The Second Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers in the South African War Part 7

company had arrived the previous afternoon, and was encamped near the station, but the remainder of the battalion crossed the Orange River, and pitched camp about 600 yards from the bridge, with its outpost line pushed forward on the high ground to the north.

Major Hicks became commandant of Aliwal North, and had no easy task.

The town was General Hart's base during the operations for the relief of Wepener, and there was consequently much to be done. Moreover, the surrounding country was disturbed, the Dutch population had to be watched, and there were constant rumours of the approach of commandoes. In the early hours of the 21st, a report reached the commandant that a large body of Boers was marching on the town. He therefore decided to bring the regiment back to the south side of the river, only leaving the piquets on the north bank. We therefore at once struck camp, and, crossing the river, bivouacked near the bridge.

But as the report proved to be misleading, camp was re-pitched on a square in the middle of Aliwal North. The outskirts of the town were put into a state of defence, and a series of trenches covered the approaches to the bridge. Although this necessitated much labour, everybody enjoyed their stay at Aliwal. It was a pretty place, with trees and gardens full of roses, with plenty of water, including a hot stream running through the camp, with a well-stocked library, and lastly, but by no means leastly, with a hotel possessing excellent lager beer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Wash in hot Water. Aliwal North.]

The time pa.s.sed, in fact, too quickly, for on the 26th news was received of the relief of Wepener, and orders were issued for our movement to Kimberley. We started at once in two trains, the first leaving at midnight the second at 1 a.m. on the 27th. It was a long and monotonous journey, the only breaks in which were stops for the purpose of cooking meals. Kimberley was reached at 10 p.m. on the 28th, and the train stopped the night in the station, going on at 6 a.m. on the 29th to Doornfield, about eight miles north of Kimberley, where the Connaught Rangers and the 6th Brigade were already encamped.

Since General Hart, with the Borders and Somersetshire Light Infantry were still near Wepener, Colonel Brooke a.s.sumed the command of the brigade.

General Hunter's division had been ordered to relieve Mafeking, and the General decided to cross the Vaal near Windsorton with the 6th Brigade, and to advance up the right bank; while General Paget with the Royal Munster Fusiliers, Connaught Rangers, and Royal Dublin Fusiliers, faced the Boer position at Fourteen Streams. Colonel Mahon's mounted column was to move by Barkley West, and reach Mafeking by sweeping round the Boer flank.

The battalion accordingly left Doornfield by train at 9 a.m. on May 2nd, and about mid-day reached Content, where it detrained and encamped. The next day it marched with the Connaught Rangers to a position about two miles south of Warrenton. The opposite bank of the Vaal was held by the Boers, who were strongly entrenched and had field-guns. On the south bank of the Vaal were the Munster Fusiliers, a battery of field artillery, a six-inch gun mounted on a railway truck, and a balloon, the whole detachment being under Major-General Paget.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Taking XIV STREAMS on 7th May 1900 at 9.30 a.m. very bad ford. _From a sketch by Col. H. Tempest Hicks, C.B._]

As all tents had been left at Content, the regiment bivouacked, and remained more or less idle. The Munsters were holding Warrenton, and there was constant sniping between their posts and the Boer trenches.

The balloon ascended daily, and the six-inch gun fired an occasional shot, while the enemy's field-guns came into action at intervals. It was a monotonous and unpleasant time for the Connaught Rangers and ourselves, since there was nothing to do, while it was very hot by day and cold by night.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The regimental Maxim in Action at Fourteen Streams.]

A little excitement was afforded on May 6th, when the Connaught Rangers and half the battalion made a demonstration against a drift to the east of Fourteen Streams. The object apparently was to draw the Boers' attention from the 6th Brigade, who, after a victory at Rooi Dam, were moving up the right bank. The movement caused a slight amount of sniping, and the detachment returned to the bivouac soon after 2 p.m.

The approach of the 6th Brigade, aided, perhaps, by this demonstration, caused the enemy to evacuate hurriedly their trenches during the afternoon of the 6th. Early on the morning of the 7th, the Connaught Rangers and the right half-battalion started to ford the Vaal at Warrenton.

The river at this point was broad and swift. The ford was a difficult one, being beset by rocks and holes, and it took a considerable time for the column to cross, since the water was up to the men's waists.

The left half-battalion under Major Bird moved one and a half miles up the river near Fourteen Streams, where there was a ferry-boat. The latter had been rendered useless by the Boers, but as they had left the wire hawser, it was easy for the Royal Engineers to construct a raft, on which the left half-battalion crossed comfortably and quickly.

The right half-battalion joined the left half at the ferry, and breakfasts were cooked. Before leaving the river-bank everybody made an inspection of the Boer trenches, which formed an exceedingly strong position. They were very deep, and so well adapted to the ground, that it was no easy matter to discover them from the opposite bank.

Evidences of the hurried Boer retreat were plentiful in the shape of full ammunition-boxes, half-cooked food, blankets, and kettles. One Boer, who was too ill to march, was captured in the trenches.

After breakfasts, the battalion moved through a piece of ground thickly covered with bush, and eventually bivouacked about one mile from the Vaal, near the railway line. The 6th Brigade halted near the same place, and the whole force was occupied for the next fortnight in covering Fourteen Streams. The important railway bridge at this point had been destroyed by the Boers, and the Royal Engineers, aided by large working parties from the infantry, at once commenced to construct a deviation bridge. This necessitated a great amount of labour, and since, in addition, defensive works had to be made, we were all kept very busy.

The stay at Fourteen Streams was interrupted on May 15th by a movement on Christiana, a town in the Transvaal, reported to be held by a strong party of Boers. The whole of the 10th Division took part in the operations, and were thus the first regular troops to enter the Transvaal. The frontier was crossed at 9 a.m. The advance was through an undulating country, at times thickly covered by bush. Towards the afternoon the brigade halted, as news was received that the mounted troops had entered Christiana. A bivouac was formed in a clearing among the bush, and dinners were cooked.

The next day the brigade marched back to Fourteen Streams, and reached that place early on May 17th, having done some twenty-six miles in nineteen hours. Work on the railway bridge was resumed, and, as the 6th Brigade had not returned, the battalion had to watch a more extensive area. Each company was given a section, and constructed a redoubt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Captain Jervis, General Fitzroy Hart, C.B., C.M.G., and Captain Arthur Hart.]

About May 24th, Second Lieutenant Bradford, with twenty-nine men, was sent up the line to garrison Border Siding, where they were picked up three days later.

The deviation bridge over the Vaal having been completed, the battalion was sent forward by train to Vryburg, travelling in two trains. Camp was pitched just outside the station, and for the next two days every one spent their time in buying _karosses_ and in shooting partridges.

The 10th Division, when Mafeking had been relieved by Colonel Mahon, was ordered to march to Johannesburg via Lichtenburg. As the first part of the route lay through a country very deficient in water, the division marched in several columns, which followed each other at a day's interval. The battalion left Vryburg on May 30th at 7.30 a.m., and proceeded to Devondale, and on the next day made a march of twenty-two miles to Dornbult, where Captain Mainwaring, with Second Lieutenants Newton and Smith, joined.

Their wanderings before they succeeded in doing so are sufficient evidence how little was known, even to our own staff officers of the whereabouts of the several columns. On arrival at Cape Town in the s.s. _Oratava_, they were transhipped to the s.s. _Ranee_ and sent to Port Elizabeth. On reporting themselves there they were entrained and sent to Bloemfontein. No one there seemed to know where the regiment was, but at that very time the report arrived of the march on Christiana. Captain Mainwaring then met Captain Carington Smith of the regiment, who was at that time serving in Roberts' Horse (which he later on commanded), and as that officer was shortly going north with some men of his corps, it seemed to both that the speediest way to get to the Dublin Fusiliers was for Captain Mainwaring to be attached to Roberts' Horse. An application to that effect was made to the staff and granted, but shortly afterwards the news of the Christiana column's return to the railway came to hand, so the three officers once more entrained, and proceeded via De Aar to Kimberley.

Although Captain Carington Smith did not serve with either battalion during the war, it would not be out of place here to mention the great part he took in it. He commenced by serving in Roberts' Horse, and was with them throughout Lord Roberts' advance to Bloemfontein. In the action at Sanna's Post he was shot through the knee, but resolutely refused to be invalided home. His recovery from this severe wound was little short of marvellous, and he actually managed to rejoin the headquarters of his corps in time to share in the entry into Pretoria. Shortly after this he was again shot at Heidelberg, this time through the other knee, and again made a second and equally marvellous recovery. Towards the end of the war he commanded Roberts'

Horse, and later on the South African Light Horse, and his trekking during the campaign amounted to no less than 9000 miles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Issuing Queen Victoria's Chocolate. Colour-Sergeant Connel, 'G' Company, on left.]

PART II.

TREKKING.

CHAPTER I.

VRYBURG TO HEIDELBERG.

'None of us put off our clothes.'

_Neh._ iv. 23.

Now commenced a different phase of warfare. If, in the constant fighting of the Natal campaign, the regiment had been called upon to prove its fighting capabilities--a call to which their n.o.ble response earned them encomiums wherever they went--they were now to be called upon to prove another essential of the true soldier--their mobility.

And well they proved it. Day after day, week after week, the tired, footsore, but stout-hearted column-of-route made its slow and wearisome way over the apparently limitless expanse of the swelling veld. And how monotonous that veld can be none can appreciate save those who have experienced its deadly sameness. Ahead, behind, all round, nothing but veld, veld, veld. No trees, no hills, no rivers, no lakes, no houses, no inhabitants! Here and there, perhaps, a miserable shanty of the sealed-pattern South African type: rough stone walls and corrugated-iron roof, a room on each side of the door, a narrow verandah--occasionally occupied by a quiet, peaceful-looking old patriarch, with a grey beard, and an air savouring rather of the pulpit than the sheltered side of a boulder--a scraggy tree or two, and a lick of water in a 'pan'--or pond as we should call it--hard by; a woman, some children, and a couple of goats; a few mealie cobs yellowing on the roof, and a scared, indignant, and attenuated fowl.

Alas! how those quiet-looking, quiet-spoken old gentlemen, open Bible on knee, deceived us. Oh, no! they had never wished for war. Fight?

yes; they had fought, and surrendered, and taken the oath, and hoped never to fight again. Peace? yes; they wanted peace, and urged us to hasten on and conclude it. The same story everywhere: in the villages as in the solitary hamlets. A vast, empty, forsaken wilderness, with nothing more bellicose than a lean and hungry boar-hound or two. And yet for two long years to come this very country, over which the battalion trekked so peacefully, fifes and drums playing, officers out on the flanks shooting, mess-president cantering miles away in quest of eggs and their producers, was to be the scene of many a hard-fought fight and many weary nights of outposts. Indeed, it never really succ.u.mbed to the very end; the happy hunting-ground of the gallant De la Rey, it was a thorn in the side of our leaders up to the day the Delegates came in.

One day's march varied little from another. Up at dawn, and off after the scantiest of sc.r.a.ppy breakfasts. Good marching while the dew was on the gra.s.s, and the sun a welcome ally after the clear, crisp, frosty nights; soon, however, to get hot enough, until the welcome mid-day halt and meal, after which tighten up belts once more and on, and on, one horizon following another with wearisome regularity, and never a sign of the long-looked-for water, till at last, as the sun set behind our backs, its last rays would glint on the miserable 'pan'

by whose side we were to halt for the night. And then what bitter feelings of depression and disgust when sometimes the fiat would go forth 'Water for cooking purposes only,' and one had to turn into one's blankets grimy, dusty, clammy, and miserable.

On May 31st, the regiment, having arrived at the railway, was told they would halt there next day. But on the morning of June 1st, the order was given for the column[8] to march at 2 p.m. to Marigobo Pan, a distance of eight miles only, but quite ten by the route taken. The evenings soon close in at this time of year in South Africa, and it was almost dark when the column arrived. As it was a fine mild night, every one hoped to be allowed to bivouac, but tents were pitched after all, and naturally enough pitched anyhow.

[Footnote 8: Border Regiment, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Bearer Company, and Supply Detachment.]

In this matter of pitching tents, the battalion particularly prided itself. On arrival at the selected site of the camp the Sergeant-Major blew a whistle, when all those whose duty it was to a.s.sist ran towards him, the men to mark the tent-poles, bayonets in hand, and two others with the mekometer, to ensure a true right-angle. Every one knew his particular job, so no time was wasted, while the symmetrical lines obtained by the use of the instrument were a joy to the General's eye.[9]

[Footnote 9: _Vide_ General Hart's letter in Appendix.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: First Entry into Krugersdorp. Captain and Adjutant Fetherstonhaugh in foreground.]

In the same way, whenever a halt was ordered, it was the regiment's custom to lay out their kits, mess-tins, belts, &c., in lines outside their tents. Each Colour-Sergeant had a ball of string, which was stretched between a couple of pegs; the kits were laid along it, the string was rolled up and pitched into a tent, and neatness and regularity prevailed without any extra trouble to any one. This neatness in camp, in addition to its other soldierly qualities, endeared the battalion in the eyes of General Hart, a soldier of the old school, to whom order and regularity particularly appealed.

On the 2nd the column made another short march to Greysdorp, where there were two or three good wells, but where the water in the pan was of a most peculiar green colour.

The Mafeking relief column was met on the way, and very hard and serviceable they looked, while several officers met old friends, amongst others Prince Alexander of Teck, whom we had known at Maritzburg before the war.

A longish march of nineteen or twenty miles on the 3rd, with a halt midway, brought us in the evening to a place called Barber's Pan, somewhat superior to the generality of these places. There was a certain amount of water in the pan, but brackish and unpleasant to drink. Round it were scattered some half-dozen houses, but the most remarkable thing in connection with it was the sunset. As the light faded, a mist rose from the veld, which after a few minutes began to change colour, until at last it settled down to a most beautiful shade of light green. None of us had seen anything similar before, nor did we ever see anything like it again.

A march of about fourteen or fifteen miles on the 4th brought us to a most uncomfortable camp. On the way, Captain Fetherstonhaugh (acting Adjutant since Captain Lowndes was. .h.i.t at Talana) rode off some distance to a flank to try and get some supplies. He returned with a great story of his reception by crowds of women and one or two men; the latter stated they had been reluctantly compelled to fight against us at Modder River, on pain of being shot, but that their sympathies were entirely with us, &c. They even gave him a pound of b.u.t.ter. And we believed this story at the time.