Osprey, Men-at-Arms #062 The Boer War (1977) OCR 8.12

PREY·

~IEN-.\T-.\R~IS SERIES

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Ttli by CHRISTOPHER \\' I LK I ;\SO;,\ -LATHA ~I

Colour plaits by ROFFE

~IICII.\EL

~IE:\-AT-AR~IS

SERIES

EDITOR: MARTIX WIi\'DROW

ne CJ30er Tex/by

CHRISTOPHER WILKINSON-LATHAM Colour plates by

MICHAEL ROfFE

OSPREY PUBLISHING LIMITED

Published in 1977 by Osprey Publishing Ltd, 12-14 Long Acre, London WellE 9LP Member Company of the George Philip Group Copyright 1977 Osprt"y Publishing Ltd This book i copyrighted under the Berne Com-entian. All rights rcsen.·ro,. Apart from any fair dealing for the pu~ of private study, research, f:riticism or revie.... , as permitted under the CopY-Tight Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be repnxluced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical. optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.

IS8X 0 85045 257 0 Filmsct by BAS Printers Limited, Wallop, Hampshire Printed in Hong Kong

crJte 'Boer 'Wlr

to the cast. In 18t5, under the Act of the Congress of Vienna, Britain paid £6,000,000 to the Dutch fo~ Capt' _Q§I~~~ and an.!, 16:2 ~'ears the 8ot'rs passed unwillingl)' und('f for~ig~ rule. In 183--1 the Boers' rcselllment of British d01ination grt'w evrn stron'!cr ,~~, under the Ema~~~pa~ion Act, they wrrc depm-1bcl of their black sla,·es. From 1836 to 1838 some 10.000 Barrs. represrntin,! nearly a quarter of the Eunr pran population of Cape Colony packed their wa~gons,and !>fRan ,hI.' great trek north away from the 'rcclnecks . Between the Orange and Vaal

In OClOber ,8qq the conflicts bct\\e<"n Boer and British intcrcslS in South Africa, which had ocen 11rcwing for almost one hundred Years, finally boiled o\'er in all-out war. Tilt Second War or South African War was to prove the greatest conflict in which Britain had been engaged silJcc the X:tJ>.2:leonic' This 'Last of the Gentleman's Wars', which as usual the British public fclt SUfe would be a rapid olle. lasted nearly three years. COSt £22'2,000.000 and involved -150,000 Imperial troops of whom 2'2,000 died. just under lhree-quancrs ofthcm from disease. ---, f1'hc story begins in 1652 when the DUlch East l I India Company established a small sculcmCllt on the Southern CapcofSoUlh Africa. I ts inhabitants, mostly farmers (BrHrJ in Dlllcb , built up the settlement into a thriving community. As the population grew so the Boers became more and moreindependent, claiming the right to make their own laws and to sell their produce to anyonc who would pay their price. When the company' went bankrupt the management of the Cape was taken over b) the Dutch government who controlled it until 1795, when the exiled Prince of Orange unwillingly signed it over to Britain to stop it falling into the hands of the French, whose armics had alrcady occupied his country. In 1802 the Treaty of Amiens ended the long European conniet and the Cape was returned to the Dutch, but in 1806, when the French were once more at war with half of Europe, sixty.three British ships S<'lilcd into Simon's Bay and seized the Cape toensure the route to India. In 18'4, with Napoleon in exile, the Prince of Orange returned to his country and demanded the restitution of all Z,A.R. (TnalV.al) Pollet, Louhtd by the Uitl.,uJn., tbe •• ehey were known, w ..r t dueribtd by Sir Anbur Dutch colonies, but Britain was determined to Zarp., Co..... Doyl.. 'Buill....... peact, h.. t heroes .. _r', 1'hdr keep the Cape and thereby protect her sea routes uairorm i. cln.rly .ho_ in the m ...e... liOQ

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nation was finally crushed. the Boers felt there was no further reason why the British should remain in control of their country. One of the leaders of the cause for the re-establishment of a republic rivers some of the Boers settled down and founded was Stephan us Johannes Paulus Kruger. who was the Orange Free State but for others the trek con- regarded as a rabble rouser by the British and as a tinued. These split into two groups and pressed on great patriot b) the Boers. In April 1880, after a hard-fought election in different directions, one going cast over the Drakensberg mountains to Natal, and the second campaign in which he condemned 'the insane and pushing furtber north, scttling between the Vaal immoral policy of annexation', Gladstone and and Limpopo rivers to found the Transvaal his Liberal party crushingly defeated Disradi's Conservatives. The Transvaal Boers were overRepublic. In 1843 Natal was annexed by the British. The joyed for they believed thaI a Liberal government other two republics were recognised by Britain in would mean a swift return to independence. 185'2 and 1854, the Transvaal by the Sands River Unfortunately, once in power, Gladstone reversed Convention and the Orange Free State by the his policy and informed the Boers, 'Ourjudgement is that the Queen cannot be arl\;sed to relinquish Bloemfontein Convention. In 1877the British feared that a war between the her sO\-ereignty o\·er the Transvaal.' To Kruger Transvaal and the warlike Zulus could incite a and his followers there remained only one solunative rebellion in the south and the bankrupt tion: rehellion. 'he Trans\:aal war of t881 lasted three months republic was annexed by the Crown with surand saw the de eat a . isnat ronkhorsiprisingly little opposition. After the Zulu War of 1879 in which the Zulu spruil, In~ogo Ri\'er, Laing's :\ek and finally at P.-id_t Marcu. Steya (I) _d Prn.idftlt Paut J0laa_n Kruser (rh leaden .rthe Boer Republics or t..he O se FI'ft State . .d the Sout..h AfriCIUII Repobli~ (T vaal) who declared _ r 00 Great BriUlia in D«:elDbn IIgg

~Iajuba Hill. With the signing of the Treaty of J)retoria in August, Britain recognised the indcpendence of the Transvaal subject to a \'aguely defined "l:l~inty and control over her fore!&!!. affairs. According to Thomas Carter, correspondent of the ",\'0101 Timts, the verdict of the British soldicr was, 'A miserable ending to a miserable war'. The_discovcryof old on the Witswal(~rsrand in 1886 brought the TransY
plan but al the lasl minUle Rhodes was informed by his agents in the Trans\'aal that the general opinion of Ihe ~'il/andns was against forcibly taking over the country. For Rhodes the venture was at an end. but jameson was detl:'rmined to continue. He felt sure that once he actually entered Ihe Transvaal the rebellion would start spontaneously. The raid was a fiasco. On 29 December t895, Jameson crossed the border and began to advance on Johannesburg. A forward party of jameson's men had been detailcd to cut the telegraph lines, bUI they overlooked a b1-anch line. This enabled Kruger to be kept informed of the invasion as soon as it began and lo mobilise his commandos. On 1 january, at Krugersdorp, the Boers under General Piet Cronje set up an ambush which cost Jameson some 30 men killed or wounded. The next day, after a desperate attempt to outflank Cronje's forces, the raiders surrendered and were laken to Pretoria Jail. In ~tarch IBgg, the UiliondnHent a petition to Qucen Victoria in which they stated their grievances and asked Britain 10 intercede for them. A meeling between Sir Alfred Milner, the British High Commissioner and President Kruger ended

a.v.s. (O.....se Free Slate) Artillery,. battery offield pat witllpaaen ia ~ce dru•. Fanned ia IIS7. the corps led • vU'J' .... d:"'le~;:ce.... til .880, wllea tile comma.d_a «ive. '0 tile , R.F.W. Atbredl.. DuriaS t .... Soatlr. AIricaa War tbe ma.iA bodyoftlle.rtillery M'~ witilCro.je Lad aLm.., ceased to mat alter Ilia aurreader.' PaardeberJ;

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The two armies that were to face ("ac~wer on the baulcficld o,!JJ!~,SQ)lI,h Africa~'c1~t were dia· metrically op~d In outlook and method. The influence of the Duke of CambridKe. who had retired in 18gS r.fte~ f~~ ,"cars as Commander-inChijf ~~II Iin~~~~ on("~'er the British Army. H:mperCd by tradition and the lack of effective training, Ihe British soldier "as, in Ihe t.Qr~s of Lord Wolseley, '. '''0 ~ttr:orst paid )p:iurer in England'. Often iftiterate and &nfi:i~oo. 'Tommy Aikins" mililary kno\\ledge was confined to thrtt weeks offield trainin~ and mUle marches during the year; for Ihe rest he was parading, pipe daying and polishing his equipment. This turned him inlo an unthinking machine, and he was described by one forei2"n, military observer as 'excellent for "l'f£ll", . fi gh IlIlg savages . In IBgg the. "at:J and ,(rmy JlJu.ftrattd atrempted to explain Britain's n\'~;l1al ability, by printing a leiter, in ratherdubious taste, from 'adislinguished Frenchman' who chose 10 n:main anonymous. Major R. F. W. Albrechl I. the _drftls _ifonn orthe O. V.s. (O.......lfe F"," Siale) Artillery, lag,. GIYftllhe colDlllaftd of the 'The British soldier is no bctle~ thf1.n anyolh~r! but eorpa 011' Nover:n~ .ll8o, Albrecht waS nspo.sible for its ,rowlh from:J oRicers .....d '4 olher...us to 5 officers aDd 400 he ha,s. ~\'~I~.~any ballles by .... I~ue of his iNsuffer. olher...us at lhe oUlbreak of lhe war. Albrechl ..... captured able! ConcCII. £'\'CIl whell he has been hanqsop,1e1y al P. .rdebe .... aDd ir:npri. . .ed 00 St Hele• ., 1000etber wilh olher Boer captives bealcn, the same has pre\Cllted him from .ft' now':' lcdging it and retiring from the field, as he ought in failure and both sides began to prepare for war. 10 have done if he played the game ffr!);. Bu~ On 8 October Kruger, with Ihe backing of Presi- what can you do with men who are so infatuated dent Stern of the Orange Free Slate, issued an with conceit that every private soldier says to ultimatum demanding that Britain: (t) give up himself, "The British Army is the finest in the her sllzerailllY; (2) withelraw her troops from the world, my regimellt is the finesl in lhe British Army, Transvaal border; (3) remove all reinforcemenlS and I am the finest soldier in my regimenr"? from Soulh Afrisa \ri~hin a reasonable time; (4) Clearly all argumenl, mental or physical, is losl sel lip an arbilP.1. Ion commitlee to seltle mUlual on such people.' differences; and (3) give an assurance Ihat British The late Victorian officer, largely a gifted troops m routt for the Cape would not be landed. If amateur with private means, cannal be said to the condilions were not complied with by S p.m. have taken his profession very seriously. E.. .'en in on the II th, the two Boer republics would regard 1881, Ihe unfashionability orkeenncss was all too this as a declaralion of war. On Wedncsclay II apparent 10 some far-seeing officers. Captain]. ~1. OClOber at 'lea lime', alj tJii rimu humor. Grierson, Royal Artillery, who became Assistant ouSTy reponed, war broke out between Great Adjutant General, Army Headquarters South Britain and the Transvaal and Orange Free Africa in 19oo, wrote in an article to an Indian State Republics. newspaper:

'Until the great bodyofBritish Officers becomes convinced that the days of playing at soldiers are over, and that work and work in the full t sense of the word, must now be the watchword, we despair of any attempt at re-organisation. By work we do not mean the daily duty, which is carried out with the greatest conscientiousness by British Officers ... but study, hard study, which must be encouraged and fostered in every way by the authorities. ' The minorit), of officers who were anxious to become skilled in their chosen profession could, after asking the permission of their commanding officer, take the Staff College examination, but most regimental commanders were loathe to lose their best material 10 the Staff, hcnce the numerous Artillery and Engineer officers who attained high rank. Irhe passed the exam, his studies in strategy and tactics would be based on the FrancoPrussian \Var and the American Civil \\'ar but ifit was practical experience he wanted, it could always be found in India or Africa where punitive and other expeditions were regular occurences. The Intelligence Division under its director, SirJohn Ardagh, was maintained on a shoe-Slring budget and was hopelessly understaffed. Th~ Tima Histury cif tilt lVar in South Afn'€D. pointed out that, '\Vhereas the German General Staff employed over three hundred officers spending £270,000, the Intelligence and Mobilisation Divisionsofthe British Armyonlyemployed seventeen officers at a cost of £11,000.' At Ihe same period the Transvaal Republic was spending nearly ten times as much on Intelligence. The editor of TJu Timts, equally surprised at the lack of interest shown by the government and War Office in the Intelligence Division, explained to the Elgin Commission on the war in South Africa, whose report was published in 1903, thai: 'WI': did not spl':nd enough money, or sl':nd enough officers. The eight or ten who went out did very good work, but they wl':re fewer than the men I employed as Timts correspondents, and I should have been ashamed to have sent correspondents anywhere, or even a commercial traveller with the sums of money they were given.' From 18g6--1 899, the I ntelligence Division gave numerous warnings and accurate information on the state of affairs in the Boer Republics but failed to influence the War Office in its policy, as

'Ca-.Jry' bauft"J' of the LA.It.. (T.......vaa.l) State Artillery, IUDDenia fuUdres., I~ Thisuaif eameiafonUtnocej....f .....fore tho! outbr-.k of tM w.r

was pointed out in Thl Times History: 'Far worse than the starved condition of the Intelligence Division was its lack of authority. It was a m~re information bureau with absolutely no control over mjlitary policy. Its invtScigations wl':re not directed with the sense of responsibility that belongs to those who inquire in order to act upon their own information, nor had it the power to insist upon the taking of those measures of the necessity of which its s~cial knowledge convinced it.' The Boer army had none of the smartness or discipline of its adversary, the only regular uniformed units being the police, the O.I'.S. Staats ArtilILrit of the Orange Free State and the <.A.H. Staats Artill"ie of the Transvaal. The Boer was a frontiersman in the true sense of the word; oftcn living in the wilds, he developed the necessary skills of riding and shooting that allowed him to survive and in times of war, turned him into a first class fighting man. He was an

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O.V.S. (Oran8e Free Scate) Artillery Band, full dre.., .ag,. When Albrecht took over tbe command of the corp_ tbe blind outnumbered the fl8htinl unit by 1I to I

tightly and fastened to lhe pommel or tail of each saddle. and in most cases saddlc·bags stuffed to bursting with boer-rusks. bread, and biltong individual but when threatened, joined his neigh- (dried meat), completed their outfits. To an out· bours in locally raised mounted detachments sider this molley and unwarlike gathering would known as 'commandos'. These were composed of have appeared to be without leaders or discipline. all the males from an electoral district. that were for the Boer leaders did not differ in appearance old cnough to earn ~~,un. Th~e electoral districts from the rest of the slouching burghers..\nd yet were divided into pf€Cf~c[s u~der the command of when they addressed the men they were listened to field-<:ornets, and \\ere then subdivided into with carnest attention, although not with paradecorporalships. Even though grouped the Boer ground rigidity. Whal these men lacked in miljremained essentially an individual, providing his tary discipline was largely made up for by their own horse and weapons and having the freedom independence of thought and action. and their to rcfuse to fight or do an yt hi ng aga inst his wi II j he sense of responsibility. Moreover man) of them could evell return home when he felt like it. wcre deeply religious, and all these qualities, com· The mustering of a typical commando is very bined with their profound faith in their cause, their well described by Victor I'ohl from thc Orange reliance on themselves and their ~Iausers, and the F'ree State: knowledge that they werc fighting for their homes}' 'Soon there were gathered a large number of and country, made of Ihis undisciplined crowd aX farmer·soldiers. hefty, dear-eyed. bronzed, and formidable arm)', one 10 whose prowess the good·natured men from the open \·cld ... Sitling civilised world was to pay tribute.' The Orange Free State Artillery, raised in 1857. their horses like cowboys. they wore what they had stood up in \\hen they were called up, and had a very shadow) existcnce until 1880, when their rifles and bandoliers were slung carelessly command of the corps was given 10 a German on their persons according to individual inclina- officer, Captain R. F. W. Albrecht. On his tioll. A raincoat or blanket, or both, were rolled appointll1ent the strength of the corps was three R

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officers, one sergeanl. one lcacher and twelve gunners. At the same date the band, with its bandmaster and twenty-fi\'{' musicians, \\as twice the size or the actual fighting unit. With Albrecht in command the corps continually expanded until, by the outbreak of the South African war. there \\erc five officers and four hundred rank and file, including reservists and a signal section. During

CeDeno.! Sir Red ..e", BDller v.c. (I) ...d e-eno.! Sir Ceo"'le White V,C, (rl. Buller'a rrpalled Cailares ... ",lieNS Lad".. amith, where While waa besiesed, CHI kim the commaad oC Ihe army in Soulh ACrica. ODe or the Dickrlamn riVeD to Buller by Ihe civiliana a' home waa 'PiA;5er' due to the Cac' that 'he was always selling atuck!'

in 18go. In 190 I, having lost all their ordnance, the corps was employed as mounted infantry.

Ill(" war the main Ixxiy or Ill(' artillery sen.-cd wilh

General Pict Cronje. and with his surrender in February 19oo. it almost ceased to exist. ahhough individual gUlls comillucci (0 serve with commandos. The first unit of the Transvaal SitU/Is Artilt,ry was From a military poilH of vicw the war was divided the Battery Dingaall, under the command of a into three distinct phases of unequal length, The German officer, Captain Quo H. Riedel. In 1881 flrst, lasting from the outbreak of hoslilities until it was reformed as DioJrtiJltrit I'an Du;:.. I.R. and January 1900 was a period of unparalleled failure the followin'{ year amalgamated with the TrOnJ- for British arms. "001 R.}'dmdt Politit, having a IOlal strem;th ofsix I)', On 12 October, after waiting on their frontiers thirty artillerymen and lhirt) policemen. for o\'er a wCt'k, the Boers struck against Cape Under the tlueat of war with Greal Britain the Colon) and :\alal. Commandant·Gcncral Jou· corps was n.'organised, the police being formed bert, in command of the main Transvaal force. into a separate body and the artillery strength crossed at Laing's Nek afler having thrown OUI being increased to four hundred men, comprising two wings 10 the easl and west under Generals mountain, siege, fleld and mounted baneries as Erasmus and Koch, who entered ~atal al Botha's well as a telegraph section which had been formed Pass and Wool's Drifl. Furlher to the cast Com·

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r For"ip Semce Helmel of the Connausbl Rangen, 1901, showlaR; the Icarlel f1 •• h made from the shoulder Itrap. of tunica, will. lhe rqj:lmftltal title in while wonted embroidery. (See .Iao description ofpt.les AIII ....d FI)

mandant Lukas ~taycr crossed the Buffalo River at De Jager's Orin. Meanwhile the Orange Free Staters, under Commandant Prinsloo, crossed the Drakensburg Mountains through Van Rcenan's Pass and Tintwa Pass, 10 the wcst, and approached Ladysmith. After the initial actions orthe war at Talana Hill and Elandslaagte, a stunned British army of nearly 13,000 men was forced to retreat and then find itselfbesiegcd in the 10\\ nsofLadrsmith, Kimberley and ~tafcking. On 14 October General Sir Redvers Buller, on the 8
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creator ofSher!ock Holmes, it was '" .. the blackest one known during our gcneration, and the most disastrous for British arms during the century'. The British nation was shocked. 'Our Generals,' said Asquith, the future Lilx-ral Prime Minister, '.;eem neither able to win victori~ nor to give convincing reasons for their defeat.' Buller's failure and his subsequent message to General Sir George While in Ladysmith, suggesling he fire off all his ammunition and surrender, determined the Brit· ish government to replace him. On 10 January 19oo, Field-)..Iarshal Lord Roberts, lhe new Commander.in-Chiefin South Africa, arrived at Capetown accompanied by his Chief of Staff, Lord Kitchener of Khartoum. By 9 januar} Buller's strength had becn augmented to 30.ooocffecth'cs \\ ith the addition ofthe 5th Division under General Sir Charles Warren. With the arrival of thesc mcn he set off on a renewed campaign to relicve Ladysmith. As Buller had not formulated a clear plan he handed over command of the operation to \\'arren. On 16 january the British crossed the Tugela

Lord Metbu.... (I) in command at Maseufonteia, one of tbe di... 'eu of 'Black Week', and Genenl French (r), who... Cavatry Oiviaion made a remark.ble ride to relieve Ki . berley

Rivcr. On the 20th, after waitin't until his suppLies were <;.afelyover, Warren advanced to the southern hills o,"crlooking the Tugela. After an abortive attempt at capturing Taban}"ama Hill whieh commanded the road to Ladysmith, Warren obtained Buller's reluctant approval to launch an attaek against Spion Kop (Iook·out hill,l. This 'sickcning fiasco', asjoseph Chamberlain called it, was perhaps the bloodiest and most futile engagemcnt of the war and cost Bullcr's army about t ,200 men killed, wounded or taken prisoner as a~ainst somt' 300 Boer casualties. With the arri\"al ofRobcrts the second phase of thc war, that of the British counter-offensi\'e, began" For strategical purposes he had to have mobility, not only in his army but also in transport and supply. While Kitchener S('t about organising a system of mule waggons which would unshackle the army from dependence on the railway, Roberts assembled a substantial mounted force drawn

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sJune 19oo. At the beKinning ofOctobcr. Buller set out for England. He was soon followed by Roberts. who from ('HT)" infanlfy battalion under hiscommand. was to supercede Lord \\'olseley as CommanderB) Ihe middle of February Roberts outAankcd in-Chief at Horse Guards. The war was over, or so Kimbcrky and sent General French and a strong it seemed, but instead of peace, Lord Kitchcner, cavalry force on a remarkable ride 120 miles in the ne\\' Commander-in-Chief in South Africa, four days). which relieved the besieged lawn. On had to contend with an eighteen-month period of 27 February, the nineteenth anniversary of the intensive guerilla activity. In this last phase of the war Kitchener introBoer viCIOl'Y at J'vlajuba Hill, Roberts accepted the surrt'ndcr of General Piel Cronjc and his army of duced new m('asures to limit the range and efleet4,000 al Paardcbcrg. Two weeks ]:ltcr, all 13 ivencss orthe BOCT commandos stilliefl in the field. March, the Union Jack was hoisted above the The techniqueoffarm-burning, introduced before Residency in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Roberts left South Africa, was intensified under Orange Free State. On 28 February, the Boers Kitchener, with the object of denying the commandos lhe vital supplies they received from the ~ie~ing Ladysmith withdrew and Buller was, at lasl, able to enler the town. After waitin~ for civilian populalion. To house the destitute men. se\'eral weeks at Bloemfontein. Roberts resumed women and children, who were \"ictims of the his march north. He despatched a column which 'scorched earth' policy. and to prot~t tht" corelit'\"ed ~Iafckin~ on 17 :\Iay. after a sieKe that operati\'c Boers from their fellow countrymen, the had lasted 217 days. After intennittent fightin~ he British authorities set up forty-six camps in which entered PretOria. the capital of the Transvaal, on the refugees were concentrated undcr supcryision. Com ma"daa, Geaeral Pi~ Joub-1 (I), lnder ofllleT r-.aavaal ......y •• the~! of tJoe war; aacI GnoiM"&l Clu-istu.. de Wee (r), orthe .bltsl coulOn_den of 1M 0 ....11:"' Free State

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Unfonunately, because of inadequate preparations, the camps became insanitary and di~ease ridden, thus causing the death of about '20,000 of the ['7,000 inmates. In the early pan of IgOI Kitchener initiated the Blockhouse system, by which the country was divided into sections with long barbed-wire barriers, commanded at inter,'als by fortified blockhouses from which patrols could mainlain the security of the wire. Although only moderately successful. by the end of the war this arran~ement consisl(:d of some 8,000 blockhouses eXlending on'r an area of about 3.700 miles. On 7 August Igol, Kitchencr i"suro a proclamation dcmandin~ the unconditional surrender. by 15 Seplember. of all Boers still under arms. He was dis..'lppoinloo thaI it had no effeci. for he was anxious to leave Soulh Africa so Ihat he could take up the post of Commander-in-Chief in India, an office thaI he had been promised by the Viceroy, Lord Curzon. During the early monlhs of 190'2. sporadic fightin~ still conlinued. Jan Smuts, ChriSlian de Wet and Koos de la Rey led commando raids. e"en against Cape Colony. On 7 ~tarch, a column of 1,300 men under the command of Lord ~Iethuen was auacked by de la Rey at Tweeboseh. The 200 dead and wounded and the 600 prisoners, amon~ them Lord ~Iethuen, made it the worst defeat

sustained hy the British during the latter pan ofthe waf. Kitchener. who had been under a considerable strain, was appallec! when he heard the news and went to bed for thiny-six hours, without food. telling: his A.D.C. thaI his nern'') had 'gone all 10 pieces'. On 10 April 1902 Schalk Bur~er, acting President of the Tranwaal, and ~Iarcus Sleyn. President of the Orange Free State, after conferring wilh Bolha, de WeI, de la Re) and each Olher. agreed to enler into p<'ace negotialions with Kitchener. The di"ClIssions began two days later and lasled for almost a mmuh. the Boers deliberaling amont!;St lhem"eh'cs. \\ilh the Brilish and wilh an assembly of the people at the small border lown of Verceni~ing. On 28 ~lay. the Boers received Ihe final draft of the peace lerms a~reed to by lhe British go\(~rnmenl, lhen repaired to Vereeniging where the final d~i"ion had to be made. The documenl "hich Ihe) look a" ay with lhem comained lhe follo"in~ main clauses: I the Boers were 10 Jay down Iheir arms and ackno,,ledge Kill~ F.•dward \'11 as their la"ful <;o,'ereign; '2 all prisoners and inlernees '\ ho took an oalh of loyalty 10 lhe Kin~ '\ould be released and Iheir Brili"h troop. _lchi.S th .. baltl.. or Col...... 15 December '899. LIo.. fuaal di.... l~ or 'BlIlclt w......• which aro
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Royal Scotl F...ilieu in .. Irll'Gc;h .t Moo; Rivu, .1Igg. Not.. the khaki helmet cover with r~m"nt.1 fI.. h

possessions rcslOred; (3) an amn('sty would be granted for all acts of war except war crimes; (4) the Dutch language was to be given equality with English in schools and the law courts; (5) the British would undertake the substitution of the military administration by civil governmenl, to be followed, 'as soon as circumstances permit it', b)' self-government; 6 no war tax was to be levied; 7 Britain would contribute three million pounds to\I,ards the cost of rcstoring and re· stocking the farms that had been destroyed. The Boers were divided. Botha and Smuts of the Trans\"aal wcre strongly in favour ofaccepting the

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proposals, while Steyn and de Wet orthe Orange Free Slate urged their rejection. At 3.30 p.m. on 31 May 1902, a vote was finally taken. Bya large majorit)' the delegates agreed to the British terms and the Boer commissioners appointed to sign the treaty immediately boarded a special train for PrelOria. where at 10.30 p.m. that same ni~ht. the Treaty of\'ereeniging. as it came to be called. was signed in the dining-room of Kitch('ner's head· quarters.

THE EARLY BATTLES

had taken up a defensh'e position in the dried up bed of the Sand Spruit facinl?; TaJana Hill. one of

At th~ lime: of the Boer invasion the British forces in ~orth ~alal consisted of 4,000 men under General Penn Symons at Dundee, and aOOu18,000 men at Ladysmith under the newly arrived Cornmander·in-Chief, General Sir George White V.C., a "ixty-four year old Irishman whose active mili· tarycareer had been spent cnlirelywilh the Indian Army. Since his arrival in ;\'atal Colony he had been faced with the problem ofwhclheror nOt he could retain the forward position at Dundee, in his view a vcry exposed situation. Many of White's officers thought it best to abandon that part of Xalal north of the Tugda River, retire to the opposite side and hold rhac position until the expected Army Corps arrived. After an inlcr"ic" with Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, the Governor of Natal, in whose opinion'. . such a step would invoke grave political results ... " White determined' ... to accept the military risk of holding Dundee as the lesser of two evils ... ' The first engagement of the war, at Dundee, began at 2.30 a.m. on 20 October 1899, when Commandant Lukas Meyers's commando stumbled across a mounted infantry patrol at Smith's Xek, east of Dundee. A message to headquarters ~o(m brought reinforcements for the patrol, who

the prominent eminences that surrounded the to.... n. Symons had al .....ays bclie\"ed that the Boers would never attack British soldiers and therefore regarded the incident as a Boer raid and nothing else. Unfortunately he was proved wrong:. At about 5.50 a.m., as the troops ......ere busying: themselves with their usual camp fatig:ues. th(' Boers. havin't positioned themselves .....ith two Creusot 75mm field guns on Talana Hill the night before, opened fire and sent the first shell of the war screeching over the heads of the unsuspecting troops. Despite the surprise Symon's reaction .....as quick and effective. While the infantry formed up, the .1rullery mow'a inlO acrion and ralct'd the lOp ofTalana Hill, with such accuracy that not only were the Boer guns silenced, but nearly a thousand men panicked, rushed down the side of the hill and made off. After a ride offifty miles, one prominent Boer reported the complete destruction of the whole Boer force. The many that remained positioned themselves among the rocks all the summit and prepared for battle. To dislodge the Boers, Symons proposed to reinforce the troops in the Spioa Kop, afl:1'r tM Mtlle: Brid... dnd dos: tile .lIaJlow mala trnlch oa tbe summit. 11Ie _~~_, al Spo- Kop __ per"'ps LIIe 10_1 eos-tly ...d r.tde .rtlle_r

15

MUliler of a cypical Boer Commando, chill one ac Wi_burs before cke oucbrnJc of .....r

Sand Spruit and then to launch a frontal allad on the hill under artillery cover, while the ca,·alry were to defend the camp but be prepared to move round the north of Talana and cut off the Boers should they ret real. The preliminary mo,·emcnlS were-completed by about6.30a.m. At 7,30a.m.theinfantry advanced to a small eucalyptus plantation about 1,000 yards in front of Sand Spruit. The) moved in extended order, the '2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers leading, follo,\ed by the 1st King's Royal Rine Corps and the 1St Royal Irish Fusiliers. As the) neared the front edge of the wood tbe Boers opened fire, fore· ing the troops to seek refuge behind a stone wall tbat surrounded the plantation. Symons grew impatient and rode forward to see what was halting the attack. Dismounting from his horse he moved along the line, encouraging his men. He then stepped through a gap in the wallta inspect the position ahead. A few seconds later a ~lallSer bullet ripped throu~h his tunic and mortally \\·oundOO him in the stomach. As he was beingo hclped hack to the dressin~ station his second in command, Bri~adier·Gcneral Yule, ordered the assault, .\5 the infantry mon'd forward a witherinR fire greeted them from the crcst of the hill, inflicting

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heavy casualties and forcing them to take shelter behind another wall that crossed the face of the ~lopc. Here there was a prolonged halt so that reinforcements could be brought up for the final assult and the artillery could take up a new posi. lion and continue the bombardment of the ridge. At about 1'2 o'clock there came a lull in the Boer rine fire that enabled the infantry to push on up the hill towards the crest. ,\n officer involved in the attack later \Hote: 'The l{round in front of me was literally rising in dust from the bullets, and the din seemffl to blend with e\·ery other sound into a long drawn-oU! roar. Half."a) over tht" InracC' 1 looked round over my shoulder and tht" whole goround we had already covered was strewn with bodies, and no more mell werl' cominl{ over the wall. At that moment I was hit through the knee. 1 hopped to the foot of the cliff. There I began to pull mysclf up; bullets from hoth flanks were f1yinl{ thick. I was hit a second time by a shot from above; the bullet hit me in thc back and came out in front of my thi~h ... I had crawled onto the crest line when a Boer stood up twenty yards in front of me. He thrc\\ up his riRe and eon'red me and I took a stC'p forward and co\Cred him "ith my pistol. I forgot my \\ ounded lego. and as I pulled the tri~J::er thC' IC'~ ga'e \\ay and I fell. I drew myself back undC'r ('o\"('r of a rock and raised myself carefully,

ready to shoot if I spotted my man again. He was gone, and as I was looking I was hit a third time, along the back, the bullet coming out just by my spine. After a while, hearing W-- 's voice I asked ifhe had any dressings. He brought me one. He was wounded o\'er the eye. The firing- was gradually dying down, ani) to bring- to our cars .... hat was infinitely more painful to hear. the moaning of wounded men from the terrace below and the hill·side around us.' The defeated Boers streamed down the side of the hill and across the valley below. The cavalry, with orders to cut off such a flight wcre split into two. The smaller section, consisting of two squadrons, pursued the enemy eastwards and e\"(~ntually returned safely to camp but the other, under the command ofLieutenant-Colonel ~Ioller pushed on in a northerly direction and came into contact with a superior force, was surrounded and after a two-hour engagement was compelled to surrender. The battle of Talana (or Dundee) was represented in England as a glorious victory, but it was a Pyrrhic one for the Boers had onty suffered '50 casualties white the British had lost more than 500 men including their commander. On the following day, 21 October, a more successful engagement took place at Elandslaagte, a town on the railway line between Dundee and Ladysmith, which the Boers had captured on 19 October. White ordered ~lajor·General French. \\ho was commanding thc cavalry of the :'\atal Force, to move north from Ladysmith at 4 a.m. with five squadrons of the Imperial Light Horse and the Natal Field Battery. Half a battalion of the lSI ft.fanchesters, with railway and telegraph construction companies, wcrc to follow him by rail at 6 a.m. to' ... clear the neighbourhood of F.landslaagte of the enemy, and 10 cover the construction of the railway and telegraph lines'. French's dawn attack achieved complete sur· prise, but the Boers were tOO quick to be caught and managed to ride orr to the nearby hills where the) had two arciller) pieces in position. French, unprepared for the strength of the opposition and the accuracy of their artillery fire, fell back and contacted headquarters for reinforcements. ,,'hite was determined to strike hard and immediately sent out one squadron of 5th Dragoon Guards, one

A !roup of Trannllal BU"llhu-s, .Igg

O. v .5. (OI'1Ull!" F.- S.a1") Artill~ill 6 ..1d HrVin d,....., .Igg

scluadron of 5th Lancers and two batteries of Royal Field Artillery. by road, and the lSI Oe\'onshire Regimellt and five companies of the Gordon Highlanders, by rail. The command dtlle infantry was given to Coloncllan Hamilton. The attack that followed the arrival of these extra troops was successful in overcoming the determined Boer resistance and in rcopcnin~ the line ofcommunicalions thai had bttn temporaril) CUI.

White, nen'ous of an attack by a frMh Boer force, decided not 10 follo\\ up his viclOry but to \.. ithdra\\ to Ladysmith, \\ here a few days later he was joined by General Yule and the troop!> from Dundee, \\ ho had completed an unpleasant march

17

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Lord RoMrU (I) ~boCftl BuD"r •• CO....ma.ad"......-Cbi"f ia So...th Africa ....d, with Ioi. drift &ad inlaJitoario., a' ...., broW.8lot victory willoia me". Lord K.hc:h_n- (r), ROM".' Ckid' o(S,aff &Dd .uc~_r •• Co der, bad I. dnJ with ~I"eta monilia of perilla W1Iorf..... bdore 1I0e war 6aa1Jy _dod

of sixty miles through lorremial rain with linle to eat but bully beef and biscuiLS, and nothing to drink but muddy water. Their arrival was witnessed by G. W. Stec\,cns, special correspondent for the DaiJ.y Mail, who was to die of enteric fevcr during the siege of Ladysmith: 'Before next morning was grey in came the 1St Rifles. They splashed uphill to their blue-roofed hut on the south-west side orthe town. By the time the sun was up they werc fed by their sister

battalion, the 2nd, and had begun to unwind their putties. But what a sight! Their putties were not soaked and nOl caked; say, rather, that there may have been a core of punic inside, but that the mens legs were embedded in a serpentine cast of clay. As for their boolS, you could only infer them from the huge balls of stratified mud men bore round their feet ... Officers and men alike bristled stiff with a week's beard ... Eyelids hun"t fat and heavy over hollo'" checks and pointf'd check-bones. Only the eye remained the sky-

18

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steel·keen, hard, clear. unconquerable English c)'e to tell that thirt}A\..o miles without rest, four days without a square meal ... still found them soldiers at th(' end. 'ThoU was the beginnin"tofthem: but the) "'ere not all in till the middle of the afternoon ...•\fter them came the guns ... war-torn and fresh from slaughter ... 'Throu~h fire, water, and earth. the Dundee column had come home a"tain.'

MAGERSFONTEIN A:'ID COLENSO

By carly December a Brilish army ofntarl)' 20,000 men was assembled at Frere. When Buller arrived the war had been going well: I...,ord Methuen had fought the Boers at Belmont and Enslin and was driving on to relieve Kimberley and in Cape Colon} General Gatacre was ad\'ancing on the Boer-held position at Stormberg Junction. To relieve l..adysmith Buller had only to cross the Tugela River and push back: the Boers' forces. The troops that Buller had available consisted of four InfautT) Brigades commanded b) General Barton 61h Brigade . ~fajor-General Han 5th

Brigade), Major-General Hildyard '2nd Brigade and General Lytlehon 4th Brigadc! ; a mounted Bril;"ade made up of the I st Royal Dragoons, 13th Hussars, South African Light Horse and some irregular units such as Bethune's and Thorne~­ crofI's Mounted Infamr}. His artiller} was made up of five balleries under the command of Colonel Long, and two 4.7 and several Il·pdr. naval guns under the command of Captain Jones of H.M.S. For/t. By II December, Buller's plan for the relief of Ladysmith had taken shape. His force \\'ould cross the Tugela at Potgieter's Drift and advance on the lown by the Acton Homes-Ladysmith Road. Then, during the next forty-eight hours, came the news of two crushinl;" defeats; Stormberg and ~Iagersfontein. Gatacre had allempl(~d a night march followed by a dawn attaek on the Boer tx>Sitions. The column, led by scouts of the Cape ~lounted Rifles, lost their wa} and by accident ran into a Boer picket who opened fire, auracting the attemion of a Boer Commando who soon arrived

and forced the column to relire. Actual battle casualties where relatively light but when Gatacre returned to his base camp at ~Iohcno it was discovered that some 600 men had becn left bc:hind as prisoners of the Boers. At ~Iagersfontein Lord ~Iethuen, with an army of 13,000 men, planned a night allack on the Boer lines which had been carefully reconnoitred in advance. After a heavy bombardmelll which ~Iethuen thought had destroyed the Boerdefenc , but in fact had only caused three casualties and hardly damaged the intrenchments) the Highland Brigade, chosen to lead the attack, moved in and were decimated, and their leader, Major·General Andrew Wauchope, mortally wounded. The bailie that followed went on for most of the day until the Highlanders, who had been exposed to a crippling fire. retreated. ~Iethuen's losses were heavy. :\early a thou~and men were killed or w·ounded, while the Boers had only about 200 casualties. Briti.h. laf..ury boardla! a. arm_red traia

r

19

W_aded Brhish ",Idlers ia WagCN:I Ho...... Klip Drill

On 12 December Buller called his senior officers IOgelher and announced Ihat Ihe plans for the reliefofLadysmilh had been changed and thai he now proposed 10 make a frontal aBack on Colenso. From the very beginning everYlhing went wrong for the British at Colenso. Colonel Long's artillery forged ahead and came under a withering fire from the concealed Boers as he unlimbered his guns some 500 yards from the river. In under an hour most of the gunners had fallen and the twelve artillery pieces were abandoned. Meanwhile, Major-General I-lan's Brigade' ... got into a devil of a mess .. .' when they were led into a V-shaped loop of the river, wherc they made a magnificent target for the Boers, who poured volley after volley into the khaki-dad mass. Within forty minutcs some 400 of Ihe Brigade were dead and Buller was forced 10 order the with· drawa!. Things were no better on the right flank where the ~Iounled Brigade made an unsuccessful attack on Hlan~wana Hill. The only course left open 10 Bulin was to break

1n

off the action but first he had to get away the guns. This was a perilous task, for il meanl crossing four hundred yards of open ground, limbering up the guns and dragging them back, under fire the whole lime. When volunteers were called for, twO limber teams and two officers came forward immediately. One of the officers was Captain Waller Norris Congreve of the Rifle Brigade and the other was Lielltenant the Honourable Frederick Hugh Sherston Roberts of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, onlysonofFicld·Marshal Lord RobertsofKandahar. Lieutenant Salt, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers described the rescue attempt in a letter home: 'I was on a rise of a hill 10 their right, and could see every inch 'of the ground from start 10 finish. One could see the bullets slriking all round them, and it seemed a mar\'el Ihat they were not hit. When they were about halfway across. one team came to grief, and had to lie where they were under a hot fire. Another was struck, and became a struggling mass before the) reached the guns.

...... .-:.,

Major Albrecht orthe 0, V.S. (Onmse Free Stale) Artillery in the 6eld, 19oo

Three got to the guns, hooked on their teams, and started to gallop back. A shell. as far as I could see, struck one of the guns, and turned it right over, but tht, other two !il:0t safely back. It \\ as an awful si~ht, but fearfully exciting.' Lieutenant Roberts wa.s one ofthosc hit. Three bullets ripped through his tunic and flung him to the ground severely wounded. Congreve was also badly wounded but succcdcd in crawling out and bringing RobcTls to safcty. Both these onlcers were awarded the Victoria Cross. Thc British casualty lisl al Cotcnso was a heavy one, 7 officers and 136 othCT ranks killed: 47 offieers and 709 other ranks wounded; 15 offieers and 1870ther ranks missing; 5 officers and 330ther ranks prisoner. The Boers, on the other hand, had ani} se\-en men killed and twenty-two \... oundOO. From Sir R. Buller to Sir G. White: 'I tried Colenso ycsterday hut failed; the enemy is 100 strong for my force ... I suggest you fire away as much ammunition as you can and make best tcrms yOll can ... recollect to burn your

cipher, decipher, and code·books, and all deciphered messages.' The three defeats of'Black \\'eek' and the above correspondence decided the \"arOffice to appoint a ne\\ Commander-in-Chief in South Africa. Buller recei\·cd the news of his replacement in a telegram from the War Office. 'The prosecution of the campaign in Natal is being carried on under quile unexpected difficulties, and in the opinion of Her ~(ajesty's Government it will require your presence and whole attention. 'It has been decided .. , under these circumstances to appoint Field-Marshal Lord Roberts as Commander-ill-Chief. South Africa, his Chief of Staff bcin!il: Lord Kitehcncr.' On 10January 1goo, the day of Lord Roberts' arrival at Cape Town, Rech-ers Buller, his force augmented hy 10,000 men with the arri\·al of Sir Charles Warrcn's 5th Division. was preparing anOlher drive to relicve Ladysmith. 11

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defence. Warren proposed to dislodge the Boers by a direct attack on the hills and, after obtaining SPION KOP Buller's reluctant approval, decided [Q storm the highest eminence in the centreofthe Boerdefences, On 16January Buller sct off with a force 0(24,000 Spion Kop. To their cost, Ihe British were uninfantry, 2,500 moumed troops, eight field bat- aware that Spion Kop has a Aat triangular sumteries and len naval guns. His plan was to move mit sloping from the south, with two outlying north-westward along the southern bank of the knolls; Conical Hill at the extremity of the nonhTugcla River, cross it at Trichardt's Drift, gain ern spur and Aloa Knoll near the eastern rim. the open plain north of Spion Kop and advance At 8.30 p.m. on 23 January "he attack was towards the invested town only twenty miles away. launched under the command of Major·Ceneral To do this he proposed to send Warren'$ Division E. R. P. Woodgate with Lieutenant-Colonel on a sweeping left Ranking movement round the Thorneycroft as guide. The troops slowly climbed Ridgeway Hills, then move on eastwards to join up the slope, endeavouring to be as quiet as up with Lyuchon's Brigade, who were to come up possible to avoid alerting the Boer picket which from POlgciter's Drift. The command of the they thought must be occupying the crest. At about expedition was given to Sir Charles Warren. 3 a.m. the column reached the summit and fixing At first lIle advance went well. The British their bayonets charged over the crest. One Boer crossed lhe Tugcla but then waited while their was killed and the rest made a hasty retreat down supplies were ferried over. On the 20th, the troops the northern slope. A few moments later \Varren's advanced to the southern hills overlooking thc men far below heard three faint cheers from the river. Meanwhile the Boers, under Louis Botha summit. Spion Kop had been captured at the who had taken over the command of the 'Upper cost of only three men slightly wounded. Tugcla, reinforced and extended their lines of \\'oodg
sUlllmit, now ordered his men to dig in but the wounded in the head. The slaughter was too much g'round was so hard and rocky that it prevented the for some of the Lancashire Fusilier'S \\ho waved construction of anythinK more than the shallowest white handkerchiefs and tried to slip down to the of trenches with a parapet. Boer positions where they could give themseh-es All through the night allacL: the summit had up. Thorneycroft mana~ed to retrieve the situab«n ~hrouded in a dense blanket ofmist and it was tion and. after beinK reinforced by men of the only at 7o'clock that it began todispe~. revealing ~Iiddle<;ex Regiment and Imperial Light Infantry. to the British their true situation. Only the south- managed to hold on for the rcst of the day. ern end of the summit had been captured but, Every so often the artillery and rifle fire would worse still, their hastily-built entrenchments were cease as the Boers launched a counter·attack to exposed to enemy fire from all directions. for retake the hill. These werc rcpulsed with heavy when Botha heard of Spion Kop's capture, at losses, but as soon as the Boers regained their 4 a.Ill., he had immediately positioned his guns positions the barrage would start again. The turand men so that they commanded the tOp of the moil on the crest was later described by a British hill. The Boer emplacements stretched from Green officer: 'I crawled alDOl;" a little way with half my Hill ill the north-west, to Conical Hill in the north, Aloa Knoll on the eastern rim and around to company. and then brou~ht up others in the same Twin Peaks in the cast. \\ hich looked straight manner. The men of the different reKiments down the length of the British trenches. already on the hill were mixed up. and ours met As the sunshine replacro the mist an accurate the same fate. It "as impossible, under the cirand wuthering fire was dir«ted onto the British cumstances, to keep regimental control. One unit position. Shortly after 8.30 in the morning, as he merged into another; one officer gave directions was walking along the trenches with his staff to this or thal unit, or to allOlher battalion. I saw encouraging his men, \Voodgate was mortally some tents on the far side of the hill to our front, A CrellllOl LonS Tom al MaC",ldnS, 1900

23

n e lDuSler or the Lad,.-m.ith Conuna.ado

and knowing the enemy must be there, opened with volleys at 1800 yards, when we saw a purr of smoke, indicating that one of the Boers guns had juSt fired. We lay prone. and could only venture a volley now and again, firing independently at times when the shower of bullets seemed to fall away, and the shells did not appear likely to land specially amon~t us. Everywhere. however, it "as practically the "arne deadl} smash of shells. man~ling and killing all about us. The only troops actually close to me then werc a party of the Lancashire Fusilicrs inside a schan;:t, F Company of the Middlesex, and a mixed company of other troops on the left front. A good many shells from the big guns burst ncar us, and a lance-corporal of the Fusiliers was killed. The only point I could see rifle·fire proceeding from was a trench, the third, I bclic\'e, occupied byour troops on the right. and looking towards Spearman's.' Aftcr General Woodgate had been mortally wounded there was RTeat confusion as to who was in command at the summit. Buller had told Warren to place Thorne}'croft in charge, but communications wcrc so bad that the news failed to reach some of the officers under his command. At one point Colonel Cooke of the Scottish Rifles made contact with Thorneyerofl and flatly refused to

24

take orders from a hrevet Lieutenant-Colonel who was his junior in rank. On the barren vdelt below, the British reserves stood ielly by as their comrades were slaughtered. Only one officer, :\fajor-General Lyttelton, whose Brigadc had crossed thc Tugela at Potgcitcr's Drift, realised that something had to be done to relicve the situation. He marched his men up to Twin Peaks, the sourceofsomeofthc most destructivc enfilading fire on Spion Kop. took them and silenced the Boer arti!le')"}-. But the conquest of Twin Peaks was not part of Buller's overall plan and Lyttelton was ordered to withdra\\. One of the only real chanccs oravcrting defeat had been thrown away. At sunset the main fight had ended and the British still occupied the hill. But Thorneycroft had made up his mind to withdraw, for he fehsure that the next morninR would only brin~ a repeat of the carnage that had been suffered on the summit all day. As the British slowl~ made their "a~ do\\ n the hill. SO thc Boers were mountin~ their horses and slippin~ away from Spion Kop, disheartened by the resistance of the British and the heav)' casualties they themselves had suffered. Louis Botlta, refusing to admit defeat, managed to hah the Boer withdrawal and persuade the men to

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return. As dawn broke two men could be seen waving their hats and rifles in triumph on the summit. A few of the Boers had climbed the hill and found it occupied only by the 1,200 dead and wounded soldiers whose bodies lay in piles in the inadequate trenches they had been defending. On 27 january, Buller's dejected army found itself on the southern bank of the Tugela. The retreat had been carried out in exemplary fashion, '" ithout a waggon or man lost.

THE RELIEF OF AND LADYS~IITH

KI~IBERLEY

When Lord Roberts arrived in South Africa he immediately se( about reorganising his army to give it more mobility and (0 relegate the railway to a subordinate position in his forthcoming campaign. Kitchener, whose task was to reorganise the transport system set up b) Buller. soon found himself unpopular. The reasons for the discord were given in a nutshell by julian Ralph, special correspondent of the Daily Mail: 'His first conspicuous act when in South Africa was the withdrawal of the transport service from separated commands in order that it should be managed by the Arm) Service Corps. Thus it came about that ever) brigadier and colonel saw a certain amount of his power shifted to what he considen:d a subordinate branch of the service. A goodish degree of latitude in the enjoyment of comforts and extras, which had been made possible when these officers controlled the waggons, was also curtailed. The army wailed and gnashed its leeth, but I confess I always thought that reason and right were on Lord Kilchener's side in this matter. Lord Kitchener's plan was the only one by which an insufficient number of waggons and teams could be utilised for all that they were worth.' In practice the new system was unworkable and after a few weeks a return to something like the old system was permitted. On 8 February 1goo, Roberts and Kitchener arrived at ~Iodder River Camp, where 37,000 men, 113 guns, 12,000 horses and 22,000 transport animals had been concentrated. Roberts' plans had been made but in the interest of secrecy

they were only known to himself, Lord Kilchener and Colonel G. F. R. Henderson. the Chief Intelligence Officcr. Lord ~lelhuen's 1st Division would contain Gencral Cronje's army at ~ragers­ fontein, while the 7th Division under General Tucker took jacobsdal to the south-cast. The main attack was to be dclivcrcd by General French's Cavalry Division. the 6th Di\'ision under Kelly-Kenny, the 9th Di\'ision under Cokile and a Brigade of ~lounted I nfantr),. Th~ formations were to march to Ramdam, some <;e\'enteen miles to the south, change direction to the east and cross the Riet Ri\-er at Dc KieJ's Drift, then march northwards and cross the ~Iodder River at KJip Drift. From there thcCa\-alr) Division would make a dash for Kimberley to the north-west. As the strategy depended on ~crecy Colonel Henderson was ordered to create a deception plan. False orders and telegrams \\ ere dispatched implying a troop concentration at Colesburg and a newspaper correspondent wa gi\'en confidmtilll information with a request nOt to usc it in his dispatches. As was hoped the correspondent; to get a scoop for his paper, wired the information to his editor who promptly published it. The War Office, also ignorant of Roberts' intentions, immediately sent a telegram to the Commander-inChief drawing his attcntion to a serious indiscretion of a member of his staff. The deception was a complete success and when the real line

Corporal Ric-urlb ortbe Im~rial YHDl&Dry

a deep, low roar like the surge upon the shinltl~ The Riet and Modder Ri"ers had to be cf05ltd before Cronje was able to detach men to defend them. At dawn the Riet, defended by a small pam On the night of 10 February. Robens addressed of the enemy was reached but after firin!;' a frw the officers of the Cavalry Division and the regi- shots the Boers fled, leaving lhe way clear. Tht mental commanders: crossing was completed by midnight. Wh"n th~ 'I haveaskcd General French tocall you together news eventually reached Cronje, that a larRt as I want to tell you that I am going to give you British force was moving round from Ramdam. ht some "el) hard work to do, but at the 5."tme time sent 850 men under Christian de W('t and hi! you are to get the greatest chance ca"all) has e,-er brother Andries Cronje. to protect the threat('nro had. I am certain you will do well. I ha\'e received flank. news from Kimberley from which I know that it is On the morning of the 13th. the column set off importalll the town should be relieved in the to cross the dry parched land lhat separated the course of the next five days, and you and your men Riet from the Modder River. In the distance Boer are to do this. The enemy have placed a big gun in scouts watched the advance but apart from a small position and are shelling the town, killing women skirmish all went well and just after sun.set tht and children, in consequence of which the ch-ilian ~Iodder Rh'er was reached. The small detachpopulation are urging Colonel Kekewich to ments of Free Statcrs camped around KJip Drift capitulate. You will remember what you are fled at the approach of the column lea"in~ the going to do all YOllr lives, and when yOll have way c1ea r for the men, supply wag.~ons and artillen grown to be old men you will tell the story of tht' to cross the river during the night. Next day thecavalry halted to allow the infant,:' relief of Kimberley. My intention is for you to make a detour and get on the railway north of the to catch up and to give their horses a r~1. The town. The enemy are afraid of the British ca,-alry, delay gave Cronje the opportunity to gather as and I hope when you get them into the open you many men as he could. t~ethef" with a fe\\ will make an example of them.' artillel) pieces and place them in a trong position At 1.30 a.m. the following morning the Cavalry on two parallel ridges of hills which had a 10\\ Division moved off for Ramdam, ' ... the beat of connecting neck, situated to the north of Klip twenty thousand hoofs, the clank ofsted, and the Drift and lying betw('cn the Brilish column and rumble of gunwheds and tumbrills swelling into Kimberley. TraallvaaJ BUrJhen 00 outpollt, -s" I!JIOO of ad\'ance became common knowledge the correspondent complained billerly to Roberts about his' ... unfair and dishonest treatment

e-.di....

troop• •form.;., • kopj",. Note lJoe helmet o...h with the m..pl...le.fbadSe

About one hour after moving olT the next morning the column came under fire from the Boer position. French conferred with his brigadiers and then ordered that a charge be made on the low nek between the hills, which he anticipated would offer less resistance. The 3rd Brigade under Colonel Gordon was to extend in line and take the nek ata gallop, followed by the 2nd Brigadeand the 1St Brigade; the horse artillery batteries werc to keep firing umil the last minute and then follow. The four available squadrons Cordon. ' ... deployed in extended order, eight yards between files, with the 9th Lancers on the right, under

Major M. O. Little, the r6th Lancers on the left under Major S. Frewen. The rear ranks formed a second line twenty yards behind. Placing himself at the head of his brigade, Cordon led it forward at a pacc of aboul fouTteen miles an hour, which he judged to be lhe fastest that the horses in their enfeebled condition could keep up; the nek was about two miles off, the ground was good, and fortunately free from wire. The squadrons came at once under a shower of bulleIS both from the front and flanks, yet few fell. The extended formation, the pace of the charge, and the thick clouds ofdust puzzled the burghers, while the supporting fire of

'Guns iD. the front', a .tirrin,; pai"ti"s of Ihe Ror-I Horse Artillery soinS u.IO action hy JOM Curllon

the batteries shook their aim. Though bullets knocked up jets of dust all round thc cxtended files, the casualties of the main body ofthc leading brigade wcrc slight. As the lines of Lancers approached, at a steadily increasing pace, the crest of the nek, the burghers manning it became nervous, shot worse and worse, and then mounted their ponies and galloped off in headlong night. The few staunch men who stayed behind to the end were struck down or made prisoners.' After some minor skirmishes around thc town, French finally entered Kimberley on the evening of '5 February, \\ here he was met by Cecil Rhodes and Lieutenant-Colonel Kekewich, the military commander during the siege. For Roberts and Kitchener the problem now was to determine what Cronje would do. Retreat, yes, but where? He could fall back to the east or west side of Kimberley and join up with the forces just driven back by French, or he could try to escape to the cast and make for Bloemfontein. On 16 February. General Cronje with a force of 4,000

men was found in the ri\"Cr bed at Paardeberg where he took up a defensive position. ~leanwhilc, General Reekers Bullerwasstil1 trying to break through to Ladysmith. On 5 February an altempt was made at Vaal Krantz, situated a few miles to the cast of Spion Kop but after some vigorous fi~htin~. in which a fe\\ sucesses were scored but not followed up. Bullers army once more fell back across the TUI;e1a. British losses at \'aal Krantz were 31 killed and 17 officers and 318 other ranks wounded. Buller's next advance commenced on 14 February. For fOuTleen da ys, unti Ithe 27th, conti nuous fighting took placeon the right bank of the Tugela, culminating in the capture of the last two serious obstacles, Railway Hill and Pieter's Hill. The enemy fell back and disappeared into the distance leaving the road to Ladysmith open. The I t8 da~ siege was over. Some of Buller's officer.; "erc all for per.;uing the Boers but he had no intention of following their advice. On 3 ~Iarch, after a'jsuring himself that the enemy really had gone, Buller at last made his formal entry into Ladysmith.

h.d Ba"ery, Royal Field ArtilJn-y croa.... al PaanieberJ Drift

PAARDEBERG On '7 February, while Roberts was ill with a fever atJacobsdal and the Boers improved their position at Paardebcrg by digging new trenches, Lord Kitchener, now in command, spent the day deciding his best course of action. He had the choice of besieging Cronjc and then shelling and starving him into submission or he could mount an all-out attack on the Boer laager. He chose the latter and it turned Qut to be one of the most controversial episodes of his career. Kilchener's plan was for Kelly-Kenny to launch a frontal attack from the south, while simultaneous assualLS wcre launched on the east and west by General Colvilc and by Hannay's mounted infantry. He also ordered French to an3ck with his cavalry from the north. French informed him that it was impossible as his men were too exhausted, but he would undertake to prevent the escape of the enemy northwards or the arrival of any Boer reinforcements from the north. On the 18th the attack commenced. From dawn

until dusk the battle raged on. As the official des· patch stated: 'Early in the afternoon ... it seemed likely that the laager would be captured, but the Boers held their ground soobstinatcly, and it wassodifficult to force a passage through the trees and undergrowth fringing the ri\"er on both Aanks. that the troops had to be drawn off. Hea\"y loss was inAieted on the enemy, while our own loss was hardly less senous ... 'A kopjc to the soulh·east of the position, com· manding the Boer entrenchments, and the whole course of the stream from Paardeberg Drift up· wards, was captured during the afternoon of the 18th, but retaken by the enemy after nightfall, owing to the Moullloo Infantry who held it having gone down to the river to water their horses.' Lord Roberts arrived at Paardeberg at 10 a.m. 011 the 19th and learnt that an armistice of 24 hours had been granted so that the Boers could bury their de\ld. Roberts, suspecting that it was a means for Cronje 10 gain time so that rein· forcements could reach him from the south,

29

immediately revoked the armistice and ordered a in eighty yards of the enemy's position and sucheavy bombardment to be opened on the enemy ceeded in entrenching themselves. The action was position. described by A. W. A. Pollock. one of The TimLS's After examining the situation Roberts called his twenty-four war correspondents in South Africa: senior commanders together and tOld them that 'From the existing trench. somt' 700 yards long, he had decided to lay siege to the Boer position. on the northern bank, held jointly by the Gordons Kitchcncr was all for mounting anOlher attack. and the Canadians. the latter were ordered to but it was clear to Roberts that the laager could advance in two lines - each, ofcourse, in extended not be taken without' ... a further loss of life, order thirty yards apart, the first with bayonets which did not appear to me to be warranted by fixed. the second reinforced by fifty Royal Enginthe military exigencies of the situation.' eers under Colonel Kincaid and Captain &ileau. During the afternoon of the 20th the Boer 'I n dead silence, and covered by a darkness only laager and the entrenchments surrounding it were faintly illuminated by the merest rim of the dying shelled for several hours. On the 2tSt and 22nd the moon ... the three companies of Canadians process was continued and trenches weregradually moved on over the bush-strewn ground. For over pushed forward on both flanks, mainly to the 400 yards the noiseless advance continued, and when within eighty yards of the Boer trench the north, in case of an ('ventual assault. AI 3 a.m. on '27 February 1900, the nineteenth trampling of the scrub betrayed the movement. anniversary of the battle of Majuba, the Royal I nstantl)' the outer trench of the Boers burst into Canadian Regiment and NO.7 Company, Royal fire, which was kept up almost without interEngineers, supported by the lSt Battalion Gordon mission from five minutes to three o'clock to ten Highlanders. advanced under heavy fire to with- minutes past the hour. Under this fire the courage and discipline of the Canadians proved themHilhwders wpectias the KUDS C&ptaftd (rom Lhe aoe... at selves. Flinging themselves to the ground. the) Paardebe"l' Note lhe khaJd ap"'-t plaialy vi.ihte o:a Lhe HiJhlaader _ the riJht

,n

l

kept up an incessant fire on the trenches, guided only by the flashes of their enemy's rifles; and the Boers admit that they quickl)' reduced them to the ncctS5ity of lifting their rifles over their heads to the edge of the earthwork and pulling their triggers at random. Behind this line the Engineers did magnificent work; careless of danger, the trench was dug from the inner edgc of the bank to the crest, and then for fifty or sixty yards out through the scrub. The Canadians retired three yards to this protection and wailed for dawn, confident in their new position, which had entered the pr~­ tected angle ohhe Bocr position, and commanded alike the rifle-pits of the banks and the trefoilshaped embrasures on the north.' At 6 a.m. Lord Roberts received the following letter from General Cronje.

'As a sign ofsurttnder a while flag will be hoisted from 6 a.m. to-day. The Council of War requests that you will gi\'e immediate orden for all funher hostilities to be stoppro, in order that more loss of life may be prevented.'

Just before 8 a.m. General Pretyman, with a small escort, rode Oul to meet Cronje and bring him back to Roberts' headquarters. Charles Hands, a special correspondent, described the scene for the readers of the Daily Mail: 'The trim figure of the Chief caught my eye first. He was alone in front of the little lean-to tent fixed to the side of a travelling waggon in which he works and sleeps. His grey face, grave and thoughtful, showed no sign of elation. He looked 'Honourro Sir, around, gave an order to one of his Staff, and a 'Herewith I have the honour 10 inform ),ou that table and two chairs were brought out of his tent the Council of War, which was held here last even- and placed under the shade of a tree at the edge ing, resoked 10 surttnder unconditionally with the forces here, being compeUed to do SO under existing of the river bank. 'He gave another order, and half a company of circumstances. They therefore throw themsel....es on Highlanders formed up in three sides of a square Ihe clemency of Her Britannic Majesty.

31

z.A.R. (T...... ~) AnilIn'J' ia lhe field, lag, 19oo

about the spot. 'The ChierJooked carefully around, saw everything was in order, then walked to his ten I. When he came out again he was wearing his sword a heavy sword with a jewelled hilt. It ,\'as the first time I had seen him wearing it since the column started. But he forgets nothing, overlooks nothing, considers e,-erylhing. And he had donned his sword now as a mark of respect for his fallen foc. 'Presently the body of horsemen came past the hospital tenlS into the camp. ~lajor·Ceneral Pretyman was one of the leading horsemen, his compact figure lightly swinging with the movement of his charger. By his side a great beavy bundle of a man was lumped atop of a wretched lillie grey bony Boer pony. 'And this was the terrible Cronje. '\oIlas it possible that this was the man who had held back the British army at Magersfonlein? Creat square shoulders, from which the heavy head was thrust forward so that he seemed almost humped; a heavy face, shapeless with unkempt, grey·tinged, black hair; lowering heavy brows, from under which small, cunning, foxy eyes peered shiftily. A broad-brimmed grey Boer felt hat was pulled down low, a loose brown overcoat, ordinary dark trousers; nothing military, not even spurs on his brown veldt boots. The only thing he carried that seemed to speak authority was his sjambok, a

thick, heavy stocked whip of hide, which hl' grasped and sw ung as one accustomed to use it.' Roberts tepperl forward, saluted, shook hands, then uttered a few ,\"ords ofgreeting. The two men then sat down and completed the details of the surrender. The total Boer prisoners numbered 3.9'9. besides about '50 wounded, of whom I,327 were of the Orange Free State and 2.592 of the Transvaal. The surrender at Paardeberg: was a blow from which the Boers never full) recovered and marked the turning point of the war.

BLOEMFONTEIN

On , March, while the troops at Paardeberg began their march to the new headquarters at Osfontein, Roberts proceeded to Kimberley where he discussed with Lord Methuen the measures to be taken for the relief of Mafcking. The next day he rode to Osfontein and began to plan his move on Bloemfontein. I t had been his original intention to move on the capital of the Orange Free State,as soon as Cronje had surrendered but he found that his cavalry and artillery horses were so exhausted that he was forced to hold back for a week. On 7 ~farch, the army moved out against the Boer forces under Chrislian de Wet who had taken

up a position in a line ofkopjes on either side of the Modder River at Poplar Grove, some lifty miles wCSt of BloemfOnlein. French's mounted troops were to ride in a wide arc to the enemy's right and attack from the rear. while an infantry division would follow him up and attack from the right, pushing the Boers towards the river, where a second di\'ision would attack from the front while a third, on the opposite bank, would prc\'ent the Boers escaping or receiving any aid from that side. Although French's half-star\ed horses made very slow progress, it made no difference to the Boers. who retreated in disorder without pUlling up a fight. Three days later, after halting at Poplar Grove, Roberts' army advanced in three columns, ten miles apart, on Bloemfontein. Apart from a rear-

Q.uKtiooilll .. eaptUrM a-r

f.l'uard action by the Boers at Abraham's Kraal, which held up the advance for a whole day, all wenl well and on [3 March 1 goo, Lord Roberts entered the capital of the Orange Free State. On 17 March a message was received from Colonel Baden-Powell at l\lafeking. The Boers were still beseiging the lOwn, though in reduced numbers, and the food supplics would only last until about 18 ~Iay. Colonel Plumer was approaching l\lafeking from the north, but it was doubtful whether hc could break through the Boer lines. One month later. 17 April, Lord Roberts ordered the formation of a flying column under Colonel 8. T. ~(ahon. 8th Hussars, to undertake the relief of the beleaguered town.

~IAFEKI:-iG

In August 1899, Colonel Baden-Powell arrivcd in Rhodesia \\ith orders to raise t\\o regiments of mounted infantry and, in the eHnt of war with the South African Republics. to organise the defence of the Rhodesian and Bechuanaland borders. By theendofSeptemberthe tworeRimenb were equipped and ready for ser\'ice but as war became imminenl Baden-Powell realised that his force would be tOO weak unless it was au~mented. He reported this but there were no troops available so he decided to split his force illlo tWO and conccntrate them at Tuli and ~Iafekinl;. Leaving the nonhern column under lhe command of Colonel Plumer at Tuli, Baden-Powell rode to ~lafeking and began to organise its defences. A complicated system of trenches, dug-outs and fons was built, as well as bomb-proof shelters to bouse the women and ehildrcn and some of the vital food supplies. To defend the town Baden-Powell had 745 trained soldiers and 450 panly-trained volunteers from the district. His artillery consisted of four 7-JXIrs, all muzzle loading, besides 7 l\taxim machineguns, a '-pdr Hotchkiss and a 2-inch Xordenfe1d. The siege began on 13 October. whell Cronje with an arilly estimated at bel\\ een 4,000 and 9,000 men surrounded the town. Ourinl; the first phase of the siege, October and Xo\'ember. the Boers made \'arious attempts to take the place but the attacks were beaten off each time. The British also attacked. making little sortie! al;ainst the Boer camps, but these engagements outside the town \\ere few and far betwcen. On the afternoon of23 October, the bombardment ofthe !Own began in earnest when a 94-pdr Creusot opened up from the south. On I B November, General Cronje with 4,000 men and six gUllS, quitted ~lafeking and moved south for Kimberley, leaving General Snyman with an estimated forccof3,000 men and six guns, including the 9+-pdr, nicknamed by the besieged as 'Old Creaky', 10 carryon the investmelll. Realising the gravity of the situation and the necessity of holding out for an undetermined length of time, until a relief column could fight its way through, Baden-Powell took strict measures. He assumed the management of the ' .. , hospital municipality, police, treasury, post and telegraph,

33

A Group or au... he.....' COlubu.... FebMl...,. '900

railway. native affairs, water supply, ordnance shops etc.' He also lOok over all food, forage, liquor stores and native supplies and instituted rationing. An inventory of all merchant stocks was made by Captain Ryan of the Army Service Corps who also worked out a scale of rationing which came into force on the '7 November. The allowance per person per day was: Meat-lib, Bread-lib, Vegetables db, Coffee-toz, Salt-toz, Sugar'20ZS, Tea -toz. All the available tinned meat was stored in bomb-proofshelter and kept as a reserve for when the fresh meat ran out. Siege life was slowly becoming monotonous and supplies became more limited. Hamilton. tbe correspondent of Th~ TimtS, wrOte, 'How wearily the lime passes.' F. D. Baillie of the Morning POJI took the whole thing much less seriously, 'In this war of "sit down" I, for one, have worn out much patience and several pairs of trousers.' Emerson Neilly attempted to give the readers of the Poll .\fall Ga<~tI~ some idea of what the scarcity of diet meant: 'You are in a trench. In the early morning you have handed to you a piece of bread as big as a

.....

breakfast roll and a lillie tin of "bully" sufficient for one average meal. You have some of it for breakfast, and if you have not an iron will you will eat the lot there and lhen, and go hungry for the rest of the twenty.four hours. What you leave is kept in the broiling sun untilluncheon.time, when you find the beef reduced to an oily mess lhat docs not look very appetising. You cat morc and tighten your belt a hole or two to delude yourself into the belief that you have had a satisfying meal. You roast away again until dinner-time, when you gather up the last crumb ... But this is not all; you arc for guard duty from midnight until 3 a.m. You havc no slccp before you go on, and the slumber you fall into when relieved is deslroyed an hour after you have cnlered upon it by the morning order 10 stand to arms. You thus get a schoolboy's luncheon to keep you alive for twentyfour hours. It is made unpalatable by the sun. and if a Mafeking shower falls, the odds are that it will be Oooded over and buried in the mud at the bottom of the trench.' The siege dragged on, hut the morale of the besieged rosesleadily higher as newsofPaardeberg and the reliefs of Ladysmith and Kimberley reached them. In April tht: garrison received a

telegram from Queen Vic loria, which did much to raise their spirits:' I continue watching with con· fidence and admiration the patient and resolute defencc which is so gallantly majmained under \our ever resourceful command.' On 12 ~Iay 1900, the Boers attacked and managed to break in. At about 4 a.m. a very heavy rifle fire was opened up on the town from the east, north-east and south-cast, the alarm was sounded and the garrison stood up. At about 4.30 somc 300 Boers made a rush through the weslem outposts and got imo the native villagc, which they set on fire. After capturing the South African Police fort and the sixteen men in it, the Boers divided into th ree groups. This made the defenders' task much easier. Each group was attacked ~paratel): the first party surrendered, the second was drivcn out and the third, after a desperatc attempt to break out, was forced to surrender. Among the one hundred and eight prisoners taken was Commandant Eloff, the grandson of President Kruger. Meanwhile, near Tuli, Colonel Plumer had prevented a Boer invasion of Matabeleland from the south, after which he descended the railway to within 35 miles of the besieged town. Early in

General Loui. Botha, who took owr co............d of aU 1he Tn......1 forcH .flO,r the dHth of Joubert, returniDll from the fillht at Kliprivier

May he was reinforced and on the 15thjoined up with Colonel Mahon's force sent by Lord Roberts. At dawn on 16 May the combined relief column struck camp and made for ~tafeking. 'We advanced at 6.30 a.m. towards Mafeking, along the north or right bank of lhe Molopo, in two parallel columns at half a mile interval, the cOllvoy in the centre and slightly in rear. ;Plumer's brigade on the right and Edwardcs' on the left. At Sani's POSt, about 12.30 p.m., firing was heard on the left front, and I advanced Edwardes' brigade; Plumer's at the same time advancing along the river; the convoy following on the road in rear of and between the two brigades. As we advanced I found that the Boers had taken up positions all around us, and had five guns and twO pompoms in positions in different places. 'The convoy rather impeded my movements, as it was under shell fire, and the Boers were trying to attack it from both flanks and also from the rear, so I had to strengthen both my flank and rear guards, at the same time I continued my

3S

Royal Army

M~c:al Corp.

in the field, 19oo

advance on ~Iafeking; the Boers reliring from our front and keeping up with us on the Aanks. Our Artillery, especially the Roral Horse Artillery, were making very good practice. At 4.40 p.m. I ordered Colonel Edwardcs to bring up his left and turn the Boer right flank, this movement was entirely successful. At 4.40 1'.111. I had a message from Colonel Plumer to say his advance was checked on the right by a gun and pompom fire from the White Horse (Israel's Farm). I ordered the Royal Horse Artillery (0 shell the hOllse. They soon silenced the gun, but nOt the pompom. I then sent Captain Carr with the infalHry to take the house, which they did, and captured one waggon and a lot of pompom ammunition. It was by this time gelling dark, or I think lhey would have gOt the pompom. 'At 5.45 p.m. all firing, except stray shots of the rear guard, had ceased, and the Boers had retired from all parts ... 'At 1 i p.m., after ascertaining by patrol that the road was open, I ordered an advance on ~Iafeking. \Ve started at 12.30 a.m., and marched seven

1<

miles to Mafeking, which place we entered at 3·30 a.m. on the 171h of May, Igoo.' AI 9.17 p.m. on 18 May IgOO, a telegram announcing the relief of Mafeking, after a siege of 2 '7 days, arrived al Reuter's News Agency from their correspondent in Pretoria. At 9.35 a placard was placed outside the ~Iansion House in the city and a notice was posted outside the offices of the Daily Ttltgrapn, the first paper to communicate the news to the public. London wenl wild. :\ Timts reporter described the scene at Piccadilly: 'The Circus wasjammed with people. And then a cornet or some such instrument struck up God Sau tnt Q.uttn. Immediately thousands of voices look it up and in a twinkling every hat was off. II was a wonderful sight under the glare of the Criterion lamps. The walls around the big space \\ ere ali"e with cheering and gesticulating figures. The pavements and the streets blocked wilh them, and motionless among them the streams of omnibuses and cabs, all crowded with persons waving hats, umbrellas, Rags anything ... I saw many cabs fairly blazing with Union Jacks; the people had obviously laken them to the theatre in amicipation. :'Jo one minded being stopped or crushed. Ladies in evening-dress were squeezed in the crowd, but only smiled happily. And over it all and Ihrougholll it all and through it all the ch«rs Ihundercd on in a continuous roar like the sound of a heavy surf on a rocky shore.'

'lite 'Plates AI

Colour-Sergeant, "iful/try

rif the

l.il/t,full dress

The I-lome Service pattern helmet, generally known as the 'Blue Cloth' helmet, was introduced by General Order 40 of May ,878, and replaced the shako that had been worn since 18Gg. The fillings, spike, plale, rosettes and chinchain were all in brass. The helmet plate tOok the form oran eighl-pointed star surmounted by a crown wilh, afler Ihe Cardwell reforms of 1881, a central circle, bearing the title of the regiment surrounding Ihe regimenlal badge, e.g. 'Royal Jrish' on Ihe circle with the harp and crown badge in Ihe cenlre.

The Wilt.bire ResilDeDt in .ctiOD with • M.xi1D I,,ul Desr Norvat. PODt

The 1881 rcforms not only affected the rcgimemaltitle, they also changed the facing colours of nearly every infantry regiment. Royal regiments had Royal blue collar and cuffs, English and Welsh regiments had white, Scottish rl"gi!ll('nts had yellow and Irish regiments had green. The shape of the tunic cuff was also changed from IXlinted to round. Hence, it was often known as the 'jampot' cuff. The rank ofColour-Sergeant was introduced by General Order, dated 6July 1813. The original badge was changcd in 1868 to the onc shown, which has thrce gold lace chevrons with crossed union flags and a crown above.

Wallace pattcrn. There was little todistinguish onc regiment from anOlher, the only individuality being the small patch on lhe left side of the helmet. A war correspondent bemoaning the all-khaki uniform wrotl" that, ' ... ifyoll pass tostarooard, )Oll catch sight of a three-inch square of scarlet cloth sewn on thc khaki coloured helmet covcr, with somc such legend as "Yorks", "Essex" or "L.N. Lanes", and you recognise the line man.' These patch~ were made from the shoulder straps of old tunics and therefore in some regiments, such as lhe onc depicted, had the addition ofa badge, e.g. R.W.F. "'ith a grenade abo\"c.

112 Prit'ate, Royal Welsh FUjili"s, jm;;u dress The foreign service helmet was introduced in t8n. Made of cork covered in khaki doth, it was usually worn with the curtain or neck protector. The tunic was also of khaki cloth and had a stand and fall collar and plain cuffs, and fastened down the front with fivc General Service buttons. Trousers wcrc ofthc same material and were worn with puttees. The equipment was the 1888 Slade

A3 Prll'Qte, .\founted Infantry Company, sm';a drw Since 1888, a regular mounted infantry force had been established in the British Army, but it was nOt until the South African War that such large numbers of them were used, to counteract the manoeuvrability of Boer commandos. Their dress during the war was a cross between infantry and cavalry as can be seen from the illustration, although later, under campaign conditions and as

37

CJ

Cunntr, Orangt Fru Slatt Artilltry,jull drus In October 1880 a new uniform was designed for the corps which had Ihe general appearance of that of Ihe Royal Ficld Aniliery, bUI b)" 1895 a complele change seems to have taken place as contemporary photographs show a distincd}' German style of uniform being worn. The puktlhoubt bore the Arms of the Slate on the front and had a brass ball finial on the wp. In full dress Ihe ball was removed and replaced by an orange and white hair plume. The tunic, in Prussian blue cloth, had black cuffs and collar piped and ornamented with orange braid. Briti.h lroopa pneparillK all explosive ch....... durUoS d ... almpaJp .(·(arm burnial'

contemporary photographs show, their appearance became less uniform. 81

LinJlmanJ, Ro)'o[ ..VD/!J, tropieol drtll

In 1885, a while uniform was adopted by the Royal ~avy. AI the time or the South African war it consisted of a while helmet fitted with a white colton pugri in six folds with a row of dark blue silk showing at the lOp edge. The lUnic, made of white colton drill waS single breasted with a stand collar and had five brass bultons down the fronl. The breast pockets were without naps. Shoulder siraps of blue with the ranking in gold lace were worn on each shoulder.

82 Gunntr's Alatt, SaMl Bngadt, urriu drus The Sennel hat, which finally disappeared from ust' in 192 I, was worn wilh a khaki cover. The blue tallyband bore Ihe name of Ihe sailor's ship in gold letters, e.g. 'H.M.S. POWERFUL'. In place of puttees all ranks below that of midshipman appear to have worn grey canvas gaiters. The badge, in red embroidery on a blue ground, had cro~ed cannon barrels surmounted by a crown wilh a Sial' beneath. Bj Litutnlonl, Nocol Brigadt, smiu drtJs The Xaval Brigade al Ihis lime were dressed as the Army: khaki frock, trousers and khaki helmel. The only differences were the Naval sword, with gilt hilt, Ihe blue shoulder slraps with gold lace rank· ing,and Ihe blue puttees. Thiswas the firsl occasion that Naval Brigades landed for shore duty dressed in khaki.

38

C2 Cunnn', Transtaal Stolt Artill".}, sn'tiu drtss Thcscr\'icedressconsisted ofa wide· brimmed bush hat "'ith the right side turned up and a IUnic of light mouse
Cj Bon' Uniforms, like the military manual, had no place in the commando system. The Boer turned OUI 10 fight in his normal everyday clothes. The onl~ item ofdress that could be lermed military was the leather bandolier. D Trumptltr, 17111 Limen'S, sn'viu. drtss By the end of I goo, steps were taken to improve the mobility and fighling power of the cavalry. The 17th Lancers discarded their swords and lances, and the Short Lee.Enficid Carbine that was used at the beginning of the war was exchanged for the Siandard infanlry Lec·Enfield rifle which had jl far greater range and was more accurale. Trumpeters wore a brown leather holster and were issued with a pislol. Both bugle and trumpet were carried, the former for mounted calls and the latter for more elaborate camp and barrack calls.

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'Silting (heir horses like cowboy~, they wore whal they had stood up in when dIe) were called up, and their rifles and bandoliers were slung carelessly on lheir persons according to individual inclination. A raincoat or blanket, or both, wefe rolled (ighl!y and fastened to the pommel or tail of each saddle, and in most cases saddle-bags stuffed to bursting with boer rusks, bread, and hiltong (dried meal), completed their outfits.'

Ft OjJiur, Sulfolk R,gimrnl, sert'iu dws NOI all regiments conformed to wearing cut-down shoulder straps on the side of their helmets: and one of these deviants was the Suffolk Regiment. On 6 November 1899, the following Banal ion Order was issued by Colonel A. J. Warson: 'Ycllow doth patches \\ ill be sewn on each side of the khaki helmet, over the cars. These arc cut to form a castle. The bottom of the patch to be 4t inches abovc the bottom of the helmet.' On 15 ~farch 1911, the fLllo\\'ing order discontinued their u~e: 'The CommandinR Officer regrets to announce that orders have been received to remove from khaki helmets the yellow castle cloth patches which have been worn by the regiment for many years both in peace and war.'

F2 Army Rtsm't Xursing Sisl" This illustration, taken from a sketch by S. M. Laurence, special correspondent for the Black and White l1/1dgt/, shows the lype of dress worn by nurses at this period: red cape, blue dress and white apron. As well as the Red Cross badge worn on the cape, a white armband with the Red Cross was worn on lhe upper left arm. During the South African war a number of people raised money for hospital ships and trains. One such person was L.'l.dy Randolph Churchill who had char"te of the hospital ship .\famt. The Arm) nursin,:: seT\-ic( was formed in 1881 and the reserve was formed some years later. F3 Priratt, City Impnial Volunlurs, stn·iu dms The Cit) Imperial Volunteers were a composite regiment made up of drafts from London Voluntcer units and were equipped at the expense of the .city. By fcbruary 1900, about 1,750 men of the C.1.V.'s wcre in Somh Africa, including 400

•

•

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mounted infantry and a battcT)'of 12t-pdr \ 'ickers· ~Iaxim quick-firing guns manned by the Honour· able Artillery Company. In the early part of the war they were issued with a uniform ofkhaki drill but this was found unsuitable and was replaced by one of drab serge.

G f Piper, Biad. Watch, sm:ict dms The regulation khaki helmet was worn with the addition ofa red hackle on the left side, tucked inlO the pugri. In 19oo, khaki aprons were issued to kihed regiments to cover only the front or the kilt. and these had a pocket to replace the sporran. Pipers wore a kilt of Royal Siewart tartan, with the bag of the pipes in the regimental tartan. C2 OffictT, Highland Light InJantry, sm:ut duss The officershO\\'n is dressed as he would have been at the outbreak of war. The khaki helmet had a patch of regimentallartan on the left instead ohhe usual scarlet patch mentioned in the de<:cription of Pia Ie A2, The greatcoat was in dar~ grey material and double breasted, the officen rank· ing being in metal on the shoulder straps. The usual 'Sam Browne' equipmenl with holster, bell and braces together with sword frog were worn.

39

Prell_lation ofSoulh African War Medal. 10 tbe RoyallrUb Fuamers al Belf..I, 1!J'OlI

Later on during the war, when officers dressed like the men to a\'oid the attention of Boer marksmen, an additional tartan patch was sewn on the back of the helmet. G3 P,ivalL, Gordon Higkland"s,jull Jms The bonnet of black Ostrich feathers had a diced border at the headband and a white hackle on the left side. The bonnet badge was in white metal and bore the crest of the ~1arquis of Huntley within an ivy wreath with a scroll at the base reading B)'dand. Thc scarlet doublet had yellow collar and gauntlet cuffs, the laltcr decorated wilh three white worsted butlon loops and brass buttons. The shoulder straps wcrc ofscarlct cloth cmbroidered with the word 'CORDON'. The illustration depicts a private dressed for guard duty. H J Dispatch rid", Dukt of Edinburgh's 1'0luntL" Riftt!, sm.';u drLSS The side-cap was of blue cloth and bore the regimental badge on the left side. The tunic and trou.scrs were of khaki cloth but the puttees were in dark brown material. The waist belt and bandolier were in brown leather.

40

H2 Troo/KT, South Ajrican Light florst, J"riu dms The slouch hat of khaki felt had a pugri of light khaki round the headband and had the left side turned up. The plume was of dark grttn, almost black feathers. Tunic and breeches were khaki. the latter being worn with bro\\ n leather leggings in place of puttees. The bandolier and waist belt were of brown leather. One of the most famous members of this corps was Winston Churchill, who had the rank of Lieutenant and managed 10 mix his military carecr with that of special correspondent for the Morning Post. H3 Corporal, Ntw South WaitS Lfl7/urs,jllll oms The bush hat, in Arab felt wilh a red pugri round the headband, had the left side lurned up and held in position by Ihe regimental badge. Behind the turned up side was a dark green feather plume. The tunic was in Arab material, doublebreasted, with collar, cuns and plastron front in red. Trousers were of the same material as the lunic and had a red stripe down the outside seam of each lcg. The girdle was of yello.... worsted with tWO red stripes.

Men-at-Arms Series THE SEVEN YEARS WAR MO'ICAlM'S ARMY WOLFE'S ARMY· THE Al!STRO-HIJ"'G"RIA~ARMY OF THE SE\'E'i YL\RS WAR FREDERICK THE GREATS ARMY

NAPOLEONIC WAllS FOOT GRE."ADIERS OF THE IMPERIAL Gl:ARD CHASSEl'RS OF THE Gl'.\.RD BlCCHF.R'S RMY Rl:SSIA...'\ ARMY OF THE 'APOI.EO'iIC WARS THE BLACK BRl''iSWICKERS Al:STRO·HC'iGAR1A" ARMY OF THE :-iAPOLEO:\"IC WARS \\ ELLI:-iGTO'i-S PE:'IoI"SCLAR ARMY Kl"iG'S GERMA'\ LEGJO.'· '\APOLOO...·S POLISH TROOps· XAPOLOO"'S GERMA:\" ALLlF.s I :'I:APOLOO""S GERMA' ALLlF.s 2 SPA"'SH ARMIES OF THE 'l;APOLEO'iIC W."RS PORTl'Gl'ES£ ARMY 01'"' HE "'APOU:O"IC WARS :\"APOLEO... ·S ARTILLERY :'IoAPOLEO""S DRAGOO"S A'\D I.,A'I;CERS ...APOt.EO...·S CUR IERS A ... D CARABI'IERS SCA:-iDI"AVIA'I; ARMIES I'" THE ,\APOLEOSIC WARS

OTHER 19TH CENTURY CAMPAIGNS Rl'SSIA." ARMY OF THE CRIMF.,A BRITISH ARMY OF THE CRIMEA' ARMY OF THE GERMAN EMPIRt: 1870-88 THE SUDAN CAMPAIG:"'S 1881 98 THE BOF.R WAR THE ZULU WAR

WORLD WAR U THE WAHEN SS LunWAHE AIRBORNE A:"II) HELD u"rrs THE PANZER DIVISIONS THE JAPANESE ARMY Of WORLD WAR II THE SOVIET AR\IY ROMMEL'S DESERT ARMY

BRITISH REGlM£NTS THE BLACK WATCH THE COLOSTRr.AM Gl,\ROS THE ROYAL SCOTS GREYS THE ARGYLL .t Sl.;THERL.""'O HI(;HLA ... DERS THE CO'i'iAl:GHT RA"'GERS THE BCFFS THE ROYAL ARTILLERY THE KI"iG'S REGI\IE'\T THE Gl'RKH\ RIFLES· THE 30TH PL''ijABIS THE SOLIH WALES BORDERERS THE ROY .\ .L GREE.' j,\CKETS

AMERICAN SUBJECTS THE STO,\[W,... LL BRIGADE THE IRO'i BRIG.\DE THE C.S CAVALRY GEORGE WASHI"iGTO""S ARMY THE L''\ITED ST....TF.5 MARI'\E CORPS THE AMERle...;"; PRO\'I"iCIAL CORPS THE BRITISH AR\IY 1'\ 'ORTH AMERICA 177.>---83'" THE A\{ERICA'" WAR 1812 14' THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC THE AR\fY OF \,ORTHt:R'I; \"IRCI"IA THE MEXICA'\,AMERIC,,'" W....R 1fl46.---.l8 THE AMERICA'" l'\mA'" \\ \RS 1ll6()-90 WOLFE'S ARMY· MO,\TCALM'S ARMY

MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS THE FRE'ICH FOREIG'" LECIO'" TH E COSS:\CKS ENCL1S11 CIVIL WAR AR\lIES THE ROMAN ARMY FROM CAf$AR TO TRAjA... • MEDIEVAl. EUROPEAN ARMH:S 1300--1~ TI-1~: LANDSKNECHTS THE AR,\B U:GION

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