The cart has been hacked to pieces with bayonets to make a flat surface to carry the wounded.
British artillery fire.
The British artillery especially distinguished itself by the rapidity and accuracy of its fire. Yet there were times when a quicker-firing gun would have been invaluable, especially in preparing for the rushes across the river. As it was, the four naval guns fired 514 rounds; the 18th Battery no less than 1,100; the 75th 900; and the 62nd, which came late, 500. In all, 3,000 projectiles of twelve and fifteen pounds weight were poured upon the Boer trenches.
Lord Methuen has been blamed for failing to attempt a flanking attack, when he did discover the real strength and position of the enemy. But, as we have seen, the discovery was made too late to permit of the withdrawal of any considerable force, and the confusion caused by such a movement might well have been seized by the enemy for a counter-attack. Three times during the battle the young bloods among the Transvaalers pressed Cronje to permit them to deliver such an attack, believing that our men were demoralised. Three times he refused.
GATHERING THE ARMS AND ACCOUTREMENTS OF THE DEAD.
Characteristics of the fighting.
[Nov. 28, 1899.
What rendered the battle so severe an ordeal to the nerves was the new conditions under which it was fought. Tempests of bullets suddenly descended—no one could say from what quarter. Throughout, the enemy was invisible even to the best field glasses, and this more than anything filled the soldiery with despair of coming to hand-grips—the one kind of battle for which they had been taught to prepare. The new weapons, especially the 1-pounder Maxim, created a terrible impression. In short, the British troops were tried upon this eventful day in the rudest manner. Unhappily, the battle produced a feeling of deep depression in Lord Methuen's army, where the soldiers did not realise how much they had achieved. If a rapid advance on the 29th had been possible, it is certain that Cronje and his army would have been driven back helter-skelter. But the mischief of undertaking a difficult campaign with inadequate forces now manifested itself. No large body of reinforcements was available to carry Lord Methuen's division forward with a rush. There was no cavalry brigade, no horse artillery battery to turn the enemy's entrenchments. Moreover the batteries with the column had not sufficient ammunition for another action, and a halt was imperatively needed to replenish limbers and waggons from the none-too-extensive supplies at the base. In the days of delay which followed the battle, all the results of the victory were lost.
