boers lost 10. The night found us all very dismal; the task appeared hopeless. It was »a good deal like trying' to advance • through Sydney Heads, supposing the , "water to be solid ground and the heads be strongly held by an enemy. During the night some of Rimington's Guides and some of Lovatt's Highland Gillies crawled up in the hills to the left of the Nek. There was a heavy , mist, and through its white clouds they heard a Dutch challenge, 'Wie ist :4ar? It must have been a weird business climbing about on those rocks in the bitter cold, not knowing at what „ moment death, in the shape of a rifle flash, might not come from the gloom. ■ It was too much for the Boers' nerves. -They withdrew from all the outlying i hills and held only the big hills at 'each side of the Nek, and they still kept the precipice which the Black Watch had vainly attacked. Next morning (July 25) the Seaforths were brought away from the ' task of convoy guarding, and were sent to iake this precipice, or rather to drive the Boers from it, in the hope of f finding a way down. It was argued that where lie Boers eould get up the , Highlanders could get down. The retirement of the Boers from the outlying Bills during the night had made the task easier, as they could bring no f cross, fire to bear. The General and pushed on to one of the outlying hills, and here we looked right down into the valley below. Not a Boer could be seen, but from the edge of the cliff the bullets fairly whistled wherever a man showed himself. We all lay down behind the stones and the Seaforths make their rush at this place. , FACING A TERRIFIC FIRE. As soon as the signal was given for Jtbem;to advance, they came along in a tong line of prostrate figures, while a •«rrific fire was poured on to the edge oftheclift". One or two bowled over like shot rabbits but the others held grimly on, and when they got within 200 3 aids of the edge we saw the Boers bolting out from beneath the rocks. They had clambered down to the v:dlcy and jumped on to their h uses, and in twos and threes anl lu.lf-doaens tliey began to come out fr.Mn the rocks K'Oft. below the Highlanders. They split into small parties and galloped off at full speed. About 100 came out, and by the time the first of the Highlanders got to the edge of the rocks the Boers could not have been 300 yards off, and yet they rode away almost unharmed under a regular f usilade. . That is one great mystery one never ceases to marvel at—how so much firing can do so little harm. We saw a few fall, and they were taken away by their comrades. A nigger next day reported that' a waggon-load of dead Boers' had been removed; but a nigger isn't much of an authority to trust. We saw them go under a storm of shot and shell, and hardly any dropped. The Highlanders clambered down the rocks after them and took possession of the valley, and ran round to the back of Retief's Nek, hoping to catch the Boers who were holding it. But those gentry had seen the flight of their mates, and were in full retreat long before our men got round to them. ' t\ ° D tLis P leci pice, the flight ' of the Boers from under the rocks, aDd their retreat across the big hollow valley were like a battle in a theatre—evelcy movement was absolutely clear ] and open to the sp'ectators. We followed them up, and got down the valley nearly to Fouriesberg, where we now are. . I

As we approached this town a few snipers began filing from the hills, and to our surprise far up the valley ahead we could see a Boer convoy coming to- ' wards us.. It is evidently being hunted ' in by Rundle from Commando Nek, and we are much disappointed that the General doesn't see fit to attack. But we understand that there is only one way in which it can get out of the 1 mountains, and Macdonald has been sent round to block that way; so in a day or two we will know if this great ■ ' early closing movement' is to come to i a successful issue or not. l In any event, we hope to be on the I road home before long now, and it is • just p )ssible I may come home through i B.isutoland. We don't know at all : what is doing anywhere else. There : may he fighting at Pretoria or Lydenberg; our Mounted Hints may have caught Steyn and Do Wet. All we know is that we are here in a little circle of hills, and that the Boers, about 3000, are cooped up in the same circle of hill. So if they don't get out there is likely to be an end of the Free State army in these parts.