There was no doubting the courage of General Sir Redvers Buller. He had, after all, won the Victoria Cross in the Zulu War and had participated in many vicious campaigns during a long and illustrious military career. Sadly, rather like one of the stereotyped Victorian d'Ascoyne family caricatures so admirably played by Alec Guiness in Kind Hearts and Coronets, his abilities as a general left a great deal to be desired.
On the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899 he was sent to South Africa as commander of the Natal Field Force, and it was there that his inadequacies as a military tactician were laid bare. Soundly beaten at Colenso, where he had forbidden the troops under his command to dig trenches lest they spoilt the pleasant appearance of the countryside, further defeats at Magersfontein and Stromberg quickly followed, earning him the dubious sobriquet "Reverse Bullers".
This level of sustained failure could not be tolerated and so "Bobs" Roberts was sent out to replace him as overall commander. However, he remained as second-in-command, still entrusted with the relief of the besieged town of Ladysmith.
Not deterred by his previous failures (and not learning from them either) he decided upon a new plan. He would split his army and cross the Tugela River at two points and there secure a bridgehead from which to attack the Boer defensive line between himself and Ladysmith. Entrusting command of his main force to Sir Charles Warren the Tugela was crossed on January 23rd, with the cumbersome movement of the British being easily visible to the Boer forces. A smaller force, under Major General Neville Lyttleton was despatched east to undertake a secondary diversionary attack at Potgeiter's Drift.
At over 1400 feet Spion Kop was the largest hill in the area and lay right in the centre of the Boer defensive line. It was reasoned that if it could be taken then artillery positioned on it could command and subdue all Boer resistance in the area; the defensive line would be broken and the road to Ladysmith laid open.
Spion Kop.
Warren sent the larger part of his force, under Major General Woodgate, to sieze the hill. The British climbed its slopes on the night of the 23rd in a deep mist and met only slight resistance, the Boers having mounted a picquet of only 15 men to guard it. Somewhat surprised by the ease with which they had claimed the Kop the British dug in, although the rocky terrain was such that only shallow scrapes could be constructed, rather than the deep trenches necessary to offer real protection. Daylight on the 24th brought a rude awakening.
Due to the failure to thoroughly recconnoitre the area or attempt to appreciate its topography fully the British found themselves in charge of the lower part of Spion Kop, surrounded on three sides by Boer positions on higher ground. The outcome of the following battle was tragically inevitable. The Boer artillery on the adjacent Tabanyama plateau soon began to pour shells onto the exposed British troops at the rate of 10 rounds per minute and 300 Burghers of the Pretoria Commando then stormed the hill and fierce hand-to-hand fighting ensued. Despite the Boer successes, and amid rapidly growing casualties, the British troops fought on desperately until a stalemate ensued but eventually, in the extreme heat with water being short and ammunition running low, the decision was made to withdraw from the hill. This too, in hindsight, was a mistake, as the Boers, despairing of ever completely dislodging the British from their positions, had become thoroughly demoralised and retreated as darkness fell. By the following morning the only British left on Spion Kop were the dead and dying.
British dead in a trench on Spion Kop, reportedly men of the King's Own.
The casualties were severe: the British suffered 243 fatalities with another 1200 wounded or taken prisoner. By contrast the Boer forces suffered 335 casualties of whom 68 were killed. The majority of the dead were buried in the trenches they had scraped, the covering of earth and rocks becoming the mass grave visible today. Monuments record the names of the individuals buried there.
The casualty list for the 2nd Battalion The King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) was the heaviest of all the units engaged;
Major A. J. J. Ross
Captain M. W. Kirk
Lieutenant A. H. Wade
Lieutenant F. H. Pipe-Wolferstan (attached from The King's Own Scottish Borderers)
Colour Sergeant S. Turner
Sergeant J. McIntosh
Sergeant J. W. Webster
Sergeant W. Harrington
Sergeant G. Morce
Sergeant F. Dickson
Sergeant R. Reid
Sergeant T. E. Livock
Corporal A. Munden
Lance Corporal J. Dawson
Lance Corporal E. Hammond
Lance Corporal F. Alderson
Private W. Ashcroft
Private L. Bamford
Private J. Brogan
Private C. Brown
Private W. Brown
Private R. Bland
Private F. Cartledge
Private W. Carroll
Private A. Cooper
Private J. Collinson
Private J. Dawson
Private H. Dreher
Private T. Doran
Private J. Edge
Private J. Fahey
Private N. Farnworth
Private G. Finley
Private R. Fairclough
Private G. Fisher
Private W. Gee
Private F. Gilbert
Private W. Gormley
Private H. Groundwater
Private H. Hackney
Private R. Higo
Private J. Hughes
Private G. Jackson
Private W. Jones
Private J. Kennedy
Private A. Kenney
Private W. Lloyd
Private C. Loft
Private P. Marr
Private J. Moran
Private J. Morris
Private F. Norbury
Private T. Oldfield
Private J. Orchard
Private F. J. O'Conner
Private G. Park
Private J. Rothwell
Private J. Sweeney
Private J. Swindells
Private B. Thomas
Private J. Varey
Private J. Walden
Private F. Weston
Memorials to men lost in the battle were also erected back home in Britain. An example is the one found in Millom Holy Trinity Church, Cumbria, commemorating Private George Park.
For many years afterwards, perhaps even as late as the 1960's, his widow displayed his photograph and medal in the front window of her house.
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