With the Flag to Pretoria: A History of the Boer War of 1899-1900. Volume 1

by Herbert Wrigley Wilson

Showing precipitous rocks such as checked the charge of the Northumberland Fusiliers and Irish Rifles.

[Dec. 9-10, 1899.

"No operation of war," says Mr. Winston Churchill, "is more critical than a night march. Over and over again in every country frightful disaster has overtaken the rash or daring force that has attempted it. In the gloom the shape and aspect of the ground is altered. Places, well known by daylight, appear strange and unrecognisable. The smallest obstacle obstructs the column, which can only crawl sluggishly forward with continual checks and halts. The effect of the gloom upon the soldiers' nerves is not less than on the features of the country. Each man tries to walk quietly, and hence all are listening for the slightest sound. In such hours doubts and fears come unbidden to the brain, and the marching men wonder anxiously whether all will be well with the army, and whether they themselves will survive the event. And if suddenly out of the black silence there burst the jagged glare of rifles and the crash of a volley, followed by the yell of an attacking foe, the steadiest troops may be thrown into confusion."

As the column stole off into the darkness with gun-wheels muffled in hide to prevent the tell-tale creaking that might warn the enemy, an ominous signal was seen. Far away on the right there flashed several times towards Stormberg a bright light. No one then knew its meaning, yet unquestionably it was to tell the enemy that the night march had begun. Already the run of ill-luck which marked the operations of this column had set in; 160 of Brabant's Horse, 235 of the Cape Police, four 7-pounders, and a Maxim at Penhoek ought to have marched to effect a junction at Molteno with General Gatacre's force. A telegram which he had handed in to a telegraph clerk at Molteno with the order was not transmitted, and so they failed to arrive. The General did not observe the precaution of requesting a message acknowledging the receipt of his instructions, nor did he duplicate the despatch.

WARM WORK UNDER A BLAZING SUN: BRINGING UP A GUN BY HAND-LABOUR.

The wrong road taken.

A little beyond Molteno the road forks. To the left runs the Steynsburg road, which at the last moment was taken by the column. From it a mountain track led by a detour to the enemy's position. To the right ran the direct Stormberg road, which General Gatacre had originally decided to follow. He did not inform the Intelligence Officer at Molteno of his change of plan, nor did he post an officer at the junction of the roads to direct those who were following as to his course. In consequence, the Field Hospital, ammunition waggons, a Maxim, a detachment of Royal Irish Rifles, and a bearer company took the wrong road at the start; then, finding that they did not come up with the column, returned to Molteno, only to be told that the road they had taken was the right one. Once more they wearily retraced their steps and bivouacked in sight of Stormberg at 2·30 a.m. Nothing could as yet be made out of the British column.

Dec. 10, 1899.] The Enemy Found at Last.

Hour after hour that column had marched in the darkness; the full distance to the enemy's position had been covered, yet the guides found they were nowhere near Stormberg. The night slipped away; day began to break, and it became plain that surprise was not to be hoped for. The order was given to "fix bayonets," and about 4·15 a.m. of the 10th the troops, after seven hours continuous marching, weary and utterly exhausted, reached the foot of Rooi Kop, the mountain overlooking Stormberg Junction, on which the enemy were intrenched. The guides had mistaken the way and had led the force eighteen miles instead of nine miles, coming in upon the enemy's right rear instead of his right front. Though two of the Berkshire Regiment with the force had drawn attention to the mistake when the proper turning was passed, they were not listened to, such was the blind trust reposed in the guides. The latter were questioned, and persisted that they were in the right; they were, they said, taking a somewhat longer line to avoid a rough patch of road.