MAP OF THE BATTLE OF COLENSO.
Their retirement ordered.
[Dec. 15, 1899.
Failure to carry Hlangwane.
At this point came the order to retire. It was with the utmost difficulty that the officers could persuade their men to fall back. The enemy redoubled his fire; the big 45-pounders fired shrapnel and shell with all possible rapidity; and it was not until the naval 4·7's were able to answer them with lyddite that they were held in check. To disentangle the Irish Brigade and cover its withdrawal, half Lyttelton's Brigade came to its help. Then both brigades, as they fell back, moved to the centre to support the final and desperate effort of Hildyard to carry the Colenso ford. On the right also the attack had failed. Dundonald's Brigade was at the base of Hlangwane about 5 a.m., and formed up for the attack. The stiffest work was assigned to the Colonials, the South African Light Horse climbing the hill straight towards the top, while the Composite Regiment and Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry worked round the spurs of the mountain on their right. At first no sign of the enemy could be seen. As the roar of battle rose from Colenso behind, the Light Horse breasted the steep slope. It seemed as though the hill was as good as won, when a sharp fire was opened from the summit, and simultaneously Thorneycroft's mounted men were attacked by a large body of the enemy on their exposed right flank. Now was the time to send in support from Dundonald's command or Barton's Brigade, both near at hand; but no support came. Probably the officers named had not received clear instructions; possibly the whole attention of the Staff was riveted upon the guns in the centre. Be this as it may, Thorneycroft was compelled to retire. Heavily outnumbered, unable to see the enemy, exposed to every shot on the bare slopes of the mountain, the men fell sullenly back with 136 killed and wounded. The failure to carry Hlangwane made it practically impossible for the Army to cross the Tugela.
[Photo by S. Cribb.
Bugler Dunne, of the Dublin Fusiliers, a lad of only fourteen, insisted on accompanying the column in the advance on Colenso; and whilst in the firing line was severely wounded in two places during the attempt to force the passage of the Tugela. He was invalided home, and recovered his health on the voyage. When he arrived in England he was received with the greatest enthusiasm, and became the unwilling object of a public ovation. He was presented to the Queen at Osborne, and as he had lost his bugle in the Tugela, Her Majesty gave him a new one, with a suitable inscription thereon. He is a native of the Isle of Man, and his father and brother are both in the Army.
