Artillery pushed forward.
The Boers open fire.
[Dec. 15, 1899.
At this point, Colonel Long, with the artillery in the centre, determined to push closer in, where his 15-pounder field guns could fire with better effect, though he had received orders to keep his two batteries under cover of Barton's brigade, and only to use the naval 12-pounders at long range. He was, it would seem, fully under the impression that the enemy had retired, and refused to listen to the entreaties of one or two junior officers, who dreaded some trick on the part of the Boers. He was confirmed in this impression by two scouts whom he sent forward. One rode close up to the river bank; the other actually set foot on the road bridge without seeing a single enemy. This was a carefully calculated ruse of the Boers, and it succeeded. Confidently, Colonel Long directed the 14th and 66th Field Batteries and six naval guns under Lieutenant James to advance to a point barely 800 yards from the Tugela and 1,200 yards from Fort Wylie, crossing on the way two dongas. This position was more than a mile in front of the slowly advancing infantry of Hildyard's brigade. The two batteries galloped forward, outstripping their infantry escort; the naval guns followed more slowly, when suddenly a single shot rang out from one of the hills behind Colenso. It was the signal for the Boers to open fire. Instantly the whole northern bank of the river broke into flame with a fearful crackling and spluttering, above which could be heard the loud and heavy hammering of the Boer 1-pounder automatic guns. A deluge of projectiles from rifle, cannon, and machine gun descended upon Colonel Long's artillery. The gunners faced the storm with stubborn heroism, neither flinching from their work nor showing any undue haste. The guns were calmly unlimbered, picked up the range, and then opened fire on Fort Wylie. Two of the naval 12-pounders had crossed the rearmost donga, but all the oxen dragging these were in a moment killed or stampeded by the Boer fire, and the sailors had, perhaps luckily for them, to drag the weapons back to the other four 12-pounders, which now unlimbered and opened from a position considerably to the rear of Colonel Long's batteries. The great 4·7's, far behind, gave all the aid they could in beating down the fire of Fort Wylie. The Boer works, at this point, were wreathed in one continuous cloud of smoke from the bursting shells. With the dense green fumes which the lyddite projectiles scattered as they exploded, it seemed as though the hill had broken bodily into flame and was being consumed by subterranean fires. Yet in the midst of this cyclone of death the Boer gunners, behind their earthworks, worked their guns as steadfastly as the British gunners. The latter, unhappily, stood in the open space before Colenso with half-a-mile of smooth open ground behind them—a splendid target at close range.
No. 5 GUN OF THE 14th BATTERY IN ACTION AT COLENSO.
Two men continued to serve this gun after all their comrades had been shot down. Finally they also were killed, and the gun was left standing alone.
FACING DEATH: THE LAST TWO GUNNERS OF THE 14th BATTERY.